Heart Disease - The NOT so silent killer

My mom was 44 when she had her first heart attack. Subsequently she had 2 more and a devastating stroke that left her paralyzed on her left side.  All of this occurred before she was 53 years old. My mom lost her battle with heart disease at the age of 59. Way too young. Unfortunately it’s a statistic that keeps growing yearly, especially among women. Heart disease is the #1 killer of African American women. A woman dies from heart disease just about every minute.  Women are often misdiagnosed and subsequently do not receive necessary care. Being misdiagnosed is something that should not be happening in 2011. This makes it even more important for us to make sure we are doing everything possible to try and prevent heart disease before it affects us. We need to take more responsibility for our health and do whatever we can to help ourselves. The risk factors for heart disease are smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, physical inactivity, stress and being obese and overweight.

So what can you do right now?  You can start by making small healthy changes in your lifestyle. I personally do not like the term diet. I think if we incorporate changes a little at a time and not “shock” yourself by cutting out everything it will be much easier.  Add a piece of fruit, switch to Light Mayo, and try low fat or fat free milk. Little changes like that will make a huge difference in your health. For me losing weight has been a challenge, but the thought of having my first heart attack at 44 was enough to get me to a point where I wanted to do something about it. So far I’ve lost 18 pounds, and I’m continuing to lose. I’ve always been a bit of a jock (I know don’t faint) so being active wasn’t the problem, it was stress and my diet. Changing my diet was a lot harder than I anticipated. My family loves to eat and eating was always a comfort for me when I was stressed or upset. So changing that was and is a challenge. But I want to be around for my children so it’s worth making some sacrifices.

There are some myths about heart disease that you may not be aware of:

1)      Only older men and women have heart disease.

·         Heart disease does not know any age…. It can strike anyone at anytime

2)      If heart disease isn’t in your family, you’re not at risk.

·         A family history does increase your risk, but there’s always a first! Just because your mom or grandmother doesn’t have it does not mean you’re safe.

3)      You can’t do anything to stop heart disease.

·         Yes, you can!! Anyone can significantly reduce your risk of heart disease if you have the information you need, know what to ask your doctor, and have the support to make smart eating choices in your life.

We have to take control of our health and not rely on medication to “fix us” if something goes wrong!!  Please take control of your health and if you can prevent heart disease, do what you can now before it’s too late.

How to stay debt free in these tough economic times

In today’s economy we struggle daily to keep food on the table, gas in our cars, and paying our mortgage/rent. With the price of everything rising fast and our jobs are not giving us raises to compensate, how do we keep our finances and sanity during this economic downturn? It’s a question that we all struggle with on a daily basis. Companies are cutting jobs, they’re not giving raises, and they’re cutting benefits. The cost of food and fuel is constantly rising and we sometimes don’t know where our next meal is coming from. So, what can you do to stay out of debt and build savings?

The key- as simple as it seems is to cut out things that are not a necessity and to stop using credit cards. Credit cards are causing our nation to be billions of dollars in debt and sometimes the credit card payment is as high as another car payment or your mortgage.  It’s easier said than done right? Here’s where discipline comes in. Coming up with and sticking to a budget is the most effective way to keep track of and control your spending. Most of us do not like the idea of going on a budget, however if you look at your finances and don’t like what you see, you should at least try a budget. Most people think that when you go on a budget, you have to give up everything fun, that’s not true if you put it in your budget.

The key is to make a realistic budget. A lot of people have certain things that they budget for and they just wing the rest. That’s not the best idea. There are several places online where you can get blank budget forms to help you. I personally have been doing Dave Ramsey and the program works. It’s not easy by any means, but if you have the discipline and you really want to change your financial outlook and feel secure in your finances, you really should give a budget a try.

The first thing you should do is keep track of your spending for 2 weeks to a month. Keep all receipts, everything coming in and going out. By doing this and actually seeing on paper where your money is going, you will see where money is wasted and where necessary cuts can be made. I didn’t realize how much money I was wasting on little frivolous unnecessary things until I saw it on paper.

The second thing you need to do is sit down and write out your budget. The forms you find online make it relatively easy and painless to do a good budget. It took me less than 20 minutes to do my budget. I will tell you this, when I sat down, it was not fun after always telling my children how fiscally responsible they need to be, to realize I needed to follow my own advice.

The third thing you need to do is follow the budget!! I’m not going to sugar coat it and tell you it will be easy, for some of you it might be a breeze. For me personally it took a few months for me to actually get to a point where I was happy about not being to spend like I was used to, with no thought or care. As long as my bank account had a balance I was spending. Now I find myself looking at things differently. I don’t impulse buy any more. If it is something I feel like I have to have, I go home and think about it. If I’m willing to drive all the way back to the store then it will be worth buying. Of course 95% of the time I don’t go back to the store.

 Starting and sticking to budget can be a useful tool to also teach your children to be fiscally responsible as well. The earlier you start teaching them; they will get a great start at learning finances and will hopefully get a great start to building their own financial wealth. I will tell you a big change I noticed in myself, as my savings balance began to rise, I actually felt better knowing that there was some saving going on. I find myself now to a point where I closely monitor everything coming in and going out and I like watching my savings rise. 

One final thing – don’t get discouraged if it takes you a few months to get used to being on a budget. Whatever you do, don’t give up!!  The benefits will be so worth it in the long run. Before you know it, you will have some savings and will feel some relief and a better sense of balance in other parts of your life.