Age, gender, and family history are some of these. But with some healthy practices and a good lifestyle, one can lower the risk of heart disease. This article is all about some healthy tips to reduce heart disease.
8 out of 10 people in the world die due to cardiac arrest, which is a severe condition prevailing in the medical industry.
Poor functioning of the heart causes abnormal heart rhythm resulting in a heart attack or cardiac arrest. Many factors can cause unstoppable heart diseases.
1. Reduce the consumption of vegetable/cooking oil
Cholesterol and heart disease are two sides of one coin. A person with cholesterol is more likely to have heart disease than a person without cholesterol. The vegetable oils that you get in the market these days are highly toxic and harmful for health.
Be it sunflower oil, canola oil, corn oil, soy, or cottonseed oil; these are high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids that have a significant effect on one’s heart.
But as we all are ardent foodies, we have that cravenness to eat fried items and everything that is made out of oil. So to be on the safe side, make sure you cook food with home-made oil or natural oil with no chemicals.
2. Maintain a healthy weight
Many at times, we go out of control and eat so much when it comes to restaurant foods and special foods prepared by our friends/ family or relatives.
This, in turn, affects our weight as well, not instantly, but at a slow pace. This refers to people who are staying away from their family, as they are lazy to cook and eat.
Every hotel food that you eat need not be made out of healthy virgin oil. And every sweet that you eat need not be made out of less sugar.
So when these factors result in obesity, it indirectly affects the heart as well. The best way to reduce heart disease is to control your weight and follow a steady weight.
3. Follow a diabetic’s diet
The less you eat sugar, the healthier your heart will be. This includes simple carbohydrates also. A carbohydrate-rich diet like rice, potatoes, bread, and pasta can all increase blood sugar levels and insulin. Sugar is a high-risk factor for both diabetes and heart disease.
So to avoid this condition, you can follow a diet of a diabetic patient. Cut down the portion of fat and carbs from your daily diet.
Try avoiding the consumption of saturated fats and processed foods with added sugar. Instead, go for healthy eating habits of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, which will improve the functioning of the heart.
4. Yes to organ meats and egg yolks
A diet rich in nutrients and protein is one of the healthy tips to reduce heart disease.
Generally, people have a misconception that being a vegan can make you live for long and healthy than being a non-vegetarian. But many vegetables give you fewer benefits in terms of vitamins and minerals intake. One serving of beef liver will give you 10-100 times more amounts of vitamins and minerals than carrots and apples.
Also, it is completely safe to eat three eggs a day. One egg provides 13 essential nutrients, especially the yolk, which has higher nutrients than the white. Recent research shows that egg consumption can increase the level of good cholesterol, thereby reducing the risk of heart disease.
5. Engage in activities
Agree on it or not, our ancestors were much healthier than us. The new generation can do only half of the job that our grandparents used to do in their job. That is because the old generation used to be engaged in many activities involving physical pressure.
One of the major causes of heart disease is physical inactivity. People who are not much into physical activities or exercises are more likely to have heart disease than those who practice exercises. It doesn’t mean that you should go to a gym or walk for around 2 hours.
Even a slight physical activity daily can show results. Make sure you spend some time outdoors and get exposed to the sun. It’s ok to sweat so that you burn some calories.
6. Be stress-free
Getting stressed brings nothing but invites many health diseases, one among which is heart disease. Stop being worried about every single thing that breaks your peacefulness. Stress increases your blood pressure. Extreme levels of stress can lead to heart attack causing death. One of the most important factors causing heart diseases is stress. Mental pressure can lead to elevated levels of cortisol, resulting in both inflammation and oxidative damage. To reduce heart disease, you need to stay positive and be stress-free. This is possible with the help of acupuncture, meditation, yoga, exercises, and biofeedback.
7. Say NO to alcohol
It’s Ok to party and have some drinks with your friends or family. But not to the extreme level. Too much intake of alcohol can increase blood pressure and add extra calories. That causes weight gain, putting your heart under risk. One of the best tips to have a healthy heart functioning is to limit the drink per day. Men should drink no more than two drinks per day and women – one per day.
8. Quit smoking
Like alcohol drinking causes heart disease, smoking is yet another factor that has a direct impact on the heart. Cigarette smoking has high chances for heart attack and stroke. If you are a chain smoker, try to reduce the intake as quitting, all of a sudden is not possible for smokers. But if you could quit smoking, then the chances of having a heart disease is comparatively meager.
So these tips to reduce heart disease are very useful and can be easily achieved. All you need is to have strong willpower and courage to follow a healthy lifestyle. Following a healthy diet with regular exercise is the key to healthy heart functioning.