There are a number of risk factors for heart disease, however there are a few in particular that everybody should be mindful of. These are the most common risk factors, accounting for the vast majority of cardiovascular disease.

Diabetes: Diabetes is a major risk factor for heart disease. For some time now, the medical community has known that high blood sugar can have a detrimental effect on the heart. In fact, a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found evidence that lowering your blood sugar significantly can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by nearly half! Unfortunately, a lot of people who have diabetes don’t even realize it until it’s too late and the damage has already been done.

Smoking: It’s been known for many years that smoking increases your risk of all types of diseases. It’s a major cause of atherosclerosis, which is when fatty substances build up in the arteries. In patients with coronary artery disease, the arteries become narrowed, which decreases the supply of blood to the heart. This can lead to angina, and may even eventually lead to heart attack.

Physical Inactivity: Regular physical activity, especially aerobic exercise, can help prevent cardiovascular disease, heart disease, and stroke. Lack of physical activity is strongly linked to cardiovascular mortality. Physical activity can also control blood cholesterol, diabetes, blood pressure, and it can help prevent and correct obesity.

High Cholesterol: Although cholesterol is necessary for many functions in the body, having too much of the wrong kind can lead to coronary disease. Low density lipoprotein is the major carrier of cholesterol in the blood. If there’s too much LDL in the blood, it can build up inside the arteries. This can lead to the formation of a hard deposit called plaque, and that can clog the arteries. If a blood clot forms near a plaque deposit, it can block the blood flow to the heart and cause a heart attack. If the clot dislodges and blocks blood flow to the brain, it causes a stroke. A level of LDL cholesterol over 160 mg/dL puts you at an increase risk of heart disease. If you already have heart disease, your cholesterol should be even lower in an attempt to prevent a heart attack or stroke.

Family History: Family history is another risk factor that’s often overlooked – probably because nothing can really be done about it. People with a family history of heart disease or heart attacks are much more likely to get it themselves than someone without a family history, even if they have no other risk factors at all! So you should be sure to ask your family about the possibility that you have heart disease in your lineage. Find out what killed the last several generations of your family, and don’t forget about aunts, uncles, and cousins. Find out how old they were when they died, as well. The more you know about your family history, the more you can prepare for things that might happen to you later.

Heart disease kills more people each year than all of the cancers combined. If you’re looking for ways to prevent or treat this serious condition, you can find tips on everything from herbal remedies to using acupuncture for heart disease at the Heart Wellness site.

Prescriptions for a Healthy Heart

The body of research continues to grow by leaps and bounds that demonstrates the role our emotional and spiritual health plays in maintaining the heart’s vitality, preventing and healing heart disease. While I do recommend that patients exercise, eat healthy foods, take nutritional supplements, and use enjoyable relaxation techniques, here are a few additional trips I share:

1. Live in the here and now. Let the past go. Put it in its proper context and look at what you’ve survived. We are not life’s victims. It is imperative to move from the victim mode to actually thriving. Life is a gift that was meant to enjoy and we can do that only when we thrive.

2. Forgive yourself and others. Forgiving, is perhaps the most significant part of letting go of the past. While holding on to painful memories, may seem justified, we are harming ourselves far more than anyone else. It’s very much akin to carrying around a bag old stinky garbage. It’s time to let go.

3. Develop life-sustaining relationships with yourself and others, and leave the rest behind. Our relationships reflect the way we truly feel about ourselves. If we have unhealthy, unhappy, stressful relationships, that’s an indication that something within is out of alignment with our highest good. Its healthiest to minimize or terminate those relationships to do not reflect who we truly are.

4. Have faith in yourself as a part of a higher power. We may call the Supreme Being different names, but the awareness of our connection to the Divine ushers forth healing, health and well-being into every aspect of our lives.

5. Pray with an open heart. The true heart we all posses is a life-giving organ that is always accessible to our most private desires and thoughts. Live in that awareness.

6. Take time to listen to your inner voice, and heed its directions. Become internally focused, instead of being externally preoccupied. If we but release our negative thoughts, and allow our still quiet voice a space to speak to our willing ears.

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Can cardiovascular exercise help you lose more weight?

Even the experts can’t seem to agree on this one. And if they can’t agree, how are you supposed to come to a solid conclusion on the issue?

Well, if you look at the research there is no doubt that cardiovascular work can increase fat loss. Here are five ways that cardiovascular work can help you lose more fat:

1. Cardiovascular hypertrophy. In other words, your heart increases in size. This increased size allows your body to get blood, oxygen and energy to your working muscles. In turn, this allows you to exercise longer and harder.

2. More blood in your body. Blood is the liquid of life because it transports all the vital nutrients necessary for work to the different tissues in your body. And if you have more of it, you can get a lot more physical work done.

3. Higher capillary density. Capillaries transport blood to your muscle tissues. Think of this as having more trucks to get your cargo (blood) to where it needs to go. Again, more blood will increase flow and help burn fat at a faster rate than normal.

4. More mitochondria. These are small structures in your cells where energy is produced from ATP. If you have more mitochondria, you have more energy and can produce more physical work. In turn, more physical work translates into more calories burned.

5. More energy enzymes. The process of energy production in your mitochondria doesn’t happen by itself. Your body needs enzymes to get the necessary reactions started. Think of enzymes as workers in a factory that push along products on the conveyor belts.

As demonstrated by the research, cardio is a great way to speed up weight loss-it’s not just for long distance runners. So it’s in your best interest to include some cardio in your weight loss plan.

Having said that, figuring out the perfect amount can be less obvious. After all, if you go overboard you can prevent your body from recovering. In the end, you’re best served doing an amount that allows you to remain energetic and fully able to recover from weight lifting workouts.

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Having an unhealthy body due to lack of exercise and poor eating habits can affect your life in many ways. It can also affect your love life!

When you begin a relationship with somebody, you desire it to endure as long as possible. A healthy relationship can help you achieve that. In order to have a strong and happy relationship with somebody, you want to possess a healthy body and mind.

How do you make a relationship healthy? A healthy mind is when you have secure self-esteem and confidence about who you are and what you desire out of life. A healthy mind gives you independence so that you trust in yourself to get things done and do not become co-dependent on your mate.

An unhealthy mind is when you have little or no self-esteem and no self-confidence. The lines of communicating become absent because you recede into your own world and just look to your mate for direction in your life, which puts a burden on your lover.

A healthy body, simply put, is when you take care of yourself. You make an effort to sustain a healthy weight and you care about your appearance and how you feel on a day-to-day basis. You do not smoke or drink or do anything that would induce damage to your body over time.

You exercise on a regular basis to keep your heart in tip-top condition and eat a sensible diet, splurging now and then as a reinforcement. Your attitude is positive which makes your mate want to spend time with you.

An unhealthy body is when you do not care enough about yourself to take care of your body. You smoke or drink more than you should and let yourself go. You eat junk food most of the time and your waist is inflating.

You do not try to work out or do things that would keep your heart strong. Your mental attitude is very low, making your relationship collapse because your mate no longer wishes to spend any time with you. You can not fault him or her because if you can not even love yourself, why should your partner?

Once your mind and body are in sync with each other, you can acquire a positive attitude, which keeps the line of communication going with your mate. It will allow you to listen to them and assists you in supporting them if they need it. You are more likely to do whatever it takes to keep your relationship in first-rate shape so that it continues to grow and mature.

Avoid the pitfalls of an unhealthy mind and avoid poor physical health. Setbacks are a given, but do not let them lead to an unhealthy mind or impact your health for the long-term. Keep your body, mind and healthy and strong.

If you’re at risk for heart disease, low cholesterol foods should be a part of your everyday diet. These foods work to either lower your current cholesterol, or help it from getting too high in the first place.

Our bodies produce cholesterol, it is a fatty material called a lipid. It is made by your liver and can be over-produced by the unhealthy fatty foods that we all-too-often eat. Cholesterol is actually necessary for our bodies to perform properly. However, too much cholesterol is quite bad and is a widespread cause of heart attacks and can increase the possibility of stroke.

So what are the best five low cholesterol foods which you should be eating on a daily basis to sustain healthy cholesterol levels?

Fruit and Vegetables

It’s hard to deny the heart-healthy, low fat low cholesterol properties of fruit and vegetables. Vegetables particularly (since they don’t have as much natural sugar as fruit does). It’s very important not to add cream, butter or fatty dressings to them. While the dressings and sauces taste divine, by adding them, you’ve just erased the health-giving benefits of the fruits and vegetables.

Go for the Grains

Grains are apt to be ignored, which is a shame. These wonder foods are high in soluble fiber and typically low fat. What are these wonderful foods? Think of items like oats, barley, pulses and some fruits.

Go Nuts!

Seeds and nuts are a double-edged sword, if roasted in oils and slathered in salt or even dark chocolate they drop off the list of low cholesterol foods. But plain nuts and seeds are wonderful. A good way of using these is to toss a handful into your soups, stews and salads. The seeds and/or nuts provide a crunchy quality and are a fantastic way to get used to eating low cholesterol foods.

Consider Adding Fish

Fish are the exception to the “go lean” rule; in this case, fatty is better! Cold-water fish such as salmon, trout and tuna are all fatty but they are excellent, as is most fish in general. Make sure that any canned fish isn’t packed in oil, and does not have a lot of added salt.

Meat is Good for You

Meat, opposite to popular opinion, actually isn’t bad for you.. Clearly, you do not want to eat fatty meat, but lean meat is all right.. Did you know that lean pork without any fat is as low in cholesterol as cottage cheese? Just skip the crispy bacon (sigh).

If you are planning to enjoy some red meat, be sure to add a good-sized salad or steamed vegetables (without butter) to your meal. The healthy benefits of salads and vegetables help to negate some of the fat remaining in red meat.

Keep it Healthy

Now that you are more familiar with the kinds of foods you really should be consuming, consider about how they are prepared. I’ve already mentioned several “gotchas” such as tuna packed in oil or nuts covered with chocolate.

You only have one heart, and if you’re trying to help it by eating low cholesterol foods, make sure they stay that way! Become used to looking at labels, and ask what is in the sauce (or make do without it).

Keep your body and heart protected with low cholesterol meals. It will thank you for it!

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