Jennifer

Anderson
Nutr 2020
Habiba Nur
Dec. 1, 2015

Family Health History

Imagine a world where there are no flashing lights, alarms or even an app you can

download. The tragedy is where people continue to claim that they werent prepared, that it
took them by surprise. Through most of my research, there is one question I havent been able
to answer and its the same one that I have found to be mostly ignored. If you knew how you
were going to die, wouldnt you try to do everything you could to prevent it?

An article by Drs Francis Miller Jr., et.al. in the International Journal of Molecular

Sciences titled, Special Issue: Oxidative Stress In Cardiovascular Disease 2015, emphasize that
heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. (Francis) We could be
preventing or at least delaying our mortality but instead we continue not to. For most of us,
heart disease has precursors that are self-evident and highly preventable through our activity
levels, nutritional eating habits and our level of exposure to smoking carcinogens.

Consider for a moment your activity levels and how they might be working for or against

you. According to the CDC, the percentage of Americans diagnosed with hypertension in 2012
was at 32.5%. In order to counteract this problem, our routines should include at least 150
minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise as well as two days of strength
training. (CDC) The problem is that less than half of Americans are attaining those physical
activity goals.
If you arent physically active you probably attribute your sedentary lifestyle to a
combination of things like money, work, family relationships, the economy or even your health.
Another word for this is, Stress. The American Psychological Association believes that stress

remains a major barrier that prevents us from living well and reaching our health and lifestyle
goals (APA).

We are using it, however, as some sort of utilitarian interpretation that somehow will

become a benefit in out lives. We use stress to excuse why we conform only to that which
brings us pleasure, until it brings us pain.
Stress neither motivates us to become physically active, nor condones our sedentary
lifestyle. Stress ultimately leaves us in this kind of limbo that promotes only a singular catalyst
for change, heart disease itself. Its a cycle that we have an obligation to expose and reform if
not only for our families then for our own health.

Our eating habits also play a large role in determining our risk factors for heart disease.

In a news release from the USDA titled, Americans Are Choosing Healthier Foods, Consuming
Healthier Diets, they claim that from 2005 to 2010 Americans cholesterol intake declined by
an average of about 7% and fats and saturated fats between 3% and 5% respectively. (Todd)
However, if you compare it to the CDC claims into the increased use of lipid controlling
medications (Kuklina, et.al.) you would find that we are turning to medications as panacea to
solve our physical ailments more than individual management.

It has been acknowledged for many years that fatty buildup and inflammation of the

arteries are indications into a heart attack. Medications, however, should be a last alternative
method to solving such a complex problem as heart disease because according to Dr. Mark
Hyman, many of them dont treat the underlying causes of chronic illnesses. (Hyman) Its like
putting yourself on life support because you had an asthma attack.

Most of us wait until after we develop symptoms to go to the doctor, expecting him to

solve all of our problems with some miracle cure. The reality though, we are keeping ourselves
from taking responsibility for our shortsighted actions.
Heart disease has the same problems that the characters in Ann Rands Anthem have.
We have created an epidemic where over one third of our nation is obese. Our cultural desire
for individuality has created a sort of survival way of thinking that is frustrating and indifferent
to our condition.
In the text, Nutrition Through The Life Cycle it explains that approximately one in four
adolescents have elevated cholesterol levels, one of the causes of heart disease. It has been
estimated that over 79 million adults have pre-diabetes, an effect of elevated cholesterol. 25.6
million of those are diagnosed and an additional 7 million are not. (Brown) Its just another
confirmation that we are much more likely to die from some form of heart disease.

The second most preventative way to solve this problem of heart disease is by adjusting

and controlling our eating habits. Foods rich in antioxidants help to rebalance (the) free
radicals in our diet. Antioxidants keep these free radicals from causing cellular mutation, tissue
breakdown and compromising our immune system. (Houston) Some antioxidant rich foods we
can add to our diets include nuts, blueberries, whole grain oats, tomatoes, dark leafy greens,
and beans.
We also need to keep our LDL cholesterol intake low because they have also been
known to contribute to fatty buildup in the arteries. Sugar also has a serious contribution to
inflammation in the arteries, causing our heart to work less effectively.

The last factor that causes heart disease would be Smoking. Smoking mutates cellular

structure causing cancer. Smoking causes particles to become stuck in the lungs, irritating them
and causing them to develop a thick stick mucus as a defense mechanism to protect and rid
itself of these foreign objects. It thus makes it difficult for them to empty the air out of our
lungs.

It doesnt matter if you put the cigarette in your mouth or if the wind happens to blow it

in your face as you walk past someone who is smoking. Smoking raises your triglycerides, makes
your blood thicker and your body becomes more susceptible to forming blood clots. If cell walls
become so damaged that they can no longer absorb nutrients properly this leads to many
additional complications including type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lung cancer. So, if
you want to live longer, we need people to stop smoking.

What heart disease all comes down to is effort because lowering our risk of death from

heart disease is hard. It takes a long term effort that begins in childhood and stays with us
through the rest of our life. Change is a commitment that is as difficult as it is next to
impossible, especially when our nature desires consistency. We dont like it when we are
wrong.
We live in a world where we demand more than the best of everything. The best steak,
at the best price and the best life, the best of ourselves, and at a cost that a lot of us just dont
want to accept. So we keep putting it off, living in the moment, preparing for the inevitable, yet
never truly ready to face up to our failures.

Of course there are those who are born with certain conditions, racial and ethnic

determinants that link them to higher mortality rates. We call them pre-existing conditions that

either develop over time or are there from the moment we enter this world. These are what
makes us human but there is no reason we should be leaving personal consequences to the
future of fate.

My father loved his Kool-aid and candy, and later got hooked on drugs. His final battle

came when he contracted a bacteria while visiting his wife in the hospital, where it travelled to
his heart causing bacterial endocarditis. At the age of 45 he left a family of five children, ranging
in age from 27 to 17, with a legacy of debt and looking for answers.

We never expected him to die, he was fairly healthy, trying to get clean, only slightly

overweight. None of those things mattered in the long run because the damage was not from
any single condition. In my opinion, the more you know the more prepared you are to either
accept or fight for the life you choose.

My story is not an unfamiliar one. There are many forms of heart disease takes

approximately 610, 000 people in the United States every year. (CDC-Heart disease Facts) They
leave behind families, loved ones and a lot of unanswerable questions. We do not go through
death on our own but it is given to us so that we can prepare and learn from the inevitable. Its
is an inevitable fact of life that we are all meant to die, so we should be dealing with it, not
handing the responsibility of it off to the generations that follow.

Heart disease has precursors that are self-evident and highly preventable through our

activity levels, nutritional eating habits and our level of exposure to smoking carcinogens. We
need every person to start carrying their own torch for heart disease. We need to become
healthier through more rigorous physical activity and nutritional eating habits. Most of all we
need people to stop smoking.

Our world does not revolve around one person, one solution, one right or wrong choice.

It is a culmination of learning and then doing. We have spent the last 50 years learning and then
ignoring the consequences of self-indulgence. Now we must work toward a future worthy of
our present existence.

Citations
Miller, Prof. Dr. Francis J. Jr., Csanyi, Dr. Gabor & Drummond, Dr. Grant. (2015) Special Issue:
Oxidative Stress In Cardiovascular Disease 2015. International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
EISSN 1422-0067 Published by MDPI AG, Basil, Switzerland. Web. Accessed Nov. 30, 2015 at
http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms/special_issues/cardiovascular-disease2015

Center of Disease Control. (2015) How much physical activity do adults need. US Department
of Health and Human Services. Web. Accessed Dec. 1, 2015 at
http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/

American Psychological Association. (2015) Stress In America: Paying With Our Health Page
10. Web. Accessed Dec. 1, 2015 at
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2014/stress-report.pdf

Todd, Jessica E. (2014) Changes In Eating Patterns And Diet Quality Among Working-Age
Adults, 2005-2010 USDA. Economic Research Service. ERR-161; 35 pp. Web. Accessed on Dec.
1, 2015 at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err-economic-research-report/err161/report-
summary.aspx

Kuklina, Elena V. MD, PhD; Carroll, Margaret D., M.S.P.H.; Shaw, Kate M. M.S.; Hirsch,
Rosemarie MD, M.P.H. (2013) NHCS Data Brief CDC. National Center for Health Statistics.
Number 117, Mar. 2013. Web. Accessed on Dec. 1, 2015 at
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db117.htm

Hyman, Mark, MD. (2015) Seven Ways To Fix Your Cholesterol Without Medication.
Dr.hyman.com Web. Accessed on Nov. 30, 2015 at
http://drhyman.com/blog/2011/01/28/seven-tips-to-fix-your-cholesterol-without-medication/

Houston, Mark C. MD, MS. (2012) What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Heart Disease.
Grand Central Life And Style. Hatchette Book Group. New York. Print. Accessed on Dec. 1, 2015

Center for Disease Control (2015) Heart Disease Facts US Department of Human Services.
Accessed on Dec. 1, 2015 at http://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm