21 minute read
Healthy Connection: Inflammation and Nutrition
By Aimee Kalczuk and Jessica McDonald
Food for Thought: Inflammation and Nutrition
Inflammation is currently a buzz word in the health-care community, but do you fully understand what that means — and how it affects you? Oftentimes, inflammation is treated through medication, but there are other things you can do to help decrease inflammation.
What is inflammation and why is too much inflammation bad?
Inflammation is the body’s natural reaction to an injury or a foreign pathogen (such as bacteria). Short-term inflammation, also called acute inflammation, is a helpful process that allows the body to heal, such as when fighting the common cold. However, when the inflammatory response doesn’t turn off for months or even years it can lead to trouble. This kind of chronic, low-grade inflammation is thought to contribute to many diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, COPD, and even allergies. Some risk factors for chronic disease cannot be changed, such as older age, low levels of sex hormones, and having an autoimmune disorder. Others can be changed with some effort, such as smoking, lack of sleep, stress, obesity, and a poor diet. Diet can affect inflammation in two ways: Either relieving or exacerbating it. Below are some dietary components talked about most often that are tied to inflammatory processes.
How food affects inflammation
Antioxidants
Free radicals are unstable molecules in the body that can cause damage and inflammation. They can be formed naturally through exercise and metabolism, but can also be created from exposure to pollutants and chemicals. In contrast, antioxidants are molecules that can stop free radicals before they cause too much trouble. Fruits and vegetables are full of antioxidants, which can counteract inflammation. Takeaway: The more fruits and vegetables you eat, the more antioxidants available to keep free radicals at bay.
Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are both important in the body, acting as a source of energy and a building block for cell membranes. While we need both in our diet, our bodies function best at an Omega-6:Omega-3 ratio of about 1:1. However, the typical Western diet provides a ratio of about 15 or 16:1, which is too high. Omega-6 fatty acids (mainly found in refined vegetable oils such as corn, sunflower, and safflower) are pro-inflammatory, whereas Omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish, fish oil, walnuts, coconut oil, canola oil, olive oil, and flax seed) are anti-inflammatory. Takeaway: Choosing more foods high in Omega-3s will balance out the ratio of fats in your diet and can help lower inflammation.
Fiber
The human digestive system is full of good bacteria that do a lot for our body, including creating substances that reduce inflammation. However, they need to be fed well to do their job, and one of their favorite foods is soluble
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Shelter Life Insurance Company • Columbia, Missouri fiber. Soluble fiber is a type of fiber that breaks down in water, and gives oatmeal its distinctive texture. Soluble fiber is also found in fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and barley. Takeaway: Eating foods high in fiber gives your gut bacteria plenty of energy to make anti-inflammatory compounds.
Putting it all together
Chronic inflammation is thought to contribute to a variety of common diseases, and some of its causes are impossible to avoid. However, changing your diet to prevent inflammation can be beneficial. Many anti-inflammatory compounds like anti oxidants, Omega-3 fatty acids, and fiber, are found in the same foods. Integrating more fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and fish into your diet not only provides your body with the nutrients it needs, it leaves less room in your diet for the foods that don’t nourish you. n
Here are some examples: Add some berries or bananas to your oatmeal or cereal in the morning; have a fish dish two or three times a week; eat some fruit for dessert; and swap your vegetable oil for olive or canola.
Remember, you do not have to completely readjust your lifestyle to see the benefits of an antiinflammatory diet. Every small change is a step toward a healthier lifestyle!
Endured with love One woman’s fight through a year of obstacles
Dawn Cope and her husband, Ray, celebrated her 53rd birthday on Sept. 11, 2020. Dawn said she did not think she would see this day; she is beating cancer.
Dawn Cope, a Billings resident, and current breast cancer fighter, said this year had handed her more than she expected.
In an unusual twist, Dawn’s breast cancer story starts in October 2019, a couple of months before her diagnosis.
“Life was just going on as normal,” she said. “I had a wonderful life, an amazing family and a wonderful husband of eight years.”
On October 10, 2019, the company she worked for had changed buildings, and she was asked to go do some training at another location.
“I was in a head-on collision,” she said. “I suffered a traumatic brain injury. I had a stutter for a month and I couldn’t do basic puzzles — I was scared.”
That wreck was the moment in Dawn’s life that began the next year’s worth of struggles she would face.
“I was healing from the wreck when I noticed I had a knot on the right side of my breast,” Dawn said. “It’s funny, at the time I thought all of the breast cancer awareness stuff was kind of a scam. I mean, I felt like it was all just to scare you.”
Two years prior Dawn had a mammogram and the doctors found something.
“They brought me in for a second mammogram and a biopsy,” she said. “After the second mammogram, the doctors said they wouldn’t do a biopsy because the locations of whatever they found had changed. So, they said they would keep an eye on it.”
On October 12, 2019, just days before Dawn Cope got her breast cancer diagnosis, she took a family photo with her siblings, Karen, Tony, Tara and Dawn, smiling lovingly at the camera.
(right) Dawn Cope receiving her last dose of radiation in July 2020.
That was in 2017, but on December 17, 2019, she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.
“They described it as differential metastatic of the lymph nodes,” Dawn said. “They called it Ductal In Situ Carcinoma (DISC) where cancer remains in the primary location and does not spread.”
The lymph nodes on her right upper quadrant were filled with cancer.
“They never found the primary location of the cancer,” she said. “So, we opted to go ahead and treat me and just assumed it was somewhere in the breast.”
On January 17, 2020, after only a month since the diagnosis, Dawn had a bilateral mastectomy, which removed 24 nodes from her upper right quadrant — 22 of them were cancerous.
“It didn’t hit me at first, you know, that I had cancer,” she said. “We were dealing with so many other things at the time.”
Dawn had never stayed in a hospital before.
“I looked at it as a sort of task I had to complete,” she said. “I checked things off the list and did everything they told me to do.
“It didn’t hit me that I had cancer until I had the thought, ‘How did this happen?’”
Dawn had no family history of cancer, but her sister-in-law was a breast cancer survivor of more than 10 years.
“I had comfort in knowing that Diana was a role model for me,” Dawn said. “But, as it turned out, every cancer and experience is different.”
Dawn went on to have a complete removal of both breasts and a partial reconstruction with expanders.
“After that, they did a clinical biopsy to learn how far the cancer had gone,” she said. “I was going to be doing a lot of bone scans and PET scans, one of them revealed that I had cracked ribs from the accident. I was in pain, but I had assumed it was from the cancer.”
Unfortunately, Dawn’s struggles were about to get even worse.
“At the end of 2019, my company had changed their insurance,” she said. “It was so frustrating.”
Dawn’s chemo treatment was the infamous “Red Devil,” which is so toxic it can cause serious burns to the skin.
“I did that for 16 weeks,” she said. “Then I had radiation every day for 25 days.
“Chemo was horrible.”
The treatment center had told Dawn that she could bring a friend in for company and that she would have a private area.
“So, I brought my husband Ray and my friend Cindy,” Dawn said. “I was
Dawn Cope’s last day of chemo was June 5, 2020. That day was also her best friend’s birthday, and she said it was the best gift she could have received.
Dawn Cope and her sisters, Tara and Karen, at the Power of Pink benefit. The sisters wore their mother’s party dresses to the event.
overwhelmed by how many people were there, and I had no privacy because they said they needed to keep an eye on me in case of a reaction. Also, Cindy had to sit on the other side of the room.
“As soon as we walked in Ray had to leave, you might think, “Why would her husband leave her there, but we will get to that.”
Dawn said there were a few things that got her through the chemo, a wonderful nurse named Wendy, and the love from her husband.
“There were times I would find myself on the bathroom floor hollering for my husband to help me, he would come and help me through it.
“I remember looking up at him once — I was crying and I said, ‘For better or worse?’” Dawn said. “He replied, ‘In sickness and in health.’”
Dawn said the one thing that was probably more traumatic than losing her breasts, was losing her hair.
“My sisters and I have always been known for our long hair,” she said. “My sisters said they would cut their hair as well, but I said no, I would get my hair back eventually.”
Dealing with cancer on its own is hard enough, but in 2020 a new monster showed its face and put Dawn at an even higher risk —COVID-19.
“We officially closed our business and my husband returned to law enforcement in February,” Dawn said. “He worked evenings and I would hear him pull up when he got home. He would undress in the garage, put his clothes in the washer immediately, then he would shower. He would have to do all of that before he could even come to check on me.
“COVID-19 added another fear to this already trying situation.”
Between October 2019 and April 2020, Dawn was obviously out of work, between the wreck and the cancer.
“In April, my company, Netsmart Technologies, terminated me,” she said. “Right in the middle of my chemo.
“On top of that my insurance had already been messed up.”
Dawn said this resulted in a number
of her co-workers taking up a private collection for her.
“Then, a friend called in and nominated me as a Power of Pink beneficiary,” she said. “I didn’t even know what that was at first.
“But, I found myself having to humble myself and accept help. When Janice McCracken called me to tell me, I asked her to let me think about it.”
Dawn said she didn’t want to be paraded around or to be a poster child for breast cancer.
“After about a week, my husband told me, ‘Don’t take the blessing away from the people who want to help you,’” Dawn said. “I realized this isn’t a journey about me, but rather a journey that God has put me on and has tasked me with fulfilling.”
Dawn had no insurance, but she did have a wonderful care team of doctors and nurses.
“I had to make a choice,” she said. “Do I go to the marketplace and try to get insurance which could take me away from my care team, or do I go on COBRA health plans so I could keep my team.
“After talking with Ray, we decided to drop him off and drop everything to the bare minimum — no dental or vision.”
With all of these cuts, Dawn was able to get covered for $700 per month.
“Through the Power of Pink, I received enough money to cover COBRA for a year,” she said. “But, we still had to put our dream home up for sale, and in June the air conditioner went out.”
Dawn had to be especially careful about who came to her home due to the risk of COVID-19.
“I was just trying to get through radiation,” Dawn said. “And finally on July 27, 2020, I got to ring the bell.”
Now, just over a month ago one evening Dawn walked outside to watch a storm roll in.
“When I turned around, my toe caught the step and the next thing I remember is looking up at the sky,” she said. “That was another seven-day hospital stay because I had contracted an infection.”
Today, Dawn is finally on the mend.
“I am focusing on building up my strength,” she said. “I have one more surgery left, which the infection I had set me back for a couple of months.
“After all of that, I can get prepared to get back to work.”
Dawn said one thing she has learned from this journey is that cancer affects the whole family.
“Remember when Ray had to leave
CONNECT ONLINE:
People can visit powerofpinkmo.com/ meet-the-walk-recipients to read Dawn’s bio for Power of Pink.
my cancer treatments,” she said. “Well, for him it was incredibly painful to see.
“Ray lost his firstborn to brain cancer when he was three years old.”
Dawn said although that was 25 years ago, for him and his family it was just five minutes ago.
“For him to pick me up and care for me, it put him right back in the middle of that pain again,” she said. “One night he grabbed my hand and said, ‘Maybe that was God preparing me to help you through this.’”
Dawn said he was her rock.
“I don’t know where he got that strength,” she said. “Ray and my 11-year-old stepson Jake were my warriors.”
Jake helped Dawn in more ways than she could have imagined.
“He is a trooper,” she said. “No child should have to watch a parent go through something like this, but he did.
“We played cards on the couch a lot together.”
Little did Dawn know that she had warriors and a care team in some unlikely places.
“One night when the grocery stores were all bare due to COVID-19, a friend asked me what we needed,” she said. “In the middle of the night, they got all of our groceries, drove across town, disinfected everything and left them on our porch in the middle of the night.”
Dawn said she couldn’t have done this without all of those people around her who shared prayers and tears with her.
“Now, my hair is coming back,” Dawn said. “God has placed us through so much, but he won’t take us to anything that he can’t get us through. He is just setting you up for something better.”
Dawn is forever grateful to Power of Pink and specifically a jeweler out of Utah who donates to the organization.
“So, I have had time to sit and think about what I will do now,” Dawn said. “I will be a representative of Power of Pink, and I will follow the lead of my brother and all of those who helped me, and I will give back.”
Dawn said the wreck was a blessing in disguise.
“The cancer could have gone a lot longer without a diagnosis,” she said. “See how God works. Whatever the plan, he must think we are tough.
“I will fight through these events with the grace and tenacity in which I approach all aspects of my life.” n
Wanted: forever, loving home
October brings sweater weather, sweet treats and an opportunity to open your heart and home to a shelter dog looking for its forever family. Story by Jordan Privett
According to the American Humane Society, every October since 1981 they have celebrated Adopt-a-Dog month to help the millions of animals across the nation who are living in a shelter.
Sherah Farris, director of operations at Haven of the Ozarks Animal Sanctuary, said it is a growing movement to adopt a dog from a local shelter instead of heading over to a pet store to get your next family member.
We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘Adopt Don’t Shop,’” she said. “There are so many benefits to adopting from a shelter.
“First, it is giving an animal a second chance, rooting for the underdog and also saving you a lot of money.”
While you may spend hundreds or thousands of dollars buying from pet stores and breeders, the Haven of the Ozarks’ highest adoption fee is $125.
“With that adoption fee, your pet will be spayed or neutered, microchipped, de-wormed, on a weekly flea, tick and heart-worm prevention, as well as being up to date on all vaccinations,” Sherah said. “Also, when you adopt from a shelter, you are saving two lives.
“You’re saving the dog that you’re adopting, as well as the life of the dog who will now take your dog’s space in the shelter.”
According to Sherah, in 2019 the Haven of The Ozarks Animal Sanctuary was able to do about 300 dog adoptions.
“We are projected to do even more this year,” she said. “Sure, most shelter dogs are not designer breeds, but like people, the unique ones are the better ones.
“Next time you’re looking for your next best friend, head over to your local shelter first!”
Celebrate Adopt-a-Dog month with Haven of the Ozarks Animal Sanctuary
Bella Mia, our 7-year-old hound, loves to howl. She came to the Haven after only knowing the life of being a pet — she is still adjusting. She loves affection from the staff and is looking forward to finding her next slow-paced home.
Some of the tail-wagging, fun and loving dogs currently awaiting adoption at the Haven of the Ozarks Animal Sanctuary include:
Breeze is a 7-year-old beagle who was adopted from the Haven, but she wound up back there after she was presumed to have been abandoned. She is not bitter about this experience and is a loving girl. Currently she is undergoing heart worm treatment and needs extra tender loving care.
Bullet is a 7-year-old boy with a sad beginning. He was chained to a tree in the woods, totally secluded from any interaction for two years. He gnawed on his chain until his teeth had become nubs. He is so happy to be here at the Haven. He is excited, playful and silly every time we greet him.
Carousel is five years old and an adorable mastiff mix. She looks like a jersey cow, and actually prefers the name Jersey. She absolutely loves our staff member Kayla, as well as any other person who will come take her for a walk down the Haven road.
Connan is one of the largest dogs we have. He came in very underweight, but still weighing 75 pounds. We believe he was used as a fighting dog, but he is nothing but a loving pup now. We’ve guessed him to be about five-anda-half years old.
Freddie had a strong bond with a young man who ended up going into foster care, so we could not handle him for quite some time. Now, Freddie loves to go for walks and to get treats. He is almost four years old.
Rupert is 10 and a half years old, but really acts more like a young dog. He is great with children even though he’s a big boy. He loves coming into the office, but hates having to go back to his pen.
Pistol has spent eight years at the Haven. This sets us apart from other shelters because we will never euthanize for space. In his younger years, he was one ornery dog, but now in his golden years all he wants is for us to come pet him and play with his toys.
Dawn is 9 and a half years old, and would put Hudini to shame with her escaping abilities. Where does she go when she escapes her pen? To the nearest person for cuddles.
Colorado is 3 years old and is currently nursing a litter of six adorable puppies. Sadly, she will have an extra long stay at the Haven taking care of her puppies and resting before she will be well enough to be spayed. Seeing a sweet girl like this stay months in the shelter makes us big advocates for spaying and neutering.
Packy is about 13 years old, and he is Poppy’s best friend. He has been here for about 12 years and is still a spunky dog. He looks forward to his daily walks with Cheryall, and is even more excited about his daily treats.
Jerry is a 9-year-old shepherd/ chow mix. He has made all of the staff earn his love. But, once you earn his love you fall back in love with him. He would be the perfect guardian dog lying on a front porch.
Squattles is almost 11 years old, and lost her long-term pen-mate about a year ago. It has been diffi cult to find another friend who will be nice to her, but she has finally settled in with Jerry. Like so many of our dogs, she loves to be in the office napping and eating treats.
Pac-man will steal your heart with his adorable face. Many people drive slowly past the Haven just to see him because he will run to the fence with a ball, ready to play. Although many people have stopped, this almost six-year-old boy is still waiting for the perfect home.
Pablo Picasso is known for hating the government. He was returned to the Haven after biting the mailman and another government official who trespassed in his yard. In that home, he would spend every night snuggling and protecting the teenager who lived there. Pablo is just over 6 years old, and is one of the most loyal dogs one could ever encounter.
Poppy is the Haven’s longest staying resident. She has been here about 13 years, and still only lets a few people pet her. She refuses to walk on a leash, which is quite alright with Cheryall, a volunteer, who takes Poppy for off-leash walks every day. Poppy is almost 13 and a half years old.
Jake Long is 7 years old and is definitely a lone wolf. For fun he loves to chase squirrels and small animals. Jake really enjoys his walks and time with the staff.
Slugger is about 8 years old and loves to have his belly rubbed. Slugger is one of the best dogs to take on a walk and has excellent leash manners.
For more information or to adopt from the Haven of the Ozarks call 417-835-3647 or visit the website at havenoftheozarks.org
Schneider has a very unique look. We actually had his DNA tested to figure out his combination and it is American staffordshire terrier, German shepherd, Belgian malinois and the other 12.5 percent is herding, hound, sporting and companion according to the results. He is a patient boy, and we tend to pair him with bossy female dogs.
