Hitting the right numbers
Say this about Monica Henry — she knows the numbers.
Four years ago, her bad cholesterol, measuring more than 100, was high. It’s now down to 64, way under the acceptable level. Her blood pressure that exceeded 160/90 runs about 125/65.
Her weight once hovered around 230 pounds. She is now down to 170 pounds, which better fits her 5-foot-6-1/2-inch frame.
She also knows the words. In fact, she says, it takes her more than three hours to do her food shopping.
“I read the labels — even the fine print,” she says.
As well she should.
Henry was in her sixties when she learned that she had both hypertension and high cholesterol, two chronic problems that increase with age.
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Americans have a 90 percent chance of developing hypertension or high blood pressure after the age of 55, if they don’t already have it by then.
Henry was one of them. She is 67 years old now, and makes the point that her change in lifestyle was accomplished over time. “I didn’t starve myself emotionally,” she says.
She made gradual changes. No crash diet. She still eats her native Jamaican food, but not every day. She no longer cooks with pigtails. She also cuts excess fat off meats, preferring the very lean instead.
By all accounts, she is heeding her doctor’s advice. “I lived in a different world,” she explains. “I ate whatever I wanted and in large quantities. I loved sweets. How could I have done that to myself?”
It was easy.
Born in Jamaica, Henry came to the United States back when John F. Kennedy was president. She never smoked and didn’t have a family history of either hypertension or high cholesterol. Without any warning signs, she said she thought she was healthy.
That changed four years ago when, during a routine exam at Whittier Street Health Center, she learned of her condition. Dr. Mark Drews was very clear about changing her lifestyle.
“No more peas and rice,” she recalls him telling her. A cup of canned coconut milk, an ingredient of peas and rice, contains 43 grams of saturated fat, or more than twice the daily limit.
Henry credits her health care team at Whittier, including the nutritionist, for helping her turn her life around and get her numbers down.
That meant changing her sodium-laden diet low in potassium into a healthier one that contained more fish, fruits and vegetables and less saturated fats.
She learned that salmon, cod, flounder and sardines are good sources of potassium. As are vegetables, such as broccoli, peas, lima beans, tomatoes, potato skins, spinach and lettuce. Particularly good fruits for potassium are bananas, apples and apricots, as well as oranges, grapefruits and melons.
Henry says she now likes the taste of food cooked in extra virgin olive oil, and drinking green tea has curbed her sweet tooth. Regular exercise has helped considerably. And her part-time job at the Massachusetts Convention Center in guest relations keeps her on her toes.
She says she can’t believe how much better she feels.
“Everything I put in my mouth is healthy and nutritious,” she says. |
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Monica Henry reads the food labels to make sure the products she buys are low in fat, cholesterol and sodium, but high in fiber and nutrients.
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