It’s February. Love Your Heart!

January 30, 2011 by

Welcome to February; also officially declared “Heart Month” by the American Heart Association (AHA). And if you’ve wondered why it should matter to you, take note that heart disease is the number 1 killer of women in the United States today. Now, many of you may be thinking to yourself, “It doesn’t run in my family, I’m not a smoker, I exercise 4-6 times a week and I eat clean”…that doesn’t matter. Statistics show that today, thousands of women daily are diagnosed with stroke or a form of heart disease; “an estimated 42 million American women live with cardiovascular disease, but too many are unaware of the threat they face.” For this and more helpful statistics, please read http://www.womenheart.org/resources/cvdfactsheet.cfm. Certainly, if you have a blood relative with heart disease you are at a higher risk, but also be mindful of the lifestyle habits that run in your family too (e.g., smoking, being inactive, bad eating, not getting your cholesterol or blood pressure checked and in good numbers) as well as being educated on the symptoms. Genetics may account for a lot but your lifestyle habits will protect and prevent!

Aside from a healthy-heart diet (which my efitfamily colleague Rachel Ettinger did a great job covering in her article for this month) and your family history, 3 big things you HAVE to be mindful of in preventing heart disease are smoking, cholesterol and high blood pressure. If you’re a current smoker, want to quit but are concerned about weight gain, there are things you can discuss with your doctor. Besides, the average weight gain is typically from 10-15 pounds, which is manageable and should not be a roadblock to saving your life! You should also understand your cholesterol levels and take steps to change your eating habits to improve your cholesterol if necessary; small, consistent changes over a long period of time will make a BIG difference even with bad genetics! Lastly, take care of your blood pressure. Over long periods of time even stage 1 hypertension (140-159/90-99) can lead to hardening of the arteries and stroke.

Collectively, all of the things I’ve mentioned above will help you, but nothing is more important than helping—educating—yourself! We may think we are doing all the right things and then be struck by something as fierce as heart disease. I recently read about a woman, who did a marathon just 6 months before being diagnosed with stage 3 congestive heart failure. She was healthy in every way imaginable and was still a victim. Today, she is a survivor but stresses the importance of education!

Make this year a time to take action for YOUR health; your family will appreciate it and so will you. I’ve posted some heart-healthy recipes, compliments of “WomenHeart’s ALL Heart Family Cookbook” under efitfamily.com’s Nutrition/Healthy Recipes I hope you’ll enjoy. And to get involved with the AHA you can go to www.heart.org, type in your zip code on the top tab “Local Info” and find an office your area.

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Filed Under: Women's Health
About Angela Lee, B.A., CPT

Angela has spent 16 years in a high-profile corporate career but elected to follow her dream of educating others to take better care of themselves by becoming a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT). She's also a National Physique Committee (NPC) competitor and belongs to one of the nation's largest and successful competitive teams. Lastly, as a survivor of childhood cancer she's learned at a young age the importance of making good choices about health, maintaining a positive outlook on life and the impact both have on overall vitality long-term.