Healthy Heart Tips
HerbalCeuticals suggest following healthy heart tips to help you
maximize your cardiovascular health:
- Exercise and maintain a healthy weight.
- Eat smart for a healthy heart.
- Avoid high blood pressure.
- Lower your cholesterol.
- Prevent and manage diabetes.
- Stop smoking.
- Minimize stress.
Exercise and maintain a healthy weight.
Exercise can improve heart function, lower blood pressure and blood
cholesterol, and boost energy. And being overweight forces the heart to
work harder.
Most doctors recommend getting at least 30 minutes of moderate physical
activity on most, and preferably all, days of the week. These 30 minutes
also don't have to be done all at once, either; break them up into
10-minute intervals throughout the day, if that’s easier for you.
Talk with your doctor about what form of exercise is best for you.
Those with severe heart disease, for example, are advised against
strenuous exercise.
Eat smart for a healthy heart.
A heart-healthy diet means a diet that's low in fat, cholesterol, and
salt, and high in fruits, vegetables, grains, and fiber. Experts point out
that a heart-healthy diet should be the routine. That way, when you have
high-fat food every now and then, you're still on track. Making a high-fat
diet the routine is asking for trouble.
Look at the Nutrition Facts label on the foods you buy for guidance.
The general rule of thumb is that foods that provide 5 percent of the
daily value (DV) of fat or less are low in fat, and foods that are labeled
as providing 20 percent or more of the daily value are high in fat.
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Avoid high blood pressure.
About 50 million American adults have high blood pressure, also called
hypertension. And high blood increases the risk of heart disease and
stroke. Poor eating habits and physical inactivity both contribute to high
blood pressure. So can good old table salt, which increases average levels
of blood pressure.
The National Institutes of Health recommends a diet rich in fruits,
vegetables, and low-fat dairy foods, and low in total and saturated fat.
The NIH also recommends reducing the amounts of red meat, sweets, and
sugary drinks that you consume.
Most importantly, get your blood pressure checked regularly. High blood
pressure has no symptoms, so you may not know you have a problem until
it’s too late.
Lower your cholesterol.
Cholesterol is a fat-like substance in the blood that can clog arteries
and lead to heart disease. As with blood pressure, eating a low-fat,
low-cholesterol diet and engaging in physical activity can lower
cholesterol levels. Your body turns saturated fats into cholesterol. And
the higher your cholesterol level, the more likely it is that the
substance will build up and stick to artery walls.
Have your blood cholesterol levels checked regularly by your doctor,
and make these heart-smart substitutions to your diet:
|
INSTEAD OF: |
DO
THIS: |
|
Whole or 2 percent milk and cream |
Use 1 percent or skim milk |
|
Fried foods |
Eat baked, steamed, boiled, broiled, or
microwaved foods |
|
Lard, butter, palm and coconut oils |
Cook with unsaturated vegetable oils
such as corn, olive, canola, safflower, sesame, soybean, sunflower, or
peanut |
|
Fatty cuts of meat |
Eat lean cuts of meat or cut off the
fatty parts |
|
One whole egg in recipes |
Use two egg whites |
|
Sauces, butter, and salt |
Season vegetables with herbs and spices |
|
Regular hard and processed cheeses |
Eat low-fat, low-sodium cheeses |
|
Salted potato chips |
Choose low-fat, unsalted tortilla and
potato chips and unsalted pretzels and popcorn |
|
Sour cream and mayonnaise |
Use plain low-fat yogurt, low-fat
cottage cheese, or low-fat or "light" sour cream |
|
 |
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Prevent and manage diabetes.
About 17 million people in the United States have diabetes, and heart
disease is the leading cause of death of those with the disease. According
to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), 2 out of 3 people with
diabetes die from heart disease or stroke.
One in three people who have diabetes don't know they have it. See a
doctor if you have any diabetes symptoms, including frequent urination,
excessive thirst, extreme hunger, unusual weight loss, increased fatigue,
irritability, and blurry vision.
Stop smoking.
Along with raising your risk of lung cancer and other diseases, the
mixture of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke increases
the risk that your arteries will harden, which restricts blood flow to the
heart.
Smokers have more than twice the risk of having a heart attack as
non-smokers. According to the American Heart Association, smoking is the
biggest risk factor for sudden cardiac death, and smokers who have a heart
attack are more likely to die than non-smokers who have a heart attack.
In the first year that you stop smoking, your risk of coronary heart
disease drops sharply. And over time, your risk will gradually return to
that of someone who has never smoked.
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Minimize stress.
The link between stress and heart disease isn't completely clear, but
what's known for sure is that stress speeds up the heart rate.
Reducing stress isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Simple things like
meditation, exercise, or even breathing can help you relax and lower your
stress level. Take a close look at what causes you stress, and eliminate
or reduce those activities that are most stressful. Even eliminating small
stresses can help.
Nothing can guarantee that you won’t develop heart disease, but taking
HerbalCeuticals CL every day and living a healthier life may delay heart
disease for years or minimize its damage. And if you already have heart
disease, taking these steps is even more important to your health.
Source: Meadows, Michelle. "How to Keep Your Heart
Healthy." FDA Consumer Magazine, November-December 2003.
