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Jody RN
December 2007
Love Your Heart
Our heart is our center. It is the life force that keeps our physical bodies alive. It responds to our every move and mood. It takes our precious breath of life and delivers the energy (oxygen) to every cell in our body. Our heart in its continuous beats delivers nutrients and expels waste with the help of other organ systems.
Our hearts purpose is to keep us alive. In turn, we must take care and treat our heart with the same love and affection it gives us. We have physical, emotional and spiritual needs; so does our heart. We need balance; so does our heart. These needs must be met in order for it to do its job of keeping us alive. By taking care of our heart, we are taking care of our physical, emotional and spiritual well being.
Unfortunately, our society makes it relatively easy to abuse our precious heart. Convenient access to oversized fast dead foods, sedentary lifestyles, emotional neglect and environmental stressors, keeps heart abuse knocking on our fronts doors. We all have to work on changing our DNA and re-program our minds and soul to think differently about our health and to take responsibility for its up keep. We maintain our cars, homes and clothing so our bodies are just as important and daily maintenance is the key to success.
Some physical needs of our heart include; balanced electrolytes and other nutrients found in eating a healthy natural diet filled with fresh fruits and vegetables and exercise. Electrolytes found in food must be in the proper amounts and in balance for the heart to function at its best. The four major electrolytes needed for the heart to beat are potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium. These elements are the electrical current that gives the heart its power. When they are not in balance, our heart and body in turn becomes out of balance. Some consequences of an unbalanced heart includes: hypertension (high blood pressure), strokes (interruption of oxygen to the brain), renal failure (failure of the kidneys to filter the blood), heart attacks (interruption of oxygen delivery to the cardiac or heart muscle), headaches, fatigue, depression, anxiety, aches and pain.
To keep the heart and the body systems functioning at its best, we should eat health conscious foods rich in potassium, magnesium, calcium and other vitamins and minerals. Eat foods low in saturated fats and eliminate all foods with Trans Fat on the label. Decrease your sodium (salt) intake. Sodium is found abundantly in most foods consumed and it is masked many times in sugar and processed foods. Foods with a high sodium content includes canned and processed foods, breads, cakes, cookies, sauces, barbeque, seasoning salts and many more. Sodium should not be consumed in amounts greater than 2,400 milligrams daily. Anymore and you are throwing your precious heart and other organs out of balance. By reading food labels, you can view the sodium contents and fat content in most food items. Remember that what goes in should come out, and not in a few weeks or so. Help your elimination by exercising, drinking plenty of water and eating those fresh fruits and vegetables.
Maintaining a healthy heart includes maintaining healthy emotions. Our heart responds to negative emotions and stress in negative ways and positive emotions such as laugher and joy in positive ways. How does your body feel when you are angry, stressed, confused, happy, joyful…? Pay attention to your emotions and observe its effect on your body. If you are stressed or need emotional healing, seek counsel from a sister or brother friend, family or community support group. If that is not enough, professional counseling may be necessary in the form of a holistic practitioner, native healer, psychologist, minister etc. Make reasonable goals for yourself. Go to bed earlier and wake up earlier to have more time in the day to achieve your goals. Keep your life’s rhythm in balance; promote love in your life and in the lives of others. Open your heart to experiences of love in the form of nature, art and music.
Remember to love your heart the way it loves you and together you will walk to the beat of the rhythmic lub-dub, lub-dub in balance and harmony.
Jody’s 10 tips for a healthy Heart!
- Eat fresh fruits and vegetables
daily.
- Each morning upon rising, take 10 deep, slow (4 counts inhale, 7 counts exhale) cleansing breaths and say
"thank you for the wonderful, marvelous incredibly fulfilling day ahead of
me".
- Decrease your salt and fat intake every day (make a goal for yourself).
- Make a point to have at least 1 big laugh each day (read a joke, make up a joke, lovingly tease a co- worker).
- Write all the great things that happened to you in a nightly journal.
- Spend 15 minutes doing something you love each day (even if its 15 minutes just thinking about how wonderful this thing is that you do).
- Exercise 20 minutes at least 3 days a week preferable everyday (walk, stretch, dance, take a fitness class, watch an exercise tape, clean the windows, walk the mall or the dog fast etc).
- Spend time with someone you love (5, 10, 15 minutes or longer) and think of the reason you love them. If there is absolutely no one in your life that you love, volunteer for a cause that you love and spend time with them, get a pet, love that pet or help and love your neighbor.
- Become aware of negative emotions daily, look at them, thank them for making you aware, and then send them off with love each day.
- OK this is the big one…..Send loving thoughts to someone you dislike or someone that angers you daily!
WE CAN DO THIS! COME ON, LET’S RECLAIM OUR HEART!
Peace and Love in your heart,
Jody-Ann Buckle RN
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