Love Your Heart

Did you know that women are more at risk than men to suffer from heart problems like angina and heart attacks? Here’s something else you may not have known: heart disease is the number one cause for death among Canadians. That means it’s time to take action! Johanne Trudeau, a professional dietician and spokesperson for Kellogg’s Canada gave us a few recommendations to help you take the first steps towards a healthier lifestyle—and a healthier heart!

Quit smoking
It’s the very first step towards a healthier heart. If you’re reading this article, you must be taking your health seriously, so the first thing to do is to quit smoking before you try any of the tips that follow—it’s the most effective one!

Eat healthy
Nutrition is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, as well as a great way to get rid of any extra pounds. Keep these three basic principles in mind: use less fat in your cooking, as well as less salt, and eat more fruits and vegetables.

Stay active
Already out of breath after just a few flights of stairs? Your heart probably isn’t used to working so hard. Regular exercise considerably reduces your risks of developing hypertension, diabetes, and obesity—which are all your heart’s worst enemies. In other words, getting physically active is a good way of reducing your risks of heart disease. The heart is a muscle that needs exercise, just like all the other ones in your body.

Achieve and maintain a healthy weight
Obesity is one of the determining factors as far as heart health is concerned, and more specifically, the amount of weight accumulated around the waist (apple-shaped body). Measure your waist (at belly button-level): the circumference should not be more than 35 inches for women (40 for men). If it is higher, you are at greater risk of developing heart problems. If you are overweight, get rid of the problem by following our two previous tips: eating healthy and staying active.

Get your stress under control
The relation between stress and heart disease comes from the fact that anxiety increases cholesterol levels, as well as blood pressure, two other factors associated with cardiovascular problems. Hypertension means your blood exerts too much pressure on your blood vessels and tends to damage them, which makes your heart work harder and tires it out.

Monitor your cholesterol
Your cholesterol level corresponds to the quantity of fats in your blood. Bad cholesterol causes the accumulation of platelets on the walls of the arteries, which can clog them up in the long term and cause problems. A good way of preventing this is to limit your intake of saturated fats and to exercise more. Trudeau recommends a yearly blood test to detect any cholesterol problems. She also suggests increasing your daily intake of fibre and more specifically psyllium, a soluble fibre found in certain kinds of cereal. “You can reduce your cholesterol level by 10% in just four weeks by eating cereal that contains psyllium on a daily basis, which is quite significant.” Kellogg's Guardian cereal is an excellent source of psyllium.

Watch out for diabetes
Studies have shown that a high level of blood sugar (diabetes) could damage arteries and increase the risk of heart disease. As a preventive measure, get your blood sugar levels checked regularly by your doctor. If you are diagnosed with diabetes, she will be able to give you effective measures to keep it under control.

To evaluate your risks of heart disease and learn more about heart health, visit the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation’s website.