Welcome to Heart Healthy Living with Dr. Jackie, a big blend radio podcast that features Dr. Jacqueline Obani, a board certified cardiologist and electrophysiologist and author of the best selling book, Women and Heart Disease, The Real Story. So welcome back everybody, it is a national wellness month. That is what August is all about and I think it's a really good time frame because we're bridging the gap between the dog days of summer, really, really hot. We're eating salads, we're swimming in the pool, we're hiking, we're having this good time and then we start sneaking into fall and you know that's when life catches up with us. September, fall season comes in, we start looking at those naughty foods, cookies and you know, pumpkin pie and all of that starts to come in and work starts to really go crazy. Kids are back in school, life is happening full force and we start to spiral like what. So if we can set this up now, we will be happier and healthier and so Dr. Jack is going to be talking about that on today's show, talking about hey, how can we keep our sanity as it all unravels. So welcome back Dr. Jackie, how are you doing? I'm good, thanks for having me, I'm always happy to be here. Now, unraveling like you are a doctor, you know your schedule is insane, right? It's insane. I mean, the fact that we ever get her on the show every month is like a work of God, I think, because you are, you're always so busy, but then once I'm like, hey, I'm sorry, I'm on my way home from coast to become coming. You know, so I think you do have your balance, you understand like for you, personally, travel gives you that escape, right? And so everybody has to learn that, that wellness actually means happiness in a way, doesn't it? Absolutely, absolutely. I'm so happy that August is National Wellness Month because it helps to remind us, you know, that we really need to take care of ourselves. You know, I keep saying health as well, if you don't take care of yourself, then you're not going to live a happy and fulfilled lives. It's just like if we don't take care of our car one day, it's just going to say I'm not going to work for you. And then we're like, we can't get to work, right? And yeah, and I look at the engine as the heart of the car. Yeah, and so we take care of that engine. Can you tell that I just went through car drama? Because I thought of Dr. Jackie, I was like, I was going to call you and say, Dr. Jackie, what did I do? Because I really didn't like the people that were trying to tell me what to do because they were just, you know, they still look at us as dumb women in some places. It sucks. But, you know, when we look at this, wellness is about actually joy and breathing. And I finally remembered like what it's like to actually catch up on sleep. And my life kind of like got more in perspective. And what really bugged me just doesn't bug me. I wonder about that in our heart health, because there's so much stress in the world for real for and for real reasons, right? And there's so much anger and there's so much tension. So that leads to hypertension and blood pressure. And then I wonder if we can find this balance no matter what's going on in the world, if we can harness some positivity, what we push forward a little bit better and also be healthier. Yes, absolutely. That's why I really love the idea of this month being labeled the National Wellness Month, because it's time for us to start to think about, you know, in our busy lives, we get busy all the time and we never, you know, have time for ourselves. But when August comes around and this National Wellness Month is there, it allows us to really think about things, you know, to prioritize, you know, self care, to deal with stress, you know, think about our stress management, you know, in our lives, because we know stress can lead to a lot of cardiovascular illnesses. So learning how to manage stress in your life. And also the month reminds us that we need to start emphasizing healthy routines that we need to, you know, make a habit of doing all the time. But like you said, all these, yeah, but yeah, like you said, all this, you know, leads to better sleep, you know, improvement in your sleep, which will lead to improved, you know, productivity and things like that. So it's really important in our lives. I think when you look at it, it's like you're setting up the structure, they say like your dog's always going to run out your backyard if you don't put the fence up. So put the fence up first and don't stress yourself out. And when kids are going back to school, suddenly you have to make the lunches on time, get them to the school. Oh, then you're going to have to do homework. Yeah, that's right, trigonometry, everybody. That's why I don't have kids. But seriously, that's a secret thing. I don't have kids because I don't want to have to do trigonometry again. But do they still do it? I don't even know. I don't want to know. I don't want to know. I just don't want to know. So therefore I'm allowed to say no. How about that? I know you have a medical term to understand. You always teach us a medical term of the month. But can I just say, can we just use no as the term? I think that I think for this month, actually, that's probably a really good word to to learn how to say no, you don't have to do everything. Because that adds a layer of stress onto your life that you really don't need. It's okay to say no, I will not take on an additional task. It's okay to take time out for yourself and to prioritize self care like I keep mentioning. Self care. So as women, I think it's really harder. And I know your book, Women and Heart Disease, the real story, really focuses on women because it's overlooked a lot about this is what women die from the most, is a heart disease, not breast cancer. Breast cancer is bad. But I wanted to ask you, you know, for women, we do carry stress in a very quiet and almost violent way. And I say violent not out of like violence, but that you one day things erupt in a crazy fashion and people don't understand or you burst into tears and people don't understand or you may actually have a mini heart attack or a heart attack or a stroke. So does that make sense? What I'm saying, like, if you keep everything bottled in for 20 years, one day, that's not going to work for you. You can't do it. Absolutely. Yeah, no, I completely agree with you. Chronic stress on a regular basis can overall lead to manifestations of, you know, underlying diseases that are, you know, they're being dormant for many years. I know congestive heart failure was your term, but no, I think it's really important right now. And no, we can say no to congestive heart failure. Yes. That later. But let's let's talk about no. Saying no means we can say yes. Okay, so let's let's talk about that state being National Wellness Month. When we say no to certain things, it means that we can say yes to other things. And that's, I think, where we forget to bridge that gap because saying no seems very negative. Right. Right. But no is, hey, no, I'm not going to do the bake sale this year. Sorry. I'm busy because you know what? I just had another child and I'm going to take care of my kid and I'm going to take care of my health with my new baby. So I'm going to say no this year. So maybe what I'll do is give you a $20 donation. I can say yes to that. Does that make sense? Yeah. Absolutely. Saying we can say saying no to extra activity means saying yes to yourself. Exactly. Now let's talk about food. We always talk about food. So you're going to say no to the big giant steak with blue cheese and butter and all that and French fries or steak fries or whatever it is, the big loaded baked potato because you know it's not good for you. But if you do it once a year, it's okay. Right. No, that's okay. And you're going to have this fancy dinner. But maybe you could say yes to what that would like give you this similar experience. So we could say you're so happy. Yeah. Yes to healthier living. You know maybe instead of deep fried, I don't know, fish. How about baked fish? You know, instead of eating you know animal-based protein, how about picking some product-based protein? And it doesn't have to be huge changes all at once. But you know, one step at a time that can eventually lead to health routines that become more permanent. When you look at the no yes concept, doesn't that kind of feel cool? In a way, it's kind of powerful. It is. Like I'm going to say yes to this. I did this. It's like voting. I'm saying no to this and yes to like I didn't say about voting, but like hello. Yay for women. Just saying. Personally, personally saying you can say no or yes. You have this or yes or no, right? So every time we make a decision, when you look at the yes, a lot of times we're always going no to this, but we don't put in the yes to that. I think that's what we're lacking. Right. Right. So if we say no to something that's going to be adding more stress to our lives, then we have to say yes to something that's going to be more prioritizing self-care. Yeah. So let's look at this right now. It's wellness month. So I want to say no to diabetes. So I don't have diabetes, but can I say yes to a heart healthy diet like Mediterranean diet that you talk about a lot and you love? So if I said, hey, I'm going to say no to the cheeseburgers and all of that, but I'm going to say yes to the Mediterranean diet. Am I in fact saying no to diabetes and yes to heart health and then being healthy? Because when I look at wellness, I almost feel like we should focus like cancer as a whole other world, right? Right. But but if you drink too much as a woman, that leads to cancer, right? Rest cancer from alcohol leads to breast cancer, right? Yeah. So I kind of figure if we just look at heart healthy life and living and say no to the things that aren't heart healthy living, that we would be well. I mean, there's things genetically obviously in heart health too, right? So I'm just saying, but in general, you can't really go wrong in being heart healthy and no overall wellness because if your heart gives out, well, you know, what happens, right? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. No, I agree. I think that, you know, being healthy, being heart healthy goes a long way with improving your overall health, not just your heart, but all your other organ systems also stand to benefit from healthy living and and yeah, preventative, preventative measures. So let's look at things we can do for fun as a heart healthy wellness person. I'm going to be wellness like I have a friend I told you about. I keep telling you about she goes on the beach and has yoga with her friends. She has built a community through this like she wants to go not just for the yoga, but for the companionship. She's on the beach, she's hearing those waves. That's how she starts her day. Like seriously, I'm sorry. I think that sounds pretty good to me. Yes. So I would say no to driving in traffic and yes to that. Just say, I would agree. I would agree. No to driving, no to added chores for the day and yes to doing yoga on the beach or yes to meditating or yes to hiking with friends. Or whatever it is that you do that makes you makes you feel calm and relaxed. I like this. I like this. No, yes thing. Full bottle of wine by yourself. Yes to what? Five ounce glass of wine with friends and family. The ones that you like anyway. Okay. So we're going to we're going to look at prevention, which we're definitely covered today. Yes. Let's look at a no that we're going to do. Let's see. What can we do? That's really bad to ourselves. Oh, let's just talk about having a 20 hour work day. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. Is that necessary? Is it really necessary? Even as a doctor, how necessary is it? Because how much are we performing at that much of a? Yeah, no, it's not. It's not healthy overall for you. If you're spending all your time at work and you're not doing things that are important to life, you know, you're not hanging out with family or friends or you're not spending time with your children. You're not, you know, doing things that will promote healthy habits because, you know, if you're working 20 hours a week means or 20 hours a day means that one, you're not exercising. Two, you're probably not eating properly. Three, you're so stressed, you're probably not sleeping. So yeah, so that on a regular basis overall will, you know, will lead to unhealthy lifestyle. Okay, so the big no to the consistent work because it isn't, it isn't good. I think that's a really, that's when we talk about wellness. It's about like balancing things out because if, you know, we live once, I have a friend right now who's going through a cardiology situation. And she wrote a whole thing in hospital going, you better value every breath you take because you don't know when it's going to go away. She's a life coach and she just got this massive scare. And I mean, her blood pressure was over 211 over something. Well, I don't know what that means. But is that high? That's very high. You say no to that, right? What should we say yes to for blood pressure? What's a no and a yes? Oh, I like this no and yes. What's a no and what's the? Well, I mean, blood pressure stress can contribute to high blood pressure. But sometimes, you know, there is a family history component to that. So some people are predisposed to high blood pressure. But when they add a stressful situation in their lives, it can make the blood pressure high. So I would say no to stressful situations and yes, to taking a hike with friends. Okay. What is a good blood pressure rate then? So the American Heart Association defines normal blood pressure as anything in 120s over 80. But when it starts young, in the 130s and over, then you will probably need medication spread. The goal is 120 over 80s is considered normal. Okay. So what is the? Okay, that's a whole other show. We have to do a show on blood pressure. Like, I want to know, understand the the this over that and all of that. So everyone stay tuned for next month, because we're going to get into that. Because I think that's a yes and no, an understanding, because to me, it's like a bunch of numbers. And that's nice. Look, I scored big mom. No, that's not a big score. We don't want that score. We want a lower score on this, right? So that's a low. And so you got the high blood pressure and you got a lower undercurrent. Like, look at it as an ocean, right? Here's the tide. You want the tide to be this. You want the undercurrent to be cool. Everybody's got to be happy. Dr. Jackie, always good to chat with you and give us a good reminder of the yeses and noes of heart health and having fun with it. You can be heart healthy and have a good time. You can go dancing with your friends. Just don't like don't have 10 cocktails. You know, go, go, go, see your favorite concert and party all night long. Have that time, because it feels good. You're energetic. You're having a good time. Yes, it's stimulating. And just go to sleep the next day, whatever. But just don't have like 20 cocktails, 10 cocktails, five cocktails, right? Absolutely. Yes, I completely agree with you. I completely agree with you, because I think our goal is not just, you know, longevity, but it's also a good quality of life. You know, you could live to 70s, 80s and be really sickly in the wheelchair, or you could live to 70s and 80s and be, you know, fully functional and still travel and do all these fun things. So our goal is longevity along with good quality of life. I hate to say this, but I'm going to say this. I think it's important. Yeah, no, I mean it. This is a serious part of the fun side of the show here. I think if it is, it is an honest thing to do to take care of yourself the best you can, none of us are perfect. So let's just say that. Yeah, you're going to have your two glasses of wine. That's fine. But you've got to think about the people that are going to care for you too in your life. What are you doing? If you choose to be unhealthy, what are you putting them through? If you have like a stroke, it's not one thing that you just die, right? If you're going to be a stroke means you may not be able to talk or move around, right? Dr. Jackie, you may now be taking your son or your daughter or in-laws or even the younger ones and making them work at home to take care of you instead of them doing their dreams. So I hate to be a real bummer on it all. But I kind of feel we need to remember that, that our health affects other people in our life and in your career. Absolutely. Absolutely. I agree with you 100%. Okay, closing off for National Wellness Month. What would you do right now for a perfect happy fun moment? And I want you to include food with that. Well, I am going to, I'm going to the beach. I'm just going to take a walk on the beach. And I will have my favorite dessert, which is chocolate covered strawberries. But I'm not going to overdo it because there's a chocolate part of it. Dark chocolate, right? Dark chocolate. And berries are antioxidants and so is dark chocolate, right? Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Ooh, we have to do a show on antioxidants next. We got a lot to talk about. Dr. Jackie, thank you so much. Everyone, keep up with Dr. Jackie. Go get our book. It's on Amazon. It's a bestseller. Women and heart disease book.com. Thank you so much. Let's go. I feel like I need to go take a jog or something, but I can't jog. I'll walk. I'll do my walk. Do my one hour walk. Sounds like fun. Thanks for joining us on Big Blend Radio's heart healthy living show with Dr. Jackie. New episodes air every second Wednesday at 12 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. You can keep up with Dr. Jackie at womenandheartdiseasebook.com. Listen to the shows at bigblendradio.com.
