WWT Summer Guide 2

Summer Health Guide 2019!

Stress & Your Heart Health

Black VegFest & the History of Rastafarianism

BY OMALOWALE ADEWALE

B

U

nless allergic, everyone has a favorite nut. Almonds, cashews, peanuts and every nut in between each has its own distinct flavor.

How do you react to a stressful situation?

Do you shut down or lash out? Take to unhealthy habits to deal with the pressure building up inside of you? How you handle life challenges can have a major impact on factors that have been proven to negatively impact your heart health.

Stress may affect behaviors and factors that increase heart disease risk, including high blood pressure, cholesterol levels, smoking, physical inactivity and overeating. So step back and take a deep breath — for your heart’s sake.

Overall Body Impact Bodies react to stress in different ways. You may experience a headache, back strain or even stomach pains if you’re stressed out.

Your energy level can be greatly reduced and your sleeping patterns disturbed.

All of these factors can set off a chain of events that leads to a potentially compromised cardiovascular system.

When you’re stressed, your body releases adrenaline, a hormone that temporarily

causes your breathing and heart rate to speed up and your blood pressure to rise.

Depending upon how long you’re stressed, your body may experience this set of circumstances off and on for days at a time.

More research is needed to determine how stress contributes to heart disease — the leading killer of Americans, according to the American Heart Association, chronic stress may cause some people to depend on unhealthy lifestyle habits, like drinking too much alcohol, which can increase your blood pressure and may damage the artery walls.

Dealing with Stress Managing stress is a challenge, but a necessity if you hope to be a picture of good health. A few studies cited by the American Heart Association have examined how well treatment or therapies work in reducing the effects of stress on cardiovascular disease, and the results have shown positive links.

The best place to start when dealing with your stress is a qualified professional.

Speak to your physician about how you’re feeling. They will be able to refer you to a specialist who can offer effective treatment or preventive strategies.u

lack VegFest, produced by Grassroots Artists MovEment (G.A.ME) in association with Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams at the historic Weeksville Heritage Center, announces New York City’s first and only outdoor two-day vegan festival on August 10-August 11, 2019, 10am-6pm. Black VegFest embraces love, fun, health and wellness and justice.

Last year on August 11, Black VegFest attracted over 2000 people in the midst of the rainiest day of 2018. Some of the Black community were motivated exclusively by healthier eating, but many loved the interest of the vegfest trifecta which included planet sustainability, healthy eating and animal welfare. In order to understand why many in the Black community were happy to attend, you may have to understand Rastafarian culture and history.

Rastafarians were the first group of individuals rejecting the consumption of animals. More than 30 years ago at the International African Arts Festival in Brooklyn, families would prepare Ital stew listening to the practices of Rastafarians who wore powerfully attractive locks of hair (locs). They held informal workshops on their beliefs about abstaining from dead animals and eating of the earth. Years later, many of the Black community had begun turning to Earth’s Food, the colorful plant nutrition.

Rastafarian culture is Black culture. Rastafarianism stems from a combination of Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey’s message of freedom for all Africans throughout the Diaspora and Ras Tafari’s political and leadership philosophy in 1930s. Rastafarians, or Rastas, interpreted Tafari’s message as an

extension of Garvey’s which simply translates to treating your fellow living-

being as you would want to to be treated.

Fur ban legislation Intro 1476 comes at a time when NYC and then NYS prohibits the discrimination of Black hair. Interestingly enough, Rastas wear locs, they promote peace and they don’t eat animals or wear animal fur. Rastas have been teaching social justice throughout our city for decades. The killing of animals to use their fur is wrong and not a staple of Black culture in any way, shape or form. Whether we electrocute them by sticking a baton in their rectum, club them incessantly over the head, or trap and mutilate their limbs and paws with crushing Conibear traps, it’s not the justice we’re used to championing.

Revisit your history through the experience of Black VegFest and enjoy eating and feeling better. Whether you look forward to sitting in the grass eating scrumptious vegan food from the dozens of vendors selling ice cream, cake and mac and cheese;catching over 30 exhibits, performances and workshops on chess, growing food, dance and mental health and more, or celebrating youth on the block playing 20 giant board games, double Dutch jumping rope, VR and video games, the festival welcomes all. u For tickets, visit www.BlackVegFest.org.

SUMMER HEALTH GUIDE

3

Managing Your Diabetes in the Workplace: It Can Be Done and the Law Is on Your Side

BY MARILYN SILVERMAN

P

iercing rays of sunshine seep through your closed Venetian blinds. Time to get ready for work. You grab this. You grab that. However, if you are a diabetic there are a few more things you have to grab.

It’s easy to manage your diabetes at home.

There is your refrigerator and your medicine cabinet and your family who knows all about your medical condition. But managing your diabetes in the workplace is just as manageable.

As per the American Diabetic Association, it is estimated that an astronomical 18 million men and women residing in the U.S. today live their lives every day with diabetes.

What is diabetes? Diabetes is characterized by high blood glucose or sugar levels that ensue from defects in the body’s ability to produce or use insulin. Fortunately for its sufferers it is designated as a disability due to its detrimental impact on the body’s endocrine functioning. Why fortunately? Just a few short years ago in 1990, to be precise, the Americans with Disability Act, a federal anti-discrimination act became law. Why? To protect people with diabetes from unfair treatment. This was a milestone since it enabled diabetics to work without fear lest their condition jeopardized their jobs.

Gina Gavla RN, indicates that once upon a

time in the not too distant past, workers faced discrimination, e.g., they weren’t permitted to take breaks to check their blood sugar, eat or take insulin—the only way they could perform their jobs responsibly. Outrageous? Yes. But now you as a diabetic possess certain delineated legal rights—you have the right to ask your employer for reasonable accommodations. Reasonable is the key word in this sentence. Some representative examples of reasonable accommodations within the business infrastructure be it a retail establishment, a factory, an office or whatever: nBreaks to check blood sugar, eat and take medication. nTo maintain diabetes supplies in close proximity to your workstation. nAbility to inject insulin; if preferable a private space should be provided away from the prying eyes of colleagues. According to WebMD, insulin can be stored in an insulated lunchbox if a refrigerator is not available on the premises. The conveniences of home are not always duplicated at work.

nFor those afflicted with a vision disorder a sizable computer monitor. nDon’t stay glued to a chair all day since physical activity is beneficial. nIt is recommended that a letter authored by your doctor should accompany your request.

Diatribe Learn indicates that you should have a comprehension of your legal rights due to your official designation as an individual with diabetes.

A dilemma typically arises whereby you wonder if it is necessary to inform your boss.

It is a good idea to do so since you will have to justify your request. But your boss is mandated to keep this information confidential.

Your health is a private matter and should not be broadcast for all to hear. You should schedule a meeting with your boss and emphasize that your condition will not negatively impact your work. Everything you need to do is done at intervals. You won’t be injecting insulin every minute of the day.

Your boss should understand that these reasonable accommodations will not constitute a costly expenditure in the daily manage-

ment of their business and furthermore will not cause much disruption in the workplace environment.

Everyday Health recommends that you confide in one or two co-workers, since at work we develop a sense of camaraderie with our colleagues. Explain your condition in simplistic terms; you don’t have to quote from medical texts. Paint a picture of what a low blood sugar episode might resemble and discuss emergency plans. If you are an hourly worker in a neighborhood fast food franchise or a corporate employee in an ivory tower and you are a diabetic, you can contribute as a productive and valued employee. You just have to remember to do certain things throughout the day and remember that you have the legal right to do so.

Here are some types of discrimination you might experience: you might not be asked to make a presentation at an out of town conference because of the general concern that traveling with your condition will be difficult. You may not be allowed to be on the office volleyball team. If you feel you are discriminated against ASAP consult with an attorney who is experienced in workplace discrimination. Contact the Law Offices of Figeroux & Associates; they have extensive experience in workplace discrimination and will represent you with the compassion and respect you deserve. u

SUMMER HEALTH GUIDE

4

Little Things You Can Do to Burn Fat

W

hen trying to lose weight, the main goal of any exercise program should be to increase your metabolism enough to where it is burning more calories than you are consuming.

Not only is your metabolism involved in this procedure, but the type of food you eat is just as important. Your metabolism can burn the calories very quickly, but if you are taking in 5,000 calories per day, it's not going to make a difference.

What if you’re running short on time, though? There are many simple ways to burn fat quickly and efficiently that don't take a lot of time and effort.

It is important to remember that your sole purpose in trying to burn fat is to get your metabolism to a point where it is burning large amounts of calories even when you are sitting or sleeping.

Dr. James Pendergraft, M.D., founder of the Orlando Women's Clinic, defines what a good metabolic rate can do for your body.

"It depends upon the activities that you engage in, and some activities can really make our metabolism rates increase and thereby burn fat in our body faster."

It's important to note that he is not referring strictly to exercise but other, simpler forms of daily activity that can help us in the weight and fat loss process. Here are a few of them:

Drink Water Drinking plenty of water is the first step toward burning off fat quickly and efficiently.

It is very important that you have enough water in your body at all times due to the fact that a lack of water can ultimately cause your body to store more fat in order to help your body temperature to stay at normal levels.

When your metabolism is up to speed and is working diligently to help you burn calories, your body will naturally stay warm.

Keeping the levels of water in your body high enough to achieve this state is very important in the weight loss process.

Eat Protein Having ample amounts of protein in your diet is also another good habit to get into and does not involve much physical exertion.

Dr. Pendergraft points out that "protein can help in increasing the metabolism rate in human beings two to three times more than that of carbohydrates."

Foods that are commonplace in today's world are usually saturated with carbohydrates, and we always get plenty of those, but it is actually the protein in our food that ultimately helps us lose weight quickly and efficiently.

Are you looking to get into the health & wellness business?

Get Enough Sleep You want to make sure that you are getting good amounts of sleep at night in order to give your metabolism the break that it needs from working all day.

According to Dr. Pendergraft, "like every human being, the metabolism process in our body also needs some rest. So it is advisable that you do take in good sleep at regular intervals so as to maintain the metabolism rates in our body."

Your body is able to burn a lot of calories when it is in a resting state, so you don't want to deprive it of its capabilities to function sufficiently.

Watch Your Diet In addition to the above suggestions, you also will want to include the regular weight loss suggestions of eating a healthy diet and making sure to get plenty of exercise, but it is also very important to listen to your body.

When your body is telling you that it is tired, you should rest. If you feel a burst of energy throughout the day, go outside for a jog, as your metabolism is just begging to be used.

Following these steps will help you to not only lose weight but also live a healthier life.u

Contact:

Stacy Young Board Certified Holistic Health Coach Tel: 917-459-8431 Stacy@HealthCoachStacyNYC.com

Mydoterra.com/stacyyoung