Some of the risks for heart disease that you CAN change or prevent are:
- Not smoking. If you do smoke, quit.
- Controlling your cholesterol through diet, exercise, and medicines, if needed.
- Controlling high blood pressure through diet, exercise, and medicines, if needed.
- Controlling diabetes through diet, exercise, and medicines, if needed.
- Exercising at least 30 minutes a day
- Keeping to a healthy weight by eating healthy foods, eating less, and joining a weight loss program, if you need to lose weight
- Learning healthy ways to cope with stress through special classes or programs, or things like meditation or yoga
- Limiting how much alcohol you drink to 1 drink a day for women and 2 a day for men
Good nutrition is important to your heart health and will help control some of your risk factors.
- Choose a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
- Choose lean proteins, such as chicken, fish, beans and legumes.
- Choose low-fat dairy products, such as 1% milk and other low-fat items.
- Avoid sodium (salt) and fats found in fried foods, processed foods, and baked goods.
- Eat fewer animal products that contain cheese, cream, or eggs.
- Read labels, and stay away from "saturated fat" and anything that contains "partially-hydrogenated" or "hydrogenated" fats. These products are usually loaded with unhealthy fat
