Why Starting To Look After Your Heart Could Be The Change Your Life Needs.
December 14, 2016 by ThySista
Filed under Health & Wellness, Opinion, Weekly Columns
(ThySistas.com) These days, we are often so busy with work or looking after our families that our own health can often fall by the wayside sometimes. It’s great to be busy and it’s great to see your hard work paying off – whether that is in terms of your career or your personal life. But if all that is coming at the expense of your health and wellness, you may want to rethink your lifestyle. Many of us turn a blind eye to unhealthiness, thinking that as long as you are not overweight there is nothing to worry about.
Whilst being overweight or obese can indeed increase your risk of getting various illnesses, you could actually be doing yourself a lot of
damage that you just can’t see by having an unhealthy lifestyle. One vital part of our bodies that many of us simply forget about is the heart. Heart disease is the most common cause of death in America, with 1 in 4 people contracting the disease. If you think it might be time for you to start looking after your heart, here are a few things you can do.
Cutting down on fat…
…saturated fat, to be precise. Foods that are high in saturated fat lead to an increase in your levels of cholesterol, which in turn is bad for your heart. The kinds of food that are high in saturated fats include cheese, biscuits, fatty meat, and butter, to name just a few. If this kind of food is a staple of your diet, you might want to consider replacing it with some alternatives. You can buy lower fat versions of just about anything these days! Plus, grilling, steaming or poaching your food is a much healthier way of cooking it rather than frying it, as this way you don’t have to add any extra oil or fat when you are cooking. This doesn’t mean to say that all fats are bad, though. Fish, nuts, and seeds all contain valuable healthy fats that can help you towards a balanced diet, so stock up on those.
Quitting smoking
If there is one thing that will lower your risk of heart disease, it’s stopping smoking. Smokers are twice as likely to have a heart attack than people who have never smoked, so the time has never been better to put down the cigarettes. However, to the addictive nature of nicotine, giving up is usually easier said than done. You may want to use patches or gum to help you on your journey towards quitting. Or, you may visit this Shoreditch website which can offer you information on the healthier alternative of e-cigarettes.
Getting more exercise
Heart health is also known as cardiovascular health. When you live an active lifestyle, you significantly lower your risk of developing heart-related diseases. This is because regular exercise can reduce your levels of cholesterol as well as lowering your blood pressure. The kind of exercise you do must result in you getting a little warm and your pulse rising, so it can be anything from going on a brisk walk to doing some vigorous housework! But every little helps when it comes to the health of your heart, so try and build some more exercise into your routine today.
Staff Writer; Sarah Moore
