Show Your Heart Some Love

Show Your Heart Some Love

February is American Heart Month, a time when all people can focus on their cardiovascular health. Do you know how to keep your heart healthy? You can take an active role in reducing your risk for heart disease by eating a healthy diet, engaging in physical activity, and managing your cholesterol and blood pressure.

Heart disease accounts for nearly one-third of all deaths worldwide. Studies and experts recommend exercise as an important way to maintaining a healthy heart, but your diet plays a major role in heart health and can impact your risk of heart disease. The most important factor in healthy eating is having a balanced diet, watching portions, and eating foods you actually enjoy. This will allow you to stick with it for the long term.

Let’s take a closer look at the 4 key factors for a heart healthy diet and examples of how you can incorporate them into your daily life:

1. Fruits and Vegetables:
Leafy green vegetables are well known for their wealth of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. An analysis of eight studies found that increasing leafy green vegetable intake was associated with up to a 16% lower incidence of heart disease.


2. Healthy Proteins:
Lean meat, poultry and fish, low-fat dairy products and eggs are some of your best sources of protein. Legumes – beans, peas and lentils – are good, low-fat sources of protein and are a good substitute for meat. Also, substituting plant protein for animal protein – ie. a black bean burger for a hamburger – will reduce your fat & cholesterol intake and increase your fiber intake.


3. Healthy Fats:
Not all fats are bad. Foods with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are important for your brain and heart. Limit foods with trans-fats, which increase the risk for heart disease.


4. Whole Grains:
Whole grains are good sources of fiber and other nutrients that play a role in regulating blood pressure and heart health.

Eating heart healthy is a lifestyle, it’s about nutrition, balance and retraining our mind to make better food choices. What you eat can influence almost every aspect of heart health, from blood pressure and inflammation to cholesterol levels and triglycerides. A well-balanced diet can help keep your heart in good shape and minimize your risk of heart disease. With planning and a few simple substitutions, you can eat with your heart in mind!

Heart Disease Risk and Prevention

Heart Disease Risk and Prevention

Heartbreaks are painful, but did you know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, with more than 630,000 people dying from the condition each year. This equates to one in four deaths attributed to this awful disease. The most common form of heart disease is coronary artery disease (CAD), which is what can cause heart attacks.
CAD is caused when a substance called plaque builds up in a person’s arteries. As the buildup grows, the opening of the arteries gradually closes until blood flow is blocked and the patient experiences a heart attack. While these statistics are sobering, there are several ways we can prevent heart disease. Knowing the “why” about this disease can aid in prevention. First, let’s learn about the big three risk factors of heart disease:
High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure (HBP) is the force of blood pushing against blood vessel walls. This is what your nurse checks when she puts the blood pressure cuff on your arm and pumps air into it at your check-up. She is listening for the pressure when your heart beats and the pressure for when your heart is at rest between beats. High blood pressure usually has no signs or symptoms so it is very important to keep your annual physical appointments with your doctor and to follow her recommendations if she diagnoses you with HBP.
High Cholesterol
High cholesterol is when you develop fatty deposits in your blood vessels. These deposits can lead to narrow vessels and increase your chance of a heart attack. It is determined through blood tests. While high cholesterol can be inherited, it can also be prevented through medication, diet and exercise.
Smoking
Smokers are four times more likely to develop heart disease than non-smokers. The nicotine in smoke reduces your blood flow, raises your blood pressure, and speeds up your heart. Quitting smoking will not reverse the damage done to your heart, but it greatly reduces the damage going forward to your heart and arteries.
In addition to the three key risk factors, it’s important to explore what we can do to prevent it. Prevention behaviors can take you from the danger zone of heart disease and put you on the path to a healthy heart.

Heart Disease Prevention

Healthy Diet
According to the Mayo Clinic, simple tips to prevent heart disease by diet include tips like these:  controlling portion size, eating more vegetables and fruits, selecting whole grains, limiting unhealthy fats, choosing low-fat protein, reducing sodium intake, and limiting treats.
Healthy Weight
Being overweight increases your risk for heart disease. One measure used to determine if your weight is in a healthy range is body mass index (BMI). If you know your weight and height, you can calculate your BMI at CDC’s Assessing Your Weight website. When in doubt, consult a physician who can help in calculating whether your health is at risk due to weight.
Physical Activity
Among the many benefits to getting enough physical activity can, it can help you maintain a healthy weight and lower your blood pressure, cholesterol, and sugar levels. From walking, to swimming, to cycling, adding even moderate activity to your routine can have a great impact on your heart health. Just remember, it’s always a good idea to check with your doctor before starting any new exercise regimen.
Quit Smoking
Smoking cigarettes greatly increases your risk for heart disease. If you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you do smoke, quitting will lower your risk for heart disease. Your doctor can suggest ways to help you quit, and you can find many other helpful resources, including creating a tailored plan to help you quit at SmokeFree.gov.
Limit Alcohol
There’s a good reason your doctor asks about routine alcohol consumption at each check-up. Drinking too much alcohol can drastically raise blood pressure and binge drinking can increase heart rate. For heart health, the medical guidelines state that men should have no more than two drinks per day, and women only one. Talk to your doctor if you aren’t sure whether or not you should drink alcohol or how much you should drink for optimal heart health.

Check out these great resources to better educate yourself and others on heart health:
American Heart Association—Healthy for Good
American Heart Month Toolkit
Heart Health Information
Strategies to Prevent Heart Disease