"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Women’s Health Advice: "Life’s Simple 7"
My Life Check was designed by the American Heart Association with the goal of improved health by educating the public on how best to live.
These measures have one unique thing in common: any person can make these changes. The steps are not expensive to take and even modest improvements to your health will make a big difference.
Start with one or two. This simple, seven step list has been developed to deliver on the hope we all have--to live a long, productive healthy life.
1. Get Active:
Finding time in our overscheduled lives for exercise is a challenge for all busy Americans. Especially for those who are parents or are working full-time or both. But the benefits far outweigh the sacrifices it takes to carve out that time.
Why is Getting Active So Important?
The facts are clear: By exercising for as little as 30 minutes each day you can reduce your risk of heart disease. Without regular physical activity, the body slowly loses its strength and ability to function well. Physical activity = living a longer, healthier life. Regular Physical Activity Helps: Lower blood pressure, increase HDL “good” cholesterol in your blood, control blood sugar by improving how your body uses insulin, reduce feelings of stress, control body weight and make you feel good.
2. Eat Better
Vegetables and fruits are high in vitamins, minerals and fiber — and they’re low in calories. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables may help you control your weight and your blood pressure. ·
Unrefined whole-grain foods contain fiber that can help lower your blood cholesterol and help you feel full, which may help you manage your weight.
Eat fish at least twice a week. Recent research shows that eating oily fish containing omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, trout, and herring) may help lower your risk of death from coronary artery disease.
Choose lean meats and poultry without skin and prepare them without added saturated and trans fat. Select fat-free, 1 percent fat, and low-fat dairy products. ·
Cut back on foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to reduce trans fat in your diet. Aim to eat less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol each day. Choose and prepare foods with little salt. Aim to eat less than 1500 milligrams of sodium per day.
3. Lose excess Weight:
Despite the admiration of Flemish baroque artist, Peter Paul Rubens, if you have too much fat — especially if a lot of it is at your waist — you're at higher risk for such health problems as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and diabetes. It’s a matter of balancing healthy eating (caloric energy) with the (molecular) energy that leaves your body through a healthy level of exercise.
4.Quit Smoking:
Smoking is the most important preventable cause of premature death in the US. Smokers have a higher risk of developing many chronic disorders, including atherosclerosis — the buildup of fatty substances in the arteries — which can lead to coronary heart disease, heart attack (myocardial infarction) and stroke. Controlling atherosclerosis is an important part of preventing future heart attack or stroke. There are several prescription meds that can help with your quest. Ask us to work with you, or call NYS quitline: 1-866-NY-QUITS, to get information on how to start.
5. Control Cholesterol:
Cholesterol is a soft, fat-like, waxy substance found in the bloodstream and in all your body's cells. It's normal to have cholesterol. Cholesterol is an important part of a healthy body because it's used for producing cell membranes and some hormones, and serves other needed bodily functions.
But too much cholesterol in the blood is a major risk for coronary heart disease (which leads to heart attack) and stroke.
AHA Recommends: It's important for all people to know their cholesterol level. Total blood cholesterol is the most common measurement of blood cholesterol. It's the number you receive as test results. Cholesterol is measured in milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dL). A cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL or higher puts you in a high-risk category and is cause to take action.
6. Manage High Blood Pressure:
Hypertension is the single most significant risk factor for heart disease. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can injure or kill you. It's sometimes called "the silent killer" because it has no symptoms. One in three adults has high blood pressure, yet, about 21% don’t even know they have it. Of those with high blood pressure, 69% are receiving treatment, yet, only 45% have their blood pressure controlled.
7. Control Blood Sugar:
The AHA considers diabetes one of the six major controllable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In fact, adults with diabetes are two to four times more likely to have heart disease or a stroke than adults without diabetes.Diabetes is treatable, but even when glucose levels are under control it greatly increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.
In fact, most people with diabetes die of some form of heart or blood vessel dis. Diabetes can cause your blood sugar to rise to dangerous levels. Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose, or sugar, for our bodies to use for energy. The pancreas, an organ near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into our bodies' cells.
Why is Reducing Blood Sugar Important?
Pre-diabetes and subsequent type 2 diabetes usually results from insulin resistance. When insulin resistance or diabetes occur with other CVD risk factors (such as obesity, high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol and high triglycerides), the risk of heart disease and stroke rises even more.
Controlling glucose can slow the progression of long-term complications. Often, many small changes add up to surprising improvements in diabetes control, including less need for medication.
"A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world." ~ Paul Dudley White
