Ways To Maintain Perfect Weight To Ward Off Cardiovascular Diseases

Posted by williamjack on January 8th, 2020

Since it is the National Healthy Weight Awareness Month, it pays to educate ourselves about how our excessive weight can lead to kidney disease, fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, and other medical conditions. The most serious repercussion of being overweight is the likely development of cardiovascular diseases. Increased body weight can possibly lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, inflammation, high cholesterol—factors that are known for their association with heart disease. 

What You Should Eat

If you take care of your diet, you will be taking care of your heart’s health as a result. You just need to make healthier food choices and stay away from certain food items that have a strong bearing on the condition of the heart. 

You can go for monounsaturated fats such as the canola oil or olive oil for cooking purposes as these fats are actually good for your health. Stay clear of trans fats, which are found in processed foods and snacks. Along with consuming monounsaturated fats, you should also start consuming whole-grain pasta and bread instead of white bread. Make sure you eat lots of fruits and vegetables as they contain minerals, fiber, and vitamins. If you consume dairy products, it will be healthier if you consume a low-fat version of dairy products. And of course, take protein from sources such as eggs, nuts, fish, seeds, lean meats, etc.

What You Should Not Eat

•  In order to maintain a healthy heart, you need to limit your intake of sodium. It would be best to avoid prepackaged foods, sauces, canned food items, etc.

•  Do not consume trans and saturated fats. Food items that contain saturated fats include whole-milk dairy, fatty meats, palm oils, butter, poultry skin, etc. Frozen pizza, desserts, coffee creamers, and other similar items contain trans fats

•  Added sugar is also something that you should stay clear of. Avoid drinking sweetened drinks, sodas, coffee, tea, etc. The same goes for ice cream, cakes, jellies, which are also filled with added sugar

•  Alcohol is also something that requires reduction. Men should limit their intake to 2 drinks a day while women 1 drink per day. Consuming too much alcohol can cause high blood pressure 

Staying Active

While diet is a crucial factor in bringing down the risks of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, exercise and staying active also play a pivotal role in keeping your weight in check. As a matter of fact, losing a mere 10 percent of your body weight can significantly reduce the risk of aforesaid diseases.

You can do aerobic exercises such as bicycling, walking, dancing, jogging as these exercises are famous for increasing our heart rate along with making our heart work harder to pump blood. Consulting a doctor would be the best choice as he/she will recommend you exercise depending on your present state of physical fitness and the amount of time and days you have to do them for.

If you have a busy schedule, there are ways you can still work on your heart’s health. You can start taking stairs in place of elevators. Do yard work, household chores, walk to your office, walk during your lunch break. The idea is to find ways to keep moving throughout the day. 

You must have heard of cardiac telemetry, ECGs, CPR, heart monitor, cardiac arrest, etc. in your life. All these terms, needless to say, are associated with cardiovascular diseases. If you do not want these terms to be associated with your life, you should take care of diet along with engaging in physical exercises.

Author’s Bio: The author is a blogger. This article is about the link between heart health and weight.