Preventing Heart Disease in Seven Ways

About 1 in 4 deaths in the United States is believed to be caused by heart disease. According to medical articles, more than 450,000 Americans die of coronary heart disease each year. Heart disease remains the leading cause of deaths in the country. How do we prevent it?

1. Reduce fat intake. This is the best way. You probably have read much about how cholesterol and fat wreak havoc on your arteries. Unfortunately, people don't pay attention. Wrong diet is the leading cause of not only heart disease but other conditions like diabetes and cancer. The ideal way to get rid of unwanted fat is to stay away from solid fats like butter and margarine.

2. Opt for low-fat protein sources. For many people, the best source of protein is meat, but meat contains animal fat. Healthier alternatives are fish, legumes, and skim milk. Some types of fish are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for the heart. Avoid full-fat milk, egg yolks, hot dogs, sausages, and bacon. These sources are rich in fat.

3. Have more servings of vegetables and fruits. Next time you do grocery shopping, include veggies and fruits. These are rich in fiber and have high doses of vitamins and minerals. They are low in calories and fat. Thus, they are very good for the heart and for health in general. But there are fruits to avoid like coconut. Instead of eating snacks, ice-cream, and burgers, help yourself to salad and vegetable dishes.

4. Go for whole grains. They are rich in fiber. So instead of refined grain products, buy whole grain substitutes. Ground flaxseed, for instance, is an ideal substitute to refined grains. It contains omega-3 fatty acids, thus helping lower cholesterol in your body. Other healthy grains are brown rice, high-fiber cereal, oatmeal, and whole grain pasta. Avoid white bread, refined flour, doughnuts, biscuits, egg noodles, granola bars, cakes, and pies.

5. Reduce salt intake. Health and medical articles are against too much salt consumption. Salt contains sodium which causes water retention and raises blood pressure. High blood pressure is a risk factor for heart disease. Then again, aside from reducing salt in your recipes, you should also stay away from canned and processed food, which has lots of sodium. Making your own food is the healthier alternative.

6. Do not overeat. A lot of people eat more servings in a meal than needed. This is the efficient way to gain weight, most especially if you are an office worker glued to your seat more than 8 hours a day. Overweight people are at risk of heart disease. Check the amount of food you eat. Don't consume more than what you can burn.

7. Walk, run! It's easy to use gas when driving to a store a few blocks away. Why don't you move those muscles and take a hike? Inactive people tend to retain fats in their tissues. This is not good for the heart. Exercise is one of the best ways to improve well-being and prevent cardiovascular disease.

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Seven Safe Steps to Avoid Heart Disease

You have already heard the term you are what you eat. It's been around forever. It's also common knowledge that eating certain foods increases your risk for heart disease. But despite that fact we continue to consume more and more foods that we know is bad for us. This is often because changing your eating habits is one of the hardest lifestyle changes you can make. Or so it seems. But take it from me, someone who has 31 years of unhealthy eating attached to my name and frame, there are things you can do to make a change and turn back the hands of time. In this article you'll find eight different ways you can make a change and lower your risks for heart disease.

Meal Planning

When you are planning a meal, or a snack, remember the heart healthy meal plate released by Harvard's School of Public Health. When you're choosing the foods make sure to portion your plate with mostly vegetables, then fruit, then whole grains, and finally a source of low fat low sodium protein. An important thing to do when planning is add some variety to your food choices. Don't get hung up on a certain food for too long or you'll risk burning yourself out. Plus changing up the menu often makes sure your body gets the necessary nutrients on top of spicing up your meals!

Portion Sizes

You always need to watch what you eat. But you also need to watch how much you eat. Filling that plate up, or going for seconds, and especially eating until you feel so stuffed your about to bust is awful for you. It HAS to be stopped! When you eat like that you are taking in way to many calories, carbs, fat, and cholesterol than you should. This WILL lead to you becoming overweight and worse it can lead to numerous diseases such as heart attacks and possibly strokes. So make sure to keep an eye on the number of servings you eat as well as the sizes of those servings.

Scale Back On Sodium

Sodium can cause high blood pressure which causes you to face the risk of heart disease. So scaling back on the amount of sodium you intake is part of a heart conscious diet. In fact a healthy adult shouldn't take in more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. So walk into your kitchen and look down at the teaspoon. 2,300 milligrams is about as big as a teaspoon. But we're not talking just table salt. Remember that every food you eat already has a certain amount of natural sodium in it. So check the nutritional labels before you go adding salt to a dish. Another important fact is if you are over 51, an African-American, or have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease your sodium intake should me 1,500 milligrams of sodium or less per day! A great way to reduce the amount of sodium you intake though is just to stop adding salt to meals. Once you do that you should also consider eating only fresh foods. These usually have way less sodium than canned or processed foods. But if you're like me and just need the easy route sometimes because of a hectic schedule make sure to get them with reduced sodium.

Eat Only Whole Grains.

Whole grains are the greatest source of fiber and other required nutrients. These nutrients help regulate blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and promote good heart health. So forget the refined grains such as white bread and go for whole grains only. Eating these whole grains instead of refined grains substantially lowers total cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, insulin levels, offers modest protection against colorectal cancer, prevents diverticular disease, and it also helps lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. So make sure to include whole grains as a part of every meal!

Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables.

Fruits and veggies are a major staple of every meal. This is because they are great sources of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and they also make a great low calorie low carbohydrate snack. As such they are one of the best ways to eat healthy and lower your risk for heart disease. A holdup for some people is figuring out how they can add these fruits and veggies into their diets. Well for snacks that's easy. Find some things you like and eat it. I tend to snack on broccoli, carrots, or celery with a small dribble of hidden valley ranch dressing or even some fresh cut cucumbers. These snacks are much better for you then meat, or cheese, or chips and a soda. For a meal I would typically eat some fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and green beans, or broccoli and cheese, or a side salad, or even grilled red peppers, green peppers, and onions. It all depends on the rest of the meal. For fruits I'm not very picky. There are plenty of fresh fruits I enjoy such as apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, strawberries, peaches, grapefruit, lemons, limes, and much more. Just take a stop in your local produce section or your local farmers market and you'll be able to easily spice up your meals while lowering your risk of heart problems!

Choose Protein That's Good For You.

The best sources of protein are the leaner meats. Fish, Shellfish, Chicken, Pork Tenderloin, and similar meats are going to be your best sources of protein. When choosing protein it's all about going as low fat as possible. Such as eating a grilled skinless chicken breast over the country fried steak. For me I tend to gravitate towards seafood as my main source of protein. The oceans and rivers are endless in providing us with great tasting sources of healthy protein. The best thing about fish is that they are super heart healthy. Fish and seafood from colder deep sea's water are the highest in omega-3 fatty acids. These acids help protect against many diseases such as; Alzheimer's, cancers, arthritis, high blood pressure, inflammations, depression, strokes, and heart disease. So make sure to try and eat some seafood at least twice per week. Some seafood I tend to eat is shrimp, crab, crawfish, scallops, mussels, tilapia, salmon, and even canned light tuna.

Watch the Fat and Cholesterol

This is the last section but definitely not the least! Out of all the changes you can make this is probably the most important section when it comes to lowering your risk for heart attacks and heart disease. High cholesterol will lead to plaque building up in your arteries which is what causes you to have a heart attack or stroke. To reduce this risk it's important to limit the amount of fats and cholesterol included in your diet. The best way to do that is cut out the lard. Cut the butter, the margarine, and the shortening out of the food you cook. Start to trim the fat off of all the meat you get. Watch your sugar intake by using natural low sugar jellies and jams instead of the others. That also means trying to cut the cookies and cakes, the snack foods, and mostly everything that's high in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. If you have to use some sort of fat for cooking make sure to use canola oil, extra virgin olive oil, or even a nut or seed oil. If you start to adjust your diet around these principals you'll be on your way to a heart healthy diet!

To learn more about how to lose weight, Mr. Cox invites you to checkout TheCharlestonDiet.com where "We help people change their life, one pound at a time." The Charleston Diet is consistently helping people stay motivated and develop new strategies to maximize the effectiveness of their diet routine.

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Seven Delicious Cholesterol Fighting Foods Anyone Can Enjoy

Knowing about cholesterol fighting foods is important for people wanting to lose weight because the majority of the foods we enjoy have high amounts of cholesterol. This is even one of the biggest reasons why people find it very hard to slim down because they do not want to give up these delicious foods they have grown to love. Fortunately, there are many delicious and readily-available foods that can help lower cholesterol.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is proven to be one of the most effective cholesterol fighting foods. The reason behind this claim is the high levels of soluble fiber found in oatmeal. This fiber helps flush out cholesterol because it binds to bile acids where cholesterol originates from.

Soy Products

Soy products are growing in popularity nowadays because more and more people are discovering its health benefits. Soy products include tofu, soy beans, soy flour, and soy milk. Soy products are also the main ingredients in meat substitutes and cheese substitutes which are common food for many vegans.

Beans

Beans are essential foods that are always a staple in many health diets because of the amount of cholesterol fighting soluble fiber they contain. Beans are always available in grocery stores and can be used in many recipes. The FDA as well as the National Cancer Institute urges the consumption of between 25 and 30 grams of bean fibers each day, not less than 5 times a week.

Nuts

Nuts such as walnuts and almonds have an ample amount of healthy monounsaturated fats. Walnuts are good sources of healthy omega-3 fatty acids that are also found in fatty fish. Although eating of nuts has been linked to a lower risk of heart disease in many medical studies, they should still be taken in moderation because they have a high calorie count. It is recommended that only a small handful of nuts be eaten as a snack 3 to 4 times in a week.

Fatty Fish

Fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, anchovies, sardines, mackerel, rainbow trout, and herring are rich in omega-3 fatty acids which are responsible for lowering bad LDL cholesterol and triglycerides as well as raising good HDL cholesterol. It is recommended to have 2 servings of these cholesterol fighting foods each week.

Red Wine

Studies of red wine have revealed that it contains plenty of flavonols that can help lower cholesterol and decrease the risk of heart disease. Unfortunately, drinking too much wine can do more harm than good by damaging the liver. To get the most out of the cholesterol fighting properties of wine, it is recommended that women drink red wine no more than once a day and twice a day for men. Good substitutes for wine are dark cocoa and red grape juice which are also considered effective cholesterol fighting foods.

Chocolate

Chocolate has a high amount of flavonoids especially for dark chocolate. These flavonoids have many bodily functions such as keeping blood platelets separated to prevent clots or the clogging of arteries and blood vessels, preventing LDL cholesterol from oxidizing, as well as boosting healthy HDL cholesterol levels. However, like most of the cholesterol fighting foods, chocolate also has to be taken in moderation to maximize its effects because it contains a lot of refined sugar. While the chocolate is good, the sugar in the chocolate is bad. Choose chocolate that is high in cocoa and low in sugar.

Darran Butler is a heart health and cholesterol wellness expert with a passion for showing others how to live healthy and passionate lives. He has helped countless others achieve their health objectives and, specifically, teaching them about cholesterol fighting foods. For more information on Darran Butler and how he can help you, visit his site for a free report that will show you how to stay super heart healthy with ideal cholesterol at http://improvinghealthsecrets.com/

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