Many women believe their greatest health threat is breast cancer. However, the reality is ten times as many women die from heart disease as from breast cancer. What used to be a man’s disease now claims as many women’s lives as it does men.
Risk factors for heart disease are sometimes out of our control, such as family history or metabolic disorders. Thankfully, many risk factors are in our control including diet, exercise and lifestyle. The ever-popular concern of optimum body weight seems to be everyone’s enigma. We are obsessed with our weight yet obesity is at an all time high with as many as 60 percent of the population meeting the criteria. Simply put — make good food choices, avoid portion distortion and get moving!
To protect your heart, eat a diet that’s low in hydrogenated fats, high in fiber, rich in fruits and vegetables and includes soy foods. A diet that is heart healthy will also include essential fish oils, including Omega 3 (e.g., flaxseed oil, salmon, tuna, and sardines) and Omega 6 (canola oil, chicken, eggs, turkey, flaxseed oil, and sunflower oil).
Exercise should be a part of our every day life just like eating, breathing and sleeping. The list of benefits from exercise is endless including decreased stress levels, decreased incidence of breast cancer, increased bone mass, increased self-esteem, decreased weight and a decrease in heart disease, to name just a few. Also endless is the list of excuses as to why we can’t exercise. Even 15 minutes a day is better than nothing! I guarantee you’ll love it once you start.
The detrimental effects of smoking are too numerous to list here and are another editorial completely. Suffice it to say that smoking greatly increases the risk of heart disease due to the damage the metabolites of cigarettes cause to the lining of blood vessels and vital organs, including the heart. Needless to say, this is a hard habit to quit and most smokers realize they can’t do it alone. There are programs to assist in quitting as well as prescription medications and over-the-counter aids to help smokers achieve their goal of complete cessation of smoking.
To schedule an appointment to discuss and lower your heart disease risk factors, call Caring for You at 661-284-2400.