Preventing Heart Disease with Diet and Exercise – Part 2

Next using the broiler or baking for your foods instead of sautéing or frying. Frying and sautéing adds extra fats and oils to the foods that you don’t need and only clog your arteries. If you like cheese make it hard cheese, like Parmesan or Romano. The harder the cheese the less fat is in it. Velveeta and softer cheese are higher in fat and processing, which adds to your risk of heart disease.

What is important with your dietary and exercise changes are that they should be consistent. Eating foods rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low fat dairy products will help to protect your heart. Including fish, legumes and other low fat types of proteins will also help to reduce your risk.

After including certain foods you must also limit others such as saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and trans fats. All of these fats will increase your risk of heart disease and raise your blood cholesterol. Major sources of these fats are beef, butter, cheeses, milk, coconut and palm oils as well as deep fat fried foods, baked products and packaged snack foods.

Preventing heart disease with diet and exercise also means getting 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise 5 days each week. You aren’t training for the local triathlon or the Olympics – you are getting your heart rate elevated and your breathing deeper for 30 minutes each day. You can use a trampoline in the house, an exercise ball, walking, jogging, jump rope or sports such as basketball, soccer, tennis or racquetball. You don’t have to do the same thing each day. Vary your activities and keep them interesting.

Again, the intent isn’t to exercise for one week and then stop but to make life changes that will improve your chances of living a long and healthy life. This is true for dietary changes as well. Preventing heart disease with diet and exercise is a commitment to long-term changes that will decrease your risk of heart disease, stroke and heart attack.

Resources:

Center for Disease Control and Prevention: PRevention: What you can do

http://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/what_you_can_do.htm

Experimental and Clinical Cardiology: Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2716237/

MayoClinic: Heart Disease

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-healthy-diet/NU00196

American Heart Association: Preventing Heart Disease at Any Age

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/MyHeartandStrokeNews/Preventing-Heart-Disease—At-Any-Age_UCM_442925_Article.jsp

American Diabetes Association: Diet and Exercise can Help Prevent Future Heart Problems

http://www.diabetes.org/news-research/research/access-diabetes-research/dpp-heart.html

Beth Israel Deaconness: Cardiovascular Disease Prevention