Taking steps to keep your heart healthy

What precisely causes heart attacks? Doctors can describe the process in medical detail. It's damage to your coronary arteries, the vital supply lines to the heart muscle. Here's some more information on what can damage your heart and what you can do to give your heart a helping hand.

Coronary artery disease is significantly related to cigarette consumption and oxidized fat that gets into the lining of the arteries and causes plaque, which gradually narrows the artery and may eventually break down and erode causing a complete blockage of the artery.

And what damages arteries in the first place? Principally, smoking, hypertension and high cholesterol. Most cardiologists and other medical professionals agree that there is overwhelming statistical evidence to demonstrate that the combination of all three places people at very high risk. All are associated with the way we live.

If you smoke, quitting can bring you instant savings with both your health and your wallet. Smoking is widely recognized as the leading cause of vascular disease, damaging arteries and leading to both heart attacks and strokes.

Major steps like quitting smoking can be tough, but heart-smart living can also be as simple as laughing at a difficult situation rather than just getting angry.

For a cost of no more than 30 minutes a day, you can take powerful, scientifically proven steps to overcome life's biggest heart threats, including smoking, high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, stomach fat, insulin resistance, inflammation, free radicals and a host of other factors that researchers are still endeavouring to understand, such as homo-cysteine and a cholesterol particle called lp(a).

Here, then, is an outline of the plan that will enable you to take them all on and win.

Focus on small changes for big results.

• Fast, simple diet modifications can cut cholesterol by 30 per cent.
• A five-minutes-a-day weight-training program can replace 10 years' worth of lost muscle tissue.

Conquer "sitting disease."

• Canadians are leading increasingly sedentary lives with many of us getting less than 30 minutes of moderate exercise per week.
• But the truth is that our bodies are healthiest when we're active every day.

Eat fresh foods.

• Fresh, whole foods don't have to cost more or take more time to prepare than the processed stuff.
• These wholesome, delicious foods — fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, fish, meats, dairy products and even soya — not only taste good, they also reduce blood fats, lower elevated blood sugar, calm inflammation and fight destructive free radicals to protect your heart.

Get organized to quit smoking.

• Simple planning, appropriate preparation and the assistance of health professionals can dramatically improve your chances of being a successful quitter.
• Know your numbers: if you want to see tangible results then keep tabs on certain essential numbers, including your weight and your waist measurement to track your success.
• All adult Canadians should know these "vital statistics" but virtually none of us do.

Avoid toxins.

• From tobacco to trans fats, sugar to environmental pollutants, the toxins we allow to enter our bodies seem to wreak havoc with our hearts first.
• Your body shouldn't have to be a dumping ground for hazardous waste.

Find joy.

• A growing body of research links hostility, impatience and bearing grudges with poor heart health.
• In contrast, forgiveness, friends and optimism are linked with healthier hearts.
• Endeavour to be a positive person!

Remember this information on what can damage your heart and what you can do to give your heart a helping hand so you can have a strong start on the way to heart — and overall — health.