Diet, exercise and cholesterol reduction are key to improving your heart healthiness. Strengthening your heart with exercise, and decreasing the damage done to it with unhealthy eating, can help you lower your chance of coronary disease and raise your chances for a longer, healthier life.
Eat Healthy
Diet affects your heart in two ways. Certain foods can damage your heart by making it work harder. Foods high in trans and saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium can raise blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and increase risks for coronary heart disease. Other foods can help keep your body's tissues, organs, blood vessels and other functions healthy, putting less stress on them and, in turn, your heart.
Eat a diet low in fat, with protein coming from lean meats and fish, nuts, and low-fat dairy products. Eat more fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Stay away from packaged foods with partially hydrogenated ingredients.
Reduce sodium in your diet if you have high blood pressure, not only via less use of the shaker, but in packaged foods you buy. Eating foods high in potassium can also help you keep your blood pressure under control. These include foods like apples, asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, chicken, kiwi, milk, oranges, potatoes, raisins, strawberries, tomatoes and turkey.
Exercise Aerobically
Not all exercise has to result in muscle building or fat burning to have a health benefit--although it doesn't hurt. Exercise of any kind strengthens your heart, even if it doesn't make you ready for a bikini or Speedo. The American Heart Association recommends exercising 20 minutes, three times per week, at a vigorously intense level, or working out 30 minutes, five times per week, at a moderate intensity. Even if you're already a size 6, aerobic exercise can improve your heart healthiness.
Reduce Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a naturally occurring substance that serves a purpose in our bodies; however too much cholesterol can cause a hardening of the arteries. If it affects those arteries that lead to the heart, your risk of coronary heart disease rises.
Lower your cholesterol levels by decreasing the amount of trans fat and saturated fats you eat; Raise your "good" cholesterol (high density lipids, or HDL), by eating foods high in Omega 3 fatty acids, like salmon, high in good lipids like nuts and by taking a niacin supplement or eating foods fortified with niacin. Eat more soluble fiber, like oats, to help with cholesterol absorption. Cook with monounsaturated fats and vegetable oils, like olive, canola, soybean, safflower, and sunflower.
