More than one in three adults has some form of cardiovascular disease. The good news is 80 percent of heart disease and stroke can be prevented. So how do you protect yourself ?
Protect yourself from heart disease, the nation’s No. 1 killer, with Life’s Simple 7® — easy-to-embrace ways to significantly lower your risk of heart disease and improve your health. How simple is it?
According to the WHO, heart disease will be the largest cause of death in India by 2020. Radical changes in lifestyle including eating habits and increase in physical activity is the need of the hour. World Heart Day was created in 2000 to make people aware globally that heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of deaths worldwide.
Just take a look to prevent heart disease
1. Get regular medical check-ups done to make sure you are not suffering from asymptomatic high blood pressure, abnormal lipid profile or pre-diabetic condition. . It’s also important to limit trans fats, too. For some people, diet and lifestyle changes alone aren’t enough. Your doctor may prescribe cholesterol-lowering medication to keep your cholesterol levels in check. If you don’t know your cholesterol levels, talk to your doctor about scheduling a cholesterol screening
2. Make a conscious effort to add fibre to your diet. Eat green leafy vegetables, salads, fruits, and cereals like oats. Five servings of fruits and vegetables per day play a preventive role.
3. Keep a check on your weight and fat percentage. Maintaining a healthy weight and controlled fat percentage goes a long way in keeping heart diseases at bay. Extra weight can do serious damage to your heart. Too much fat, especially around the belly, increases your risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. So give your heart a break by dropping the extra pounds — and keeping them off.
4. One in three Americans has high blood pressure — yet one out of every five doesn’t even know they have it. That’s because high blood pressure, “the silent killer,” has no symptoms. Keeping your blood pressure in a healthy range starts with eating a heart-healthy diet. Other important factors are exercising regularly; not smoking; maintaining a healthy weight; limiting salt and alcohol; and taking medication prescribed by your doctor.
5. We get enough of PUFA from pulses and vegetables, try to use an MUFA-rich oil (to maintain a heart healthy fatty acid ratio) for cooking. Olive oil, rice bran oil and groundnut oil are best choices.
6. Diabetes can quadruple your risk of heart disease or stroke, so keeping blood sugar levels under control is crucial to preventing medical problems involving the heart and kidneys. If left untreated, diabetes can also cause blindness and nerve disease, among other health complications. You can minimize the impact of diabetes on your body — and even prevent or delay the onset of diabetes — by eating right, controlling your weight, exercising and taking medication prescribed your doctor. In some cases, lifestyle changes result in less need for medication.
7. It’s time to kick the habit of smoking. With one in five deaths caused by smoking, going smoke-free can help prevent not only heart disease and stroke, but also cancer and chronic lung disease. The payoff is almost immediate. Quit smoking and you’ll have the same risk level for developing heart disease as non-smokers within only a few years.
Image source: Getty images
No comments:
Post a Comment