VA Maryland Health Care System

The VA Maryland Health Care System Helps Veterans Battle the Triple Threat

Embracing a fit and healthy lifestyle to battle the triple threat of hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes doesn’t have to mean an abrupt end to life as you know it.  In the current edition of Veteran’s HealthWatch, Elizabeth Chrencik, a dietitian at the Baltimore VA Medical Center, advises Veterans to make gradual changes.

Remember how much fun it was playing kick-the-can, Dodge Ball, and skating? Embracing a fit and healthy lifestyle to battle the triple threat of hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes doesn’t have to be a matter of reducing one’s diet to prison gruel or spending mind-numbing hours on a treadmill. Veterans enrolled at the VA Maryland Health Care System can access services such as dietitian assistance, education classes, and an array of other tools to attain optimum health.

In the current edition of Veterans HealthWatch, Elizabeth Chrencik, a dietitian at the Baltimore VA Medical Center advises Veterans to make gradual changes. “Set two realistic goals and start simple: Omitting liquid calories. Cut out sodas, fruit juices, sports drinks and coffee lattes,” she said. A second goal could be to reduce or eliminate the amount of salt in one’s diet by reading labels for hidden salts like sodium levels in canned soups. “Whatever your aim, it’s important to choose goals that will benefit you as an individual,” she says.

When Chrencik helps a Veteran redesign his or her eating habits, she factors in the person as an individual because what may work for one person may not work for another. Common recommendations include limiting the intake of saturated fats; avoiding trans fatty acids; choosing less processed foods and foods with high nutritional benefits, and of course, increasing exercise.

Veterans interested in attaining optimum health while better managing chronic diseases such as diabetes can take advantage of educational classes at the patient education clinic. Armed with information from the educational classes, Veteran George Thorne, who was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, learned what he could do to better control his sugar levels.

“Once my VA Maryland Health Care System’s health care team made me aware of what could happen if I didn’t make lifestyle changes, I made the decision to make those changes immediately,” said Thorne. “If I didn’t make changes to help control my blood glucose levels, it could possibly lead to amputations, blindness, kidney disease, heart attack, stroke and erectile dysfunction.”

As a result of his commitment to a healthy lifestyle, Thorne’s diabetes is well controlled. “My risk of developing complications related to diabetes is much less. The more informed you are about your disease and health, the more prepared you are to fight it,” he says.
Chrencik and the registered dietitians at the VA Maryland Health Care System work with Veterans, helping them to make heart-healthy substitutions in traditional foods and recipes so that they remain tasty.

Exercise may sound like a dirty word to some, but at the VA Maryland Health Care System, it means MOVE! off the couch, away from the television and out the door to the VA. The MOVE! Program helps Veterans increase their activity levels with the help of exercise physiologists who can teach them ways in which increased activity levels can be fun. Working with dietitians, medical health providers and other health care professionals, Veterans learn how to make healthier food choices, manage weight and move more. While the program doesn’t offer access to a gym or surgery, participants learn to incorporate healthy life style changes and adopt more active way of life that gets them moving. Veterans can find the MOVE! program at several locations, including Baltimore and Perry Point VA Medical Centers and at the Loch Raven and Glen Burnie Outpatient Clinics. Call 1-800-463-6295, ext. 7333 to schedule an appointment in a MOVE! Clinic near you. Veterans can also learn more about the MOVE! Program at www.move.va.gov