• Keep the Beat: A Heart Healthy Message for Women Who Do Too Much
• Stress Less: Hobbies Make the Heart Grow Stronger
• Got Health?: “Enhanced” Meats May Not Be and High-Five Flavor with Rubs
James Furda, MD
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If your name always seems to be at the bottom of your priority list, Lynette Crane has a message for you. “Many women caretake too much. We need to learn how to make better choices for ourselves.”

Crane, 73, speaks from personal experience and with the passion of someone who has found a new mission in life. “I want to help women so they don’t repeat my story,” she said.

As a psychologist, Crane built her career around teaching and writing about topics like the psychology of stress. “I was very healthy. I was a ballet dancer, exercised vigorously, never smoked and ate carefully,” she said. “It was actually fun to go to the doctor because my doctors were in awe of me. They’d tell me that I would live to be 120.”

What Crane and her doctors didn’t know was that she had a high level of lipoprotein A, or Lp(a), a type of cholesterol that is not identified with routine cholesterol screening and that does not respond to most cholesterol-lowering medicines.

Good health began to wane

After Crane retired, her good health began to wane. It happened gradually and in combination with some major life transitions that distracted Crane from her otherwise healthy routines.

She ended a satisfying career, served as caregiver for and coped with the loss of several close friends, and moved three times in five years.

“I started doing what people do when they are pressed for time. I was not exercising regularly and I was settling for fast food. Instead of taking the time to prepare good meals, it became very easy to pick up a bucket of chicken for dinner,” she said.

No one was more surprised than Crane when she suffered a heart attack in February 2006.

“I had a family history of heart disease, but my family members had ‘worked’ at it,” Crane explained. “I didn’t feel related to them in that sense because I had always worked at staying healthy.”

“Thank goodness, they believed me”

Fortunately, Crane’s years as a dancer helped her develop a strong sense of body awareness. When she noticed what felt like a hand pressing on her chest during a water aerobics class, she didn’t ignore it.

Initially, her doctor could find nothing wrong, but he suggested she see a cardiologist and advised her to seek immediate care if she felt worse. Several days later she again felt pressure. A visit to the Emergency Department at Abbott Northwestern Hospital followed. Again, tests showed nothing but she was kept at the hospital for observation and further tests.

“Thank goodness, they believed me and didn’t send me home,” said Crane. An EKG several hours later picked up changes indicating a heart attack. Crane was treated with angioplasty and had two stents placed to open blocked arteries.

Regaining balance

Now Crane sees that her experiences are not unlike what many women face and has dedicated herself to helping women of all ages create satisfying and heart-healthy lifestyles.

“Although the incidence of heart disease may increase with age, it is not limited to older women. All women need to pay attention to their lives and the slight symptoms that may signal a serious problem,” she said.

She is a member of the Women-Only Cardiac Support Group at the Minneapolis Heart Institute, where women learn from experts and support each other in living with heart disease. She earned a life coaching certificate and is a WomenHeart Champion. (WomenHeart is a national organization dedicated to improving women’s heart health.) Crane also writes a blog, creativelifechanges.com, and offers classes and presentations.

Most important, she has regained the balance she needs in her own life. “I meditate every morning to clear my head, and I exercise six days a week. If I find myself stressing, I ask myself, ‘Is this worth dying for?’ Then I see that there is no point in acting as though it is.”

If a meat product is enhanced, the federal government requires the manufacturer to include a statement on the label. For example, “Chicken breasts enhanced with up to 8 percent chicken broth.” The statement and the ingredients are clearly identified on the principal display label of the product. Unfortunately, it is usually in very small print and often unnoticed by the consumer.

Keep in mind, if that enhanced chicken breast costs $3.99 per pound, you are also paying meat prices for the chicken broth.

In a study of U.S. meat products in 2004, enhanced products represented 21 percent of all packages in the fresh meat case. Pork led with 45 percent of all packages enhanced, followed by 23 percent of chicken packages and 16 percent of whole muscle cuts of beef.

Food manufacturers maintain that enhancing meat ensures that the finished product is always tender and moist. They state that the meat and poultry products of today are leaner and lower in fat than 30 years ago. Enhancement restores the moisture and flavor usually attributed to fat. In addition, consumers are spending less time preparing meals than in years past; the manufacturers contend these products provide step-saving convenience.

But these enhanced products also present some health concerns. Meats are naturally low in sodium. But enhance the meat and the sodium content leaps five to eight-fold. The chart highlights the dramatic difference in sodium content of natural meat compared to enhanced products found in the fresh meat case.

Nearly all Americans consume substantially more salt than they need. Decreasing salt intake is advisable to reduce the risk of elevated blood pressure. Keeping blood pressure in the normal range reduces the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure and kidney disease. For individuals with high blood pressure, African-Americans and adults over 50, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends no more than 1,500 mg of sodium per day. Just one serving of an enhanced pork chop is one-quarter of the total day’s allowance!

Enhanced meats are widespread in the supermarket, but consumers may not recognize how they differ from fresh meat. Be aware and read the label. Buy all natural, un-enhanced products and do your health a favor.

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