Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Keeping your heart healthy

Take steps to keep heart healthy and remain fit. Avoid heart problems in the future by adopting a healthy lifestyle today. Here are some tips to keep heart healthy :

1) Be Physically Active:
Regular physical activity will keep you fit and make your heart healthy.

2) Eat a healthy diet:
Decrease the amount of calories you're eating until you're consuming fewer than you burn. Eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products can help protect your heart. Fruits and vegetables are highly effective in making heart healthy.
Omega-3 fatty acids, a type of polyunsaturated fat, may decrease your risk of heart attack, protect against irregular heartbeats and lower blood pressure. Some fish are a good natural source of omega-3 fatty acid and are also present in smaller amounts in flaxseed oil, walnut oil, soybean oil and canola oil and supplements.
Avoid eating butter.

3) Reduce Salt (Sodium) Intake:
Sodium causes you to retain water, increases swelling in your legs and makes it more difficult for your heart to pump. Eating too much sodium can even trigger sudden heart failure. Limiting sodium a major component of salt in your diet helps prevent your body from retaining extra fluid.

4) Quit smoking:
If you smoke, then you are doing damage to your heart and blood vessels. So quit smoking now.

5) Quit Alcohol:
Alcohol is not good for your heart.

6) Maintain a healthy weight:
As you put on weight you accumulate fat. This excess weight can lead to conditions that increase your chances of heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

7) Do regular health checkup:
High blood pressure and high cholesterol can damage your heart. But without testing, you probably don't know whether you have these conditions. Regular checkups can tell you what your numbers are and whether you need to take action.

8) Follow healthy lifestyle:
Following a healthy lifestyle doesn't have to be complicated, and it doesn't mean you need to live a life of self-deprivation. Instead, find ways to incorporate heart-healthy habits into your lifestyle , be happy and you may well enjoy a healthier life for years to come.