Do Your Part and Live A Heart-Healthy Lifestyle

A good mix of weight training, cardio and yoga is always best for overall health. These exercises should be tailored to each person's needs, age, physical conditions and ailments if any. Incorporate yoga and meditation into the daily routine, as it helps immensely to lower blood pressure and heart rate!

- Rajiv Ambat

The World Heart Day was celebrated recently, on the 29th of September. With ever-increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases, it is befitting that such a day is assuming a lot of importance, and many healthcare professionals are talking about heart health, the do's and the don'ts. I'm sure you know - improving heart health is not a one-day or a one-month task; it requires a structured, disciplined and scientific approach to lifestyle. Broadly, three main factors affect our heart health. They are the food we eat, exercise (or the lack of it) and stress!

Food& Heart Health

Eating healthy isn't just about eating a lot of vegetables, protein-rich food and cutting out carbohydrates. A healthy diet should be a balance of all nutrients. Apart from macronutrients like protein, fat and carbohydrates, your diet should be a good mix of antioxidants, vitamins and essential minerals. This is called a balanced diet. Make your plate very colorful with different types of vegetables or fruits. Antioxidants are the pigments that give fruits and vegetables their color. They neutralise free-radicals and reduces inflammation and keeps our heart healthy. Inflammation is long known to be the harbinger of many diseases including many cardio vascular diseases.

Reduce salt and sodium intake if you have high blood pressure (processed foods and sauces are rich in sodium). According to the American Heart Association, the safe limit of sodium for a patient with high blood pressure is 1.5 grams per day. To put that number into perspective - one teaspoon of table salt alone contains 2 grams of sodium!