Local expert talks heart health and the things we can do to improve it
Valentine’s Day is less than a week away and while sharing love with family, friends and that special someone is always a priority, residents should also take this as an opportunity to remember that February is heart month and show your heart a little love.
In order to get the best advice when it comes to heart health, the Selkirk Record has conferred with local Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator Jay Adam.
“It’s definitely the most common disease in North America still, heart disease, and there’s a lot that can be done about it. It can be life-changing when problems start to occur,” said Adam.
Maintaining a healthy heart is important in having a good quality of life and there are things that can be done to improve the chances of maintaining heart health. There are also risk factors that we cannot change.
Some unmodifiable risk factors could be age and genetics. On the other hand, there are lifestyle changes that most people can make that can reduce your risk of heart disease. Adam mentioned quitting smoking or tobacco use, as well as eating a healthy diet and getting physical activity as things people can modify in their lives which have been shown to have a positive influence.
“The most commonly described [diets] would it be the Mediterranean diet, or the modern Canada’s Food Guide diet [which] are shown to have benefits for risk reduction. There are many dietary interventions [that can be made] without going that far that do help as well,” he explained.
His advice to people who want to make a change to their diets is to reduce their intake of ultra-processed food and replace it with homemade foods.
“A piece of advice from a dietitian is taking time to cook one or two more homemade meals per week [if possible],” said Adam.
He says that with the higher cost of groceries learning the skill of cooking is great in many ways.
“Learning how to prepare things at home can most often improve the quality of your food for fat, salt intake, sugar intake, and what have you and often in a way that can also save a person money,” he said.
Adam also spoke about getting adequate physical activity as something residents can do if they want to lessen heart disease risk.
“People often start with very safe exercises that they can do such as walking when the sidewalks aren’t too slippery,” he said.
The Selkirk Recreation Complex has a Walk and Jog program which is available to residents Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. from September to April with the exception of holidays and special events.
“Many people need to clear things with their physician before they start exercise or they can access other kinds of support from physical activity educators that exist through gyms or physiotherapy centers in town,” said Adam.
Changes that work for one person may not work for others.
Slowly layering the changes in and finding changes that residents are honestly content with is something that Adam’s found works well for his patients.
An example of this is people who upon close reflection of their eating habits might find that there are unhealthy foods that they are eating but really wouldn’t miss very much if they didn’t have them anymore.
“One more thing I would always tell any layperson, if they’re researching nutrition information online, one of the best ways to screen out bad information is to see if somebody’s trying to sell you something,” said Adam.
A way to avoid having to decide what health advice is good and what is not when online is to look to our local resources. Health-care professionals in our region are available and there is an access line (1-877-979-9355) which can connect you to local information as well as groups like a smoking cessation group and a group that works on developing healthier eating habits.
If residents have individual concerns about their heart health Adam says they should make sure to see their primary care provider.
“If there really is something going on. That’s a great starting point,” he said.
