A healthy heart challenge for a young reporter

The saying, “better late than never,” can apply to many different parts of life.

Examples include paying bills, sending a birthday card or arriving late to a gathering. As the health and education reporter for the Columbia Basin Herald, I am going to do my duty by writing a reminder about healthy heart month, despite the fact it occurred in February.

Although all official awareness happened last month, I think this is a serious topic worth taking another look at.

The subject came to my attention as I browsed through articles online the other night. I couldn’t believe it when I read heart disease is the number one cause of death for women in the United States.

The article on WomenFitness.net reported about 8 million women today are living with heart disease and they’re developing it at younger and younger ages. Contributing factors are obesity, stress, poor diet and exercise.

The facts hit home for me because relatives on my dad’s side of the family suffer from high blood pressure and heart problems. My grandpa had two serious open heart surgeries at young ages and my great aunt had open heart surgery when she was only 35-years-old.

Being unhealthy is hard on loved ones too.

I remember how scared I was as a young girl when my grandpa went into the surgeries. I always made him call me as soon as he could to tell me he made it out OK.

Fortunately for me, I had parents watching out for my health growing up. My dad inspired me by running marathons for many years and my mom always cooked healthy.

Some of my best childhood memories involve laughing and talking with my mom when we went for runs together and playing baseball in the backyard with my dad and my big brother. My dad coached me in track, cross-country and basketball growing up, encouraging me to stick with a sport when I wanted to give up.

WomenFitness.net reported exercise plays an important role in both the prevention and rehabilitation of many forms of heart disease. Exercise can have a positive influence on many of the factors increasing the risk for heart disease.

I think it can be really hard to fit a good diet and exercise into life. Balancing that into work and a social life can be daunting, but it isn’t impossible.

I do believe we make it too hard for ourselves by restricting foods we love, starving ourselves while trying to diet and killing ourselves trying to follow some “expert’s” fitness routine suggestions. I don’t know about you, but a no-carb, sugar-free or all meat diet would make me cranky.

I’m certainly no expert, but based on personal experience I think the best way to be healthy is to make healthy food choices and stick to a work-out plan that works for you.

Those crazy Hollywood diets rarely work for most people because everyone is so different. Only celebrities have the time to hit the gym for hours and the money to hire a personal trainer.

I say eat what you like, but in serving sizes; eat whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean meats. If you love chocolate or a juicy steak, treat yourself once in awhile.

Don’t make yourself go running if you hate it. Find something you enjoy such as yoga, walking around your neighborhood with a friend or kickboxing.

And never compare yourself to other people. Work with what you have and be proud of yourself.

I’d encourage those wanting to improve their health to talk to their doctor to receive advice.

Having a healthy heart does more than just prolong life; it can help you live a better life. Feeling good makes you confident, which helps you go after, and get, what you want.

It’s never too late to start.

Check out the article I read at www.womenfitness.net/.

For heart healthy recipes, go to www.cardassoc.com/recipes/.

For more information on heart disease and prevention, visit www.cdc.gov/features/heartmonth/.

Sarah Kehoe is the Columbia Basin Herald health and education reporter. To be honest, she appears to practice what she preaches as we see her shrinking due to her yoga and resistance to the terrible foods her coworkers eat.