From HealthNewsDigest.com --
According to U.S. General Surgeon, heart attacks and strokes are highly preventable. Thus, if more people die from heart disease than from any other illness, we need to give a serious consideration to what we are doing wrong.
In this article you will find the 7 main reasons why we may end up being part of the American Heart Association’s statistics.
1. We smoke.
The risk of dying of a heart attack is about four times higher in people who smoke than in those who don’t smoke. Many of us are under the impression that the major danger from smoking is cancer but that is not quite true; smoking is the major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular disease. In fact, about 40% of deaths caused by cardiovascular disease are due to smoking.
Smoking contributes to heart disease in the following manner:
·Increases blood pressure, a risk for heart attacks and strokes.
·The carcinogen components in tobacco damage the walls of the arteries.
·The carbon monoxide from the burning of the tobacco interferes with the blood capacity to carry oxygen to our heart.
·Smoking causes the narrowing of the blood vessels that carry blood to our legs and arms.
I know that to stop smoking is not a piece of cake but you have to make an effort. If you try, I am confident you’ll succeed. Be strong! Look for professional help to assist you in this task. And don’t get discourage if you have already tried and didn’t make it. Try as many times as you can.
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2. We don’t walk.
Over the past 50 years, health professionals have examined the association between physical activity and the risk for heart disease. The findings consistently reveal that people who are physically active have half the risk for heart attacks than people who are not active. Those studies show also that at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity, such as brisk walking, on most days of the week, is sufficient to reduce the risk of heart attack. ˡ
Keep in mind that the heart is a muscle, and like any other muscle in the body, it becomes stronger the more you exercise it. Without exercise, it loses muscle fibers and becomes weak until it is unable to do its job. And the last thing you need is a heart that can’t do its job.
The direct effects of physical activity on heart disease are:
·Makes the heart stronger so it can pump more blood with fewer beats
· Lowers blood pressure by increasing the diameter of the coronary arteries.
· Lowers “LDL”, the bad cholesterol
· Increases “HDL”, the “good” cholesterol
· Decreases triglycerides
· Decreases the risk of diabetes, which is a risk for heart attacks
3. We eat too much saturated fat
There is a reason why health authorities advice us to limit the consumption of saturated fat:
·Saturated fat is the most rigid of all fats and is solid at room temperature. Solid fats are hard to dissolve and can easily get stuck in your arteries.
· Saturated fat causes the liver to overproduce cholesterol. The liver makes about 75 percent of the cholesterol your body needs from internal sources, while the remaining 25 percent comes from food. But when you eat too much saturated fat, your liver keeps producing cholesterol and you end up with much more cholesterol than you need.
Limit saturated fat consumption to less than 10 percent of the total calories ingested per day.
4. We ingest too many foods containing hydrogenated oils or trans fats
Health authorities are concerned that the consumption of trans fats might have contributed to the 20th century epidemic of coronary heart disease.
Hydrogenated oils or trans fats as they are usually called, are produced artificially by inserting molecules of hydrogen in vegetable oils, a process called hydrogenation. Through this process, the oil, which is liquid at room temperature, changes its original form and becomes solid. In other words, it becomes saturated fat. In addition, the unnatural shapes of trans fats cause our cells to become malformed and to malfunction. And that includes the cells of the heart and the arteries.
Read the food label and avoid products which contain trans fats or hydrogenated fats. Example of foods that contain these harmful fats are:
·Industrial bakery such as cookies, donuts, croissants, cakes, and the like
· Solid margarine
· Fried fast food
5. We don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables
We know that people who consume plant foods regularly have a lower incidence of heart disease than those who do not include them in their diet.
Fruits and vegetables contain phytochemicals, nonnutritive chemicals found in plant foods that protect their host plants from infections and microbial invasions. Recently, however, we have learned that phytochemicals are also crucial in protecting humans against many diseases, including heart disease.
Among the functions phytochemicals perform in our bodies are:
· They act as antioxidants
· They keep the walls of small blood vessels healthy
· They make our small blood vessels stronger
· They prevent platelets from becoming sticky and piling up
· They block specific enzymes that raise blood pressure.
Include about 9 portions of fruits and vegetables a day as part of a healthy diet. read the full report...
The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC
