According to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease, including stroke, continues to be the nation’s No. 1 killer. This year, an estimated 770,000 Americans will have a new heart attack, and about 430,000 will have a recurrent one.
February has been designated Heart Health Month since 1963, encouraging people to fight against the disease.
To
help in the fight, AMA released several
ways to love your heart:
• Get regular checkups
• Know your blood pressure, cholesterol
and sugar numbers
• Take prescribed medications as
directed
• Quit smoking
• Get 30 minutes or more of daily
moderate physical activity
• Eat a heart-healthy diet, including
fruits and vegetables, whole grains and
fish.
• Limit foods high in saturated fat,
trans fat and cholesterol
• Limit salt intake to 2,300 milligrams
a day
• Drink alcoholic beverages in moderation
“Not nearly enough people
know their numbers,” said cardiologist
Ken Kronhaus,
spokesperson for the American
Heart Association.
“We recommend people in their 20s come in for testing, not only to create a baseline for future tests but because doctors are seeing more young people with coronary blockages. People still think that if they do not feel bad or different, there is no problem.”
THE HEALTH NUT
As a Ford Motor Company zone manager, Katie Gradinjan spent at least three nights on the road and averaged 65 hours a week. Adding to a stressful job, which she loved, Gradinjan was having about three major migraines a week.
Never one to take medicine, she slugged some coffee and worked through the pain. “I [got] through the day even with a migraine that made me feel like I could vomit. And I felt good about the day even though I would be very glad it was over,” she said.
Gradinjan, 27, loved playing volleyball, softball, in-line skating and was usually better than the boys she played against. She ate right and never fluctuated in weight. On July 20, 2007, Gradinjan felt a migraine coming.
When she arrived at her East Orlando home after a stressful day at work, she told Eric she needed rest before meeting friends that night. Later, Eric found Gradinjan screaming and curled tightly into a ball on the bed. She was seeing triple and the right side of her body was numb.
Gradinjan was having a stroke. Doctors believe Gradinjan’s stroke was migraine-induced, which is rare considering that most strokes are caused by a blood clot in the brain. In seven months Gradinjan graduated from wheelchair to walker to cane — a loaner from Eric’s grandmother — to fullfunctioning legs in a few months.
Today she has regained overall body function except for vision in her right eye, which still blurs if she moves her head a certain way. Gradinjan started working part time on Nov. 1 and now works full time. In December she and Eric were married at Leu Gardens. “Within the past couple of months I have accepted that I had a stroke.
I was in denial because people used to think of me as the girl who could walk through walls. I kept asking, ‘Why did this happen to me?’” she said. “Right now I am trying not to live in fear that it will happen again, but I am also very happy with my progression. I am talking clearly, walking in fourinch heels, I have full motion of my right hand, and I can smile — all in 7 months. Looking at me you cannot tell I had a stoke. I got lucky.”
THE PIZZA LOVER
Pizza, Oreos, pasta — you name it, Jeff Shimmel ate it. The 32-year-old has struggled with his weight since high school. Stress at work and a very alluring little Italian restaurant within blocks of his East Orlando home made him peak at 279 pounds — he is 6’2” tall — in 2004. “I was always watching my weight go up and down and I tried to control it.
Every time something happened in life, my weight went with it,” he said. Four years ago Alcon, the company where Shimmel worked at the time as a mechanical engineer, had an employee weight-loss competition.
He lost 37 pounds in eight weeks and won second place. He continued to lose weight, landing at 207 at one point. However, stress in life eventually pushed his weight back up. He picked up old habits like eating four sandwiches for lunch and late-night snacking.
Then, in 2005, his mother — who also employed bad eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle — had a heart attack. In recovery, she tried to better her habits but passed away a few months later. “She died at 56 and was always huffing and puffing when she came over, just from walking,” he said. “I always said I wanted to live to 90 years old.
I want to see grandkids.” Since then, Shimmel has learned to handle stress without overeating. He eats healthier foods, drinks plenty of water and avoids fast-food restaurants. He and his wife are also signed up for Walt Disney’s 26- m i l e marathon this fall.
His cholesterol is lower and he has almost completely stopped taking the bloodpressure medication he was prescribed since college. “I completely flipped my numbers and I am pretty healthy now,” he said. “I want to show people they can lose weight, but they have to change their lives. You cannot eat greasy cheeseburgers and exercise and think you are okay.”
THE TEAM PLAYERS
Jody Wheeler was eating healthy and was happy with her weight, but she wanted to move more. So when her employer, J. Rolfe Davis Insurance of Maitland, initiated the American Heart Association Start! Program, she was on board. Ninety-eight of 130 employees joined the program in November and Wheeler, 37, became one of the nine team leaders.
Monthly incentives and prizes kept Wheeler moving in creative ways, like parking further away from the store, taking walk breaks at work and even exercising while watching television in the living room. “I really believed in the program. We had a walking program years ago that was individually based. With this one we all walk together,” she said.
Company President John Turner has been a source of inspiration for the office by losing 80 pounds in one year. Kani Chin, Turner’s executive assistant, said he starts each day bragging about the 5,000 steps he takes each morning. “He works out each morning for two hours and would come in and tell us all about it,” she said. “He looks and feels great.
We all look up to him.” Chin, who organizes the company’s catered events, said she orders more low-fat sandwiches, salads and fresh fruit. When carriers bring in Krispy Kreme donuts, she and three co-workers will split one to calm craving but not bust the diet. “It is a very positive environment. It helps when you do it as a group because we are pushing each other,” she said. “We are also a lot closer with one another — always looking out for one another.”
