Archive for category Heart Health
Heart Healthy Tips – Medical Care, Physical Activity and Stress Management
Posted by admin in Heart Health, Medical, Stress on July 2, 2011
Physical activity, stress management and standard medical care combine to make the best heart healthy wellness plan. Since heart disease is a leading cause of mortality this prescription is good health promotion advice for everyone. February is National Hearth Health Month so let’s look more closely at these three components and tips for developing a heart healthy wellness routine.
In a new study, people with heart disease who along with their routine medical care worked out, or took a stress management class, fared better than those who didn’t. The results suggest “considerable benefit” from exercise and stress management training, write the researchers from Duke University. Not only did physical activity and stress management lower markers of heart disease, but they were also associated with a reduction in emotional distress. In short, their hearts became healthier, and their mental and emotional states improved.
A good continuing care retirement community should include stress management as part of their daily activities. But how will they decide what is the best exercise program? For older adults who want to stay healthy and independent, the National Institute on Health recommends balancing four key areas for a well-rounded physical fitness program:
• Endurance: builds your aerobic capacity, gives you more freedom of movement, and strengthens your heart, allowing you to stay active for longer periods of time.
• Strength: builds muscles and increases your metabolism, which helps to keep your weight and blood sugar in check as well as improves overall functional capacity. Read the rest of this entry »
Super Foods To Keep Your Heart Healthy
Posted by admin in Heart Health on June 14, 2011
Heart disease is the number one killer in the US, but many people don’t realize that this number could be drastically reduced if we just ate healthier diets. For years we have been programmed to believe that cholesterol is the culprit and we should avoid things like eggs and seafood, when in fact this is only part of the story. More and more, research is finding that the real culprit is an unhealthy lifestyle and probably the worst foods for your heart are those which have been hydrogenated, such as margarine which is not natural and far more dangerous than even better as your body cannot process it properly.
Another thing that you don’t hear too much about is the effect of sugar on your heart. In fact, sugar is a leading contributor to heart disease. Sugar raises serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels and also makes your platelets extra sticky causing your blood to clot more which can be a cause of heart attack and stroke. Not only that, but it can lessen the amount of good bacteria in your intestines which indirectly increases blood cholesterol levels. Sugar also causes insulin to be released into your bloodstream and researchers now think that insulin may help cholesterol to be deposited in the walls of your blood vessels.
So what can you keep to keep your heart healthy?
Believe it or not, one of the key heart healthy foods is eggs. I know, you’ve probably believed for your whole life that eggs were bad for your heart and maybe you even avoided them. This is largely due to the fact that eggs to contain a lot of cholesterol and it was once thought that eating cholesterol would contribute to heart disease, however studies now show that the cholesterol that you eat has very little effect on the cholesterol levels in your blood. In fact, a study In the British Medical Journal reported that eating seven eggs a week in combination with a low-fat high fiber diet did not cause cholesterol levels to be raised at all. eggs have great nutritional value, especially the yolk which is loaded with choline which actually helps to dissolve fat and cholesterol. Read the rest of this entry »