Eating Healthy in a Doubleburger.com World

Does this man look familiar?
Have you ever heard of Joe Piscatella?In 1977, at the age of 32, he had a heart attack, and was told he would never live to see his children become teenagers (they were 4 and 6 at the time.) He is now 64, a grandpa, and very healthy looking. Tests show that his heart actually has less disease than it did in 1977.

Last night Den and I got to attend one of his seminars.

He is the writer of 10 award winning books and a regular on the Today Show, and appears on many other TV programs.

I have studied this subject in the past, but still I learned some things:

1. People who own dogs have much less heart attacks than people who don't.
(not that I'm thinking of getting a dog...that will never happen)

2. 2% milk (which most people drink) is not actually 2% fat. It has 2% fat in weight, but the milk is actually 38% fat. It's all a marketing ploy to make you think you are only drinking 2% fat. Imagine, 38% fat!

3. 40% adults have no fresh fruit in any given day.
80% adults have no whole grains on any given day.
40% adults have no fresh vegetables on any given day.
These numbers shocked me.

4. Just 7 1/2 oz of fish per week can dramatically reduce your chance of having a heart attack.

5. Ground turkey is not all that great because it is usually contains ground up skin (fat) in it. I think he said they are allowed by USDA to have 28% fat in it. Yikes.

6. If you eat beef, have the word 'loin' or 'round' in it.

7. The average woman in America eats 35 lbs of cheese in a year.

8. 4 grams=1 t. (so 4 grams of sugar would equal 1 t sugar)
Simple, but I never knew this breakdown before.

He ended with this quote:
"If you don't take time for your health today, you will have to make time for your illness tomorrow."

And the following is not an exact quote, but he said something like this:
"My parents were both smokers and we kept our windows closed 7 months of the year since I grew up in Connecticut. I think all that second hand smoke really affected my heart health contributing to my heart attack at age 32. But my parents didn't know any better, and it was worth it just to have them as my parents."

He sort of said that last line (above) under his breath....like it wasn't part of the seminar on heart health, but he obviously loves and appreciates his parents. Wasn't that sweet?

And look what book of his I bought last night:

4 comments:

grandmapeg said...

Thanks for sharing the information on this subject. We have started making better food choices in the last year but we can still improve a lot! It is always good to get additional health information so thanks for taking the time to share this information. By the way, I have told you this many times but you are the best example to me of one who eats the healthiest foods! Thanks for being such a great example!

Eileen said...

Very interesting, and it makes me very nervous, because I eat so UNhealthy.
What he said about making time for health today or having to make time for illness tomorrow really hit me.

I definitely have to make some changes in my life.

Thanks for posting this.

Kris said...

Sounds very intriguing! I would have loved to have attended something like that. I need to give you a call and find out more.

Enoch said...

Wow, as someone who is fascinated by health science, I loved this post and learned a few things too! Keep up the great work!

Look what happened last night

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