E113 - Creative Heart Health with Lisa Murphy -part 1
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Beth: [00:00:00] Hello, my creative friend. Welcome back to another episode of Create Today with Beth Buffington. Today I have my friend and co-leader of Sylva Sessions and the Sylva Retreats. She's here with us again today. To talk about something important. It is February, it is Valentine's. It is Heart Month. So we're going to talk about matters of the heart.
So Lisa, Welcome back my friend, the Healthy Aging Coach. Come and talk to us about some really important things we need to know about taking care of ourselves. By making sure our hearts are healthy.
Lisa: Thank you so much, Beth. It's always so much fun to be here with you.
And you're right. Valentine's Day is just around the corner. February is the month of love, and I believe it's most important to show [00:01:00] ourselves some love and show our tickers some love, and so that's what we're gonna talk about today. Healthy Habits for a Healthy Heart. And your listeners might be excited to know.
It does involve chocolate.
Beth: Woo hoo. Anytime we involve chocolate, I know you've got my attention Tell me more. Tell me more.
Lisa: I think it might be helpful to define what we're exactly talking about when we talk about heart disease. So you might hear it referred to as heart disease or cardiovascular disease.
And in general it means a group of conditions that affect the heart and the blood vessels, the cardiovascular system. This could include cardiovascular disease. Which affects the heart arteries, and this is what people might be most familiar with. Like you get a blockage in one of your arteries and it causes a heart attack.
Beth: Hmm.
Lisa: So that is [00:02:00] cardiovascular disease or heart disease. It also can include heart failure. Some people have conditions where there hearts don't pump efficiently. heart disease can also include abnormal. Heart rhythms, um, hypertensive disorders, this is really, really important because a lot of people in our world today have high blood pressure, so that is considered a cardiovascular disease,
And then of course, there are always other structural or congenital heart conditions. But for our intents and purposes today, we'll be talking about things involving the heart, the arteries, the blood vessels, and the blood pressure.
Beth: everyone knows someone who has had heart problems or they are already having them themselves, so got any stats for us.
Lisa: I do. It is actually shocking. Nearly half of all US [00:03:00] adults have some form of cardiovascular disease
Beth: That's chilling. I just got goosebumps hearing that.
Lisa: And these are the, and these are the cases that we know about. How many people may be running around with undiagnosed heart disease that don't know. So I'm guessing the numbers are actually higher. Um, even more chilling.
Somebody dies in the US every 36 seconds from heart disease.
Beth: That is chilling again. I mean, I, ugh.
Lisa: good news. A lot of this is preventable and reversible and we're gonna talk about that. So this is not all doom and gloom. Let's focus specifically on women because as we probably know, so much of this studies and the drug research and all of this has been done on men and not on women.
And I find if you ask a woman her biggest fear, often she will say breast cancer.
Beth: Yep.
Lisa: A very terrifying diagnosis. Of course, however, the number one killer of women in the US is indeed [00:04:00] heart disease, not breast cancer, a condition that is in many cases. Preventable and reversible.
So for women, the statistics are a little bit better. Only about 44% of us have some form of heart disease, but. One out of every five women will die of heart disease. the good news is we have this knowledge, this awareness, so we can. Do our best to do something about it.
Beth: and women need to know that when heart problems start to arise,The symptoms present themselves differently than they do for men.
Am I right?
Lisa: Yeah, they absolutely can. And this is the thing, the symptoms of heart disease or heart attack specifically, they're varying, they're all over the board. We hear of I feel like an elephant set on my chest or my left arm went numb. you might get dizzy, you might get nauseous.
You might feel very tired and short of breath, What I do know that the first [00:05:00] heart attack for women is more likely to be deadly, and because women often ignore symptoms, we push through. No, I'm fine. So often women have been getting little warnings all along that they've been ignoring.
So I think the bottom line on this is if you're not feeling well, listen and trust your own body and don't mess around. Get yourself checked.
Beth: And what Lisa's gonna talk about today is that in addition to medicine, taking care of a catastrophe you can a reverse. Symptoms. just by a few things that we're gonna talk about today with Lisa.
Lisa: Absolutely. So here's the good news.
today we're going to talk about two specific pillars of heart health. And the good news is there's gonna be fun and easy tips and tricks that you can implement starting today [00:06:00] to improve your own cardiovascular health.
And the first is what everybody loves to talk about. Food.
Beth: Food, yes.
Lisa: So the other really good news is that I'm not going to tell you to eat less. I'm going to tell you that for heart health, you want to eat more,
Beth:
Lisa: more anti-inflammatory foods, more fiber, and get this more dark chocolate.
So what are anti-inflammatory foods? It's super confusing. There's so much noise in the wellness industry today
Beth:
Lisa: There are two kinds of inflammation in the body. One is acute inflammation, which is if you cut your finger, you know it'll bleed, it'll get swollen, it'll get inflamed and hot. That is the body's natural response to help heal. So the body detects. An incident, if you will, and it sends its [00:07:00] troops there to take care of it.
often we think of inflammation as, oh, I'm bloated, or That's not the kind of inflammation we're talking about. Chronic inflammation examples would be like autoimmune conditions where for some reason the body is attacking itself.
So again, the body is perceiving an invader of some sort, and so it sends the response again, fluids, swelling. To help heal what it thinks is a problem. So the problem though with that is today we have so many invaders, if you will, in our system, in the form of toxins, foods, stress, the news, right?
Beth: Oh yes.
Lisa: The body can't tell the difference. So it sends the. I'm gonna save you response even when it's not really needed. And that is what is referred to as chronic inflammation. Mm. So one of the easiest things we can do to help reduce [00:08:00] our inflammation is to cut back on foods that cause inflammation.
But remember, I'm not gonna tell you to eat less of anything.
I want to tell you foods that help keep inflammation at bay.
Beth: All right.
Lisa: They are fruits and veg. Are you getting your fruits and veg, particularly? Berries are wonderful for us and for veg. If I had to recommend one, I would say leafy greens, nuts and seeds are very good for our cardiovascular system.
Walnuts in particular?
Beth: Yeah.
Lisa: Healthy fats. Avocados. olives, healthy oils. Oils is another big controversial topic these days. I just keep two in my kitchen. Extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil. Those are both heart healthy oils and fatty fish. So omega threes, salmon, anchovies, sardines. Trout,
right here. We've got some action [00:09:00] items that your listeners can take away. More fruit in the form of berries, more veg in the form of leafy greens. Add a handful of walnuts as your snack. Eat healthy fats. Maybe have olive oil and avocado oil in your kitchen, and then enjoy fatty fish, salmon, trout, tuna, sardines.
Beth: Yeah. I remember something you told me once, it's kind of like gamifying your food. Is how many different kinds of fruit and vegetables can you eat in a week? And I think you set a number. Do you remember what that number was?
Lisa: Of course I do. This is huge, and this is, this has to do with what we're gonna talk about next, which is the fiber.
So it's a perfect lead-in four gut health, which we know is so important nowadays. And if you didn't know that before, now gut health is so important. We need a diversity of. Plants to get the right kinds of fiber. And I'm [00:10:00] not saying you need to only eat plants, you don't have to be a vegetarian, you don't have to be a vegan.
But it's really important to understand that fiber only comes from foods that come from plants. So there's no fiber in meat, eggs, dairy. Sorry to say, only foods that come from plants, the fruit and veg, the nuts and seeds, whole grains, healthy fats like avocados and olives. So back to your question about the variety.
So to eat enough different kinds of fiber for a healthy gut, we should aim for 30 to 40 different varieties of plants each and every week.
Beth: Now that seems like, oh, I could never do that.
But if you think about it, if I have aan orange sweet potato, and then I have a purple sweet potato. That's two, right?
Lisa: Yes. That's two. Yeah,
Beth: that's two. And if I have a a yellow sweet pepper and a red one and a green one.
Is that three.
Lisa: Three, count them.
Beth: Yep. that makes it fun. [00:11:00] and we're talking about creativity here, this is a really super fun way to just bring in the full rainbow of color and make that palette with, with your food. Super interesting now.
Lisa is a vegetarian, right? Or are you vegan?
Lisa: Actually, I'm mostly vegan. I do eat seafood occasionally.
Beth: Okay. I do eat meat, but I love fruits and vegetables, but it is something that I have ramped up over time, so I. I didn't always like my veggies.
I was the kid sitting at the table with the lima beans still on your plate
Lisa: Yeah. And there's no pressure. You know, I said berries. If you don't like berries, forget about berries.
Eat a banana. By the way, bananas do not make you fat. You know? If you don't like leafy green vegetables, forget about leafy green vegetables. Find a vegetable that you do enjoy. And I love your idea of making it a game. In fact, my partner, Rob and I, we did this for ourselves. We made it a little a challenge and I printed off a PDF [00:12:00] like a calendar, and we kept track of the different varieties of plants that we ate each day and then counted up at the end of the week.
And it's, it truly is easier than you can imagine. So for example, if we take what a typical day might be for. Someone's meals, like say you have oatmeal, okay. Oats are a plant. You top them with some sort of fresh or frozen fruit and you throw in a tablespoon or two of walnuts, and then even like maybe a tablespoon of cacoa, nibs, that dark chocolate.
Right. Okay. There is four different, oh, and then you pour on some almond milk. Five different, five different plants right there. Then for lunch you have a big spinach salad with grilled chicken and some sweet potatoes, some dried cranberries, some sliver almonds, um, avocado olives. There's six, were already past 10.[00:13:00]
And then for dinner you have. A piece of grilled salmon, a sweet potato, a big salad, or some sauteed green beans. You know, you can see that's just in one day. Mm-hmm. So it's not as hard as you think.
Beth: Yes. And you were saying you might not like leafy veg, like leafy green vegetables. I think you can ramp up to that too. I meanstart off if you're just an iceberg lettuce person. Okay, now can you go to romaine lettuce? Okay, you got that. Now, can you try some baby spinach and blend it together?
And then maybe now you're ready to try some arugula and some kale but. Ramp it up. It's a flavor investigation
Lisa: Yeah. Just don't be afraid to try new things.
So fiber, super important for heart health. And then should we go on to dark chocolate?
Beth: Well, before we go to the chocolate, can you tell us how many grams of fiber we need?
Lisa: Oh, I am so glad that you asked. So [00:14:00] women need an average of 25 grams of fiber. Per day men, about 38. One physician that I work with, she says if everybody just ate 50 grams of fiber a day, we wouldn't even be having any problems.
I mean, you might be having a few toots, but your body usually gets used to that too. Yeah. again, Play a game. You know, there's all kinds of free apps. keep track of how much fiber you eat in a day so you have a baseline so that you know.
Beth: if you've never thought about counting your grams of fiber, you'll be surprised how little fiber you're having in a.
Lisa: I'm afraid you're right, because in today's world, protein is the, the hot topic. And yes, we need protein, we need the, we need good quality, clean protein, but 90% of Americans get enough protein, yet only 10% of Americans get enough fiber.
again, we're fighting the wrong demon.
Beth: [00:15:00] Yeah. So, it, it's kind of a wake up call to say, oh, I need to take a look at what I'm doing and where I can find fiber that is going to meet those requirements.
Absolutely.
So one apple has four to five grams of fiber, one apple, and if you wanna think about nutrient density and calories and all that, you're getting so much bang for your buck with the apple Mm-hmm.
and when Lisa's talking about eating more, she's saying if you're eating the anti-inflammatory foods that we've just talked about, fresh vegetables and fruits and nuts and seeds, healthy fats. Fatty fish. You can eat more of those. She's not saying you can go in McDonald's more often.
No, no.
Lisa: Eat more of the right things. Right?
Beth: Right.
Lisa: And notice I didn't say stop eating anything else. Just add these good things in. You can have what if you wanna have a burger [00:16:00] and fries? Great. Add. Add a little salad or some fresh lettuce slices of tomatoes on your burger, right? If you love scrambled eggs for breakfast in the morning, add some spinach or some tomatoes or some avocado slices, you know, just add more of the good things in.
Beth: Mm-hmm. Yeah. cooking at home gives you control. Yeah. So if you, if you really wanna have that burger, you can go get, um, bread that has whole grains in it. Yeah. And you can add those fresh vegetables that haven't been languishing underneath a heat lamp forever
Lisa: And just to remind people why we're talking about this is because these. Foods are anti-inflammatory, so they're gonna help reduce inflammation in the body that can be present when there is heart disease, or it can be a contributor to heart disease. And I'll tell you a secret there, these foods are good for almost everything else too, but especially for heart disease, for a conversation today.
Beth: So then let's talk about [00:17:00] how chocolate fits onto this list.
Lisa: Did you know that chocolate. Is a super food
Beth: Tell me.
Lisa: Well, I will tell you, it has to be the right kind of chocolate. So there are all different kinds of chocolate. There's white chocolate, there's milk chocolate, there's dark chocolate, there's bittersweet chocolate.
The kind that is the superfood is the dark chocolate. So if you want to enjoy some dark chocolate, which is good for your health, you wanna look for a chocolate bar or chocolate that is 70%. Chocolate, it might say 70% cacao or cocoa. That means that 70% of the ingredients in that come from the actual cacao bean, which is a whole food.
It comes from a plant. It's super cool and. White chocolate is not really even chocolate at all. Milk chocolate has more dairy than the other things. There's also another category called bittersweet, which is a hundred percent [00:18:00] no sugar, no dairy, no nothing else. And we often use that for cooking. Um, I mentioned cacao nibs earlier.
Basically bittersweet chocolate or cacao nibs are raw. You can consider them as pure chocolate. Pure chocolate, without any of the sugar in the. Dairy in it. So 70%, 70% chocolate or more is what is a superfood.
Beth: And if you're, if you're a milk chocolate person right now, to ramp up to a 70 to 85% dark chocolate is gonna be, um, a shock.
So again, a place to ramp up just. Go from your milk chocolate to something that's considered just dark chocolate, and then start really paying attention to those percentages and, and move up slowly. Otherwise, you might just go, I don't like it, and then you'll let it go. And you, you don't wanna convince yourself that chocolate of any kind is going to be that super food because milk chocolate [00:19:00] is not,
in that category really.
Lisa: Sugar, dairy. So the really cool thing about chocolate is this might be surprising, one ounce of dark chocolate. So at least 70% cacao provides two to three grams of protein. and three to four grams of dietary fiber in one ounce of dark chocolate. So that's a great way to get a different plant, food for your gut health, and more fiber for your daily count.
Beth: Yeah, and if you're someone that is having trouble having that, that dark, dark chocolate, 'cause you're thinking, oh, I just really craving something sweeter to, for my chocolate, something that I think tastes really good is raspberries. And then you melt and drizzle the dark chocolate on top of the raspberries and so good.
Spoken from experience.
Yeah. Yeah.
Lisa: Yeah,
Beth: Now, what kind of serving are we looking at? how much of this can I have?
Lisa: One ounce.
Beth: Okay. One
Lisa: ounce. Yeah. You can look at the [00:20:00] back of most bars and it will tell you one square, two squares.
Um, yeah. Uh, again. All things in moderation, just because it, I've told you it's a super, food is not permission. You don't need my permission to do anything, but I'm not prescribing that you go out and eat five dark chocolate bars. No, that's, that's not it at all.
Beth: Okay, Lisa, tell us a little bit more about what we can do to make our heart happier and healthier. What other exciting ideas do you have for us today?
Lisa: Yeah, it's super important to know that there's not just one thing, right? So if you're struggling with your food, like, like Beth said, just make some baby steps knowing that there are other places that you can engage in some healthy habits to have a healthy heart. And so next up for today is what I call mood.
And this is not like I'm happy or I'm sad, although that definitely comes into play. It's how are you managing your stress?
Beth: Mm. [00:21:00] Oh my gosh. This is so important for right now.
Lisa: it's very stressful. We're living in a very stressful world, so what are we going to do about it? And unmitigated stress kills.
I have a client who is the picture of health. and she has a very stressful family situation going on, and she recently had a very mild heart attack.
Beth: Oh gosh.
Lisa: Not because of what she was eating or because she wasn't exercising.
Because of the stress in her life. So we all have stressful situations. It is up to us to learn how to better manage them, and that can be very difficult to do, and it's very, very possible. So I like to talk about. Prioritizing just a few minutes of what I call peace and quiet into your day. If you have a meditation practice, fantastic.
[00:22:00] If you have a prayer practice, wonderful, However, if this is something new to you, wanna start really gently and slowly so that we can build and, and feel like we're accomplishing something and not feel bad about ourselves. So just carve out a few minutes of peace and quiet. Most days, this could be sitting on your couch and looking out the window.
No TVs, no phones. This could be sitting on your porch and listening to the birds. Um, it could be having a formal meditation practice where you sit in quiet. Or even listen to a guided meditation practice. Just a few minutes each and every day. And I, I think some of your practices, Beth, might fall into this category as well.
Beth: It absolutely does. creativity is a place for you to retreat to. To get grounded. It's a place to let your brain relax and do something that [00:23:00] is attainable. So much of our day is spent being overwhelmed, being overstimulated, and when you sit down to do a creative activity that you know you can do without struggle, you can go someplace quiet and just.
Let your hands get busy doing a repetitive motion. Your brain then calms down, it lowers that cortisol levels and it releases some well-deserved dopamine. That is just going to help you relax for the day and feel good about what you're doing right now. My daughter is a third grade teacher. And her days are manicand she tells me that she does need time where she just goes into a room, she turns out the lights, and she just likes to sit for in the quiet.
She finds, like you had mentioned, no lights, no [00:24:00] screens, no noise, not even music. She just needs to have that peace.
Lisa: Yeah.
Beth: It is incredibly restorative to her.
Lisa: Yeah, absolutely. I think the no devices is really important part of this.
for some of your listeners. We may be talking stuff that they're like, there is no way. I mean, we live in an amped up world. It's not your fault if that's you.
Beth: Yeah.
Lisa: So again, let's just find something, a small piece that we can implement. So for some people it may literally be putting the phone down for two minutes.
Beth: Yeah.
Lisa: So if that's you, perfect start there.
Beth: You have to find out what works for you because I mean, we're encouraging everyone to pay attention and listen to the Create Today podcast and you are listening to your podcast probably through your phone or through your tablet,
But For a lot of people listening to a podcast about what they can do to become a better, more relaxed, more [00:25:00] grounded, more peaceful person, makes them a more grounded, more peaceful person.
So finding time where you can just be quiet and just be yourself for a moment. That is what we're talking about.
Lisa: Yes. Whatever that looks like for you. And if you don't know, that's what Beth and I are here for. So reach out. Um, I think it's worth saying too, that. The world is very fiery today, and there's a lot of what I would label as solar energy, very aggressive energy, and I believe. That our whole world needs a little bit more of the lunar or feminineenergy,
So rather than talking about optimizing, do this zone two training. Count your carbs, fancy gear and devices. Let's just talk about meeting ourselves where we are with kindness and compassion and healing.
Beth: Yeah.
Lisa: Approaching wellness [00:26:00] from that perspective.
Beth: finding a balance is what is important. because we don't want to ramp up more judgment about what you weren't successful at.
we're finding ways where you can just become kinder to yourself. And become healthier at the same time.
Lisa: Absolutely. So it comes right back to that Valentine's Day theme is be your own Best Valentine and take good care of this heart.
Beth: Yes. Yeah. So what we've talked about today, taking care of your heart through good foods, and taking care of your heart through how you are paying attention.
To your mood through overstimulation, erasing some of that and finding someplace where you can just get a little peace and quiet
Lisa: and. Explore creativity. It's a beautiful outlet, a beautiful outlet to help us manage stress and balance our nervous system.
Beth: Yes. And [00:27:00] basically, creativity is just thinking, um, a little bit differently.
So while you're thinking about how you should eat better, how can you be creative with that? Well, we talked about finding colors to add to your plate. That can be so much fun.
That's a great source of creativity, and when you're talking about how you can settle your mood, this is a place where you can think about pastimes that you've enjoyed as a child or with other people Painting or knitting or, or going to the theater or listening to music or dancing in your kitchen.
All of those things are very creative. It's okay to add them to your life, and it's okay to do them every day.
So today we talked about two pillars that you can concentrate on to increase your heart health.
And next week, Lisa, what are we going to talk about?
Lisa: We are gonna cover two more pillars, and that is [00:28:00] movement. And we're gonna talk about sleep and how both of those pillars are also very, very important to protect our hearts.
Beth: I love it. it's the month to learn about how you can care for your heart and we might as well learn how to do that creatively. So what better place to explore it than here on the Create Today Podcast. So my dear creative friend, what are you going to do with how you are eating, how you are considering what you do to calm yourself after a busy day or to calm yourself before a busy day begins?
Think about the ways you can control how you move creatively through your life. And then. Figure out ways that you can make it easy and fun so you can do it every day because creative daily practices is what makes you happier and healthier [00:29:00] no matter what you choose to eat. Today, my friend, you know, my wish for you is always to stay creative.
Thank you so much for coming, Lisa, as always, your a breath of fresh air and we learned so much from you.
Lisa: My pleasure, Beth. Thanks so much for having me.
Beth: Thanks everyone. We'll see you next week. Talk to you later. Bye-bye.
