Keep Your Heart Healthy : Taking Charge of Your Health

by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

(Page 2 of 4)

Because of advances in medicine and technology, people with heart disease are living longer, more productive lives than ever before. But prevention is still the best weapon in the fight against heart disease. As with anything in life, there are no guarantees. You could do all the right things and still develop heart disease because there are so many factors involved. But by living a healthier life, you could delay heart disease for years or minimize its damage. Whether you are already healthy, are at high risk for heart disease, or have survived a heart attack, the advice to protect your heart is the same.

Get moving and maintain a healthy weight. Exercise improves heart function, lowers blood pressure and blood cholesterol, and boosts energy. And being overweight forces the heart to work harder. But about 1 in 4 U.S. adults are sedentary.

The general recommendation from the NHLBI is to get at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most, and preferably all, days of the week. And you don't need to run a marathon or buy an expensive gym club membership to do it. The 30 minutes also don't have to be done all at once, but can be broken up into 10-minute intervals throughout your day.

"Exercising is like taking the pennies from under the couch cushions and putting them into your piggybank," says Ann Bolger, M.D., a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association (AHA) and a cardiologist in San Francisco. "Every little bit counts."

Vigorous exercise like running or doing aerobics brings more health benefits than lighter intensity activities, but walking is a great form of exercise. Brisk walking can get your heart rate up and give you a solid workout. Walking at a comfortable pace can work well for many people, too. "The best exercise is the one you feel good about and can do over and over again," Bolger says. And it's easier to work exercise into your everyday routine than you might think.

For example, Bolger suggests parking farther away when you go to the grocery store or to your office to create a longer walk, taking the stairs, walking all the way around a mall the next time you go shopping, and walking around your neighborhood. Getting support from a walking buddy or a walking group can be a good way to keep you motivated.

Talk with your doctor about what form of exercise is best for you. Those with severe heart disease, for example, are advised against strenuous exercise.

Desvigne-Nickens suggests that you teach your children early that exercise is fun and good for them. Families can walk together, ride bikes, and chase after balls in a park. "But we have to show them," she says. "Our children are exercising their thumbs with computers and video games, and obesity in childhood is epidemic."

Stick to a nutritious, well-balanced diet. This advice might make you groan if your usual lunch consists of cheeseburgers with french fries or pizza slices topped with sausage. But the good news is that diet isn't an all-or-nothing affair.

A heart-healthy diet means a diet that's low in fat, cholesterol, and salt, and high in fruits, vegetables, grains, and fiber. "But it doesn't mean that you can never have pizza or ice cream again," Bolger says. You could start by telling yourself that you will eat a big leafy green salad first, and then you will have one slice of cheese pizza, not three slices with sausage. "Or if you must have a burger, don't get your usual order of french fries," Bolger suggests. "That alone cuts hundreds of calories."

Experts point out that a heart-healthy diet should be the routine. That way, when you have high-fat food every now and then, you're still on track. Making a high-fat diet the routine is asking for trouble.

Bolger teaches people about the AHA's Simple Solutions program, which helps women — often the ones who do the cooking and grocery shopping — adopt simple ways to improve eating habits for the whole family. For example, it's wise to make a grocery list so that you can carefully plan your meals. "You have to make a conscious decision to make your snack a bag of grapes instead of a candy bar or cookies," Bolger says. Bolger also asks her patients to tell her the food or food group that gets them into trouble. If you pin that down you can start to make healthy substitutions. Tell Bolger that overloading on ice cream is your downfall and she'll tell you about her recipe for a berry dessert: Use nonfat yogurt, sweeten it up as much as you want with a sugar substitute, add a drop of vanilla extract, microwave frozen strawberries briefly to soften them up, add the berries, stir it all around, and enjoy.

Like exercise, good eating habits need to start early. "Teaching your children to eat well is one of the most loving things you can do for them," Bolger says. Your children tend to follow your lead, eat what you eat, and eat what you put in front of them. It's up to you how often you put a banana in front of them instead of high-fat cookies.

Look at the Nutrition Facts label on the foods you buy for guidance. The general rule of thumb is that foods that provide 5 percent of the daily value (DV) of fat or less are low in fat, and foods that are labeled as providing 20 percent or more of the daily value are high in fat.

Control your blood pressure. About 50 million American adults have high blood pressure, also called hypertension. The top number of a blood pressure reading, called the systolic pressure, represents the force of blood in the arteries as the heart beats. The bottom number, called diastolic pressure, is the force of blood in the arteries as the heart relaxes between beats. High blood pressure makes the heart work extra hard and hardens artery walls, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke.

A blood pressure level of 140 over 90 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury) or higher is considered high. The NHLBI recently set a new "prehypertension" level of any reading above 120 over 80 mm Hg.

Poor eating habits and physical inactivity both contribute to high blood pressure. According to the NHLBI, table salt increases average levels of blood pressure, and this effect is greater in some people than in others.

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