This post is sponsored by Omron Healthcare. I have received compensation and product as payment. All opinions are my own.
A few weeks ago, the Healthy Latina blog celebrated its 6-year anniversary. I’ve been writing about Latina health for 6 YEARS! If you’ve been following along the way, you know that this little project started out in an online media course at Arizona State. It traveled its way through wordpress.com, tumblr and finally found its home at TheHealthyLatina.com.
I’ve mentioned it before, but the start of this blog has always been a little bittersweet for me. I started writing as a way to make sense of the world around me. I wasn’t always trying to learn about health, but after my grandpa suffered several strokes when I was a kid, it was impossible to avoid. And unfortunately, it didn’t stop there.
I knew what type 2 diabetes was and how glucose played a role in the body. I knew that high blood pressure put you at risk for everything. I knew smoking was bad for you and could cause cancer. I knew what congestive heart failure was and why the body retained water. I knew what it’s like to see someone suffer from a diet-related cancer. And worst of all, I knew what it was like to lose someone you loved. And know that maybe if they had the right information, and made some changes, they could have been helped. And things might have been different.
I also knew that culture played a role in all of this. Probably more than I want to admit. Exercising wasn’t a priority. Dinners were full of rice, beans, red meat and tortillas. And just a sliver-of-a-sliver (that never was just a sliver) of something really sweet to take the edge off.
So I decided to speak up about it.
As someone who’s had the unfortunate ability to learn all about health and the various diseases that disproportionately affect the Latino community, I started to write about my own journey. And health data and information is gaining more and more traction, even within the Latino community.
I’ve been spoiled with how technology has advanced in the past 6 years. I can check my continuous heart rate at any time of the day or night. I can see how many calories I’ve burned. And I can check my blood pressure through the Bluetooth on my phone.
Call me crazy, but this is AWESOME.
In the next few weeks, I’m taking on the Going for Zero pledge through Omron Healthcare to see just how far we’ve come in heart health management from my sister using a stethoscope and taking my dad’s blood pressure at the dinner table. I’ll be measuring my blood pressure every week over the next 90 days using the Omron EVOLV blood pressure monitor to see if I am one of the 103 million Americans classified by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology as hypertensive. Are you?
Follow along this new journey and let’s find out together!
This post is sponsored by Omron Healthcare. I have received compensation and product as payment. All opinions are my own.
