Take the Road Less Travelled: Preventing CHD While On the Road for Business
Reference Summaries
- In this journal article from the American Journal of Hypertension, they conducted a study to see the effects of low-sodium diets on blood pressure, as well as lipids and other vital signs. In the study, they tested the effects on white, black, and asian participants. In regards to hypertension, they found that a low-sodium diet in African Americans decreased their systolic blood pressure by 6.44 mm Hg and diastolic by 2.40 mm Hg. For the white participants, the systolic value was decreased by 5.48 mm Hg and the diastolic decreased by 2.75 mm Hg. The systolic blood pressure in Asians decreased by 1.27 mmHg and diastolic by 1.68 mm Hg. In conclusion, they found that over in just two weeks, a low-sodium diet decreased their sample population’s blood pressure by over 3%. We used this information to confirm the fact that by having African American businessmen choose healthier food options at Sheetz, Panera, and the hotel breakfast, they can reduce their blood pressure significantly and therefore reduce their risk for CHD. One simple swap to implement a lower sodium diet can make a big difference in the long run. By choosing healthy options when on the road for business, they can maintain a healthy blood pressure; leading to a longer and healthier life. This study helped us develop our activities because since sodium plays such a huge roll in heart disease, we decided to focus on a sodium demonstration. This study also concluded our previous research of African Americans having the highest risk of coronary heart disease as stated in the beginning of our PSA.
- Graudal NA, Hubeck-Graudal T, Jürgens G. Effects of a low-sodium diet vs. high sodium diet on blood pressure, renin, aldosterone, catecholamines, cholesterol and triglyceride (cochrane review). Am J Hypertens. 2012; 25:1-15
- This article is from the American Heart Association and is an explanation of coronary heart disease. It describes CHD as the buildup of plaque in the arteries of the heart which could lead to a heart attack. This is a result of CAD or coronary artery disease, which is when the plaque grows on the walls of the coronary arteries until the blood flow to the heart is restricted. Traditional risk factors for this condition are high LDL, low HDL, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and obesity. There are risk factors that cannot be changed such as age, sex, and heredity. As we age we become more likely to develop CHD. Men are more at risk of heart attack than women and African Americans have more severe high blood pressure and risk of heart disease than any other ethnicity. This information puts our target audience of African American businessmen at the highest risk based on sex and heredity. There are also risk factors that can be controlled such as tobacco smoke, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, inactivity, obesity and diabetes. These risk factors helped us settle on our focus areas to reduce. We chose to teach strategies to reduce high blood cholesterol by teaching about lean protein sources and sources of healthy fats, reduce blood pressure by teaching how to make choices lower in sodium and to lower the risk of diabetes by limiting added sugar intake. Another risk factor for CHD is stress. People under high stress might overeat or develop unhealthy behaviors. This applies to our target audience because as businessmen, they endure tons of stress in their day to day job. The combination sex, heritability and stress as risk factors causes the target audience to be one of the highest risk groups for developing CHD. This article helped us establish the risk associated with our target audience as well as identify specific risk factors to modify in our PSA.
- This article is from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and it is regarding heart healthy eating. They mention that a heart healthy diet limits sodium, saturated fats and added sugars. Foods that are the base of a heart healthy diet are green vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low fat or fat free dairy, lean protein sources, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat sources. They acknowledge sodium, saturated fats, trans fats, added sugars and alcohol as nutrients to limit. Following these recommendations will lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol in the blood, which will ultimately lower the risk of developing coronary heart disease. Because of these findings we settled on focusing our PSA towards reducing sodium, added sugar and replacing saturated fats with mono and polyunsaturated fats. We put this information into the context of a businessman who travels often. One of the recommendations for sodium is to eat at home more often so the meal is made from scratch, allowing more control. Because this is often impossible for travelling businessmen, we focused on avoiding highly processed foods and turning their attention towards fresh options. The recommendations for lowering saturated fats were to eat leaner protein sources. When ordering at a restaurant, business men should look for poultry and other lean meats. They also recommended incorporating nuts, legumes and oils as a source of mono and polyunsaturated fats. We included this in recommendations for business men eating out. These are easy things to replace saturated fat sources with. In order to limit added sugars in the diet they mention limiting the use of brown sugar, corn syrup and other sweeteners. They also address the benefits in choosing whole fruits over desserts and choosing low-fat or fat free milk over sugary drinks. This contributed to our hotel breakfast recommendations regarding oatmeal and avoiding breakfast pastries. This resource was an excellent summary of what a heart healthy looks like and provided a template to base our recommendations off of.
Theory Used- Social Ecological Theory
- By using the Social Ecological Theory, we are changing the eating behaviors of African American businessmen who are traveling for work in order to help lower their risk of CHD. Showing examples/ comparisons, as well as teaching them healthy substitutions or options when on the go will help implement healthy eating habits. We focused most on individual, organizational, and community levels of the theory.
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http://www.balancedweightmanagement.com/TheSocio-EcologicalModel.htm - Community level– Business trips are often fast paced, rushed, and on-the-go. This type of environment has cultural norms that force individuals to choose unhealthy; picking up whatever is fast and easy. Business culture values time, efficiency and money. This policy lends itself to convenience stores, quick dine in options and complimentary breakfasts, not expensive grocery store trips or home cooked meals.
- Organizational level– Used three different environments that would be common for businessmen to visit, such as Sheetz, Panera, and hotel breakfasts to show healthy options vs unhealthy options within environment.
- Individual level– African American businessmen may not know the health differences between freshed and processed meats, or which foods to navigate towards in a convenience store. We will inform them which foods are better choices. Men in this position might not have the attitude that lends them towards wanting to make better choices because they are professionally focused, not necessarily health oriented. Making them aware of the risks of CHD and how to make simple choices to reduce their risk will change both their knowledge and their attitude.
Video Production
A behind-the-scenes summary of the process of video production, i.e., how did you plan it? How long did it take? Unplanned problems? Nice surprises? Advice for future projects.
- Planning: Most of the planning was done in steps throughout the semester. After researching and brainstorming, we created a storyboard in an earlier assignment. Creating this timeline, as well as a script, took us a few hours to get all the of the wording and information set.
- Filming: As a group, we went to two locations downtown. The first was Sheetz, here we used our script to decide which scenes to film. We took multiple takes of each scene to make sure that our videos were horizontal and clear. Then we went to Panera Bread to film at a second location. Here we also used the script to film appropriate and clear scenes. The entire filming process took about an hour and a half.
- Problems:
- The audio in the videos was muffled because of the number of customers in both Sheetz and Panera, so we decided to mute the video and voice over the clips in the production phase.
- We attempted to go to a local hotel to film the hotel breakfast buffet portion of the video, but the management did not allow us to film there. We decided to supplement this portion of the PSA with photos.
- Production: Using, iMovie we combined music, voiceovers, pictures, and video to make a comprehensive PSA about how to lower the risk for CHD in African American businessmen. This process took about 4 hours. Lining up the timing of the words and videos was really time consuming.
- Problems:
- We ran into trouble with the subtitles on iMovie because the subtitles were not clear and were moving too fast, so we included them through youtube because youtube allowed the text to better align with the voiceovers. This feature on youtube was a nice surprise.
- Youtube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaZFs3NXkKg
- Click the “CC” in the bottom right corner of the video for subtitles.
- Advice for future students:
- Start the production process early, it takes longer than you think.
- Make a detailed storyboard.
- Take advantage of Media Commons resources.
- Take advantage of class days designated to work on the assignment.
- Problems:
- Problems: