Take control of your heart health
Prioritize improving your cardiovascular health with some help from the American Heart Association’s recently updated heart-healthy guidelines.
Some involve swapping things out, like choosing lean meats or seafood over red meats and cooking with olive oil over butter. Others focus more on your lifestyle, like limiting alcohol consumption and picking healthy foods when you’re on the go. Another emphasizes the importance of pairing a healthy diet with physical activity.
These tips can help you prevent things such as heart disease, diabetes and strokes, and they can help you feel better all around, no matter your age.
“Heart health is a lifelong thing,” says Alex Schwarz, the head dietician at Full Scale Fitness in Akron. “It starts when you’re young and continues throughout your whole life.”
Eat Up
Choosing whole grain options, limiting ultra-processed foods and eating more servings of fruits and vegetables can all help you create a heart-healthy diet. But where should you begin?
If you’re just starting this journey, try implementing some simple changes before taking on a whole new diet, Schwarz says.
“I would suggest picking one thing,” he says, giving the example of choosing almond milk over whole milk in an iced coffee. “Just get the motivation going and achieve a small goal first.”
Another good place to start is by picking a source of fiber and including it in your diet each day. Schwarz has a client who chose to make oatmeal each morning and put berries in it. “It was something quick and simple,” he says.
Other healthy foods to try throughout the day might include peanut butter on whole grain toast with eggs for breakfast, lean meat and quinoa for dinner, a handful of almonds as a snack and Greek yogurt with dark chocolate chips and raspberries for dessert.
Although it can be helpful to search for recipes and inspiration online, Schwarz cautions that there is a lot of diet misinformation on the internet. He gives the example of the ketogenic diet, which has been popular on social media. It can be life-threatening to certain individuals who have low blood sugar levels or diabetes.
“There’s a lot of different cases where it can be very detrimental, the misinformation,” he says. “We want to go to the science and the organizations that have the hard facts and the actual data to support it.”
As long as you’re sourcing your information responsibly and doing what’s best for you individually, altering your diet can help you see benefits.
“If they implement these kinds of changes, their blood pressure will probably be more under control. Their blood sugar could become more under control,” he says. “Overall, just feeling better and healthier.”
Muscle Through
Eating a healthy diet is important, but so is working out your heart muscles.
The American Heart Association recommends balancing your calorie intake and physical activity level to help maintain a healthy weight. Plus, aerobic exercise that works your cardiovascular system can help keep your blood pressure, cholesterol and oxygen levels in check, while preventing blockages.
“Exercise is so important because it’s something that we’re able to change ourselves and prevent so many chronic diseases,” says Quinn Butler, a clinical exercise physiologist at Full Scale Fitness, adding that those can include diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Remember that everyone is different and to consult a medical professional before starting new exercise if you have preexisting cardiovascular diseases or symptoms.
To ease into it, follow a simple rule: “Whatever it is that you’re currently doing, just try to do more,” Butler says.
A quick way to raise your heart rate during simple exercises is to move your arms while walking or hold extra weight while squatting.
“You can do bodyweight strength training exercises at home, but if you do it at a faster pace, it then becomes cardio,” says Andy Hanson, the owner and head trainer at Full Scale Fitness, adding that it’s OK if you don’t have weights at home. “Grab a couple soup cans and hold them overhead.”
Do whatever you enjoy, like jogging, swimming, dancing or yardwork. Hanson mentions a client in his 90s, Roger Derr, who boxes at home.
“He loves it,” Hanson says, “and so for him, that’s our way of making sure he stays fit.”
However you decide to crank up your heart rate, aim to do it for 150 minutes per week. If that’s not possible, try exercising in small chunks of around 10 minutes, working up to more lengthy sessions.
“Anything is acceptable,”
Butler says. “It’s moving more, sitting less.”
Life Changes
Keep these guidelines in mind no matter where you are.
At a restaurant, it might seem difficult to pick a healthy meal off the menu. Try considering the meal as a whole before you make your selection.
“If you’re ordering something with a lot of different components … break it down,” Schwarz says, giving the example that steak is likely cooked with saturated fats, while a leaner meat may not be.
You may have to get creative at home, too. Schwarz worked with a client who did not have a car and instead walked to the grocery store. To limit grocery trips, Schwarz recommended he buy frozen vegetables and plant-based protein instead of fresh produce and meat, which don’t last as long. The addition of healthier foods into his diet eventually led to his blood pressure lowering to a healthier level, Schwarz says.
And if you don’t have access to a gym, you can still exercise. Hanson recommends walking, either outside or at a place like the mall. And if you want to stay home, don’t overlook online resources and what’s around you.
“If you have stairs in your home, you can use stairs to your advantage,” Butler says.
No matter how you decide to implement a healthier diet and exercise plan into your life, it’s important that you look at it as a lifestyle change and stick with it.
Set small goals and keep adding more. Remember that good cardiovascular health can prevent many diseases and complications as you age.
“Heart health — it’s everything,”
Butler says.
Get more information at heart.org.