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Happy Work-it-out-Wednesday!
In honor of National Heart Month and my dad, Mac, I’ve collected a couple of my favorite BLOGGER’s posts on this issue.
Thank you, Lauren Kelly, Certified Nutritionist and Karen Whittier, founder of EMBRACE ACTIVISM!
Please click on this link from the CDC to learn FACTS about SODIUM and ways to REDUCE it from our diets. There are a few PDF’s to download and I found them extremely helpful.
February is National Heart Health Month and luckily heart disease prevention is easy to do with simple changes to your diet and lifestyle.
1. Eliminating saturated fats (red meat and dairy) and trans fats (deep-fried foods, bakery products, and packaged foods), high cholesterol foods, high sodium foods and those that have refined carbohydrates is the first step.
2. Maintaining an active daily routine (at least 30 minutes a day) reduces stress which can, in turn, prevents heart disease.
3. Adding omega-3 fatty acids (found in salmon, mackerel, flax seed oil and walnut oil) to decrease risk for heart attacks and lower blood pressure.
4. Finally, stay in a healthy weight range. Avoid too much weight gain and loss (yo-yo dieting) and keep positive thoughts!
– Lauren Kelly, Certified Nutritionist
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The Beat Goes On…*
By: Karen Whittier – 2/5/2012 |
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February contains Valentine’s Day so it’s fitting that it also is Heart Disease/Stroke Awareness Month. Heart disease affects more Americans than all cancers. It kills more women than breast cancer; in fact, heart disease is the #1 killer of women. The heart is one of our body’s vital organs. It can be thought of as a pump sending oxygen-rich blood to the body. Being the daughter of a carpenter I think it makes sense I assigned functions/characteristics of the heart in home-building terms. So, one aspect of the heart involves ‘plumbing’. As I mentioned above, the heart pumps oxygen-rich blood out all the way to the far reaches of the body. The mode of transportation begins with arteries and branches out into smaller pathways called capillaries. Hardening of the arteries or atherosclerosis decreases the area available for blood flow due to a build-up of plaque along the artery’s inner walls. Continued build-up creates blockages depriving areas downstream of oxygen; whether or not that’s a life-threatening blockage depends on the location of the blockage and/or the number of arteries involved. Another home-building term that applies to the heart is ‘electrical’. The heart’s pumping begins with an electrical impulse that signals the upper chambers (atrium) to contract so blood is pumped into the lower chambers (ventricle). Additional electrical signals take place directing blood from the right ventricle to the lungs and blood from the left ventricle to the body. If there is any kind of electrical malfunction the main job of the heart is compromised. Irregular heart rhythms are called arrhythmia and can jeopardize the workings of the heart in supplying oxygen to the body. Arrhythmias can be further classified into tachycardia where the heart beats too fast and bradycardia where the heart beats too slowly. It should be no surprise that if there is a problem with the electrical workings of the heart its function is impacted. With the exception of congenital conditions that affect the heart’s functioning, factors that create heart disease and lead to heart attack and/or stroke are, by and large, governed by lifestyle choices. Learn what your heart attack risk is by completing this assessment: Make heart-friendly diet choices, engage in heart-strengthening activities, learn heart-pampering stress management techniques, and let your heart sing! Read more ways to make heart-healthy decisions here and visit the American Heart Association page. GoRed! *Listen to the Whisper’s And the Beat Goes On Health, Wellness & CURES!! click here to shop online https://macnmos.com/shop/main.sc |
You’re welcome, Lauren and thank YOU for sharing! 🙂
Thanks for sharing Maura!! xoxo