National Heart Month                                                   

          Did you know?

That the normal human heart is a strong, muscular pump a little larger than a fist. Each day an average heart “beats” (expands and contracts) 100,000 times and pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood. In a 70-year lifetime, an average human heart beats more than 2.5 billion times.

The heart has four chambers through which blood is pumped. The upper two are the right and left atria. The lower two are the right and left ventricles. Four valves open and close to let blood flow in only one direction when the heart beats:

1.  The tricuspid valve is between the right atrium and right ventricle.

2.  The pulmonary or pulmonic valve is between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery.

3.  The mitral valve is between the left atrium and left ventricle.

4.  The aortic valve is between the left ventricle and the aorta.

Each valve has a set of flaps (also called leaflets or cusps). The mitral valve has two flaps. The others have three. Under normal conditions, the valves let blood flow in just one direction. Blood flow occurs only when there’s a difference in pressure across thevalves that causes them to open.*

Learn more about your heart and how to keep it healthy by visiting and supporing the American Heart Association. Click here visit their website.

* Information gathered from the AHA website

Taste of The Town                                                       

                       We had a great time at Taste of The Town. Many people showed up and had an opportunity to taaste our 100% Whole Grain Healthy Popcorn. At our booth, attendees received pens and pocket-sized toothpick holders, not to mention the yummy popcorn with optional toppings of raisins, dried cherries, dried blueberries, cinnamon, garlic herb, parmesian cheese, or pepper!

Next time you are at the grocery store, try buying plain popcorn kernels and popping them on your stove. Try one of toppings mentioned above, or create your own and let us know about it!

We would like to congratulate the winners of our raffle.

The winner of the Gold's Gym Hand Bike was D.J. (initials)

The winner of the Portable George Foreman Grill was S.M.

The winner of the Dutch Cast Iron Pot was J.K.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our raffle!

                                                        Our Booth at Taste of The Town

                                                           Click here to learn more about this event

The Y has many great activities that will help you increase heart health.  Check out the activities that the YMCA is promoting this month. 

The SPIN-A-THON is a 3 hour ride that you will take with your favorite YMCA instructors. This event is open to the community!

When: Sunday, February 5th

Time: 7:00am-10:00am

Where: Shadowbend YMCA Studio C

How: Registration available at the Welcome Center or register at registerymca.org for 1, 2, and 3 hour rides.

Fee: $20 Space is limited.

Proceeds Benefit the Y Partners Campaign.

The CUPID SHUFFLE & ULTIMATE DANCE PARTY

Friday, Februarty 10

Bring your friends and family.

YMCA membership is not required to join the fun!

9:30am -11:00am: Shadowbend Gym

5:30pm - 8:00pm: Branch Crossing Gym

Add us on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with our updates. We are always promoting health and wellness, and occasionly give out free tickets, gift certificates, and samples as incentives.

                                         President's Corner 

                              Tabitha Lenox M.S., R.D., L.D                    

Hi Masters In Dietetics!!!   

Wow. Is it just me or is 2012 just flying by? Well, we have plenty to take care of today in the world that we can see with our eyes, the economy, the elections, etc. One thing tends to cross our minds a little less often is our very own bodies- especially the heart. I am so glad that we are directing our attention to this, one of the most important (if not the most important) organs that promotes survival this month. Just think about how important your heart is to you.

Think about it. There are people who have to have a gall bladder removed, kidney, pancreas removed, even emergency brain surgery or injury can be performed on a person with massive reductions and a patient can still survive all because the heart is still pumping. I sometimes think about and ponder if the heart is so important why were we only created to have one? I suppose this just increases the value even more.

I remember in my dietetic internship days, I had the opportunity to shadow the cardiac surgeon for an open heart surgery at St. Luke’ Hospital. When he opened the chest cavity and pulled back the lungs and revealed the beating heart much to my surprise the heart was not red. In my Tabitha way, I said, “ I thought hearts were read!” The surgeon looked up at me as I realized what I had done to my embarrassment and said “ Most of the one’s I see are yellow.” The yellow around the heart as well as any other organ is excess adipose tissue (fat).

At this moment, as the 50 year old lady was lying on the table for triple bypass surgery totally unaware that this picture is reality in her body, I declared and vowed – “I will work to prevent heart disease from spreading one patient at a time.” This is why I train you, Masters In Dietetics, so hard. This is why we take one session at a time for body success. It is not what is on the outside that counts rather the functionality safety of what is on the inside.

As we continue with the Walk Across Texas Program, remember that for every step and every mile we take, we are walking away from disease and into the marvelous life of health and wellness we are created to live.

To Life! Healthy Heart Life!

Tabitha Lenox, M.S., R.D., L.D.