5 Steps for Strong Heart!

Our heart is probably the most important organ in our body! Without it beeping our future is uncertain. And yet, while we know how important it is, we often don’t pay the appropriate attention. We postpone healthy habits for next week, our visit to the doctor for the next month and our psychology to a better tomorrow!

What can we do to help it? What are these habits that can strengthen our heart? Start them today and see your life changing daily!

Diet

If you think that the Mediterranean Diet is the standard of nutrition for a healthy heart, we may not be so far from the ideal goal. It is a good start to remember what foods our grandparents ate and be exemplified by the food they had on their table.

At first let’s start with homemade food! If something is hit today, it is the good habit of everyday homemade food. The easy solution of ready food for many has become a daily phenomenon, resulting in increased fat consumption and accumulation of it in their arteries.

So let’s get back to the basics! Let us remember legumes, veggie-foods, black bread – as they used to call it – and, of course, fruits and vegetables! We can reduce red meat and sausages and replace them with fresh fish and chicken! And of course let’s not forget the olive oil, our main ally for a strong heart. We’ve done all this before, we’ll do it again now! We are only one decision away!

Excercise

We pretend we don’t listen when someone says the word “exercise,” postponing this life-saving habit for sunny days or we squeeze it in our weekends but the truth is that our body needs daily some exercise.

If you think that we have 24 hours a day at our disposal, it may seems easier for us to devote half or even one hour to exercise. Exercise makes our blood circulates better, our cells be oxygenated more efficiently, our lungs and heart become stronger! Thus, the body regulates better our blood pressure, blood sugar and weight.

Stress-control

It may be difficult for many people to control the various stressful situations in their lives, but to some extent we can decide what we‘ll let affect us and what not.

We may think that stress only affects our psychology, but the truth is that it is bad for our heart. When we stress out, cortisol, the ”stress hormone” is excreted to a degree greater than normal. This can lead to increased blood pressure and increased blood sugar. Also nowadays, many studies associate it with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. So try to control stress and realize your real priorities in life.

Cut off smoking

We all know it is bad, but what really happens to our body when we smoke and what impact does this have on our heart? Smoking seems to cause narrowing of the arteries and increase the risk of thrombosis, so the heart is not properly fed with blood. This can lead to hypertension or even a heart attack or stroke (1)!

Do the right tests

We may feel and be good, but how much of what is happening within us do we really know? Correct tests can show us whether cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar are over or below normal levels, and experts can help us in trying to regulate these indicators.

Regular control of our health is a very important step to prevent some cardiovascular disease. If we even have a hereditary predisposition, we must be pre-cautious and not neglect the regular checks.

So let’s take care of our one and only heart! Good habits in our everyday life will soon bring results, just to realize that many things are in our power and we can control them!

Find in Vita4you.gr many products for heart health!

Sources

1. https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/images/uploads/programs/V1_Greek_HF_Smoking_A4_Web.pdf