My Library

Calling out all women out there: it’s your heart, so, you have to treat it right. Being proactive is the only way to go. It pays to be heart-smart and know the different tests, healthy foods and other screenings for heart health.

Know that a woman’s waistline can provide an indication of the risk of heart disease. In fact, it is a better measure than our height and weight measurement for risk. Do you know the number to watch out for? It’s 35 inches. If your waist measurement is higher than that, women are at a higher risk. So, don’t keep that tape measure, pull it out of the drawer. Check your waistline every once in a while.

Oh, and that one thing we are lazy to do: exercise! Of course, along with proper diet, exercising will help lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, experts say by up to 50%. So, aside from the  objective of shedding off some extra pounds, that is even a better reason to start moving and get active.

You may be tested for your  cholesterol level as part of your annual work-up. But do you know that you should also ask your physician to include  the C-Reactive Protein test ( a test to check for inflammation or swelling of the arteries). It is a more accurate predictor of one’s chance for stroke.

And don’t forget to include in your diet, heart healthy foods such as blueberries, strawberries, avocados, nuts: almonds, walnuts, macadamias and hazelnuts. A glass of red wine a day is also encouraged. Not to forget, the monounsaturated fat: good old olive oil.

Tags: health

This entry was posted by J on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 12:20 am and is filed under Healthy Choices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.