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The Complete Heart Health Toolkit: Putting It Altogether · From Recovery to Wellness | Life After Heart Surgery, Aneurysm Repair & Cardiac Healing

• 0:07
  Welcome back to the podcast where we focus on
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  real life tools, education and support for heart
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  health, recovery, and long -term wellness. I'm
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  Arnita, your host, and today we're bringing everything
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  together. This is the final episode of season
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  two. And today's topic is the complete heart
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  health toolkit, putting it all together. Over
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  this season, we've covered so much. Blood pressure,
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  medications, movement, emotional wellness, sleep,
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  prevention, and lifestyle. But today, we're connecting
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  it all in to one powerful system, your heart
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  health toolkit. The toolkit has a system, so
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  let's start with this. Your toolkit is not just
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  a planner. It's not just pages. It's a complete
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  system designed to support your heart health
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  journey from recovery to long -term wellness.
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  This system helps you stay organized, track your
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  health, build habits, understand your progress,
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  and stay connected to your care. Instead of scattered
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  notes or guesswork, you have structure. So what's
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  inside the toolkit? Let's talk about what makes
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  this toolkit so powerful. Inside you have blood
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  pressure logs, medication trackers, lab trackers,
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  rehab and strength trackers, a sleep tracker,
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  emotional well -being journal, a prevention planner,
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  and an emergency and travel checklist. And beyond
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  that, you also have over 190 plus pages of structured
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  support, including meal planning pages, daily
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  tracking logs, habit trackers, reflection and
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  journaling spaces, health organization tools,
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  and a starter grocery list with some of the healthy
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  choices that could become staples within your
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  pantry and your refrigerator. Everything is designed
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  to work together. So why tracking changes everything?
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  Tracking is one of the most powerful things you
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  can do for your health because when you track,
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  you notice patterns, you catch changes early,
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  you stay consistent, you communicate better with
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  your care team, and your trackers and logs turn
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  your daily life into useful, meaningful data.
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  And that leads to better decisions and better
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  outcomes. From information to action. Here's
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  the truth, information alone doesn't create change,
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  action does. Your toolkit helps you turn knowledge
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  into habits, habits into consistency, and consistency
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  into results. It supports you in following your
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  care plan, staying accountable, and building
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  confidence in your recovery. This is how real
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  lasting change happens. Your daily heart health
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  system, when you use your toolkit consistently,
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  It becomes your daily system, your support structure,
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  your personal health record, your accountability
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  partner, and it helps you stay engaged, not just
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  at appointments, but every single day. Did you
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  know people who actively track their health through
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  habits, symptoms, and progress are more likely
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  to stay engaged in their care and improve long
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  -term outcomes? Consistency truly makes a difference.
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  Now, I have a question for you to ponder, something
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  for you to reflect on as we close out this season.
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  Ask yourself, what would it look like for me
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  to fully commit to using my tools and how could
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  that transform my health journey? You already
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  have the tools, now it's about using them. Now,
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  I just want to add another food focus before
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  we close out for the season. This incorporates
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  all food groups for heart health. As we wrap
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  up this season, let's zoom out and look at the
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  bigger picture when it comes to nutrition. All
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  of the food groups and how they work together
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  to support your heart. Fruits and vegetables,
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  they're rich in fiber, antioxidants, and nutrients.
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  They help reduce inflammation, support blood
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  pressure, and protect your heart. There are whole
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  grains such as oats, brown rice and whole wheat.
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  They help lower cholesterol, provide steady energy
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  and support digestion. Their lean proteins including
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  fish, poultry, beans, legumes, nuts and seeds.
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  They help build and repair tissue, support strength
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  and recovery and provide essential nutrients.
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  There's also healthy fats found in olive oil,
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  avocados, nuts, and seeds. They help improve
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  cholesterol levels, reduce inflammation, and
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  protect blood vessels. There's also hydration.
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  Water supports everything. It helps maintain
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  circulation, support overall body function, and
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  keeps your system balanced. There's also one
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  that is debatable. Some people, they choose to
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  include it. or not and that is dairy and that
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  can include your milk and what I normally do
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  is use I can't do without my milk I don't drink
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  it almost every day unless I have coffee and
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  I don't have coffee that often because coffee
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  is a diuretic it can dry you out and so I try
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  to steer clear and use that uh in drink coffee
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  in moderation but when your dairy products, you
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  have your cottage cheese, you have your milk,
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  and I use, oh, I also use 2%. That's 2 % milk,
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  never whole, because it has more fat in it. And
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  then if I can't get 2%, I'll go to 1%. And if
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  worse comes to worst, I will drink skim milk,
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  but I try to stay away from the whole milk because
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  of the fat. That's the one thing that I don't
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  need in my diet. And then also you have cheeses
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  and I steer away from American cheese, your feta
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  cheese and your, um, I can't think of it now,
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  but anyway, just, um, American cheese is not
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  recommended, but Swiss cheese that that's good
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  also. So I just want, and I'm not a dietician
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  or a nutritionist or anything like that. I just
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  do a lot of research. And then, and if you need,
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  uh, validation of these things please research
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  them look them up for yourself you know and then
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  first and foremost check with your care team
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  you know about these things if you have questions
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  as well and then feel free to question me as
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  well you know send me replies or comments or
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  questions and I will definitely welcome I definitely
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  welcome them so feel free to send them on. So
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  as we close out season two, remember this, your
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  heart health journey is not about perfection.
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  It's about showing up consistently, intentionally,
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  and with the right tools. Your heart health toolkit
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  is here to support you every step of the way.
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  Use it, trust it, build your system around it,
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  and the link to the... the heart health toolkit
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  is in the notes. So just look for that below.
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  As we close out this season, remember this. Heart
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  health is not just about what you do occasionally.
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  It's about how you live every day. Manage your
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  stress, prepare with intention, live your life
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  fully with awareness and confidence. Thank you
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  for being here. throughout this season for taking
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  care of your heart and committing to your health
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  and your future. Until next time, take care of
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  your heart once again and be well.