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Heart Murmurs Online Newsletter |
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From our Program Director
THE ANNUAL BARBEQUE The Annual BBQ was held at the Malmo Community Hall on Friday June 6, 2008. An excellent steak supper with baked potatoes and baked beans was enjoyed by all that attended. Al MacLean wanted to let interested members know that the Chapman’s ice-cream cups were available through the Real Canadian Superstore on the Calgary Trail. Apparently some members could not get enough of them! MONTHLY SOCIAL BREAKFAST The next breakfast will be Wednesday October 29th at the South East Edmonton Seniors Center at 9:00 AM. BACK TO SCHOOL The first day for the exercise program back at the School for the Deaf was on September 2. The program over the summer at the Kinsmen Sport Center saw many circuits made of the track as well as 4 sessions in the swimming pool doing Aqua-fitness with Lynne. We all survived Lynne’s vacation with a highlight being Brian Jones in his referee shirt and whistle. His program was a circuit similar to Lynne’s with lots of laps. The laps at the Fieldhouse were certainly more challenging than the laps around the school gym. As usual the traffic coming down the hills onto the Walterdale Bridge tested our alertness particularly when the City decided to make it a one-lane bridge for much of August. However no disasters were reported. THE RESULTS OF THE 2008 WEIGHT CHALLENGE The annual weight loss challenge began in January and ended at a final weigh-in in May. 39 members faced the challenge but it must be said the results were… mixed. Of the 39 original participants, 10 lost weight totaling 23 pounds. Another 10 gained a total of 34 pounds over the 4 months. Nineteen participants did not attend the final weigh-in or stayed at the same weight. Clearly we are a very stable bunch or perhaps the scale was having a heavy day in May! This said, our congratulations (and financial support) to Stewart Embleton won this year’s challenge with a loss of 3.3 % of body weight. Runners up were Donna Haugh who lost 2.4% and Shirley Alexander who lost 1.2%. We measured the height of all the participants’ to determine everyone’s Body Mass Index, which along with other factors, can be an indicator of health risks. This can be particularly important for all of us who already know we have heart conditions. Weight loss for our group is a good goal to move us towards a healthier index value. Health Canada gives a classification and an indication of health risk based upon BMI values. The following table provides their assessment. The number of participants in the weight challenge in each classification is noted in the column on the right. Health Canada Risk Classification According to Body Mass Index (BMI)
Note: For persons 65 years and older the 'normal' range may Health Canada now is using a system that combines waist circumference (WC) measurements with the BMI to better assess health risks. The WC provides an indicator of abdominal fat. Excess fat around the waist and upper body (also described as an 'apple' body shape) is associated with greater health risk than fat located more in the hip and thigh area (described as a 'pear' body shape). A WC at or above 102 cm (40 in.) for men, and 88 cm (35 in.) for women, is associated with an increased risk of developing health problems such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. They note that the cut-off points are approximate, so a WC just below these values should also be taken seriously. In general, the risk of developing health problems increases as WC increases above the cut-off points listed above. Even if the BMI of an individual is in the 'normal weight' range, a high WC indicates some health risk. Health Canada also notes that although being overweight indicates some risk to health, research suggests that regular physical activity can decrease the risk of several health problems. Equally, a nutritious diet has been shown to decrease some of the risks associated with overweight. The following table indicates BMI values along the top of the table and heights along the left hand column. If you know your height, and your weight, you can read your approximate BMI from this table. The green shading indicates minimal risk, yellow some risk, and the pink indicates higher risks.
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