Living a healthy lifestyle includes NO smoking.  But what if you don’t smoke but others around you do?!?

The facts are Secondhand smoke causes cancer

Secondhand smoke is classified as a “known human carcinogen” (cancer-causing agent) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. National Toxicology Program, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization.

Secondhand smoke causes other kinds of diseases and deaths

Secondhand smoke can cause harm in many ways. In the United States alone, each year it is responsible for:

• an estimated 46,000 deaths from heart disease in non-smokers who live with smokers
• about 3,400 lung cancer deaths in non-smoking adults
• other breathing problems in non-smokers, including coughing, mucus, chest discomfort, and reduced lung function
• 150,000 to 300,000 lung infections (such as pneumonia and bronchitis) in children younger than 18 months of age, which result in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations annually
• increases in the number and severity of asthma attacks in about 200,000 to 1 million children who have asthma
• more than 750,000 middle ear infections in children
• Pregnant women exposed to secondhand smoke are also at increased risk of having low birth- weight babies.

(Source: American Cancer Society)

If you are conscious about your health – you don’t want to be exposed to second-hand smoke but I’m sure you also don’t want to be stuck at home because people smoke in most bars and night clubs.  That is why you need to check-out Let’s Be Totally Clear.

As a consumer, you have a lot of power – you should exercise that power to support Smoke-Free Establishments and encourage stronger smoke-free air laws that protect all Louisianans from secondhand smoke and help others in your community understand the dangers of secondhand smoke exposure.

You are at risk when exposed to secondhand smoke but the people constantly at risk are those who work in bars and casinos that can still allow smoking due to current local and state laws – bartenders, waiters, casino dealers, maintenance workers, entertainers, DJs and musicians. Let’s be totally clear: all Louisiana employees deserve protection from secondhand smoke

Join Let’s Be Totally Clear on Facebook

Questions:
* Do you prefer breathing clean, smoke-free air versus toxic secondhand smoke?
* Do you hate going to bars or going out to hear live music because of all the secondhand smoke?
* Are you a musician, bar or casino worker who wishes Louisiana would protect all workers from secondhand smoke exposure?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then Let’s Be Totally Clear is for you and your involvement can change things!

The layers of reasons why people in the U.S. and here in our own city of New Orleans live unhealthy lifestyles are many and rather complex.  I’ve been dwelling on them for a couple of weeks now – you could almost say that I have been losing sleep over it because it’s such an intricate matter.

Billions of dollars are spent on education, research, lobbying, and regulations in order to reverse the current health trends in this country…so what are the major reasons why we still have the same (and increased) problems with obesity, diabetes, heart diseases, etc.

Is it a matter of education, accessibility or poor decision making?

I haven’t found the answers or solutions to explain why…but I narrowed it down to those three components.

Education

There are still plenty of Americans who don’t know the difference between good unsaturated fats and bad saturated fats or appropriate caloric and salt allowance; they still can’t read food labels.  They don’t get the negative effects process foods have on our health. Many folks also still don’t get all the benefits of daily exercise, taking a multi-vitamin, getting adequate sleep and stress management.

To some extent, it’s hard to understand this fact because of how readily available all of this information is…it’s on the news, TV shows, magazines, newspapers, blogs, radio…pretty much everywhere.  But it is a reality that for some people; the concept of living a healthy lifestyle which includes a balanced diet and exercise is completely foreign.

Accessibility

Accessibility is an entirely different issue.  We really don’t have to look very far for an example and the difference accessibility makes.  Let’s for example look at Uptown compared to the Bywater (Upper 9thWard)  and Lower 9thWard.  The comparison of accessible fitness establishments and grocery stores in the Uptown area compared to the Bywater and Lower 9thWard is astounding.

Nationwide, USDA estimates that 23.5 million people, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income areas that are more than a mile from a supermarket. Of the 23.5 million, 11.5 million are low-income individuals in households with incomes at or below 200% of the poverty line. Of the 2.3 million people living in low-income rural areas that are more than 10 miles from a supermarket, 1.1 million are low-income.

If you have no accessibility to healthy options…or your neighborhood isn’t safe for walking or sports and there are no fitness facilities or you can’t afford a membership to a gym – what are you suppose to do?  This is definitely the type of initiatives and problems that the Tulane Prevention Research Center is tackling with support of the Federal Government and the local Government.  Hopefully, they will get  more support from the local Government once our new Mayor, Mitch Landrieu,  is sworn in.

As New Orleans continues with her re-building efforts, we have an opportunity to make sure every neighborhood; no matter the level of income of the residents, has accessibility to a proper grocery store and health and fitness facility.

Poor Decision Making

Although tackling the accessibility issue is a major undertaking – I somewhat believe this particularly issue of constant and repeated poor decision making is more disheartening.  The culprits of this issue normally have both the education and access but choose to make the wrong choices.

We’re sadly talking about people who don’t take care about themselves and therefore choose to live unhealthy lifestyles.  People who either work too much, “are too busy”, don’t care, party too much, and are full of excuses as to why they can’t take care of their health.

In reality, these are the people who have no excuses but choose to kill themselves instead of prolonging their lives by making healthy decisions.  How do you get someone to care about their health who knows about all the risks they are putting themselves in…but still don’t want to change?

I don’t necessarily have any answers or solutions…I just wanted to share what is starting to keep me up at night. What are your thoughts on the matter?

Almost 75% of our body is made up of water. However, this water is not in its pure form. It has salt dissolved in it that helps in a number of functions of the body. Salt present in the cells and tissues of our body helps in muscle contraction, proper conduction of nerve impulses and transport of nutrients into the cells.

So yes, we need salt but unfortunately we end up getting way above what our daily allowance should be.

Some Facts you Need to Know about Salt

– Sodium is a component of salt. One (1) teaspoon contains about 6 grams of salt. Six (6) grams of salt contains about 2400 mg of sodium

– The amount of sodium considered adequate to promote good health in adults is 1,500 mg per day – not to exceed 2,300 mg of sodium per day. No more than a teaspoon.

– Although salt is the major source of sodium in our food, sodium is also a component of other ingredients, such as sodium bicarbonate used in baking and monosodium glutamate used as a flavor enhancer.

– Too much sodium in the diet can lead to health problems. It is one of the risk factors that contribute towards high blood pressure (hypertension), which substantially increases the risk of developing which substantially increases the risk of developing heart disease or stroke.

– Sodium and chloride levels are comparatively low in all foods which have not been processed. However, salt has been used as a preservative and a flavoring agent for centuries.

– Widely cited figures from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) lay about 77% of the sodium blame on processed and restaurant foods, with only 5%, 6% and 12% coming from cooking, table use and natural sources, respectively. Salt, quite frankly, is everywhere.

– In an analysis of more than 550 commercially prepared foods in 2005, CSPI found that even one dish could bump you near or over your daily recommendation, including: Swanson’s Hungry Man XXL dinners, 3,180 mg to 5,410 mg; and Denny’s Lumberjack Slam breakfast: 4,460 mg.

Salt and your Kidneys

Your kidneys regulate the amount of sodium kept in your body. When sodium levels are low, your kidneys conserve sodium. When levels are high, they excrete the excess amount in urine.

If your kidneys can’t eliminate enough sodium, the sodium starts to accumulate in your blood. Because sodium attracts and holds water, your blood volume increases. Increased blood volume, in turn, makes your heart work harder to move more blood through your blood vessels, increasing pressure in your arteries. Certain diseases such as congestive heart failure, cirrhosis and chronic kidney disease can lead to an inability to regulate sodium.

Tips for Reducing Sodium in Your Diet (Source Your Guide to Lowering High Blood Pressure)

• Buy Fresh, plain frozen or canned “with no salt added” vegetables
• Use fresh poultry, fish and lean meat, rather than canned processes types.
• Use herbs, spices and salt-free seasoning blends in cooking and at the table
• Cook rice, pasta and hot cereals without salt.  Cut back on instant and flavored rice, pasta, and cereal mixes, which usually have added salt.
• Choose “convenience” foods that are lower in sodium. Cut back on frozen dinners, pizza, packaged mixes, canned soups or broths, and salad dressings — these often have a lot of sodium
• Rinse canned foods, such as tuna, to remove some sodium
• When available, buy low- or reduced-sodium, or no-salt-added versions of foods.
• Next time you cook gumbo or jambalaya…skip adding any type of salt – there’s already plenty in it in the ingredients you are cooking with!!

Needing and wanting salt is an acquired taste.  If you salt your food, slowly start reducing how much salt you add when cooking or when food is served.  Eventually, you will not miss the taste of salt and you’ll be much better off for it.

Next time we discuss salt – we’ll have a look at what some say is healthier salt…Sea Salt.

This past weekend I received my 2010 Womenthealth.gov calendar. It’s really packed with some great information…like this:

New information shows that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body.  Smoking is linked to diseases such as: leukemia, cataracts, pneumonia, and cancers of the cervix, lung, kidney, pancreas, and stomach. Lunch cancer alone claims the lives of more women than any other cancer.  You must stop smoking to lower your chances of getting these diseases.

Here is what happens in the 15 years health recovery cycle once you quit smoking:

20 Minutes after Quitting

Your heart rate drops

12 Hours after Quitting

The carbon monoxide (a gas that can be toxic) in your blood drops to normal

2 Weeks to 3 Months after Quitting

Your heart attack risk begins to drop

Your lungs are working better

1 to 9 Months after Quitting

Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease

Your lungs start to function better, lowering your risk of lung infections

1 Year after Quitting

Your risk of heart disease is half that of a smoker’s

5 Years after Quitting

Your risk of having a stroke is the same as someone who doesn’t smoke

10 Years after Quitting

Your risk of dying of lung cancer is half that of a smoker’s

Your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas also decreases

15 Years after Quitting

Your risk of heart disease is now the same as someone who doesn’t smoke

Get your Free 2010 Calendar at Womenshealth.gov – This is more information on How to Quit Smoking

I’m not that old and I didn’t grow up on a farm…yet I remember the saying “If you don’t have your health; you don’t have nothing at all.”  I remember my dad telling me that. He wasn’t or isn’t a sick man but he is a self-employed man; he owns a construction company. His health is very important to him because without his health/ability to put in a hard day’s work – he doesn’t make money.

The saying also definitely applied more in the old days – when most people did some sort of physical labor as the primary way to earn a living. If people were sick or injured, they couldn’t perform their work duties and they didn’t get paid.  The incentives to be healthy were far greater (survival) and by default of performing physical/manual labor people were more active.  Times have changed.  Technology has changed the way we earn a living and most people in developed countries can perform their job while being overweight, out-of-shape, and plagued with chronic diseases, etc. Most people don’t care about their health.  It’s obvious when looking at the results of studies. Louisiana ranked 41 out 50 on the 2009 Well Being State Ranking. #1 being the best – 50 the worst. From Gallup and Healthways Well Being Index (Click on the image for larger image)

Merging decades of social and clinical research, development expertise, health leadership and behavioral economics, Gallup and Healthways collaborated to develop the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (WBI) – the first and largest survey of its kind, aggregating data from 1,000 calls a day, 350 days a year. The Well-Being Index is already the largest behavioral economic database ever created and, over the next quarter century, will generate more than nine million individual responses.

The Well-Being Index and associated City, State and Congressional District Reports provide the only measurement today for total well-being. Beyond medical condition and access to healthcare coverage and services, the Index also questions respondents about economic, professional, emotional and social circumstances. With Well-Being Index data, it’s possible to quantify and establish a correlation between the places where people work and the communities in which they live and their well-being.

Some more results were released today.

The County Health Rankings—the first set of reports to rank the overall health of every county in all 50 states—were released today by the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at a briefing in Washington, D.C.  The 50 state reports help public health and community leaders, policy-makers, consumers and others to see how healthy their county is, compare it with others within their state and find ways to improve the health of their community.

Each county is ranked within the state on how healthy people are and how long they live. They also are ranked on key factors that affect health such as: smoking, obesity, binge drinking, access to primary care providers, rates of high school graduation, rates of violent crime, air pollution levels, liquor store density, unemployment rates and number of children living in poverty.

Poorly ranked counties often had multiple challenges to overcome, including:

• Two- and three-fold higher rates of premature death, often from preventable conditions.
• High smoking rates that lead to cancer, heart disease, bronchitis and emphysema.
• High rates of obesity which can put people at risk for diabetes, disability and heart disease.
• High unemployment and poverty rates.
• High numbers of liquor stores and fast-food outlets but few places to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.

Read More from the Press Release

Now, if only Gov. Bobby Jindal would have a look at this study and stop his plans for cuts to health care…

Here’s a look at the results for Health Outcomes.  For the Greater New Orleans area St. Tammany Parish was #1, Jefferson #16 and Orleans and St Bernard 59 and 62 respectively.  Interesting disparity between those…any thoughts of why? (Click on the map for larger image)

And the results for Health Factors: For the Greater New Orleans area St. Tammany Parish was #1, Jefferson #5 and Orleans and St Bernard 47 and 59 respectively. (Click on the map for larger image)

For greater details of the overall rankings and finer details check this out.

I normally don’t write posts this long…but this is serious – we have to start going to back to the mentality: If you don’t have your health; you don’t have anything at all.

The State of Louisiana has some great sites, resources, and information available for Louisianans to live healthy lifestyles.  Frankly, once you start digging around – it’s quite impressive.  The majority of those sites are government funded and non-profits (many are rooted out of the Louisiana Public Health Institute). This differs from us, Be Fit NOLA, but ultimately our goals are the same…to raise awareness, gather and disseminate information and encourage/teach people how to live healthier lifestyles.

But even with that being said – Louisianans and New Orleanians face serious health issues.

(The following excerpts are sourced from Stay Healthy Louisiana)

Heart Disease

Even Young People Need to Monitor Their Cholesterol

High cholesterol greatly increases the risk for heart disease and heart attacks. Following simple nutrition and fitness guidelines and getting a cholesterol blood test every five years beginning at age 20 can help manage cholesterol build up in the body and prevent a heart attack. Learn about what you can do to manage your own cholesterol levels.

Heart attack warning signs include:

Chest discomfort, usually in the center of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back. This can can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. Discomfort in other areas of the upper body, including pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, or stomach. Shortness of breath and other symptoms, such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea, or light-headedness are also early warning signs.

Obesity

The percentage of overweight and/or obese adults in Louisiana has become an emergent health concern, rising in the past 10 years from 49 percent in 1991 to 63 percent in 2004, as noted by the Louisiana Health Report Card. The percentage of overweight or obese 18-to-24 year olds increased the most.

Understanding what is considered as “average weight,” “overweight” and “obese” is essential to knowing where the danger lies. An individuals body mass index (BMI), an index of weight relative to height, is used to estimate the percentage of fat a person has on his or her body. A person is defined as overweight if his or her BMI is between 25.0 and 29.9 and obese if their BMI is greater than 30.0.

Read more and instantly calculate your Body Mass Index click here.

Diabetes

Reduce Your Child’s Risk of Developing Diabetes

The number of children diagnosed with type-2 diabetes is gradually increasing, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Medical experts advise that Hispanic, African American, and American Indian adolescents are particularly at risk. While some critics blame changes in the healthcare system, many healthcare officials testify that these outcomes are the result of an unhealthy culture. Children who consume high calorie foods and rarely exercise are increasing their likelihood of developing type-2 diabetes. Learn more about helping educate children on the benefits of healthy lifestyles.

Cancer

Louisiana’s High Cancer Rates

Home to  ”Cancer Alley,” a strip of land between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that houses many industrial and petrochemical plants, Louisiana is found to have cancer rates that outpace the national average. For Louisiana residents, the most frequently diagnosed cancers are lung at 16 percent, prostate, 16 percent, breast, 14 percent, colon and rectum, 12 percent, and urinary bladder, 4 percent.  The five-year period between 2000 and 2004 brought 105,082 diagnoses of invasive primary in Louisiana residents, or an average of 21,016 cases per year. Specifically, Louisiana’s incidence rates for tobacco- related cancers such as lung, oral cavity, kidney, and pancreas are also higher than U.S. rates, which are preventable.

We’ve added Stay Healthy Louisiana to our blogroll because we think it’s a site well worth visiting often – you can also Fan Stay Healthy Louisiana on Facebook.