Is This Your Wake Up Call?

Hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and respiratory disease were the most common comorbidities among COVID-19 patients in the New York City area, according to a recent paper published by JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association).  Investigators examined data from 5700 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital.  

Is this your wake up call?  

The experts are full of conflicting information, and the science of what we know and don’t know about COVID-19 still needs more time.  The fact of the matter is, COVID-19 is not over. Not even close, and the emotional ups and downs of trying to navigate the new normal continues to weigh heavily on all of us.  

We know that COVID-19 is a very aggressive virus that attacks the respiratory system and other major systems of the body, and that the elderly and people with preexisting comorbidities (conditions) or illnesses are at a much higher risk of dying or suffering from long term side effects. 

• More than 3 million Americans are diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure) every year.  

• Over 70 million adults in the US are obese

• More than 3 million type-2 diabetes cases are diagnosed per year

If you have any of these conditions, I would encourage you to take control of your health. 

The number one thing we can control is how we take care of ourselves. 

Improving your physical and emotional health will set you up for a better outcome no matter what the future holds.  You’ll never regret taking care of yourself and decreasing your chances of contracting an infectious disease, a chronic illness, decreasing your chances of a heart attack or reversing your diabetes.  

Taking simple action steps can only help improve your day to day life and overall outcome during this time of heightened uncertainty.  

If you are at risk or struggling with your health, working with a health coach to make a plan and change your behaviors in a supportive, understanding and safe environment will improve the quality of your life.  

Your health is your most valuable asset and making it your number one priority is the best thing you can do to take back control and set yourself up in every aspect of your life.  

In my practice, we look at what’s working and what’s not and set short term, mid-term and long term goals.  We talk about what you are struggling with and break it down, taking one step at a time to put a plan in place in order to make improvements in every aspect of your life.  

Nobody is coming to save you.

Life is full of uncertainties, now more than ever, but relying on others, including the government, is not what we are designed to do.  We are designed to control our behavior and our thoughts and actions.  To know our self-worth and love and nurture ourselves in order to live our best life.  The one and only life that we have on this earth.  

Clients that I have been working with during this time are having great results, creating a ripple effect on their entire families.  Making meal plans, plans for exercising, balancing work and family time and so on helps everyone.  One client in particular that has just completed a six month program nailed everyone of her goals.  In addition, her son lost 25 pounds and is now off several medications.  Her husband lost more than twenty pounds and feels and looks better than he has in years.  

To learn more about my health coaching practice and taking back control of your health please visit my website at pattymcgee.coach or call me for a free 40 minute consultation at 518-221-9923.

Avoiding the COVID 15 Weight Gain: Make a Plan

The new normal for the foreseeable future means staying at home, preparing home cooked meals, working or looking for work remotely, home schooling the kids, and washing endless amounts of dishes and laundry.  

It also means spring, no commute or car pool to sports and after school activities, for now.  

While we can’t control the length of the shutdown, getting and staying healthy is the one thing we can all control.  

Taking more control of your time and energy can be difficult to manage, especially during such stressful times.  

Let’s imagine that it’s June 1st. How do you want to look back on these quarantined days?

Might it represent a time when your health took a backseat? I keep seeing jokes and memes referencing the corona 15, or COVID 15, meaning the rapid weight some are gaining.   

One meme shows a sign inside the refrigerator that reads, You’re not hungry. You’re bored.

The advice I follow myself and share with my clients and loved ones is to Make a Plan.  Make a plan for every day and include a purpose and structure.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, but having no plan means time passes, things pile up and feelings of disappointment set in.  

When you have a plan, you can look back and feel a sense of accomplishment. Even if it wasn’t perfect, you can try again the next day. Go easy on yourself. 

This period that we are in reminds me of another time several years ago.  My job as a practice administrator at a large healthcare system had been eliminated.  My two older boys were away at college, my daughter started high school, my mother had recently passed away and my husband was working more than ever since I had no income and we had college tuition and bills to pay.  

Needless to say, I was lost. I had no plan. 

My entire identity, including my purpose, career, relationships, my role as a daughter and caretaker, my health, feelings and emotions as I knew them, were all gone in a span of two weeks.  

Everything I had dragged myself out of bed for every day, except for being a wife and mother, was gone.  At times, I felt freedom, but mostly I felt devastation, loss, and anger. It was a very confusing time.  

I was 54 years old and even after giving birth to my children, I had never been unemployed.  I was grieving the loss of my mother, and more than 25 years of professional relationships. It took me months to peel back the layers and figure out how to move forward.  

Then it occurred to me that I needed a plan. I started with my daughter's school routine.  I found purpose in getting up and getting her to school. I spent time with my husband on his days off for the first time in decades.  I met up with old friends and began developing new interests.  

Mostly I added exercise, sleep, and good healthy food back into my incredibly out of control overwhelming life. 

I still get up early in the morning and I have a very set routine that involves planning for myself, my health coaching practice and my family.   

Has the pandemic flipped your schedule upside down? 

Time is a gift, and how we chose to use this time can set us up for success in many aspects of our lives several weeks or months from now.     

I sometimes think how difficult this time could be if we were headed into the winter months, with a long, cold and dark season ahead of us.  Spring is here, and the weather is improving every day. For most of us there is so much we can be planning, especially with regards to our health, happiness and well-being.  

There’s never been a better time to make your health your number one priority.  

To learn more about how to avoid the COVID 15 weight gain and boost your immune system, please schedule a free consultation. 

15 Days to Slow the Spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19)

We have until April 1st to drastically change the course of the Coronavirus/Covid-19. 

““You know how everyone rushed to the store at the same time and bought everything out at once instead of staggering their visits? Now imagine the same thing in the hospital, but instead of toilet paper, it’s ICU beds and ventilators that are out. This is why everything needs to be cancelled and people need to stay home””

— Dr. Mark Hyman

If you want things to start getting better (sooner), we have 14 to 21 days where we could significantly slow the pandemic.

The major concerns regarding the Coronavirus is the rapid rate that it can spread and the fact that there is no vaccine  at this point. Also the severity of symptoms are mostly respiratory related, compromising one's ability to breathe, which then affects their heart, brain and other major organs and bodily systems. 

I am still seeing way too many people not taking this virus seriously enough. 

Let’s say you meet Jane for coffee at her house because the cafe is closed. Jane says she is healthy and is not showing any signs of the virus, so you think it’s okay to get together. 

Here’s the issue. You weren’t thinking about all of the people Jane came into contact with in the past 14 days. Did she pick up her child from college? Did she go to work? Did she work out at the gym? Did she travel on a plane or cruise ship in the past 14 days? Did she visit the doctor’s office for a routine exam?

Jane could have picked up the virus from any one of those people she came in contact with by simply living her normal life.

Ten days later, Jane develops a fever and tests positive for the Coronavirus (assuming she has access to the test). The CDC is reporting that we can carry the virus and not have signs for up to 14 days. 

Naturally, until the past week, we have all been exposed to hundreds of people because we’ve been living our lives without restrictions. 

This is how in our daily lives, we pick up all kinds of germs, such as the common cold, influenza, stomach bugs, and more. 

But, the Coronavirus is different because it is so much more contagious and deadly than the typical flu. 

Now, we have less than 15 days to stop the spread and flatten the curve.

Please do your part to make April 1, 2020, a much healthier and happier world. 

Here are guidelines published by the Centers for Disease Control:

Even if you are young and otherwise healthy, you are at risk—and your activities can increase the risk of contracting the Coronavirus from others. Everyone can and should do their part. 

1. Listen to and follow the directions of your state and local authorities.

2. If you feel sick, stay home. Do not go to work. Contact your medical provider.

3. If your children are sick, keep them at home. Contact your medical provider.

4. If someone in your household has tested positive for the Coronavirus, keep the entire household at home.

5. If you are an older American, stay home and away from other people.

6. If you are a person with a serious underlying health condition—such as a significant heart or lung problem—stay home and away from other people.

I know that not everyone can stay home one hundred percent of the time. We still need groceries or need to take care of an elderly family member, etc. You might be required to work. Just please use extreme caution when going out. Wear gloves. Wash your hands, clean your car handles and your steering wheel.

Clean everything. Leave groceries on the front step of your parents’ home, if possible. Do not go inside.

I have faith that we can do this. Everyone must do their part.

5 Simple Steps to Boost Your Immune System During the Coronavirus Pandemic (and beyond)

Today is Friday, March 13, 2020, and it has been a tumultuous week for most of us. You’re probably scared and anxious due to the mixed news and advice that is being shared around the world. 

I’m here to tell everyone that there is a lot you can do on a daily basis to take control of your health and safety, most importantly your immune system.  I want you to know that it’s going to be okay. We are going to get through this. 

I have 35 years of nursing experience ranging from medical surgical nursing, ICU, Bone Marrow Transplant, teaching, hospital administration and practice management, to most recently owning my own private practice as a Integrative Nutrition Health Coach.  

I have been on the front lines of our current medical system and encourage everyone to protect yourself and your family, so that the most vulnerable have access to care, and the caregivers are able to provide the care and services that the community needs.  

While there are many unanswered questions regarding COVID-19 (Coronavirus), limiting social contact to reduce the spread of the virus is the best way to keep each other healthy. 

As we learn more about COVID-19 and its effect on immune-compromised adults, I want to offer 5 simple steps you can follow to take better care of yourself:

1. Drink Water: drinking more water has an endless number of benefits, most of which starts with detoxifying and replenishing.  Your entire body, overall health and immune system improves with clean water.

2. Eat real whole food: science has proven over and over again the benefits of eating real whole food versus eating high calorie, low nutrient processed foods.  Real whole foods have tons of healthy vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates, protein giving us energy and boosting our body’s immune system so that it can protect, prevent and restore balance and immunization. While the grocery store shelves have a limited supply, most stores are restocking on a regular basis, so please focus on real whole food first.

3. Exercise is also a powerful defense and helps to boost your immune system.  Taking in large amounts of fresh oxygen and blowing off carbon dioxide, helps to build and restore muscle.  Exercise forces our circulatory system to move oxygenated and deoxygenated blood to and from every cell and organ in your body.  This in-turn helps to eliminate toxins such as bacteria, viruses, and other waste products. Exercise helps all of your major organs and bodily systems including our mental health by boosting endorphins sending positive thoughts, and reducing anxiety

4. Sleep helps the body restore balance, redistribute nutrients and filter your waste and toxins and rebuild your immune system, allowing it to decrease inflammation and fight infection and disease. 

5. Your thoughts and actions impact your immune system.  Limit what you listen to on the radio and what you watch on TV.  What we hear often controls how we feel, and the 24/7 news networks are well aware of this.  The more shocking and fearful the information, the longer we want to listen and watch. This is a vicious cycle. It’s important to be informed and follow directions when accurate information is shared.  Don’t fall into the rabbit hole of listening and scrolling through the same information hour after hour. Take control of your thoughts and feelings. Be productive with your time and energy.  

One of the most positive things about the timing of this outbreak in the United States is that it has come at the end of the winter season rather than at the beginning. That means longer days with more daylight and less influenza (flu) virus.

We are living in unprecedented times, but please trust that we will get through this. You are more resilient than you know.