(The first one is so easy!)
February is Heart Health Month, a time to focus on heart health and make some changes in our lives to make our hearts stronger. In that spirit, here are 5 things you can do to better your heart health:
1. Eat one more fruit and one more vegetable each day. Did you know that only 10% of Americans eat the minimum daily requirement of five fresh fruits and vegetables per day? That’s an abysmal number. But it’s easily fixable! By just adding one more fruit and one more vegetable serving to your diet each day, you can easily reach that minimum amount! So, add an additional serving of vegetable to your lunch or dinner plate and include fresh fruit as one snack or dessert. Your heart will thank you!
2. Reduce the amount of red and processed meat you eat and replace it with lean proteins like chicken and seafood. It’s no secret that red and processed meats (beef, pork, sausage, bacon, etc.) are not good for your heart. They are high in saturated fats and cholesterol, and often have high amounts of added sodium. But you don’t need to quit them entirely. Just make a shift to add more lean proteins like chicken and seafood to your diet. Start by adding one seafood dinner a week to your meal plan.
3. Make a shift away from processed and instant foods and embrace slow-cook foods. Instant and processed foods often strip away fiber, nutrients, and flavor from food. Well, bring back the flavor, nutrients, and fiber by embracing slow-cook foods. Sure, it will take 15-20 minutes longer to cook than oatmeal or rice, but the benefits are well worth it!
4. Reduce the amount of added sugar in your daily diet. For the most part, we get all the sugar we need from the food we eat each day. It’s added sugar that is the problem. According to the American Heart Association, we should limit our daily intake of added sugar to 25 grams or 6 teaspoons per day for women and 36 grams or 9 teaspoons per day for men. Unfortunately, most Americans far exceed these limits. It’s easy to do, considering 1 can of soda has 10 teaspoons of sugar! So start paying attention to those nutrition labels when you are food shopping and buy items with little or no added sugar. Bringing down your added sugar intake will help your heart immensely.
5. However much exercise you currently do, add just 10 minutes more. Whether it’s walking, jogging, biking, swimming, or just stretching, adding 10 minutes more of your favorite activity will greatly help your heart. The point here is to start small and add incremental increases in activity. This will help you increase your exercise without even noticing.
Conclusion
All of these five changes have something in common. They make small shifts in behavior rather than larger draconian changes. By making small shifts away from bad behaviors and toward good ones, you are more likely to actually make some changes and stick to them. So be good to your heart during Heart Health Month. Make some small changes and stick with them!
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This post was written exclusively for to your health, a national health and wellness coaching firm based in Wallingford, CT. Its founder, Linda Hubbard, is an RN, Nutrition Specialist, and Health Coach. She can be reached at linda@toyourhealth360.com.