WUWY: Dr. Rachel M. Bond on Key Health Signs, Preventing Heart Disease, Vitamin D Deficiency + More

Dr. Rachel M. Bond on Key Health Signs, Preventing Heart Disease, Vitamin D Deficiency + More

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up, its way up with Angela Yee, and I'm
excited to have doctor Rachel Bond here with me today.
Doctor Rachel Bond is a board certified attending cardiologist and
a woman's heart health and prevention specialist. And also I
saw you recently have been on it to serve as
Madam President elect of the American Heart Association Greater Phoenix
Board of Directors.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
So congratulations on all of that. Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
I'm looking forward to it, and.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
I just want to put all of that out there
because as we're having these discussions that I think are
so important when it comes to heart health and when
it comes to Black women and heart health, I just
want to make sure people understand who we're speaking to
and why it's a great pleasure for us to have
you here today, because I know you're super busy and
took time out to travel here to come and do this.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Yes, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
This is really the core for me in terms of
my passion just to speak to the community and make
sure that the community sees the faces of what doctors
and cardiologists actually look like work that we're doing and
dactor Rachel ban I would also want to point out
the fact that I think I read a statistic that

(01:07):
less than three percent of Black people are cardiologists. Yeah,
so actually, when you look at the medical field as
a whole, five point six percent, both male and female,
Black are just physicians in general when it comes to cardiologists.
For me, as a black female cardiologist, I make up
less than two percent of the population. So I'm a

(01:28):
unicorn when you think about it. And I'm honored because
I have patients that actually seek me because of what
I look like and who I am in my cultural background.
But there's a reason behind that, because we see statistically,
when you have somebody that you can identify with, outcomes
are better. They're more likely to listen to you, they're

(01:49):
more likely to believe you. They're also more likely to
advocate for you. And that really makes the biggest difference
when we see it in the medical field. And this
is especially important because because heart health is the leading
heart disease is the leading cause of death for Black women,
and I think people don't realize that the number one
leading cause exactly exactly. And I volunteer quite a bit

(02:13):
with many of our cardiovascular societies, one of them being
the American Heart Association, and they actually did a survey
recently where they saw that the black and brown community
were the least likely to realize that heart disease was
the leading cause, particularly in our young young population, so
women of reproductive age between the ages of thirty five
to fifty four. So we have to get the messaging

(02:34):
out there. When we look at those statistics, one in
three women will die of heart disease. The other most
common thing people think about is their biggest threat is
breast cancer, and that's about one in forty five women
will die of that. So one in three heart disease,
one in forty five breast cancer.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
And I read that one in three black maternal deaths
is due to cardiovascular disease as well, and it's a
good indication that something is wrong. Also, if you have
preeclampsia and things like that, when you go into.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Labor exactly exactly, So now we're learning that pregnancy is
really a window to future health if you have any
of those complications. So what is pre eclampsia For those
that don't know, it's when your blood pressure could become
dangerously elevated. And it could affect other organs. It becomes
really dangerous for both the mother and the baby, and
sometimes the only option is delivery. We know that not

(03:25):
only does that impact your actual short term risk in
terms of cardiac events, but actually up to twenty years
after you deliver, you can still be at risk of
heart disease. So making sure you get your your numbers checked,
like your cholesterol, your blood pressure, you're talking to your
physician that your trust, you make sure you're exercising and
eating healthy. Those are ways to prevent that and decrease

(03:49):
that overall risk. But it's also important to know that
what happens during your pregnancy could actually indicate your future life.
And that's crazy for some people when they think about it,
because we have many women out there that are experiencing
these conditions because of the fact that they socially are
dealing with a lot of these extra stressors because they

(04:09):
have those lived experiences, and that's why we're seeing disproportionately
all of these conditions are affecting women of color, specifically
black women.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
And the reason we have you here, Dakta Rachel Bon,
because some of these things, a lot of this can
be preventable so I want to make sure we discuss that.
But first I want to ask you what are some
signs that people should look for if there's something wrong,
Like if you could feel something, what would you say,
are some things that are indications that like, okay, I
need to get this checked out.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Absolutely, So that's a wonderful question. First and foremost, both
men and women experience the classic symptoms of chest pain.
So if you think about it in the movie, someone
clutching the center of their chest like an elephant is
sitting on their chest. But women more than men, may
also have other symptoms where they may feel shoulder pain,
they may feel nauseous, they may even feel tired or fatigued.

(05:00):
That don't underestimate the tiredness and the fatigue, especially if
you have risk factors for heart disease, because that could
be a sign that there is something going on and
you need to seek help immediately. Yeah, because sometimes we
think we're just exhausted, because we are we are exactly,
But then you have to know when is that something
that is an issue or something that you need to

(05:20):
get checked out. What are some other things that we
can do to help prevent heart disease in us? And
I do want to say, Coach Jesse's not here today,
but I'm doing this and I know you're familiar with
Coach Jesse as well. But the reason why I partner
it up with her to do this whole the detox
now is because there's just so many different things that,

(05:43):
like we said, are preventable, and if we pay attention
to our everyday habits and things that we have going on,
we can prevent a lot of this. So, you know,
let's talk about some of the things. Absolutely, So, as
you said so nicely, heart disease is very preventable. It's
actually preventable eighty percent of the time.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
The way to prevent it is by knowing your risk factors.
So the common ones that we can change, like your
blood pressure, your cholesterol, is your weight at goal, are
you eating healthy? Are you avoiding those toxins like cigarettes
and excessive alcohol use, and are you exercising. But I
think it's also important for us to sit down and
talk to our family and talk about our family history.

(06:22):
In communities of color, a lot of times, what I've
noticed is that those conversations aren't often happening around the
kitchen table. You know, Mom had high blood pressure. They
think it's sort of normal genetics, But what we don't
realize is did that lead to something else? And those
conversations need to happen because if you have a strong
family history of heart disease, unfortunately, that does predispose you

(06:44):
to having it as well. And getting yourself checked a
little bit earlier than what is recommended is usually what
we are offering patients because we want to start as
early as possible. A lot of the work I'm doing
right now also, yes I'm an adult cartiologist, but I
partnered with a lot of cardiovascular society is to also
start targeting the youth because we want to make sure

(07:06):
that we're educating the youth on knowing what their blood
pressure is and what even blood pressure means, and what
cholesterol is, and how to eat healthy and exercise and
distress because stress is another big risk factor for our
community that can increase our risk of heart disease.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
It feels like it's so hard to de stress too,
because we say, Okay, we got to start doing this more,
doing that more, and some of these things can feel
overwhelming because it's kind of like, while I'm trying to
do this and figure this out. I can't even sleep
at night because my mind is racing thinking about all
the things that I have going on, thinking about finances,
thinking about what's going on in the United States and

(07:44):
even around the world. Sometimes it can feel like, well,
how do y'all expect me to distress when I have
all of these worries even right now? People thinking about
the economy, and how am I going to make this happen?
Will I ever be able to own a home? There's
so many things that people have to worry about.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
I agree, I agree, And what I usually tell my
patience is take it one day at a time. Let's
achieve one thing if we could within that day, and
it doesn't matter if we're not able to achieve everything
we set out to do, but if we're achieving that
one simple thing, it's going to go a long way.
And a lot of times for us, particularly as black women,

(08:18):
we often take care of everyone else but ourself. So
having a moment for self care is such an important aspect,
and I myself am trying to practice what I preach.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
You're like, I gotta I fail you. I was telling
somebody the other day.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
We had a nice conversation on the phone and she
was just talking about all of the stress that she has,
and I was like, what are you doing for yourself though,
because you can't help everybody else if you're not doing
things to take care of yourself. And I told her,
I was like, even your family, I'm sure like they
can see how oppressive all of this is for you
and that kind of like energy can chancefer over. And

(08:57):
she was like, you're right, Like my son wants to
see me happy. He even told me, like, do something
for yourself. Mom, Like, I want you to do some
things for yourself, but it's so hard because we feel
like we have to give all the time.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
Exactly and sometimes doing things for ourself for not just
doing spa days and taking off a day of work,
it's also going to the doctor because a lot of times,
because we're doing so much for others, we lose sight
of those general follow throughs that make the biggest difference
when it comes to our cardiovascular health.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
One thing I also like to focus on is if
you can't do anything else, think about what are you
putting into your body and the nutrients and things that
you need. So when it comes to that, because and
I've always talked about this, but early on, when I
was in my twenties, I had like a scare with
high cholesterol, and I was so young, and I remember
the doctor telling me, look, if you don't take care
of this now, then later on in life, you'll be

(09:46):
on medication every single day. And that scared me enough
to be like, okay, let me think about what I'm eating.
You know, I love fried food, so back then I
was doing the most. I wasn't really working out. I
was just you know, going to work, doing what I
had to do, eating whatever I felt like eating. I
was ninety something pounds, so I wasn't thinking that anything.
People would look at you and think like, Okay, you know,
she looks healthy, she's skinny, she's whatever. And they can

(10:10):
look at somebody that's overweight and say, okay, that person
is unhealthy, but you don't know that. You don't know
what that person is doing. So can we talk about nutritionally?
What are some things that we can do to take
more control over our bodies?

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (10:23):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
One thing that we always are pushing for is having
the time to actually make our meals. Eating out Unfortunately,
although it tastes really good a lot, so many times
and it's so easy and social and social exactly, but
a lot of times there's ingredients in that takeout that
are not good for us. There's high amounts of sodium
and saur traded fat, and when we're cooking for ourself,

(10:46):
we want to be really very mindful about what we're
including in those ingredients. We want to have a low
sad traded fat diet. So that means cutting back on
the red meats and the fried foods. As you mentioned,
it doesn't mean getting rid of it completely, but thinking
about it in more of a moderation perspective. That's what
I always tell my patience. And you want to make
sure every plate is colorful, right, so we have to

(11:08):
have vegetables and salads with every meal because it does
actually make the biggest difference. I will say furthermore, with
the cholesterol, only twenty five percent of our cholesterol comes
from what we eat and also what we burn in
terms of our physical activity. The rest is genetics. And
this is why knowing your family history is so important.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, my dad definitely has high blood pressure, okay, Yeah,
and then the other thing is vitamins. And I know
part of why I teamed up with Coach Jesse is
to do these prevent her multi vitamins as part of
the detax now, and so I'm like, whatever we can
do to add our part. She does the D three
and the K two that helps our heart health, immune support,
bone strength, all of those things. And so it's kind

(11:50):
of like all in one when it comes to making
sure you take care of yourself.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Right exactly exactly.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
I can't speak enough about vitamins on people under estimate
it and vitamin D. I'll touch upon that a little
bit because for communities of color, we often have a
severe deficiency. How do we get vitamin D through the
sun and the extra melanin that you have prevents that
from actually getting absorbed in that level getting higher than

(12:16):
what it should be. So this is why knowing what
your vitamin D levels is important because it does impact
cardiac health just like it impacts bone health and fertility
as well. People don't realize that. What bay do you
get into this work in particular? Yeah, so I'm actually
the first medical doctor in my family. I knew I
wanted to be a doctor when I was born.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
That's what I tell my That's what my parents tell me.
I like this exactly exactly.

Speaker 3 (12:42):
However, what really made me passionate about going into the
field of cardiology is because I learned very early on
that it is the leading cause of death in the
United States, and I wanted to make a big difference.
I'm a preventative cardiologist, so my goal is to prevent
heart disease. Like that, it sounds way more hopeful than
yes exactly. You know, I love my colleagues that fix

(13:03):
the blocked vessels and when there are conditions, and of
course I help with that as well, But my main
goal has really been to prevent cardiovascular disease and have
a conversation with patients so they better understand what their
risks are. As we mentioned, as we discussed earlier, we
can prevent heart disease eighty percent of the time, but
we're not going to do that if we don't know

(13:24):
what our risk factors are. When you think about this
current administration, it feels like there's a lot of blackages
when it comes to making sure that we're able to
do what we need, because the truth is, black women
are disproportionately affected. Black people are disproportionately affected when it
comes to heart disease also. But we do want to
make sure that there are some preventative things and access.

(13:46):
Has there been issues when it comes to that, or
do you feel like we're still on the right track.
I think we're still on the right track. I think
those that are doing the grassroot efforts are still making
sure that those people that need this care the most
are receiving the care. I think also a lot of
our national organizations are finding ways to combat what is
going on at the national level and even the global level.

(14:09):
When you think about it, one thing that's extremely important
is access. As you mentioned, and for even me as
a black female cardiologist that focuses and specializes in women's
cardiovascular health where I'm currently practicing, there are people that
have actually traveled very, very far.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
To reach me.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
One thing that's been really helpful is telemedicine, which is
where we're able to virtually meet with patients that may
live several zip codes away from us and they may
not have the luxury of driving to our office visit.
So that I'm hopeful about because at the larger scale,
I will say that we are still able to reach

(14:47):
the people that we need to reach. Another way we're
reaching them is getting into the community and partnering with
like the faith based community and trusted community leaders, And
I do a lot of work on my free time
whenever that is to make sure that I go out
into the community and I'm teaching and giving guidance on
what questions they should be asking their healthcare professionals when

(15:10):
they're having their office visits, so they overall understand what
their risks are. And I think that's making the biggest difference.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
It's interesting because I was at All Star weekend and
I was a judge for this pitch competition, and one
of the pitches that made it to the top seven,
this gentleman he wants to bring he wants to bring
testing to barbershops, you know, so you can get your
blood pressure checked out, like while you're in the barbershop,
and actually train the barbers to be able to do things,

(15:39):
you know like that. So I think we have to
be really creative. But the other thing that really concerns
me is just from the ground level up as we're
talking about the numbers of people that look like you,
of black women who are you know, doing this work,
who are cardiologists just even starting like going to school
and getting on the path to be able to have
access to education. We know it takes a long time,

(15:59):
which I should, you know, and it does also take money,
and it also does take that from a young age
to be able to know this is what I want
to do. You knew from when you were born, you know,
And I know that's also not an easy thing for
people to be able to have access to grow up
and even see other people that look like them to
want to follow in those footsteps exactly.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
And that's also why there are amazing organizations out there
that are trying to provide that mentor mentorship perspective. I
was so fortunate to have amazing mentors in my life,
but also sponsors, so people who brought me to the
table made sure I had a seat at the table
with them, and still to this day. You know, there
are periods in my life where I feel I'm often

(16:38):
overqualified and still not necessarily receiving what I want to achieve,
or maybe I have to work a little bit harder,
But that doesn't discourage me. It just actually pushes me
and motivates me to want to make sure that when
I'm speaking with my mentees, I make it easier for them,
and that's really my goal and my passion. And now
that I've understood that it's my passion, I also think

(16:59):
it's my purpose to help those that are going to
come after me. That way, their path is a little
bit easier than what my path was.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
See, all these things are important conversations, and I appreciate
the work that you're doing because, like I said, it's
not you know, there's not a lot of you that
people can reach out to. So I know it can
be overwhelming for you too to want to help everybody,
but to be like it's.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
Only one of me that can do it.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
But you know, we do have to start treating our
health like a priority, and that's one thing that I
want to make sure that we stress. So if heart disease,
like you said, if it runs in your family, you
want to stay ahead of the game.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Now you have to take action.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
You have to find real solutions so you can stay
on top of your health. You can check out the
detox now dot com. Thank you, Coach Jesse for making
sure that you know that doctor Rachel Baum was able
to make it in here today to discuss this. And
if somebody was going to ask you right now, what
are some small steps that I can take to make
sure that I am going on the right path. Just

(17:57):
you know, sometimes you can't. You feel like I can't
do it all at once. But what are some things
that you would say are most important to do right now?
That's easy for people to be like, Okay, I can
handle that absolutely.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
I think the most important thing is just regaining your peace,
realizing right, I mean, especially in this climate that we're in,
realizing that we are not necessarily in control of what's
going on around us, but we are in control of
how we react to that and respond to it. And
I want to emphasize that because, as I said, stress

(18:29):
unfortunately is likely going to be the leading cause of
why the brown and black community are having the high
rates of high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
So honing in on that is so important. But the
other thing that's important is making sure you're going at
least once a year to the doctor to get your
numbers checked, but not just know like, here's your numbers,

(18:50):
Understand what those numbers mean. Understand is my cholesterol high?

Speaker 2 (18:54):
How high is it?

Speaker 3 (18:55):
What can I do to actually lower it?

Speaker 2 (18:57):
Is my blood pressure high? How high is it?

Speaker 3 (19:00):
What can I do to lower it, because that's gonna
make your visits so much more meaningful. I always tell patients,
you know tax season is coming up, we go to
our accountant, we come prepared, right, we have questions.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Don't don't not pay your taxes?

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Okay, they trust me, They will catch up to you
all those penalties, I agreed.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
But with the preparedness you should be bringing to your accountant,
that's what you should be bringing to your doctor's office
as well, right, So come with questions, maybe bring a friend.
Having you know, four sets of two sets of ears
makes the biggest difference. Two sets of eyes makes the
biggest difference because you may miss things because you're so
nervous to hear what the doctor has to say. But
those are the little tiny tips that I would offer

(19:42):
your listeners today because it's going to make the biggest
difference in their heart health. All right, Well that tip
is for me because I keep on putting it off
and I know I need to go to the doctor
and get everything checked. So I'm actually I've been saying this,
but let me get it together. I am that person.
I don't want to be a hypocrite up here. But again,
I'm doctor Rachel Bond. How can people find you if
they want to just follow what you have going on,

(20:03):
get all great types of tips and information and who knows,
maybe even be a patient.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:08):
So I am on Instagram and social media at doctor
Rachel m as in Marie Bond, okay, perfect, Well, thank
you so much.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
We appreciate you. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
I appreciate it well,