Welcome to the NVFC Heart-Healthy Firefighter E-News. The NVFC Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program was designed to help firefighters become more heart-healthy and lower the incidence of heart attack related deaths in the fire service. We hope that you enjoy this newsletter and that it benefits not only you, but others in your fire department, family and community.

1. NVFC Seeks Heart-Healthy Recipes for Cookbook
2. NVFC Offers Free Health Screenings Across the Country
3. NVFC, Joe Montana Promote Heart-Health to Firefighters in Myrtle Beach
4. NVFC’s Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program Reaches Hundreds at Firehouse Expo
   Booth to be featured on Firehouse.com
5. Follow the “Five-a-Day” Rule
6. Walking for a Healthy Heart
7. Heart-Healthy Firefighter Tip
8. Small Steps

The National Volunteer Fire Council's (NVFC) Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program is putting together a cookbook of heart-healthy recipes that firefighters and emergency services personnel can use at home or at the firehouse. The NVFC invites those who have a heart-healthy recipe they would like included in the cookbook to submit the recipe for consideration. Send your heart-healthy recipe to Brooke Marshall at bmarshall@nvfc.org, or fill out the recipe form and mail it to:

The National Volunteer Fire Council
Attn: Brooke Marshall
1050 17th Street, NW, Suite 490
Washington, DC 20036

The Cookbook is part of the NVFC's national effort to decrease the risk of heart attack among firefighters and emergency services personnel through proper nutrition, fitness and health education. It will be released later this year.

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The NVFC brings its Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program booth to fire/emergency services trade shows and state conferences across the country as part of its national heart attack prevention campaign. In the coming months, the booth will be coming to several industry events to conduct free health screenings, hand out information and more. Make plans to visit the Heart-Healthy Firefighter booth at one or more of the following locations.

LA State Firemen's Conference
August 9-12
New Orleans, LA
*Cholesterol and glucose screenings

NC State Firemen's Conference
August 24-26
Greensboro, NC
*Cholesterol and glucose screenings

Arizona State Fire School
September 7-10
Mesa, AZ
*Cholesterol and glucose screenings

Fire-Rescue International
September 14-16
Dallas, TX
*Blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose screenings
*Cooking demonstrations

Firehouse Las Vegas
September 27-29
Las Vegas, NV
*Blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose screenings

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As part of a national effort to raise awareness about high blood pressure and the increased risk of heart disease among firefighters, the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) and football legend Joe Montana traveled to Myrtle Beach for the South Carolina Firefighters Association's annual conference July 20-22. Montana is the spokesperson for Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation's BP Success Zone, which has partnered with the NVFC's Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program to educate firefighters about the importance of maintaining healthy blood pressure levels.

Over 1,000 firefighters attended a panel discussion featuring Montana, cardiologist James Rippe and Myrtle Beach Assistant Fire Chief Dan Cimini. Montana discussed his own battle with hypertension, which he was diagnosed with in 2002. He encouraged everyone at the session to stop by the NVFC's Heart-Healthy Firefighter booth to have their blood pressure checked. Rippe, who is also a spokesperson for the BP Success Zone, spoke about the "three-alarm call" in the battle against hypertension - a heart-healthy diet, regular physical activity and getting on the right medicine.

Several hundred firefighters had their blood pressure checked at the Heart-Healthy Firefighter booth. The screenings were provided free of charge by CareForce and North Greenville Fitness. Participants were entered into a raffle to win a 49'ers helmet autographed by Montana.

Firefighters are at a particularly high risk of hypertension due to the stress their hearts are under while fighting fires. Heart attack, which can result from high blood pressure, is the leading cause of firefighter deaths. The NVFC launched its Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program in 2003 in a proactive effort to reverse this alarming and preventable trend through proper fitness, nutrition and health education. For more information about the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program, visit www.healthy-firefighter.org.

The Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program recently teamed up with Novartis' national education program BP Success Zone to help educate firefighters about their increased risk of heart disease. Learn more about the BP Success Zone program at www.getbpdown.com or call toll-free 877-GET-BP-DOWN.

The NVFC thanks the South Carolina Firefighters Association and Jim Bowie for their help in planning the Joe Montana event in Myrtle Beach. Stay tuned to the Heart-Healthy Firefighter website for the locations and dates of future Joe Montana appearances.

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The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) offered free health screenings and cooking demonstrations at its Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program booth at Firehouse Expo in Baltimore, Maryland, July 27-29. Firehouse.com captured the booth's interactive exhibit on film, which will be featured on Firehouse.com in the coming days.

Over 500 firefighters and emergency services personnel received free blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose screenings at the Heart-Healthy Firefighter booth. The NVFC teamed up with L&T Health and Fitness, an award-winning fitness management and health-promotion company, to provide the free screenings.

Chef Kevin Harris of Food For Love, Inc., performed several cooking demonstrations over the course of the three days to show attendees how to make heart-healthy meals. The demonstrations included Harris' recipes for Never Too Much Garlic Pasta, Pollo y Pesto and Smokey Corn & Crab Chowder. These recipes are available on the Heart-Healthy Firefighter website at www.healthy-firefighter.org.

"The message of the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program is extremely important for the fire and emergency services," said Maggie Wilson, NVFC's Director of Health and Safety. "Heart attack continues to be the number one cause of all firefighter deaths. It is our goal to reach as many firefighters and emergency services personnel as possible through information and the essential heart-healthy activities promoted in our traveling booth - nutrition, fitness and periodic health screenings."

Reporters from Firehouse.com stopped by the Heart-Healthy Firefighter booth to interview Wilson and take a closer look at the health screenings and cooking demonstrations. Footage from the filming will be available soon at www.firehouse.com.

The NVFC launched the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program in 2003 as a proactive campaign to reduce the number of firefighter deaths from heart attack through proper nutrition, fitness and health education. Heart attack is the leading cause of firefighter deaths. As part of the campaign, the Heart-Healthy Firefighter booth travels to trade shows and conferences nationwide to increase awareness among firefighters and emergency services personnel about the importance of heart-health. For more information, visit the Program's website at www.healthy-firefighter.org.

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Ever heard of the "five-a-day" rule? It refers to the recommended minimum of five servings a day of fruits and vegetables to get the most benefit from our diet. That's easy to remember, but apparently hard to do as only 25 percent of Americans manage to meet this recommendation. Clearly, we've got work to do in order to improve the quality of our diets so that we can live healthier lives.

Healthy eating patterns can reduce the risk for heart disease, cancer, stroke and many other diseases. Poor eating habits, on the other hand, lead to obesity, a lack of energy, and increased risk for health problems.

In addition to getting necessary fiber and nutrients, here's a newer reason to follow the five-a-day rule: many fruits and vegetables contain phytochemicals, natural compounds found in plants that are associated with prevention of disease.

No one really understands how many phytochemicals there are or how they all function. Thousands have been identified already. Familiar ones are the antioxidant beta-carotene, which the body uses to make Vitamin A and is found in yellow and orange vegetables, and lycopene, found in tomatoes and other red fruits. Consumption of these phytochemicals has established benefits, such as lowering the risk for heart disease, and also has been linked to diminished risk of some cancers, although research has not yet established a certain causal relationship.

As the emerging benefits of phytochemicals become more widely known, drugstores are filling their shelves with phytochemical supplements. Taking a pill to get the benefits linked with phytochemical consumption may seem convenient, but it's important to get these chemicals from real foods. We have not yet discovered all of the phytochemicals present in fruits and vegetables. Taking a pill with beta-carotene and lycopene provides only those two phytochemicals; a salad with tomato and shredded carrots gives us many more. In addition, studies show that supplements are not nearly as beneficial as foods containing phytochemicals, and in some cases the supplements were even found to be detrimental.

Courtesy of Yahoo! Health

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One of the best ways to stay motivated to walk is to include other people. Ask friends and coworkers to join you; join a walking group or club.

• Buy a pedometer at a sporting goods store. Wear it every day and count your steps. The first time you wear it, count how many steps you normally take in a day. Set a goal for increasing it each day or week. Try to start with an increase of 2,000 steps a day and work toward 10,000. Get others to join you and set goals as a group.
• Walk before or after work or on your lunch break. Instead of taking a snack or coffee break, take a walk break.
• If the weather is bad, take comfortable shoes to the mall and walk several laps inside.
• Walk to work, school, the grocery store, or a restaurant.
• Walk around your neighborhood, around an entire park, or to do errands.
• Schedule walks on your business calendar. Turn a walk into a brainstorming session with a coworker.
• Wear comfortable shoes and socks that cushion your feet.
• Drink plenty of water. Take a bottle with you when you walk.
• Be safe and know your surroundings. Walk in a well-lighted, safe place.
• Plan family outings around walks together.
• Set a goal to participate in an organized fitness walk.

Courtesy of Yahoo! Health

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Less is More

Surprise! A few short exercise sessions a day can be as valuable as one longer session. The key to making exercise a habit is to fit it comfortably into your schedule. If you can't find a 30-minute block of time, try three 10-minute stints over the course of the day.

Patience Pays

If you don't get results right away, don't quit — buff takes time. When you start an exercise program, don't expect changes overnight. It may be a couple of weeks before you see improvements. Although changes may seem subtle at first, stick with it. Even small amounts of exercise will start you on the road to a better body.

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1. Eat before grocery shopping.
2. Choose a checkout line without a candy display.
3. Make a grocery list before you shop.
4. Buy 100% fruit juices over soda and sugary drinks.
5. Stay active in winter. Play with your kids.
6. Flavor foods with herbs, spices, and other low fat seasonings.
7. Remove skin from poultry before cooking to lower fat content.
8. Eat before you get too hungry.
9. Don't skip breakfast.
10. Stop eating when you are full.

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