A healthy diet and lifestyle are the best recipes to prevent cardiovascular disease. Small changes in your lifestyle can add up and make you live longer and healthier. According to cardiologist Dr. Dean Karalis, whose specialties range from preventive cardiology and clinical cardiology to lipidology and women’s cardiovascular health, many of his patients already know what to do and making these positive changes doesn’t need to be a grand endeavor.
Dr. Karalis offers seven simple changes you can incorporate into your daily routine to make your heart healthier by the time you’re ready for bed.
A healthy diet consists of eating a variety of foods from all the food groups. The American Heart Association healthy diet emphasizes a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, skinless poultry and fish, nuts and legumes and non-tropical vegetable oils. “You should limit your intake of saturated and trans-fats, red meats, sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages and refined carbohydrates,” recommends Dr. Karalis. “The American Heart Association recommends counting calories and knowing how many calories you consume in a day. If weight loss if your goal, you need to use up more calories than you take in.”
Some jobs are more sedentary than others. If your job doesn’t keep you active on your feet throughout the day, Dr. Karalis recommends making an intentional effort to get up and move to help maintain a healthy weight. “The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week,” he says. “If you don’t have time during the day to exercise, get up and walk around for at least 10 minutes three times during your workday—and always, always take the stairs.” “Inflammation plays a key role in plaque forming in your heart arteries,” explains Dr. Karalis. “Good dental hygiene is a good way to a healthy heart.”
Maintaining a healthy weight is the key to better heart health. The more weight you gain, the higher your body max index (BMI) will be.
BMI is a standard measure of body fat based on height and weight to work out if you are within the healthy range. The higher the BMI is, the higher the risk of health complications, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar levels.
