Imagine this: You take a time machine to the year 1965 and visit a hospital. You choose this destination to determine how many people were treated for cardiovascular complications a generation ago.
Upon arrival, you grab a doctor’s white lab coat from the nearest coat rack. (Apparently, doctor’s frequently misplace their lab coats and the hospital provides extras. Hey. It was the 60’s.) The nearest medical closet offers a cabinet with a drawer labeled “Additional Stethoscopes”, because doctor’s forget those too. Draping the stethoscope around your neck, you feel fearless in the new costume.
Boldly, you stride up to the nurse’s station and demand to see the medical records of every patient who has been admitted for cardiovascular troubles. The nurse hands a couple of files to you. Unfortunately, you can’t decipher them. (Probably because you never went to medical school.) But the nurse is watching, so you nod and use a lot of doctor-like exclamations like, “Oh my!”, “Aha!”, and “Scalpel!” The nurse seems satisfied and walks away to find you a scalpel.
These files have confirmed your suspicions. Only a small percentage of people during this time were hospitalized for cardiovascular concerns.
And if every hospital in the United States during the 1960’s experienced a similar pattern of patient admittance, we can conclude our current generation faces significantly more heart attack and stroke risk than the adults just a generation ago. And the Annals for Internal Medicine (AIM) has just confirmed it.
STATISTIC #1: The current generation, aged 18-54, have a higher risk for heart attack and stroke than our fellow Americans just one generation earlier, according to the AIM.
How can this be? Today, we are more educated about our nutritional choices than ever before.
We have gyms on every corner. Some are open 24 hours and offer a membership which is honored at any of their franchise gyms nationwide. So you can travel anywhere and still get your “sweat on”.
Fast food menus even offer a calorie count on their menus, for goodness sake.
If you have an event to attend, there will more than likely be a 5K to kickstart the day. You can even wear your crazy socks and a tutu to show your team spirit. And for an additional fee, you can have powdered dye tossed into your face or jump across flaming pits of molten lava.
So why aren’t we healthier than our previous generation?
The past generations ate white bread with extra gluten sprinkled on top. They slathered margarine onto their toast and salads. Water was slurped from a water hose, if it was drank at all, and they used so many pesticides on their vegetables the produce section actually glowed.
Shouldn’t we modern Americans be a gazillion times more exceptional in our health?
Not according to the statistics from the CDC.
STATISTIC #2: The Centers for Disease Control assert 610,000 Americans die of heart disease every year.
STATISTIC #3: In the United States, heart disease is the leading cause of death in both men and women, with one in four deaths attributed to heart failure.
STATISTIC #4: Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the leading cause of cardiovascular death, killing over 370,000 annually.
STATISTIC #5: Every year, 735,000 Americans have a heart attack. Of which 525,000 are a first heart attack, while 210,000 have had multiple episodes.
It’s easy to read these stats and feel depressed.
Most people would rather stay in the 1960’s than live in 2018 after hearing this dreary bit of health news.
Well, don’t feel sad. There is hope!
The CDC encourages Americans to make significant changes to their lifestyle if they want to better their health. If the average U.S. citizen would eliminate three risk factors, they could prevent 80% of heart disease, 80% of Type 2 Diabetes, and 40% of cancer. These risk factors are poor diet, inactivity, and smoking.
It doesn’t sound too difficult, does it?
In fact, living your life with better nutrition, more exercise, and nicotine free can drastically improve your cardiovascular health. Not to mention it will make you feel like a million bucks. You’ll have more energy, better vitality, sleep more soundly, and have an amazing sex life. Who wouldn’t want those benefits?
All too often, we desire to change, but we’re not sure where to begin.
Or where to look for help.
Or who to trust.
Don’t worry. We’ve done the leg work for you. We’ve found incredible businesses who aspire to make America healthier.
Healthy Solutions To The American Cardiovascular Dilemma
Healthy Solution #1: Eat nutrient dense food.
Nutrition is the key. Without nutrient dense food, a healthy diet is impossible. Because without the proper nutrients, the very foundation of our body will not function efficiently.
Armed with this knowledge, I set out to find food which was loaded with heart healthy vitamins and minerals.
What I found was astounding.
Did you know produce loses a percentage of nutrients every minute beyond harvest? When you factor in the transit time from farm to distribution center and then to the store produce shelf, most produce contains only a fraction of the nutrition it once held.
Of course, once I learned this alarming fact, I began to search for farms who were willing to sell to the consumer directly. Not only was I helping the farmer, but I was helping myself by lowering the transit time from harvest to digestion.
My search led me to several small farms. Many were family-owned and operated. And all of them seemed to take their work seriously.
But I hoped to find one which not only desired to feed America nutrient-dense produce, but would also deliver it to my front door weekly. That’s not too much to ask, right?
Finally, I found a service which promised to do just that. And more.
Hungry Harvest finds produce straight from the farmer’s field. What makes their service special is their reduction of waste by purchasing “ugly produce”. Ugly produce with minor cosmetic issues are still edible, but stores won’t buy them because they’re not perfect. The farmer has no other option but to throw it away.
Hungry Harvest has contracted with the local farmers to buy this “imperfect produce”, and sells it at a fraction of the cost.
And if that’s not genius enough, they also deliver it weekly to your door.
Getting nutrient-dense food into your diet was never so easy!
Healthy Solution #2: Keep track of your health using the technology available to you.
One way to get healthier is to record the changes in our blood pressure, weight, pulse, heart rate, etc.
And since almost everyone owns a smartphone, you already have the tools necessary to easily record your physical transformation.
For instance, by using the free app, “Instant Heart Rate”, you can measure your heart rate by placing a finger on the camera. The app will then measure and record your pulse. Easy, huh?
Although it costs $1.99, “Blood Pressure Companion” will help you measure your blood pressure and heart rate. And by recording your progress in charts and graphs, this app will help you analyze and compare any physical changes over time. There is even feature which allows you to export the data to a health practitioner.
Of course, living healthy also requires healthy eating. So why not use an app to help you count your calories, fat, and sugars? For $3.99, MyNetDiary helps you meet your weight loss goals by giving you a place to input your daily food intake, which is uploaded into an easy to read graph or chart. Their online community also helps you interact with others who desire a healthy lifestyle. Measurements, reports, recipes, and an export function all make this app incredibly helpful as you eat healthier.
Don’t think you can change your eating habits without someone cooking the food for you? At BistroMD they offer ready-to-eat meals to help your weight loss goals. These meals are ready to eat in five minutes, offer food which is nutritionally balanced, and meals that are approved by registered dietitians on their staff.
Whether you’re tech savvy, or need your children to help you maneuver through the computer age, healthy lifestyles are a breeze with the technology available to us. It’s time to put them to good use.
Healthy Solution #3: Make a plan and stick to it.
This year I made a New Year’s Resolution. The Resolution was to stick to my Resolution. I bet that’s a goal I can’t miss!
In all seriousness, I have made countless plans, only to have met minuscule amount of the goals I have set. And when I was researching the services and products to help me with my health plans, I began to notice there was a need.
If we are to stick to our heart healthy plans and make our goals, we need help.
We need a website which has all the services, programs, and products that we could possibly need to live a healthy lifestyle under one roof.
And not a place like the big box retailers. They don’t care if they offer substandard products. In fact, “Buyer Beware” should be their motto!
There needs to be a website where holistic products are analyzed and tested by a team of natural health experts. If they pass the test, then they’re placed on this website. If they don’t make the cut, they don’t make it in.
They would offer this so we could trust the products and services they offer. And they’ll have taken all the guesswork out of purchasing natural health products for us.
Incredibly, I discovered such a website exists. And it’s called Healthy-Finds.
The founders of Healthy-Finds also noticed this void for a website who caters to holistic health products. And they have successfully filled this need by partnering with numerous products and services to help us meet our heart healthy goals.
Since only the products which have passed the stringent standards are allowed onto their website, you can browse their endless list of partner brands with complete confidence.
Want to go check it out? You can discover everything you need to make your natural health goals a reality at Healthy-Finds.com.
It’s clear our nation should be leading the world in healthy living. We have the tools, we have the education, and we have the economy to help us do just that. All we need is a shift in our mindset. We have to hunger for health, instead of a bacon and cheese hamburger. And maybe someday, when our great-grandkids visit 2018 in their own time machine, they will discover the generation of Americans who were sick and dying, and who decided to change it for themselves. And change it for the generations to come.
