Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) or Heart Disease is one of the most common diseases in the western world and one of the leading causes of death in adults. There are different types of CVD’s like ischemic heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, and heart failure – all of which can present with major complications.
Lifestyle factors as well as other medical conditions can significantly increase one’s risk for heart disease. An unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, and diabetes can all contribute to increased risk for heart disease, as can high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and smoking.
What does this mean?
Well, the good thing is that many of these risk factors can be managed through lifestyle changes that support a healthy heart!
For example, learn to manage pre-existing conditions such as diabetes by monitoring and regulating blood sugar levels. Also, adding in or increasing physical activity time to give your heart the exercise that it needs (it is a muscle after all!). Physical activity can also naturally help to support weight loss or weight maintenance in return. Lastly, your diet can have a major impact on not only heart health but also in managing and reducing symptoms of other pre-existing conditions.
So let’s dive into what a heart healthy diet is…
Heart healthy diets often focus on a few key things: Reducing sodium, bad cholesterol (LDL), and unhealthy fats (trans, saturated, and triglycerides), while supporting adequate healthy fats (unsaturated). This helps to prevent high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol. Heart healthy diets also focus on consuming a wide array of vegetables and fruits, as well as whole grain products, beans and legumes, nuts, seeds, and healthy oils from fish or plant oils like olive oil.
While there are several recommended diets for heart health, such as the DASH Diet, the Portfolio Diet, and the Mediterranean Diet, amongst others, these frequently recommended diets all emphasize the key aspects listed above.
* Key Take Away *
While a person’s diet is a very important part of heart health, adequate physical activity and other lifestyle factors such as stress reduction, a consistent sleep patterns, and more, all play an essential role in heart health.
If you’re looking for specific heart health tips that you can put into practice in your lifestyle, either as prevention or after a heart-event, don’t hesitate to reach out to the nutrition team.
