everyone can walk

Does Exercise Reduce Cardiac Risk?

/ healthbuddymelissa / 1 Comment

Updated 2/22/2023

It is loving your heart month, and heart health awareness.  Today, we will discuss exercise, and how it can reduce your risk for Cardiac disease, but also as it relates to people with CKD.  Remember, everyone is different, and for some people exercise may not reduce the risk.  Always ask your doctor before beginning an exercise routine, especially if you plan on doing more than a basic walking routine.  Vigorous exercise can be dangerous for some people, and for people with CKD, studies show that intense exercise may increase Creatinine levels, at least for short periods of time. If you have CKD, or Heart Disease already, be sure to talk to your doctor as to what exercises are best for you. Generally, most health care practitioners will probably be OK with walking.

I did a post on walking, a couple weeks ago.  You can find it in the archives.  Most anyone can walk, and unless your doctor tells you no exercise, then chances are good you can walk too.  Me, I have CKD stage 3, and I try to aim for 50-60% intensity of my Maximum Heart Rate.  To find your MHR you subtract your age from 220, then figure out 50% of that.  So, for my age, my MHR would be 85 beats a minute, at 50% intensity.    I try to stay in that range. This is very light exercise and it is hard to stay in that range if your goal is to increase your fitness level.

Of course, vigorous exercise is going to have a higher risk reduction.  According to medical websites, up to 25% risk reduction if you exercise vigorously, of cardiac disease risk.  For me, who works out moderately, it is only a 10% risk reduction of reduction to cardiac risk.  But, for me, I can’t risk my one good kidney for an organ that right now is functioning fine.  Now that may change in the future.  Vigorous exercise would be running, jogging, bike riding, aerobics, etc.  Moderate exercise would be walking, yard work, or golfing.  Low-intensity aerobics can also fit under moderate exercise.  I recommend anyone starting out, do a walking program first.  This will increase your strength, balance, and circulation, preparing you for a higher endurance program.

Using weights also adds to the cardiac risk reduction.  However, again if you have CKD this can raise your Creatinine levels.  So, kidney websites recommend doing Pilates, or Yoga for toning, instead of weight lifting.  I have not started either of those yet, but I intend to.

Even 15 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity will benefit your heart.  The goal is to eventually build up to 60 minutes, at least 5 days a week.  But, if you can only do 5 or 10 minutes a couple days a week, then start there.  It is important to start somewhere.  Any activity is better than no activity at all.  Your heart is a muscle, and like any muscle, it will take time, and work to make it stronger.

Know to watch for warning signals, especially if you have CKD or an already underlying cardiac disease.  You do want to have difficulty carrying on a full conversation, but you don’t want to be breathing so hard that you are gasping for air, or can’t speak at all.  That is a sign that you are working too hard, and you need to stop and rest.  Learn to check your heart rate, before, during, and after you exercise.  Remember you want to stay within the MHR, as stated above.  The older you are the lower your MHR will be, so it is imperative you always speak to your doctor before starting an exercise program, and that you learn to properly monitor your heart rate and breathing during exercise.   Walking around your house is not an exercise program.  We all walk.  Fitness walking is an exercise program.  You will expect to have some muscle pain, after exercising, especially if you are sedentary.  But, chest pain, pain in the jaw, or neck, or any intense pain anywhere, can be indicative of an issue and you should stop and rest right away.  Also, make sure you stay hydrated.  Drink before, during, and after.  Don’t exercise in intense heat.  The goal is not to be a super athlete but to decrease your risk of cardiac disease.

Watch the short video below that talks about reducing cardiac risk, and reducing the risk of cognitive decline with exercise as simple as walking.

My disclaimer is easy to remember. Nothing on this blog is intended to be medical or nutritional advice. It is for informational purposes only and to spark a conversation.

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Gift idea #8 for ckd, kidney education and more

/ healthbuddymelissa / Leave a comment

It is Tuesday, and again it is cold here in Florida. It is quite a nice change from heat and humidity, but I am not used to it lasting for over a week now. I had to change up our dinner menu for the week as yesterday there was some kind of pipe issue in town and our water was turned off. So, we ate pizza take out. We will have the chicken alfredo tonight. I was going to make lasagna on Thursday, but I realized I have lettuce that is going to go bad so I decided to make a taco casserole to eat over lettuce, or not if they don’t want the lettuce. But, I want mine over lettuce. I will probably make a side of rice if they want that. I will share the recipe when I make it. I also had to do next week’s grocery shopping today which is early, but my husband needs my car to get a large Christmas gift for my son’s wife back to our house, and then I have to work. So, I went today. I was supposed to only spend 30 dollars, but I spent 50. Again, I gave myself a little break because some of it was baking ingredients and gift tins for homemade cookie gifts. We won’t be eating these so they really should be in the Christmas budget I guess. I also bought frozen veggies instead of fresh as warm dishes this time of year is more popular than cold salads, or cold dishes. I also have apples that need using so I will make apple banana muffins, and freeze the rest or make apple butter.

I will stop sharing gift ideas on the 15th. The final one is a humdinger. Today, gift idea #8 is a set of walking videos. I chose these particular ones, because I like Leslie Sansone and she is who I started with. Remember you don’t have to do the whole thing. Do what you can, and work up. Walking is gentle on the body, and low intensity exercise. The set here, comes with an exercise band to help increase strength as well. This is a great set, for a great price. It may take some time, but as your loved one, or yourself, builds strength and stamina you will see great improvements in the body. Exercise helps relieve stress, pain, tension, burns calories for weight loss, improves balance and strength, is good for the heart which is the most important muscle in the body and so much more. Of course, if you have not exercised in a while be sure and ask your doctor, but we all walk, and walking exercise should be ok. I offer a Walking Buddy health plan where I walk over the phone with the customer. If you are interested in that, please use the communication form at the bottom of this post to message me, or click here to read more about it. I think I am going to start sharing my walking stats here on the blog. I wish I had been doing it all this year so people can actually see that you can make great progress with walking. You can see my stats from yesterday, below. I aim for 10.000 steps a day, at least.

I found this great video from the American Kidney Fund, on Youtube. I am a member of a kidney forum where people discuss kidney issues. Someone asked a question about diet, one of the hardest things about having kidney disease, and I found the video for them to watch. You can see it below. The second half is in reference to people with CKD and Diabetes. If you don’t have Diabetes then just watch the first half. It is a great video.

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Sweating on Sunday: The Road to 12,500 Daily Steps

/ healthbuddymelissa / 4 Comments

Updated 4/4/2021: I am no doing 12,500 steps every day with ease. I now am working towards building up to 1.5 mile run in 15 minutes. If you follow this blog, then you know my ultimate step goal is 12,500 steps per day.  I was at 9,500 per day and just increased to 10,000 per day.  That is 5 miles walking every single day.  I do take off one day a week, most weeks, sometimes two.  How do I get that many steps in a day?

1-  I make sure I walk at least 250 steps every hour.  My back yard is exactly 100 steps around the area.  I walk that 3 times every hour, sometimes more if it isn’t so hot out.

2-  When I work out of the home it is very easy to walk 250 plus steps per hour.   Matter of fact when I work I average 14-16,000 steps per day,

3-  Purchase a good wrist fitness tracker.  I have a Fitbit.  I was using Samsung app, but it was not consistent enough because I always had to have my phone on me.  That was unfeasible for me.  In the near future, I will be getting a waterproof Fitbit for when I am in the pool.  For now, I have to estimate how many steps I am taking in the pool when I do water aerobics.

5-  I walk every morning, at least a mile, before doing my regular exercise routine.

Some other tips that help:  take the stairs, park farther away from any businesses you visit, walk in the morning, and evening, remember to get up and walk at work if you have a desk job.  Turn on music at home when cleaning, washing dishes, or folding laundry.  I can get in at least 1200 extra steps doing this for a 15-minute cleaning session, just by marching in place.  Same with cooking dinner.

Don’t get discouraged.  I got my Fitbit in February and started at 6,000 steps per day.  That seemed like a lot, except for when I was working, and impossible.  It is not impossible, and it will just become a habit after a while.

With cooler weather coming I can not wait to get out and onto the many hiking trails in my area.   If you would like help in meeting your step goal use the contact form below to message me about my Walking Buddy plan.

I just finished my Reiki training, level 2.  I am undecided about the Master level class.  I will be practicing and once I have reached at least 200 hours I will make Reiki an option for customers.  I will do a later post on that.

If you would like to use my Health Coaching services to increase your walking stamina, use the contact form to message me. Or, you can read about my Walking Buddy plan, here.

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Everyone Can Walk, Even With A Chronic Illness!

/ healthbuddymelissa / 1 Comment

Updated 1/24/2022: Walk With Me!

Sticking with the theme of being active, everyone can walk.  I have CKD, stage 3, and while it was very hard to get into an exercise regime, now I feel icky if I don’t do it.   That is a good thing. Update, I am not hovering right at stage 2!

Before I was diagnosed, in 2017, exercise was daunting.  I was tired, had weak achy muscles, was cranky, and just didn’t want to.  That doesn’t mean I didn’t do things, I did.  I have children, we homeschool, and they are very active.  So, I had to be somewhat active.  But, I would pick and choose, do as little as I could, and would take Ibuprofen just to get through it.  Ibuprofen is bad for CKD, but that is for another day.  After diagnosis, with diet change, and the help of some Sodium Bicarb, all the toxins that had been building up literally for years, went away, and I felt so much better.  I started out small, had to, that was all my body would tolerate. Doing Walking videos, for short amounts of time, until I slowly built endurance.  I had an injury last Summer that slowed me down for a long time but it didn’t stop me.  I now have moved up to fitness walking, and low impact aerobics.  I don’t want more injuries, I am almost 50 after all.  There are studies about doing no more than low-impact exercises with CKD, but again that is for another day. Update, I now walk an average of 10,000 steps every day and work out at least 3 times a week.

Yesterday, I wrote about ways you can add steps to your day, to increase your step count.  I love these walking videos by Leslie Sansone.  She works with the American Heart Association, and the videos are just walking.  She does have some others that add in some band training, for muscle work, but those have to come much later in your journey when first starting.  They are low impact, weight-bearing exercises, more on weight-bearing exercises in a later post.  Anyone can walk, including you.  If you need a walking buddy, or someone to help keep you motivated, and encouraged, click the contact button, or use the contact form at the end of this post, to send me an email to set up a free consult.

Start with the 5 min video below.  Do it until it is easy.  If you can’t do it all, don’t.  You can do it as many times in a day as you can, to work up to 30 min if you only have 5 min here and there to do.  Whatever works to get you moving.  If you need to use a chair, walker, or other devices to give you support while you walk, do it.  You will start to feel better within a few days, and you will be amazed at how quickly you will feel stronger.  When it is easy, move to the 15 min video.  These walking videos should be OK, for everyone.  We all walk to the bathroom, refrigerator, mailbox, etc.  But, if you have been advised to not do any exercise, for whatever reason, then don’t.  Get approval first, even for simple exercises.  I know most doctors say walk more, but be careful, and ask if you need to.  If some of the movements, like the knee lifts, are not something you should be doing, then just march in place, ie walk in place.  As long as you are moving, that is what counts.  Also, you should do some basic easy stretches before beginning, to prevent injury.  Her 5-minute video is part of another video, just shortened to 5 minutes.