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Tips For A Heart Healthy Holiday

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Winter can be a particularly tough time of year for some of us. It’s dreary weather, the shorter days and the often cold temperatures. Regardless of those seasonal changes, many of us look forward to the holiday parties and celebrations that come with this time of year. Each event is full of festive cheer and good tidings but alternatively can cause some people to engage in overindulgence.

To help you navigate how to remain heart healthy during the holidays, we’ve created some tips that you can follow during your winter break.

Tips for a heart-healthy holiday

Eat regularly

Each holiday season, each one of us craves a dish that’s served at a big holiday dinner. We look forward to it in the lead up towards the holidays, and will often skip a meal to make room so that we can eat as much of it as we can. Try not to do this. By skipping meals you’re more likely to overeat. Aim to keep your energy levels high and eat your regular breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Load up with colour

This is a trick that is often referred by doctors to recovering heart attack patients. Aim to fill half of your plate with vegetables and fruit. This is a great way to balance out calorie-rich foods that are prevalent at holiday dinners. Optional: Try to choose fresh cut veggies, leafy garden salads and fruits, as they will tend to have fewer calories than other vegetables like mashed potatoes or maple syrup and squash.

Enjoy your favourite holiday foods in moderation

We acknowledge that it’s extremely difficult to avoid having some holiday favourites like shortbread, turkey and mashed potatoes. Instead of indulging heavily in everything, aim to have only what you truly enjoy. If you prefer having turkey and gravy; don’t have sweets for dessert.

Watch your drinks

Calories from drinks can add up quickly. This goes for both non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks. Seek out alternatives to some drinks that you would normally have casually. Instead of rum and coke have vodka and cran. Another alternative is to treat the drink as a dessert or snack rather than an add-on.

Remain active

Balance out the extra calories that you’ll be accumulating throughout the holiday season by doing some winter activities. This can be as simple as going for a walk with your family or shovelling the walks. Keeping active and getting the normal 2.5 hours of exercise a week is extremely important during the holidays.

Share your tips on how to remain heart healthy during the holidays in the comments below or reach out to us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

 

Heart Healthy Tips for shoveling

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With much of the country already experiencing plenty of snowfalls this winter, we thought that it would be a good time to talk about how the cold weather can increase the risk of a heart attack or a sudden cardiac arrest. More importantly how you can protect your heart and reduce that risk.

Although shovelling can seem like an easy chore, it can easily become a strenuous activity leaving you with plenty of fatigue. Lifting snow with a shovel back and forth across a driveway can take a lot out of those who are not regularly active. This can also be the case for those who have snowblowers, as the act of pushing the heavy machine can cause the same amount of strain.

In addition to the activity, the cold weather is another contributor to an increased risk as it can boost blood pressure, interrupt blood flow to part of the heart and make blood more likely to form clots.

Follow our tips below to make sure that you’re well prepared for shoveling your home this winter.

Before you shovel snow

  • If you’re recovering from a recent heart attack or have any doubts about shoveling affecting your health, please contact a doctor.
  • Look to avoid shoveling early on in the morning. Your blood is more prone to clotting due to the lower temperature. Aim to do it at a warmer point of the day if possible.
  • Do not eat a heavy meal before shoveling, as your blood will be diverted from the heart to the stomach.
  • Treat shoveling like a workout and warm up your body before you begin. Even something as simple as walking to the end of the street will be beneficial.
  • Do not drink coffee or smoke for at least one hour before or one hour after shoveling. These are stimulants and elevate your blood pressure and heart rate.

While shoveling snow

  • Use a small shovel that you can comfortably handle, rather than one that can pick up a lot of snow. Having a smaller shovel will allow for more loads, and won’t stress out your body.
  • Give yourself a lot of time to shovel. Plan to make frequent, 15-minute breaks.
  • Drink plenty of water
  • Dress in the appropriate amount of layers. Dress so you avoid hypothermia, but not too much and overheat. You could sweat a lot with too much clothing, which could result in the opposite effect of what you’re hoping for.
  • Make sure to cover your head and your neck.
  • Cover your mouth (breathing cold air can cause angina or trigger breathing problems).
  • Watch for the stereotypical signs of a heart attack: lightheadedness, dizziness, being short of breath or if you have tightness or burning in chest, neck, arms or back. If you or you think someone is having a heart attack, call 911 right away.

We hope that you’ve found these tips valuable. Stay safe and happy shoveling!

 

 

 

Student uses knowledge from Young At Heart app to save a life!

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Thanks to our Mikey Young at Heart App, Kayley, a 17 year old high school student, learned how to do CPR and saved a man’s life.

Kayley downloaded the Mikey App to earn volunteer hours towards her high school graduation by learning CPR & AED skills with a variety of videos and quizzes. Little did she know these skills would give her the knowledge and confidence to help someone in an emergency. Way To Go Kayley!

Here is the emergency situation Kayley found herself in:

I was walking in downtown Toronto on labour day Monday with my grandmother, when we noticed people making a fuss. There was a man on the ground and he was blue in colour. Automatically I knew something was wrong.

My grandmother grabbed my backpack and I knelt down beside him to perform CPR. I got to just over 30 compressions and he started to make wheezing sounds. There were people standing around but nobody knew how to properly perform CPR.

I knew CPR because I went through the Mikey Young At Heart App. Going through the videos and quiz’s gave me the confidence to act immediately and without fear. I knew what to do and I knew if I did it, this man would have a better chance of survival.
– Kayley, 17 years old

The Mikey Young at Heart App is free on Google Play and the App Store. We encourage all High School students to earn volunteer hours they need for graduation by using the Mikey App and learning skills to save a life – just like Kayley.

With everyone’s help, The Beat Goes On …

Congratulations to the 2017 Mikey Network Award Recipients

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Congratulations to Stephanie Plastina and Terence Boateng, the 2017 Mikey Network award recipients from the Ryerson University School of Nutrition!

Each year The Mikey Network awards a scholarship grant for students at the Ryerson University School of Nutrition, to recognize academic excellence and a commitment to the promotion of nutrition to prevent chronic heart diseases.

This year the award was presented to the students by Dr Nick Bellissimo, on behalf of The Mikey Network. Each of the students was asked what this award meant to them. Here is what they had to say:

” I feel honored to have received an award that highlights such an important cause. The study of nutrition is grounded in prevention to build a better and healthier society. To be apart of this is the greatest reward of all”

– Stephanie Plastina

“I am honored to be awarded this scholarship for my work in the promotion of nutrition to prevent chronic disease. This has been a passion of mine throughout my undergraduate experience and having an award tailor-made to this passion is both humbling and inspiring. Thank you so much to The Mikey Network organization for all the excellent work that they do and through this award I hope to further promote a healthy and active lifestyle.”

– Terence Boateng

Congratulations, Stephanie and Terence! We hope that this award is just one of the first steps in helping you to make the world a healthier place!

 

 

How to stay active during the winter

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As we enter the winter months, everything begins to slow down around us. Activities that used to take no time at all can become more of a chore. Even something as simple as going out requires you to put on multiple layers of clothing to keep yourself warm.

Although being outside can be tough, it isn’t all bad. It can actually be one of the best time’s of the year to go out and exercise. Activities like running in cold weather force the heart to work harder to distribute blood in the body, which can actually make heart muscles stronger. Saying that though, we only recommend running during the winter to already active people, not to those who are inactive or recovering from a heart attack or cardiac arrest.  Strenuous activity like running or snow shovelling during the winter can be very dangerous to individuals who are not used to regular physical activity.

To help distinguish what exercises you should do during the winter, we have compiled tips for active and inactive people.

Helpful tips for people with a heart illness or who are inactive

If you’re someone who has recently suffered from some sort of heart illness, first and foremost we recommend speaking with your doctor about an exercise plan. They know your health condition the best and will be able to recommend proper exercises for you as you transition back into a normal routine.

For inactive people or those who are recovering from a heart illness, we recommend beginning with some form of aerobic exercise to get your heart and lungs active again. Start slowly, and work your way up. Exercises such as swimming, light jogging or walking three to four times a week can be beneficial to you building up your heart muscles.

During the winter, we recommend walking to be your primary outdoor activity. It’s the easiest exercise to transition into and will allow you to slowly build up your aerobic activity.

As you adapt to exercising, begin trying more intensive forms of exercise.  This may require you to perform exercises indoors until you’re strong enough to do more outdoors.

Indoor exercises/sports to build up your strength

  • Curling
  • Chest stretches
  • Wall presses
  • Step-ups
  • Light-weight lifting
  • Swimming
  • Yoga

Tips for active people exercising outdoors

There are many benefits to working out outside during the winter. The main being, that you’ll strengthen your heart. You’ll also burn more calories, build a stronger tolerance to the cold and get a healthy dose of vitamin D.

There’s no shortage of activities/sports to do outdoors during the winter, but here are some of the most popular ones.

  • Hockey
  • Skiing
  • Cross-country skiing
  • Snowshoeing
  • Hiking

Although there are many benefits to exercising outdoors there are a number of factors that you should consider as well.

Factors to consider when exercising outdoors

Proper clothes

Dressing to workout in the winter can be difficult initially, but it’s all about finding the right materials that will help to keep you be comfortable. We recommend layering your clothes with moisture-wick fabrics that will help keep your body at a healthy temperature. The best items of clothing are the ones that will work to keep you warm but will also allow you to cool down. An example would be a jacket that has air flaps that can also be sealed back up with a zipper.

Staying hydrated

It’s one of the most important things to consider when exercising outdoors. Although it may seem like you’re not losing much sweat compared to when you workout in the summer, the sweat on your body evaporates at a very quick rate in the dry winter air. To prevent this make sure to drink water before, during and after cold-weather workouts to stay hydrated.

Warming up and cooling down

Properly warming up and cooling down should already be a part of your workout, but it’s even more important when it’s cold outside. You need to engage, warm up and energize your muscles before your workout. You want to make sure that you’re keeping your core body temperature elevated. Doing this also helps to prevent injuries from occurring like painful twists, sprains, and tears during your workout.

Do you have some tips that you’d like to share? Leave your suggestions in the comments or reach out to us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.