Health Resources #3

Tips to prevent heart disease :

The one and only way to prevent heart disease is getting risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, and inactive conduct restrained. Although some risk factors like age, gender, and genetics cannot be changed, their harmful effects can be prevented with some changes in the everyday life.

• Regular exercise can help prevent heart disease. Try to work out for at least 60 – 90 minutes a day. Remember the more u exercise, the less chances you have for a heart attack.

• Try to consume a sound amount of vegetables and fruits such as spinach, carrots, peaches and berries everyday since they contain the highest amount of micronutrients.

• Go for a diet enriched with whole-grain, high-fibre foods such as, whole wheat, oats/oatmeal, rye, barley, brown rice, buckwheat, bulgur, millet, and quinoa.

• Eat oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, and sardines at least twice a week. These fishes are rich in the omega-3 fatty acids which decrease the risk of death from coronary artery disease.

• Cut down on the intake of saturated fat to less than 300 mg per day. Choose grill, bake, or broil fish, meat, and skinless poultry.

• Use moderate or least amount of salt in your food. Dropping the quantity of salt will lower your blood pressure and therefore, minimize the risk of having a heart disease.

• Cut down on beverages and alcohol.

• Go for skimmed milk instead of whole milk.

• Avoid fried foods. Instead, consume baked, steamed, boiled, broiled, or micro waved foods or foods that are cooked with low fat oils such as, corn, safflower, sunflower, soybean, cottonseed, olive, canola, peanut, sesame etc.

• Substitute fatty meat with low-fat alternatives.
• Use low-fat yogurt, or low-fat sour cream and mayonnaise instead of sour cream and mayonnaise.

• Avoid processed cheese and opt for low-sodium cheese.

• Substitute white bread, white rice, and white flour cereals with whole-wheat bread, long-grain rice, and whole-grain cereals.