Maintaining a Heart-Healthy Diet: 6 Steps to Prevent Heart Disease
Most people want to be healthier for a variety of reasons. Heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes are all cardiovascular events that can seriously damage your heart. Suffering from any of these can affect your quality of life or cause a preventable premature death. Most of us want to stick around for our loved ones, watch our children grow up, and live a long and healthy life. One way to increase the chances of this is to take actions that help us prevent heart disease and any other cardiovascular problems. With a few simple lifestyle changes, you can reduce your chance of heart disease significantly. Here are some steps you can take:
Limit Unhealthy Food
Limiting the amount of unhealthy food that you eat is probably the most effective thing you can do. This means limiting foods with saturated fats, trans fats, and added sugars. You don’t need to give up junk food altogether, but an awareness of what you’re eating is important. Refined carbohydrates, sweet drinks, and processed meat are all detrimental to your heart health when eaten regularly.
Up Your Vitamin and Mineral Intake
Eating a balanced diet that includes heart-healthy vitamins and minerals such as Omega 3 is advisable. Fish is an excellent source of Omega 3, there is also great protein in salmon and other fish that are high in fatty acids. Magnesium can also help to regulate blood pressure and prevent hardening in the arteries. You can find magnesium in foods such as nuts and seeds or take a daily supplement to ensure you are getting the right amount.
B vitamins are also very important when it comes to maintaining a healthy heart. Vitamin B6 is especially effective at helping the body absorb greater levels of magnesium.
Many people are deficient in vitamin D, especially in areas with lower levels of sun. Taking a vitamin D supplement or getting more vitamin D into your diet can help to keep your heart healthy. Fish is a superb source of vitamin D, so is milk.
Be Aware of Your Sodium Intake
The amount of sodium that you consume is key to keeping your heart function healthy. You should try to avoid eating more than 2,300mg of sodium each day. Processed foods are often responsible for many people eating too much sodium, so it’s best to avoid these where possible.
Keep Your Iron Levels High
Iron deficiency in the US isn’t as common as in other countries. However, those that eat a vegetarian or vegan diet are more susceptible. Getting enough iron into the body through plant-based sources isn’t as easy. This is because the body doesn’t absorb iron from plant sources as well as it does from meat. Iron deficiency can lead to anemia, which can have a negative impact on heart function. Anemia can mean the heart has to work harder, which can lead to heart failure in extreme cases.
If you are a vegetarian or vegan, taking iron supplements is the best way to ensure you are getting enough iron. You should also try to eat foods such as spinach, beans, and dried fruits.
Increase Fiber
Fiber can help to lower cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is a top contributor to heart disease. When there is too much of it in your blood, your arteries can become clogged, which can lead to heart disease. Bringing more fiber into your diet can lower cholesterol levels in the blood. It targets low-density lipoprotein, also known as unhealthy levels of cholesterol. Getting more fiber into your diet is easy. Oats, beans, seeds, and cereals are all perfect sources of fiber. Fiber can also help to reduce inflammation and lower blood pressure.
Make Lifestyle Changes
Changing your diet is crucial to help prevent heart disease, but this isn’t the only change to make. There are several other lifestyle changes you can make to decrease. These include:
Stop Smoking
Smoking is a key player when it comes to heart disease. Many people develop heart disease because of smoking cigarettes. It’s a huge risk factor as it causes damage to the lining of the arteries. It also can cause blood clots and affects your heart rate and blood pressure.
Exercise More
Exercise can help to reduce your chances of getting heart disease. Obesity can increase your risks, so shifting excess body fat through diet and exercise can help to reduce this. Exercise can also help to regulate blood sugar levels, lower cholesterol and lower your blood pressure.
Reduce Stress
Although some level of stress is normal in your life, prolonged stress can affect your heart health. This is because high levels of stress can produce a hormone called cortisol in the body. High levels of cortisol can lead to increased blood pressure and higher cholesterol levels. Stress can also make you more likely to overeat, smoke, or avoid physical activity.
Taking the steps to prevent heart disease
Maintaining a heart-healthy diet can seem daunting. However, all it takes is a few slight changes and awareness of what you’re eating. Reducing stress, exercising more and stopping smoking all come with health benefits, which include a healthier heart. Vitamins and minerals play a key role in healthy heart function, so be sure to ingest these through foods or via supplements. It is no surprise that junk food contains too much saturated and trans fats and sodium. Avoiding junk food can make your body healthier overall, but is especially important when it comes to heart health.
As someone who lost their father to heart disease, I urge you to make these changes. Keeping your heart healthy through diet and lifestyle changes can mean you live longer and get to spend more time with your loved ones.
