Luby Garza Abijaoude
The AAUW Corpus Christi Branch held a meeting via Zoom on February 6, 2021, with guest speaker Luby Garza Abijaoude. Luby was a high school home economics teacher before she earned her master’s degree in Nutrition from Texas Tech University. Most recently, she has worked as Diabetes Nutrition Consultant with the Texas Department of State Health Services in Austin.
Luby’s presentation focused on “Wellness for Women.” Heart disease is the number one killer for women, and Luby stressed that we should change poor eating habits, cut down on calories, and increase physical activity in order to protect our health from heart disease. She acknowledged that it is not easy to cut down calories, but we can start with small changes, such as using less salad dressing or changing to a lower-calorie dressing. Another example of a small change that can be implemented is using mustard on sandwiches in place of mayonnaise, which is much higher in calories. We should also focus on eating healthier. The best nutrition for women is considered a Mediterranean diet that includes more fruit and vegetables, more fish, more whole grains, more fiber, less saturated fat (like red meat), and use of olive oil.
Women also need to focus on getting more physical activity. The standard recommendation is at least 30 minutes of activity per day, such as walking, or 150 minutes per week. The final recommendations for better wellness are to get enough sleep and to lower your stress levels. Luby reminded us that it takes 60 days to change a habit, either good or bad, so just take it one day at a time with small incremental steps to move forward toward a healthier YOU.
Here are links that she shared to several websites for additional information: