How to prevent Heart Disease and maintain a Healthy Cardiovascular System

How healthy is your heart? 

•         Do you smoke?
•         Are you overweight?
•         Do you have high blood pressure?
•         Do you have high cholesterol?
•         Are you on cholesterol or blood pressure medication and don’t like the side effects?
•         Does your family have a history of cardiovascular disease?
•         Do you do very little exercise?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to any of the questions above, you should look at how you can help your heart and blood vessels be as healthy as possible naturally.

Keeping your cardiovascular system healthy is vital.  Your heart and blood vessels make up your cardiovascular system. Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in the world today, especially in the developed countries.

Here are five steps you can follow to optimise your heart health:

1.      Follow a healthy eating plan:

·        Eat a minimum of 3 cups of vegetables and 2 pieces of fruit every day.

·        Eat a handful of nuts and seeds and up to 2 tablespoons of “good” fat from foods such as fish, nuts, seeds and cold pressed vegetable oils (eg. Olive oil). 

·        Include protein-rich foods in each meal or snack.  Make sure you choose lean protein sources.  Reduce fatty meats high in saturated fat such as bacon.

·        Drink a minimum of 8 glasses of pure water daily.

2.      Exercise regularly.  For a healthy heart you need to do a minimum of 30 minutes of light to moderate exercise at least 5 times in a week.  Gentle to brisk walking is recommended.  Consider having a friend to join you for the exercise so you can keep each other motivated.

3.       Relax and have fun.  Stress can have a major effect on your body, especially your heart! You need to manage stress to ensure balance and health.  Take 30 minutes of each day to enjoy some relaxing and fun activities.

4.      Commit to some key lifestyle changes such as getting regular wellness checkups, maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol consumption and quitting smoking if you smoke.

5.      Take natural supplements beneficial to your heart and cardiovascular system such as Bonito Peptides, Policosanols, DHA, Taurine and Magnesium, Krill Oil and Coenzyme Q10 (if you have elevated cholesterol and are taking medication for this from your doctor, then Coenzyme Q10 is even more important to take.  A class of cholesterol medications called “Statins” have an unfortunate side effect of reducing the body’s ability to manufacture Q10, which may lead to side effects such as fatigue.)

Don’t wait until it is too late to look after your heart.  Commit to improving your cardiovascular health now by making the dietary and lifestyle changes.  You can improve your heart health and maintain a healthy cardiovascular system naturally using natural herbal medicines and supplements without the side effects of drugs.