Healthy Diet - Healthy Heart

A healthy heart and activity

A healthy heart requires being physically active and maintaining a healthy diet. Improving your diet lowers your risk for heart disease in many ways, including helping to lower high cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar and insulin levels, as well as preventing obesity and improving the function of your heart and blood vessels. Sometimes life can be busy and getting to the gym isn't always possible, so what can we do.

I found a list at webmd that was intriguing:

• Glance at the wall clock and rip off a minute's worth of jumping jacks. If you're a beginner, try the low-impact version (raise your right arm and tap your left toe to the side while keeping your right foot on the floor; alternate sides)
• Do a football-like drill of running in place for 60 seconds. Get those knees up! (Beginners, march in place.)
• Simulate jumping rope for a minute: Hop on alternate feet, or on both feet at once. An easier version is to simulate the arm motion of turning a rope, while alternately tapping the toes of each leg in front.

A few less aggressive:

• Sitting in your chair, lift one leg off the seat, extend it out straight, hold for 2 seconds; then lower your foot (stop short of the floor) and hold for several seconds. Switch; do each leg 15 times.
• To work your chest and shoulders, place both hands on your chair arms and slowly lift your bottom off the chair. Lower yourself back down but stop short of the seat, hold for a few seconds. Do 15 times.
• To stretch your back and strengthen your biceps, place your hands on the desk and hang on. Slowly push your chair back until your head is between your arms and you're looking at the floor. Then slowly pull yourself back in. Again, 15 of these.

Those are just a few things you can do when time doesn't permit you to get to the gym, something is better than nothing.

A healthy heart and the foods you eat

Organic fruits and vegatables, nuts, and fish which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids which can help reduce heart disease are a great starting point for a heart healthy diet. Omega-3 fatty acids found in most fish may decrease triglycerides, lower blood pressure, reduce blood clotting, decrease stroke and heart failure risk, reduce irregular heartbeats, and in children may improve learning ability. Eating at least one to two servings a week of fish, particularly fish that's rich in omega-3 fatty acids, appears to reduce the risk of heart disease, particularly sudden cardiac death.

Here is a link from helpguide that shows an eat more and eat less chart to help you begin a heart healthy diet.