Sodium can be a killer

Have you ever looked at the labels when out grocery shopping or at the food you have already purchased and are feeding your family? I learned today that just by lower sodium contents in food that currently line grocery store shelves, we could save the lives of 150,000 people per year! Everyone needs to watch their sodium intake. The more sodium you eat, the harder you heart has to work. Your body only needs 500 mg per day, unless you are out doing marathons! Try and make a conscious awareness about how much you are consuming in a day and you'll be surprised! Check out the labels and stay away from the high sodium stuff! You'll do your heart good!

Live!

Ok...I haven't been on my blog for quite some time. I've been very busy with work and just life in general. I just want to encourage anyone out there living with heart failure or heart disease of any kind......you can live, and live well. Take it one day at a time! That's all any of us can do anyway. I just want to say.....I have heart failure, heart failure doesn't have me!

Latest Dr. visit

I saw Dr. Abraham from Ohio State Tuesday, March 8th. For now, the plan is to watch me for 4 more months to give the increase in my Coreg a bit more time to work. After that, he will order a new echo to check for improvement in heart function. I'd appreciate prayer for improvement in heart function. I have not seen any in quite a while but I believe that it can still happen with prayer. All things are possible with God. Right now they say I'm at anywhere from 20-25%. I feel good and I'm able to do everything I need to do. For that, I am very grateful! Don't take your health for granted those of you that have it. Take care of yourself! I can honestly say though.....I have heart failure, heart failure does NOT have me!

Disappointment in decision by President Obama

I expect the decision to come down today where President Obama reverses restrictions placed on embryonic stem cell research. Private researchers are no longer putting their money into this research because it has shown no promise and has only created more problems such as tumor growth, etc when used. Using embryonic stem cells always makes a patient be on anti rejection drugs the rest of their life. Adult stem cells do not. Despite the facts that are available for review on this subject, it appears he will still sign the bill reversing the restrictions currently placed on federally funding this type of research. I am highly disappointed because I know this research has shown absolutely no good results in the private research that has taken place but the use of adult stem cells and cord blood stem cells has shown amazing results. I believe money will now be diverted from a science that is working and showing great promise and has the potential to save many lives into a science that has shown absolutely no promise and has the potential to save no one. I don't want to debate this subject. It is a subject I am well versed on because I myself could benefit greatly from an adult stem cell transplant in the future. Studies are in process today that are helping people with heart failure and many other diseases. Adult stem cells have been used in other countries with amazing results. It is, in fact, a medical miracle. Using adult stem cells does not snuff out potential life like embryonic stem cell research does. I believe the reason we are seeing such great promise is because God will honor us if we honor life that he created. Needless to say I am sad today and highly disappointed in our President. Will continue to pray for him and his decisions.

Exercise!

Exercise is one of the best ways to help protect your heart from heart disease. Have you exercised today or are you planning to? How often do you exercise each week? Would you do it if you could look into the future and see the shape your heart will be in 10, 20, or 30 years? This is something you CAN do today. We all have our excuses and our reasons but truthfully, we can all squeeze in 30 minutes a day for exercise. I've exercised today, have you?!

New Low Sodium Food Find!

Ok...today at Kroger Marketplace, I found a very low sodium chili sauce in the natural food section. It's Crazy's Charlies chili sauce and it only has 5 mg sodium in a 1/2 cup serving! Very exciting. I haven't tried it out for taste yet but the jar states Award Winner fiery food challenge. States it's good for hot dogs for coney sauce and it's good to add to your own homemade chile. They have a website also. It's www.cgsalsa.com.


Also....I found some delicious soups! they are condensed soups and you just add 16 oz of low sodium chicken stock to them and warm up. They have several different soups and they also have spaghetti sauces that are low sodium also. The website where you can actually order them is www.reidfoods.com I contacted them by email today and got the sodium contents for all their soups and for the spaghetti sauces. You can find some of the soups at Dorothy Lane Market in the Dayton Ohio area but you can order direct from their website. Here are the contents given to me today in the email. I've tried the tomato basil, minestrone and the Italian Wedding soup and they are yummy!


Condensed Tortilla Soup - 140mg 6%
Condensed Tomato Basil - 149mg 6%
Condensed Potato Leek - 164mg 7%
Condensed Wild Mushroom - 163mg 7%
Condensed Italian Wedding - 27mg 1%
Condensed Pumpkin - 82mg 3%
Condensed Butternut - 128mg 5%
Condesned Minestrone - 55mg 2%

Pasta Sauces:
Artichoke Antipasto - 170mg 7%
Bruschetta - 60mg 3%
Marinara - 240mg 10%
Asiago Cheese - 289mg 12%
Vodka - 227mg 10%
Cognac - 30mg 1%
Roasted Red Pepper - 14mg 1%

Beat the Statistics!

1 in 3 women will die of heart disease. Do you know your risk factors? Do you know what your heart health will be in 10 years? Are you doing anything today to help prevent heart disease in your future? Are you taking control of what you can control? You can't do a thing about your family history but there is so much that you can do on your own to help prevent heart disease for yourself and for those you love. I've heard it said, knowledge is power. That's not quite true......there is no power in knowledge, there is only power in the actions that take place because of that knowledge. There is no power if you do nothing with that knowledge. Choose today to take action and control the factors you can to keep your heart healthy. You've only got one heart! You know, as women, we take care of everyone in our families and for the most part we put ourselves last and never give our heart one thought. We never think about what the lack of exercise is doing, we never think about what the food we eat is doing to our heart, we never think about getting our cholesterol checked and doing what needs to be done to keep it under control, we never think about what being overweight is doing to our heart. We make time for our kids activities and for other things, but we never make time for exercise and just a little "you" time. You know.....if we never think about those things and never act upon them, are we really taking care of our families? I mean....wouldn't you rather make sure you are "there" for them today or 10 years down the road? I know you just answered yes to that. Ok, then act upon your knowledge. If you are reading this you now know that 1 in 3 women will die of heart disease. You now know that heart disease is the number 1 killer of women. You also know what you need to do! Get a heart healthy checkup, know your blood pressure numbers, know your cholesterol numbers and take action if they are high, you know you should exercise at least 30 minutes a day, you know you should eat healthy and you know you need to know your family history and discuss this with your doctor. You know you need to know the warning signs of a heart attack. You know the day you need to start taking control........TODAY! My favorite slogan is "JUST DO IT" Don't be that 1 in 3 that will develop and die of heart disease. Love your heart and do it today! Take care of your family by being there for them.