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Nurse Deanna Carlson
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VIDEO: Deanna Carlson, R.N., BSN, Shares Examples Of Foods That Are Not Necessarily Healthy For You

What food should you stay away from?

Deanna Carlson:
First you need to remove that salt shaker off the table, -- (and make sure it is) not there any longer. The second thing is that you actually need to start looking at food labels. On a food label which (comes on) all things that come in packages, bottles, plastic containers, boxes -- all have a food label.

You need to go down where it says ‘sodium’ and I go by how many milligrams are in that product. But you have to remember, you have to look at the serving, it will say, may be a half a cup per serving, you have 800 mg of salt in that amount of serving. So you got to look at that.

Like for an example, if you use those boxed rices that come with that special looking pouch that makes that rice taste wonderful, in one cup of that, there is 840 mg of salt. So please watch your salt. Read those labels and take a look at it. You may be way over your quota for salt and that’s one thing that could bring your blood pressure down. Maybe not make you feel so swollen (in) your legs and your feet and your hands.

The Women's Heart Center program provides:

* Low-cost personal Heart and Vascular Screenings.
* Free heart and self-health risk assessments.
* Educational Seminars addressing nutrition, exercise and osteoporosis.
* Specialized in-hospital care for women admitted with heart disease.

"Symptom recognition is a key problem," says Women's Heart Center co-director Shalizeh Shokooh, M.D. "About one third of women don't experience the typical symptoms of heart disease that most men experience. Many women report having vague chest discomfort with a sudden onset of severe fatigue or shortness of breath."

"This is one of the reasons St. Joseph Hospital opened the Women's Heart Center," says co-medical director Warren Johnston, M.D. "Participation in the Center provides women with the heart-health protection they need." Women can attend a private heart-health screening provided by a highly trained cardiac registered nurse.

Visit Deanna Carlson, R.N., BSN, on the web at St. Joseph Hospital Women’s Heart Center in Orange, CA

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