GOAL - REACH 5,000 Kms - Walking and Jogging to Fitness!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Day 23

When my Toronto Western Hospital surgeon, Dr. Allen Okrainec, told me I would live longer after having Bariatric surgery, I investigated some reasons how women die in Canada. Top of my list was the Health Canada's website - they have all the numbers. The following information is from this web page:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/pubs/women-femmes/heart-cardiovasculaire-eng.php 
You will find a lot more info on this page. 
What I found was startling. 
( My comments in BLUE)
I received a lovely gift to inspire my weight loss from Helena - a wonderful wrap with  MINK BALLS. Cool, eh? Okay, back to heart health!
Health Canada is developing new initiatives to encourage women and health providers to work together to promote healthy living and awareness of the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease.Heart Health Facts
  • Eight times as many women die from heart disease and stroke than from breast cancer. 40% of all Canadian women's deaths are due to heart disease and stroke.
  • A woman's risk of death from heart disease increases 4 times after menopause. The rate of stroke also increases dramatically after menopause.
  • Some women (30%) may have different symptoms than men such as indigestion-like discomfort, vague chest pain, discomfort or pressure, nausea or back pain. These symptoms occur more often in women than men, and should not be ignored. It is important to know 70% of women have similar symptoms of a heart attack as men, such as sudden strong crushing chest pain and shortness of breath.
  • Women with diabetes (all this disease stuff is all related, isn't it?) at any age are at more risk of developing heart disease and stroke than men who have diabetes. Compared to women without diabetes these women have triple the risk of heart attack and a much greater risk of a stroke.
  • Compared to active women, inactive women are twice as likely to die from heart disease and stroke. (that's a great reason for getting OFF the couch!)
  • Contrary to popular belief, hypertension (high blood pressure) is not usually caused by stress or anxiety. It is a condition that makes your heart work too hard. Have your blood pressure checked regularly.
I do feel guilty. 
Messed up my health all my life, and now at my age (first year as a grandmother!) I am trying to FIX what I broke. It would have made more sense to be healthy ALL my life. But wow, my life was stressful, so I stuffed my feelings day after day. 
As my weight slowly kept piling on, I concentrated very hard on putting it out of my mind, concentrating on work, family, but never me. 
Suddenly I was close to 200 pounds. 
The scary part of this awful milestone (should be millstone) was it took away my faith in myself. I felt trapped in a larger body out of control. Every bad thing happening to me just added to my weight. Going over 200 I just blew it. It got much worse . . .
I hated, LOATHED myself. Why couldn't I be like other 'slim' women? 
As I lived my fast-paced life, I never slowed down to love myself. I was never good to me. I was self destructive. 
Like today's and yesterday's youth (yes I went to Woodstock!) I felt invincible. But I was wrong. Even some friends scared me as health consequences happened to them. Our health is precarious.
Drastic measures were needed. I believed living with this extra weight - like Danielle wrote yesterday, was NOT LIVING.
No more! No more!
We ALL know what to do not to end up as I did. I cheer myself up because I am starting to have ANKLES!
All the best! 

2 comments:

  1. Hi there! I'm a new follower. Found you making comments at Steve's blog... ^___^ nice to meet you...

    God bless!

    http://todrawneargod.blogspot.com

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  2. Ok now that you look so fabulous and everyone here at my work looks at you with me.....we ALL want to know HOW MUCH HAVE YOU LOTS SO FAR? You ahve quite a cheering club here.....
    You other best friend Lynda

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