Healthy lifestyle for a healthy heart

What you eat and how you live are important for your heart health. Better lifestyle habits can help you reduce your risk of heart disease and help prevent heart disease.

There are many ways you can modify diet and lifestyle for long-term benefits for your heart health. Start making some adjustments in your life to achieve long-term benefits for your heart health. It’s not that hard.

Eat a healthy diet:

Better food habits can help you become healthier and reduce your risk for heart disease. A healthy diet means choosing more healthy foods to eat and preparing and cooking foods in a healthier way.

Eat a wide variety of foods daily from all of the basic food groups.

Identify some healthy, nutrient-rich foods foods you like to eat more often. Nutrient-rich foods contain vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients. Like vegetables, fruits, whole-grain products and fat-free or low-fat dairy products. Eat less of the nutrient-poor foods.

Try to be fat-sensibly when cooking and eating. Eat less foods rich in the so called ‚bad‘ fatty acid cholesterol.
Eat fish at least twice a week. Eating oily fish containing omega-3 fatty acids (for example, salmon, trout, and herring) may help lower your risk of coronary artery disease.

Be weight conscious

Overweight and obesity are risk factors for heart disease you can modify yourself. Keeping a normal weight or reducing overweight helps you support your heart health.

Eating a balanced diet is the best way to maintain a healthy weight and prevent heart disease. If you see a weight increase, develop initiatives to lose weight in a healthy way and keep your normal weight long-term.

Keep an eye on your portion sizes when you eat out or at home.

Limit your intake of foods and beverages high in calories but low in nutrients, and limit how much saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium you eat.

Understand how many calories you can eat and drink to maintain your weight. Balance the number of daily calories you eat with your physical activity level and burn up at least as many calories as you take in.

Be physically active

Physical inactivity is another risk factor for cardiovascular disease you can act upon yourself.

Regular physical activity can help you maintain your weight, keep off weight that you lose and help you reach physical and cardiovascular fitness.

Common activities like swimming, cycling, jogging, walking and many other activities can already suppot your heart health.

Try to gradually increase your physical activity levels to 30 minutes on most days of the week. At least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days of the week has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of heart disease. Best is at least 30 minutes every day.

Make exercising a part of your daily routine, all physical activity adds up to a healthier heart.