"Too Poor to Get Healthy"

Since having the situation with my heart, I've been making a conscious effort to eat better. 

In the hospital I talked to the dietitian and she was kind enough to give me a booklet of basic recipes.  I understood that one of the biggest things for heart healthy food is to add as little salt as possible.  So while I'm at it, I'm revamping my whole attitude and working on meals with less sugar and fat too, hoping maybe to lose weight out of the deal. 

Truthfully, my husband is not happy with the healthier meals, he really likes his processed, high-fat, high salt-whatever is bad for you-foods!  But he is a trooper for me and always supportive in helping me so he joined me in the special isle of the grocery store the other day-you know the one for diabetics, low sodium, organic, and other healthy foods. 

Keep in mind we don't live in a big city here in central Wisconsin, so we don't have as many choices as you might have in the more populated areas.  But we do have the one isle...

I was shocked at the prices of the healthy foods and that really got me to thinking.  What is wrong with this country?  OK, I know that's a loaded question depending on what your agenda might be, but let's keep it about food for this discussion. 

Poor people can only afford canned or boxed stuff.  Food pantries are loaded with processed food  because it keeps longer.  Fresh fruits, vegetables, organic milk, eggs, healthy cuts of meat, the stuff we should eat-I personally can't afford.  I really wanted a tuna steak so I went to our deli and it was $7.98 a pound.(on sale by the way)  I asked how much I could get for that price and he picked up a nice-sized one and it was over a pound.  I would have paid $9 for one tuna steak!  Keep in mind we have three people eating at home-all adults.

Then we sit around and wonder why America is getting fat and why we have so many health problems?  We can't afford to be healthy!  This is even before we think about paying for insurance, etc.  Do you know what I could buy with $9 that would feed my family?  Four whoppers from Burger King  or enough McDonald's burgers for the three of us.  Eating out is not a luxury anymore-It's cheaper!   Not to mention faster and more convenient, and when you don't feel good from being unhealthy, who wants to cook anyway? 

Rachael Ray tells me I can make a meal for 30 minutes.  I'm sorry, but I can't stand that long with my bad back!  Barefoot Contessa is fun to watch, but I simply can't afford raspberries and all that liquor for a fancy dessert and fresh fish and blocks of good cheese from the Hampton's area where she lives.  I do appreciate cooking shows, but I always have to adjust to what I can afford and what's available in my area.   

I did find a good carrot salad recipe that I could afford, and I will share that with you at the end.  The booklet gives great things to do with English Muffins, but nobody told me that the very cheapest I could get are packages for $1.99 and they last one day with me and my husband!  I also found out that they are high in salt!  Speaking of bread, the good healthy loaf of Oatnut Bread that I love is now $4.19 a loaf, but the white sandwich bread that my husband prefers is 1.19 a loaf.  Guess which one I bought? 

Wisconsin is farm country, and we have milk, meat, and fresh vegetables all around us.  But we also have lower wages, so where does that leave us?  I almost fell over when I saw how much one gallon of organic milk cost-$7.00!!!  (I can get regular milk from the convenience store for little over $2.00.)  I have a question-why does it cost more for low sodium stuff than for high sodium stuff?  Don't you use less salt?  Why charge more?  How much more does it cost to NOT put salt in? 

It looks to me like people with health issues are being taken advantage of.  Companies that sell organic food-which should be cheaper because again, you're leaving stuff out, right?  are charging more because it's healthier!  What sense does that make? 

There's a real problem here, and I don't understand it.  It makes me mad that I have to resort to cheap unhealthy food for my family because I'm not rich.  Yet the first lady tells me that I have to give my kids fruits and vegetables.  Give me the money and I will do it!  I would love to serve strawberries and blueberries for breakfast and fresh broccoli salad for lunch, and tuna steak for supper! 

It appears to me that this country has it backwards, because the canned, processed stuff with more chemicals in it should be higher and the plain, organic, unsalted stuff should be cheaper, but just because it's healthier, it's more expensive. 

I feel very passionate about this, and maybe that's a good thing.  We need to address this issue in our country.  Thanks for listening and if you know what we can do about this, please e-mail me!

Carrot Salad
3 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 spoons of sugar depending on your taste
salt and pepper depending on your taste
raisins soaked in boiling water and drained (so they are plump)
drained pineapple pieces according to taste

This recipe did not cost much to make since you can buy shredded carrots cheap, and I already had the raisins on hand.  I just bought a can of pineapple on sale.  It has great fiber and is filling enough for me to consider it a good snack or light lunch, and keeps in the fridge for a few days once you put it together so I can just throw some in a bowl and eat it without any preparation.  I think I might add walnuts next time too for more protein and taste.  Do what you want with it! 

"The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live."-- Joan Borysenko

"LISTEN TO YOUR BODY"

I've been out of touch lately due to continuous health challenges.  I had a partial mastectomy on May 27th, and on June 7th, was admitted to the hospital for chest tightness and shortness of breath.  As it turns out I have fluid around my heart that has been putting pressure on my heart.  I was in the hospital for three days, and will now be taking blood pressure pills and will possibly have the fluid drained within a couple weeks.

I think Fibromyalgia should be taken a lot more seriously than it has been.  It really does not stop with simple aches and pains.  In fact, at first the doctors thought my chest pain was Fibro pain.  They told me that Fibromyalgia can cause the tight chest feeling and shortness of breath also.  In order to get a correct diagnosis, I had to have an entire agenda of tests from chest x-rays, chest scan, stress tests and blood tests.  I appreciate the effort that St Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield, WI took to ensure that there was no stone unturned.  And the way they did it made me feel like a VIP or celebrity rather than a hospital patient.

My blood pressure has been high almost every time I went to the doctor in the last year.  I was told over and over that when I am in pain, my blood pressure is high, so again it was contributed to Fibromyalgia.  When you have Fibromyalgia, almost everything you have can be attributed to your illness, and most of the time, it actually is because of Fibromyalgia.  But, you will not know if you do not get it checked out. 

So make sure you get a good medical team that take you serious and believes in you.  Make sure you know your own body and when something is different, stand by your hunch.  You have to speak up and be your own advocate because no one else knows what you are feeling.  If you don't speak up, you could end up being told, "It's just Fibromyalgia" and then have a heart attack or worse.  Don't be afraid to go to the doctor or emergency room as many times as it takes until your problem is taken care of.  You might get tired of going to the doctor over and over, but YOU are the only one who can do it. 

I might mention that on the day I was admitted, I was going to ignore my discomfort and lay down, but a friend came over.  I wanted to tell her to go home and let me rest, but she insisted that I call the doctor.  She threatened to call 911 if I didn't call the doctor.  When I called, the nurse on the phone told me it sounded like I might have pneumonia from my recent surgery.  So I went in, and then they discovered it was my heart.  As I go over the details of that day in my mind, I wonder what would have happened if my friend hadn't come over.  Sometimes we have to let others see what we can't or won't. 

I thank God for my friends who care enough to ignore my pushing them away sometimes, and push back.  I thank God for getting into the right hands who took me seriously and found the real problem. 

I've got a lot of catching up to do after three days in the hospital.  I know I can't do it all in one day.  Fibromyalgia has taught me patience and priorities and let everything else go.  But one thing we should never let go of is our relationships with our family and friends.  Take care of yourself, and listen to  your body!

“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.”...   Charles Dickens