Healthy Ramblings: Heart Health leads to a Healthy Heart

Today’s Healthy Ramblings will be on Heart health. So let’s get to it.

There are millions of people diagnosed with hearth and cardiovascular diseases can which can benefit from making healthful choices in their daily lives.

There are supplements which are designed to target four key indicators of heart health: cholesterol, triglycerides, homocysteine and oxidative stress.According to Dr. Richard Stein, M.D., who is a spokesman for the americanheart.org, “While it’s certainly a neccessitiy to take medications to lower high blood pressure and cholesterol, it’s equally important to practice a healthy lifestyle. People who are informed and take a proactive approach when it comes to lowering their health risks are very likely to avoid heart disease and heart attacks.”

Heart disease isn't just a man's disease. Heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases are devastating to women, too. In fact, coronary heart disease, which causes heart attack, is the leading cause of death for American women. Many women believe that cancer is more of a threat, but they're wrong. Nearly twice as many women in the United States die of heart disease and stroke as from all forms of cancer, including breast cancer.

Both women and men are more likely to develop heart disease or stroke if their close blood relatives have had them. Race is also a factor. Black women have a greater risk of heart disease and stroke than white women. Compared with whites, African-American men and women are more likely to die of stroke.

I use a supplement daily called Core Complex. It provides me with plant sterols, found in soybeans, which have been shown to reduce LDL (“bad cholesterol”) and total cholesterol, antioxidant protection to support circulation and healthy blood vessels and B vitamins to help maintain healthy homocysteine levels, which are already within the normal range.

YOUR CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH ROAD MAP

3 steps to foods for life:

1. IMPROVE YOUR OVERALL DIETARY PATTERN.

Don't look for miracle foods or quick fixes. Make healthy eating your lifelong plan. Begin by replacing unhealthy foods with heart-healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat and nonfat dairy foods, fish and legumes.

2. CHECK FOOD LABELS.

Read nutrition labels on packaged products, and choose foods that are low in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium (salt).

3. EAT MORE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.

Don't be daunted by new guidelines that recommend seven to 10 servings each day. Getting that many is not as hard as it sounds. The official serving sizes are much smaller than restaurant portions -- a serving of vegetables usually is 1/2 cup.

To learn more about heart-healthy diets and nutrition, visit the American Heart Association's website at americanheart.org.