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| Thursday, February 04, 2010 |
| American Heart Month |
February is American Heart Month, which was proclaimed by Congress in 1963 to urge Americans to join the battle against cardiovascular disease. And this Friday, February 5th is ‘National Wear Red Day’ to support the fight against heart disease in women. Heart disease is still the #1 killer for Americans. Like many diseases and chronic conditions, there are some controllable factors that can reduce our risk and help manage the disease. We all know that we can’t change our family history, genes, age or sex. But lifestyle is a substantial ‘controllable’ risk factor which happens to be free.
Here are a few lifestyle changes that will reduce your risk for heart disease (and many other diseases too):
- If you smoke, please quit. People have heard this for years but it’s still one of the most important controllable risk factors.
- Keep your weight within a healthy range. You can still be a little overweight but be healthy and fit. A few extra pounds are not the issue here. It’s the 40-50 lbs that needs to be addressed, unless you’re all muscle.
- Exercise. Just go for a walk; it’s free and always available. Go outside to get some vitamin D. For those who are too heavy to start exercising at their present weight, they can start by moving their upper body and arms. As long as they move something and get their heart rate up a little; but they should do more than what they are doing now and slowly add more as they improve their strength and breathing capacity.
- Stress management. Here’s an easy one…yeah right! Maybe exercise can be stress management? Maybe switching excessive working hours for personal time? Take on meditation, visualization, prayers or music time, but whatever you do take time for yourself.
Healthy eating includes:
- Get your omega-3’s from fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, herring, kippers, sardines, trout or fatty tuna. Canned kippers and sardines are so cheap and convenient.
- Limit trans and saturated fats mostly from processed food, fast food and restaurant food, fatty cuts of meat, high fat dairy products and added fats like butter, margarine, mayo, sauces and gravy.
- Reduce your intake of meat and replace it with more fruits, vegetables, whole grain products, fish and seafood.
- Use mono and polyunsaturated rich foods as your main fat source such as: olive or canola oils, nuts and seeds.
- Eat soluble fibers: dried beans (chick peas, kidney beans, black eye peas, baked beans, black beans and other beans), lentils, oats and oat bran, barley, brown rice, baked potatoes, carrots, citrus fruits, apples, bananas and apricots.
- Eat smaller meals more often. 4-6 small meals will help avoid stomach distention which can push on the diaphragm up and consequently put pressure on the heart.
- Limit your salt intake. The easiest way to do this is to stay away from processed foods since salt is a used as a preservative. Canned food, frozen foods, cheese and cheese products, deli and salty snack products are the highest ones on the list. Your maximum daily intake should really be less than 4000 mg, so think before buying a canned soup or deli meat that has more than 600 mg per serving, since most of the time we eat more than “one” serving.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Get a regular medical check-up.
Sounds pretty much like the Mediterranean diet, doesn’t it? So get on the Med wagon! It’s good for you all around and it’s also part of Sensei’s program.
So lady’s…wear a little red on Friday and let’s stick together and support each other. You guy’s too, but understand that heart disease is not only a ‘man’s’ disease.
Peace and Love.
- Josée
Labels: heart health, Josee
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posted by My Sensei @ Thursday, February 04, 2010   |
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| 2 Comments: |
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Great message & informational post!!!
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I will definitely wear red tomorrow. This post is a great reminder that doing the sensible things that are good for us can go a long way towards our long term health!
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Great message & informational post!!!