Photo: Contributed
Although heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in Canada, these five tips can help you reduce your risk.
February is Heart Month, and according to data I found on the Government of Canada website, heart disease is the second leading cause of death among Canadians. Data from 2012/13 (the most recent listed) indicates that approximately one in 12 Canadians over the age of 20 is living with diagnosed heart disease. And every hour about 12 people die of heart disease.
“Early detection and management of conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol can help you lower your risk of heart disease,” the website states.
Now, if you’re thinking this is all doom and gloom, you haven’t been following me for very long. The good news is that all of these conditions can be controlled, and often even reversed, with simple dietary and lifestyle changes. And really, with all the things your heart does to keep you alive, I thought it would be appropriate to mention a few things you can and should do to address some of those issues and show it some love.
The first is to really make a concerted effort to manage stress. Uncontrolled chronic stress leads directly to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hypertension, lack of sleep, weight gain, all of which increase the risk of heart disease. If you have a very stressful job, the best way to break that chronic stress continuum, where you live in a heightened state, is a burst of exercise.
Scheduling a few times during the day to go up and down the stairs in your office building, or “drop and give me 20 (or 10 or five)” push-ups, or a brisk walk will do wonders to break that heightened state of stress. Some people don’t even realize they’re living in that state until they have a break.
Choose whole foods and increase your intake of fruits and vegetables.
Harvard Health Publishing claims that 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 28%. It is now said that due to poor soil quality, green picking and shipping, pesticides, GMOs, etc., we now need to consume more than 15 servings of fruits and vegetables per day to get the nutrients we need. for optimal health. . My vegetarian and vegan daughters don’t even do that regularly. And it’s really not what we do from time to time, it’s what we do constantly.
So I highly recommend supplementing with vitamins and antioxidants to support this area.
Eat balanced PFC meals. For those loyal fans and readers, you can probably teach this already because you’ve seen me mention it so many times. But it really is crucial to make sure that your body is assimilating, metabolizing and absorbing the food you are giving it. People used to say: “You are what you eat”, but in reality it is: “You are what you absorb”.
If your body doesn’t absorb it and use it, you’re not benefiting from it. “PFC Every Three” uses food to create hormonal balance and stabilize blood sugar so your body releases fat, not stores it. Which then keeps it out of your arteries and not stored in fatty deposits around your heart, liver, and other organs.
Keeping the body balanced with the proper nutrients also helps promote the production of nitric oxide, which is crucial for health and life itself.
We can live five minutes without oxygen, but no more than five seconds without nitric oxide. Helping promote the nitro effect in your body means better circulation, which also means more oxygen is delivered to the body along with better nutrient absorption, and of course it also supports immune function. And like many things, the production of those important things starts to decline as we age, so doing what we can to help promote nitric oxide production is key.
And last but not least is daily exercise. Get up, get out and move. Each. Unique. Day.
Daily exercise, including brisk walking for 20 to 30 minutes, helps keep your heart strong and working efficiently. Exercises where you exert bursts of effort and/or strength as mentioned above are not only great for relieving stress, they also help repair your telomeres, the ends of your DNA strands.
But don’t feel like you have to have a squat rack in your living room just to get some benefit from the exercise. If you’re not doing anything right now, start by going for a walk or even walk around your house continuously for 10 minutes and work up from there. Then add some stretching and deep breathing after your movement breaks and workouts. Everything counts.
People ask me what the best type of exercise is and I tell them it’s the one you’re going to do. So find something you love that works with your lifestyle and schedule it. Really. There’s something about putting it on the calendar that makes it happen.
“I’ll do it later today when I have a minute…” never seems to happen.
And smile. Smiling, laughing, laughing, even if you fake it, triggers the release of endorphins, those happy hormones that make us feel better.
You know how after someone tells a really bad joke and you start laughing like crazy for some reason and when you finally stop, tears are running down your face, you don’t feel so good? Try it.
After all, a happy heart is good for the body, just like medicine.
If you’re looking for more ways to keep your heart healthy, lose weight, or maybe get back on your feet, join the 8 weeks is all it takes group on Facebook.
