Stroke-Proof Your Kitchen

Stroke is often thought of as sudden and unpredictable, but research shows that up to 80% of strokes may be preventable through lifestyle and nutrition changes. In this episode, I break down what stroke actually is, why it happens, and most importantly, what you can do to reduce your risk starting today.

I explain how strokes occur when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, depriving brain cells of oxygen and nutrients. I talk about the two primary types of stroke, ischemic strokes caused by blockages, and hemorrhagic strokes caused by bleeding in the brain. I also highlight transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), often called “mini strokes,” as critical warning signs that should never be ignored.

The episode dives into the most common stroke risk factors, many of which are modifiable. These include inflammation, hypertension, diabetes, poor sleep, chronic stress, smoking, air pollution, obesity, and elevated triglycerides driven by excess sugar intake. I emphasize that while genetics and age play a role, lifestyle choices significantly influence stroke risk.

Listeners will walk away with practical prevention strategies supported by research, including movement recommendations aligned with the American Heart Association's guidance, blood pressure and blood sugar management, sleep prioritization, stress reduction, and smoking cessation.

I also provide “stroke-proof your kitchen” recommendations featuring nutrient-dense foods such as leafy greens, berries, fatty fish, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, olive oil, and potassium-rich foods. Finally, I highlight hydration, sunlight exposure for vitamin D, circadian rhythm support, and daily habits that protect long-term brain and cardiovascular health.

The episode concludes with the BE FAST stroke recognition acronym and a reminder that small, consistent changes can create powerful protection over time.

Thank you for listening to Healthy California.

If you have tried all my suggestions and are still having trouble with your health, and would like an appointment with me, please email me, text, or call me via the contact information below.

My contact:

Linda Brown, MPT, Doctoral Candidate Functional Nutrition

916-426-2543

linda@heal-throughfood.com

www.heal-throughfood.com

Transcript

Okay, welcome back. Thank you for listening. This is Linda Brown. I'm your physical therapist, a functional nutritionist, coach, educator, and host here in California. And today we are diving into a topic that affects millions of people, but far more preventable, than most realize. Stroke. Today, we'll break down three things. What stroke actually is, how to prevent it, and which lifestyle modifications and foods and dietary patterns have the strongest evidence to prevent stroke. So we are also going to stroke proof your kitchen here at the end. So by the end of this episode, you'll have a clear, actionable roadmap for protecting your brain and cardiovascular system, starting right now.

00:01:59

Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, yet up to 80% of strokes are preventable. And they're preventable through lifestyle, nutrition, and early risk factor management. So there's a large portion of strokes. We talked about cardiovascular disease a couple weeks ago, and stroke is considered one of those diseases under the umbrella of cardiovascular disease. And it's a leading killer.

00:02:27

So why would we not try to prevent it? Maybe we don't know how to. Let's figure that part out. So what is a stroke? Let's start with the basics. A stroke happens when blood flow to part of the brain is interrupted. And what is in blood? Why is that important? Well, blood transports oxygen and nutrients. If that is stopped, then we don't get oxygen to our brain and brain cells begin to die within minutes. 

00:02:57

Our blood takes oxygen and nutrients to every cell in our body. So that's our circulatory system. Our circulatory system is our heart pumping blood to every cell in our body so that it gets nutrients and oxygen. And when that gets stopped in the brain, we can have a stroke. And there's two main types of strokes.

00:03:18

There is ischemic stroke, which that's most strokes, about 85%. And then there's hemorrhagic stroke. That just means that there's excessive bleeding in the brain. So what causes blockage? Usually a blood clot or plaque buildup, but it's usually a blood clot or something that is inhibiting blood to get to a certain part of the brain. And depending on where that part of the brain is, can affect what is affected, like the left side or the right side of your body, sometimes your hands, sometimes your legs. So it just depends on what artery it is that is being blocked to a specific part of your brain, and it can be any part of your brain. So if you think about it, it's kind of like a traffic jam. If you have vehicles trying to get in and out of the city, delivering whatever it needs to deliver to your house, to your businesses, to the restaurants. If that traffic gets stopped, then everything past that traffic accident is not getting its supplies. It's not getting food, water, whatever the delivery trucks are supposed to be delivering, whatever is past that accident is not getting there. So it's kind of like a traffic accident stopping up the flow.

00:04:39

You could kind of think of a stroke being like that, more of an ischemic stroke. But the hemorrhagic stroke is when there's just bleeding in the brain that would usually be caused by a weak vessel that ruptured and now there's bleeding in the brain. And this often is linked to like uncontrolled high blood pressure or weakened blood vessels. And so you got to think, why do I weaken the blood vessels?

00:05:05

It could be weakened for a lot of different reasons. One being that there is constantly high blood pressure on it. Let's talk about the different causes. So what causes a stroke? You know, what causes that weakened blood vessel or what causes that clot? Well, the causes are the risk factors. Having risk factors are the cause. So let's go over the risk factors. A risk factor is inflammation.

00:05:30

Remember I talked about cardiovascular disease a couple weeks ago and stroke, it falls underneath that umbrella of cardiovascular disease. And cardiovascular disease is caused by inflammation. Stroke can be caused by inflammation. And inflammation can cause blood vessels to become stiff and reactive. So inflammation is a modifiable risk factor. Modifiable meaning that we can change it. We have control over it.

00:05:59

Another risk factor is hypertension. So high blood pressure, hypertension. Nearly half of US adults have hypertension or some form of high blood pressure or uncontrolled blood pressure. It's a huge risk factor. Half of all stroke patients have hypertension. And that comes from a study by Murphy in 2023. And that hypertension is also a modifiable risk factor. And if you have hypertension, you're probably thinking, well, how do I change that? Well, we'll go over that in a second. Another risk factor is diabetes. People with diabetes have twice the risk of having a stroke. That is also a modifiable risk factor, which means we can control it. Genetics plays a factor. We can't control that too much. Under the epigenetic definition, we can control some of our genetic factors. But I'm not saying that is completely controllable in stroke. Also, pollution is a risk factor. And when I say pollution, I'm also including smoking. Anything coming into your lungs causes inflammation and it doubles the risk of stroke. And that is also a modifiable risk factor because we can control smoke.

00:07:25

If you live in California and have a fire season, right, that's another season that we have these days. If you have a fire season in your area, then I would highly recommend wearing a mask when there is smoke from a forest fire, because smoke from a forest fire does a lot of destruction to your lungs, but also causes inflammation in your body, as much as smoking does, if not more. Air pollution and smoking is a modifiable risk factor. Another one is sleep or sleep disorders or sleep apnea. Those are all modifiable risk factors. We can do something about them. The lack of sleep can cause a stroke or at least increase the risk of stroke. Same thing with stress. Stress is a modifiable risk factor, which means we can do something about it. There seems to be a pattern here.

00:08:22

It's A modifiable risk factor. Increased stress, of course it makes sense that increased stress would lead to increased hypertension, and it absolutely is true. Our dietary choices is another risk factor, and that is also modifiable because we can choose what we put in our body and what we don't. Even if you live in a food desert or have food insecurities, there are organizations out there that can help you with getting access to healthier foods. And if you want to know what those are, then you can listen to my, I think it's my first, it was either my first or second podcast. It was one of my first because I think it's really important. Like I'm talking about health and food, and I know there's so many people that don't have access to healthy foods. So it was so important to me that I made it one of my first podcasts.

00:09:20

Let's see, what are other risk factors for stroke? We have AFib. So if you have atrial fibrillation, you have a 25% increased chance of having a stroke, especially if you're getting up there in age. Obesity is a modifiable risk factor. And obesity is a risk factor not just because of the weight, but because the fat on our body, the adipose tissue on our body increases inflammation in our body. Increased adipose actually has inflammatory qualities to it. It's going to increase inflammation in your body. And then another one, you know, we talk about LDLs and HDLs and high cholesterol, but I'm telling you, there is a lot of research out there saying that it's not just an increased LDL that's going to give you a stroke or a high HDL that's going to decrease a stroke, it's mostly about triglycerides. A high triglyceride count is going to give you a higher risk of stroke than just having a higher cholesterol. And the reason is because high triglycerides come from high sugar. 

00:10:45

And having high sugar in our blood increases our triglycerides, but that does damage to our vessel walls. And that type of damage to our vessel walls, I mean, anytime you damage any tissue, it has to repair itself. And it does that by increasing circulation to that area, increasing inflammation, so that we can bring our immune system into that area and start repairing itself. And if that doesn't happen, then we have damaged vessels.

00:11:13

And I talked about earlier having like a damaged vessel in your brain and then you have a brain bleed and that is a hemorrhagic stroke. And one of the reasons could be because your blood vessels get damaged and they don't repair themselves like they should. And high triglycerides or high blood sugar as well. Triglycerides and blood sugar are different, but they're both due to increased sugar. So it is really important that you control your sugar.

00:11:41

High triglyceride count does more damage to your blood vessels than high cholesterol. And then age. The incidence of a stroke doubles each decade after 55. Of course, this is a non-modifiable risk factor. I can't control my age, even though I'm screaming and kicking trying to. And then sex, as far as being a male or female,

00:12:08

Premenopausal, women have more of a risk of having a stroke, but after the menopause age, actually men have a higher risk of stroke. So let's go over that real quick, the risk factors for a stroke. We have inflammation, hypertension, diabetes, genetic factors, air pollution, sleep, dietary choices, AFib, obesity, high triglyceride, age, and your sex.

00:12:36

So of those, most of those are modifiable. You can do something about the inflammation in your body. You can do something about hypertension. You can do something about diabetes. You can do something about air pollution. You can do something about your sleep, your dietary choices. You can do something about obesity, your triglycerides. It's a growing, chronic disease, and we can do something about it.

00:13:03

Then why is it growing? I want you to think about that for a second. Why is it growing? If your car was running low in air, in its tires, and it's all these bells and whistles are telling you to put air in the tires, you do, because you're not going to get very far. So why wouldn't you do the same for your body? Some of these risk factors are modifiable.

00:13:31

And I'm not saying that it's all easy to change, but start with one of those things I mentioned and see what we can do with it. So those are risk factors for stroke, and stroke is a growing disease. But then there's this thing called a TIA, transient ischemic attack. TIA, it's a mini stroke. And people get these little mini strokes, and then they typically get better.

00:13:55

But a TIA is really a warning that you should never ignore. Even if you fully recover, the reason why you shouldn't ignore it is because you have a one in three chance of having a full-blown stroke within the next five years. So if you've had a TIA or know of someone who has, they have a high chance of having a full stroke within the next five years. And if we already know we can make changes to prevent a stroke, then I think if you've had a TIA or know of someone that has had a TIA and it's just a warning, I think that can be a blessing because now you can make changes to prevent it. So it's really, I mean, think of it that way. A TIA can be a blessing because now you're like, oh, I need to make changes. I can prevent this. So how can we prevent it? Let's find that out. Because we know we can prevent it. 

00:14:55

You have the power to prevent a stroke. If you have any family members that have had a stroke, then is it in your genes? Possibly. But can you still change it? Of course. Of course you can. So let's change it. What can we do to prevent a stroke? We can move. Movement is medicine. We can control our blood pressure. We can improve our blood sugar stability. We can stop smoking.

00:15:24

We can prioritize sleep. We can reduce our stress. So let's go over each one of those separately. Movement. You don't need to run a marathon. We talk about 30 minutes of brisk walking. The American Heart Association recommends exercising at least 150 minutes a week. That's 30 minutes a day. We can do that. We need to get our heart rate up a little bit. We need to be breathing a little bit heavy. And it doesn't have to be that whole entire time.

00:15:52

But we do need to get our heart pumping. And then two to three days of strength training. You don't want your blood to become stagnant. We have to circulate it. We have to move it. Because we have to get oxygen and nutrients to every tissue in our body. So we need to move. We need to move our blood. We need to circulate. We need to get our heart pumping. We need to circulate. So move. And then blood pressure. We need to control our blood pressure.

00:16:21

Increased blood pressure is the number one risk factor for stroke. So we need to keep our blood pressure around 120 over 80. And how do we do that? Well, you can increase your potassium-rich foods. You can increase your physical activity, which I just mentioned to reduce stroke, but you could also, so I said increase activity for movement to reduce the risk factor, but also to lower your blood pressure. And then to lower your blood pressure, you can always just manage your stress as well.

00:16:51

And limit alcohol. So risk factors for high blood pressure, potassium-rich foods, increase physical activity, manage stress, and limit alcohol. We'll talk about stress here in a second. When you think about potassium-rich foods, I'm not going to go over the foods quite yet. I will a little bit later. But in every cell in our body, we have a sodium-potassium pump. And our typical diet has more sodium than potassium. So we're always trying to reduce sodium, reduce sodium, reduce sodium. However, why are we not increasing our potassium? We get potassium from fruits and vegetables. If we are out of balance in our sodium and potassium ratio, then we need to increase our potassium because decreasing your sodium is not always the answer. Our body needs sodium. 

00:17:47

We just don't need high amounts of sodium and we get high amounts of sodium because we eat foods that use sodium as a preservative and because it makes things highly palatable, which means it's another way of saying it makes things delicious. We put salt in everything, but we don't eat enough potassium. And another way to get a little bit of potassium is just drink an electrolyte drink. Electrolyte drinks will have potassium in it as well. 

00:18:12

So that's increasing your potassium-rich foods is another way to help with your blood pressure. Another way to prevent a stroke is improve your blood sugar. Blood sugar causes high triglycerides. We already know blood sugar causes diabetes, insulin resistance. However, blood sugar also causes high triglycerides, and high triglycerides damages our vessel walls. So we don't want sugar floating around in our blood. We don't want triglycerides floating around in our blood.

00:18:40

And like I said earlier, high triglycerides play a bigger part in stroke than high cholesterol. So stabilize your blood sugar. And also stable blood sugar protects the brain in many ways. You know, stroke affects the brain. So we want to control our blood sugar. Please control your blood sugar. It's something that it's easy for me to say, but we're all addicted to it. We all have too much sugar in our diet. So start off by decreasing one thing out of your diet that has sugar.

00:19:09

Or even a sugar substitute. Those are horrible for you, by the way. What else will prevent a stroke? Smoking. Well, that's a no-brainer, right? No pun intended. Smoking, it's easy for me to say, just stop. But I know it's not easy. If it were easy, then we would have all stopped smoking a long time ago. It's not easy. It's very addictive. And if you live in a place that has a fire season, wear a mask. 

00:19:37

The smoke from forest fires is very damaging to your lungs and causes inflammation in your body. That's A modifiable risk factor that we can change, stop smoking and wear a mask during fire seasons. Pretty much control anything that you breathe in. Anything that you breathe in. So even if you vape, it's actually, that's very inflammatory. Anything that comes in through your mouth is going to get into your blood and it's either going to nourish you or it's going to damage you. And you have the ability to control that.

00:20:07

Another way to prevent a stroke would be prioritize your sleep.

00:20:10

We're always trying to be too productive, but lack of sleep can actually literally kill you.

00:20:15

Lack of sleep elevates your blood sugar, and lack of sleep disrupts your hormones because a lot of our hormones, especially our sex hormones, are released at night.

00:20:25

Stress hormones as well.

00:20:27

So you want to prioritize sleep.

00:20:30

When we sleep, we heal.

00:20:32

So if there's anything in our body that's being damaged, we can heal that.

00:20:36

if we sleep and give ourselves what we need to heal.

00:20:40

So prioritize sleep, please.

00:20:43

And then we can reduce stress.

00:20:46

Another great way of preventing a stroke is reduce stress.

00:20:51

And again, I know that's easier said than done, but chronic stress elevates blood sugar.

00:20:56

So even if you are completely good on eating sugar, if you don't have any sugar, if you are in constant stress, you can still elevate your blood sugar because of the cortisol.

00:21:09

So chronic stress elevates blood sugar, and it elevates blood pressure, and it disrupts hormones, and it causes inflammation, and it causes us to not sleep.

00:21:19

So stress is very destructive, and we can do something about stress.

00:21:26

And it's not as just as simple as we'll just take a yoga class.

00:21:29

That's not always the answer, because for some people, adding in a walk or a meditation or a yoga class is just one more thing to add to your to-do list.

00:21:41

And that's not usually the problem.

00:21:44

The problem is we have too much on our plate to begin with.

00:21:48

So we need to start looking at what's on our schedule and just eliminating things that we don't really need to do.

00:21:55

Because I'm telling you, having a full schedule, not the best thing.

00:21:59

It's going to kill you.

00:22:01

So let me go through that again.

00:22:02

Prevention.

00:22:03

I'm just going to go through it real fast.

00:22:04

To prevent a stroke, we can move, we can decrease our blood pressure, decrease our blood sugar, stop smoking or reduce our exposure to forest fires, prioritize sleep, reduce stress, and then we're going to talk about stroke-proofing our kitchen.

00:22:24

What can we do to eat the proper foods to help us reduce our risk of stroke?

00:22:30

So let's stroke-proof our kitchen.

00:22:33

So what's on the menu?

00:22:34

So there is a diet called the Mediterranean diet.

00:22:36

It's the most studied diet out there because it is good for so many different things.

00:22:41

The Mediterranean diet might be something to think about.

00:22:44

There is a diet called the DASH diet.

00:22:47

And if you've had hypertension or a stroke, you might have already heard it.

00:22:52

DASH stands for Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension.

00:22:56

So a DASH diet is made to stop hypertension.

00:22:59

And there's also anti-inflammatory diets to decrease inflammation in your body.

00:23:04

So there's different set diets that you can Google, look it up.

00:23:08

Do people Google things anymore?

00:23:10

I don't even think that's a thing.

00:23:12

ChatGPT it.

00:23:13

What do we eat?

00:23:14

What can we put in our kitchen that's going to stroke proof our kitchen?

00:23:19

The big eat.

00:23:20

Leafy greens.

00:23:22

Leafy greens are high in nitrates and potassium.

00:23:25

There's a potassium word again.

00:23:27

It helps relax blood vessels.

00:23:29

Leafy greens are filled with vitamins and minerals.

00:23:32

And you want to aim for one to two servings a day, at least.

00:23:36

I would love it if you doubled that.

00:23:38

Leafy greens has fiber in it and we don't get enough fiber either.

00:23:42

But at a minimum, one to two servings a day.

00:23:44

Berries. Berries are loaded with flavonoids and antioxidants and it reduces inflammation and oxidation.

00:23:53

So aim for at least a serving A day.

00:23:55

Again, I would double it.

00:23:57

I'm getting my sources

00:24:00

from these research papers, but one serving of berries, that doesn't seem enough, especially when it comes to reducing inflammation.

00:24:08

So you want to be eating the rainbow, right?

00:24:10

So colorful, colorful foods, fruits and vegetables.

00:24:14

And then you want to have fatty fish.

00:24:18

Fatty fish has omegas, omega-3s, especially.

00:24:22

Omega-3s are anti-inflammatory.

00:24:24

And when you think of fatty fish,

00:24:28

I think it's Dr. Hyman that calls it a SMASH fish.

00:24:31

SMASH is an acronym.

00:24:33

It stands for salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and herring.

00:24:41

So SMASH fish.

00:24:42

They're fatty fish.

00:24:43

And you want to aim for a couple servings a week.

00:24:46

And if you don't like fish or you don't think you can get those kind of seafoods or you don't have access to that, you can try a supplement, omega-3 supplement.

00:24:56

And if you don't eat fish or are vegan, there are omega-3s that are vegan.

00:25:04

And then you want to eat nuts and seeds.

00:25:05

Nuts like walnuts, almonds, chia seeds.

00:25:08

Oh, chia seeds have a lot of fiber.

00:25:11

Flax seeds have omega-3s.

00:25:13

These support healthy cholesterol as well.

00:25:15

And they're plant-based.

00:25:18

They're the plant-based omega-3s.

00:25:20

And you want, I don't know, a handful a day of those.

00:25:23

What else can we put in our kitchen to stroke proof our kitchen?

00:25:26

Beans and legumes, lentils, chickpeas, black beans.

00:25:29

They're high in fiber, high in potassium.

00:25:32

All of these support blood pressure.

00:25:34

And you know, you want to have a serving a day of something like that, or at least minimum four times a week.

00:25:40

Lentils, chickpeas, black beans, they're all easy to cook and store well in the refrigerator.

00:25:46

So add that to your pantry list.

00:25:49

And then there's whole grains.

00:25:50

Whole grains like oats, quinoa, barley,

00:25:53

These also help stabilize blood sugar, and they provide fiber, soluble fiber, which supports cholesterol balance.

00:26:00

So there's those whole grains.

00:26:02

I prefer oats, quinoa, and barley over wheat, even anything that's just whole grain wheat.

00:26:08

And then we also have olive oil.

00:26:12

Olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, is rich in polyphenols that protect blood vessels.

00:26:18

So try to use extra virgin olive oil if you're going to saute or cook something rather than vegetable oil.

00:26:27

And then the other thing we talked about earlier is foods high in potassium.

00:26:33

So if you are trying to stroke proof your kitchen and you're looking for foods that are high in potassium, potassium, as I mentioned before, helps counteract that sodium because we have a sodium potassium pump and we have a ratio of how much potassium and sodium we should have.

00:26:48

Right now, typically we have more sodium than potassium.

00:26:53

We need to add potassium to our diet.

00:26:56

And the sources of great sources of potassium are potatoes.

00:27:00

There's actually more potassium in a potato than there is a banana.

00:27:03

But we always think of bananas.

00:27:05

Potatoes and sweet potatoes, a great source of potassium.

00:27:08

Of course, bananas, avocados, beans.

00:27:11

So you're going to get them from those legumes.

00:27:14

And leafy greens.

00:27:15

So if you're eating leafy greens, and beans and avocados.

00:27:18

All those are, like if you think about avocados, beans and leafy greens, that's right, that right there is a really good salad.

00:27:25

And then you're getting your potassium.

00:27:27

So that is how you can stroke proof your kitchen and your diet.

00:27:33

But the other thing I want to mention is hydration.

00:27:37

If you are dehydrated, your blood is going to be thicker and it's not going to travel as well.

00:27:42

It's not going to be able to get into the tiniest of vessels very well.

00:27:45

which then can increase your risk of a blood clot.

00:27:48

So we want to stay hydrated.

00:27:50

And don't drink all your water at once.

00:27:52

Just like little sips here and there.

00:27:54

With water, you want to aim for half your body weight in ounces.

00:27:57

So if you are 200 pounds, half your body weight would be 100.

00:28:00

So you're going to drink 100 ounces of water.

00:28:02

And you could add electrolytes to that to make it more palatable.

00:28:05

You could add lemon, oranges, squeeze some lime in there, add a cucumber, some berries.

00:28:13

You can add stuff to your water to make it more palatable if you're not good about drinking water.

00:28:19

If you are good about drinking water, you know, add a pinch of sea salt to your water to get a little bit of electrolytes.

00:28:26

And then last but not least, vitamin D. Get vitamin D from the sun if you can.

00:28:31

If you have sensitive skin or a history of skin cancer, then I still think that vitamin D is good for you.

00:28:38

But maybe just in small little spurts.

00:28:42

I mean, you want to get 20 minutes a day if you can, but you don't have to do it all at once.

00:28:46

And you can do it early in the morning where the sun isn't directly on you and it's at a different angle in the sky.

00:28:52

Especially if you can go out into the sun as it's coming up and the sun, just being out in the sun the first 10, 15, 20 minutes, the first thing in the morning is so good for your circadian rhythm.

00:29:06

It's good for your mental health.

00:29:08

It's hitting the retina in your eyes, and it's a game changer for your mood for that day in addition to just setting your circadian rhythm.

00:29:18

So if you can get sun into your eyeballs, not through a window, but actually outside, it's also going to be good for many things, including decreasing stress, setting your circadian rhythm to get better sleep, and that's all going to lower your blood pressure.

00:29:34

So, just getting sun can also because of those can decrease your risk for stroke.

00:29:40

And if getting up first thing in the morning is not a thing for you, then go for a walk.

00:29:47

Go for a walk outside every now and then on your lunch break or make it an extra, take an extra 5 minutes to walk to your car, walk around the building one time, then walk to your car or park your car on the other side of the parking lot or whatever, whatever you can do to be outside in the sun just a little bit longer.

00:30:06

Let's put this all together.

00:30:08

Here is your daily stroke blueprint.

00:30:12

I'm going to go through this fast because we just went over it.

00:30:16

We're going to start our day with protein, fiber.

00:30:18

I talked about fiber last week, I think it was.

00:30:22

But you can start your day with protein, fiber, like eggs, berries, Greek yogurt with chia.

00:30:27

Include leafy greens and fruit throughout the day.

00:30:30

You know, you're going to eat the rainbow.

00:30:32

Use olive oil as your main source of cooking or main source of fat.

00:30:37

Eat beans, lentils, legumes several times a week.

00:30:41

It's great fiber, great potassium.

00:30:44

Choose fatty fish a few times a week.

00:30:46

It has great omegas, which is anti-inflammatory.

00:30:49

Snack on nuts, fruits, veggies instead of processed foods.

00:30:54

Snack on things that don't come out of a package would be ideal.

00:30:58

Drink water consistently, add electrolytes if you need to.

00:31:02

Move, move your body.

00:31:04

Motion is lotion and movement is medicine and prioritize sleep and reduce your stress.

00:31:11

Just doing those changes can decrease your risk of stroke greatly.

00:31:17

So why would you not, right?

00:31:19

Why would you not choose to do that?

00:31:23

And if you don't have access to some of these foods or there's stress in your life that is unavoidable, then there are resources out there for you that you can find because if you don't decrease your stress and prioritize your sleep and eat healthy and get out in the sun and do all the things that we should just be able to do, then it's really increasing your risk of stroke and decreasing your life.

00:31:51

So I really highly recommend that you try to find something that you can do to change at least one thing at a time.

00:31:58

It's so important.

00:32:00

Small changes repeated every day, create massive protection over time.

00:32:06

If you know you have an increased risk for stroke, or if you know of anyone that does, then I want you to remember this acronym, BE FAST, B-E-F-A-S-T, BE FAST.

00:32:18

It stands for balance.

00:32:20

If your balance is off, E stands for eyes.

00:32:22

If you start to see double vision or you lose vision in one eye or you lose peripheral vision,

00:32:30

That's something to pay attention to.

00:32:32

F in FAST, F stands for face if your face starts to droop.

00:32:36

A is arms, if you lose feeling in your arms or the ability to control it.

00:32:42

Speech might be, you might notice that you or someone else is mumbling or can't express what you're trying to say.

00:32:49

And then time.

00:32:51

So B FAST, balance eyes, face, arms, speech, and time.

00:32:55

And time is the important part because if you have any of these symptoms,

00:32:59

Your time is valuable.

00:33:01

Your time is important.

00:33:02

You need to get help fast.

00:33:04

Faster than putting someone in a car and driving them to an emergency room, you might just have to call 911 because time is limited.

00:33:12

If you have any of these symptoms, time is limited.

00:33:15

So remember the acronym BE FAST.

00:33:18

Balance, eyes, face, arms, speech, and time.

00:33:21

Time is a very important factor here.

00:33:24

So 90% of strokes are linked to modifiable risk factors, things that we can change.

00:33:29

That means you have the power to change the outcome.

00:33:32

And that can start with your next meal or your next walk or your next day.

00:33:38

Your brain, your most valuable asset.

00:33:41

Protecting it starts with choices you make right now.

00:33:45

So protect your most valuable asset.

00:33:48

And I'm going to end on reading you a Bible verse, because I always do at the end.

00:33:53

And this is from Romans 12.10. And it says, love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor, which means if you're outdoing one another in showing honor, you're not waiting for someone to show it to you first.

00:34:10

You're not doing what they're doing.

00:34:12

You're doing more and you're not waiting for anyone else because you are loving everyone with brotherly affection, which means you're treating someone as if they're your closest family member.

00:34:25

Even if you don't even know who they are, outdo them in showing honor.

00:34:30

And God sees what you're doing, even if no one else sees it.

00:34:34

I really wish that everyone would try to outdo each other in showing honor just because we need to love each other more.