Don't Let Your Heart Stop! Ways to Save Your Life, and Your Loved Ones

February is American Heart Month, and Americans need to be aware of all of the biggest heart health risks. America is known for its fast food, and with fast food comes obesity and various types of cardiovascular diseases that cause heart failure. We need a healthy America! If we don't start taking care of ourselves our hearts will suffer from heart failure, obesity, high blood pressure and blood clots. A lot of things contribute to heart problems -such as having high blood pressure, obesity, smoking, eating fatty foods, not exercising and even having diabetes. I am going to describe only four of these, and show you what causes them to happen.

Heart failure

What causes heart failure, you might ask. Heart failure begins when you start getting fatty deposits. Fatty deposits start building up in the arteries, and then less blood is able to go through and pump efficiently to the arteries. This starts the wearing out of your heart. My advice would be for you to exercise, eat healthy and stay healthy. Avoid sodas, fast food, grease and starches. This might sound surprising but some cereals are also bad for you!

Obesity

Obesity is a big problem in America. I was watching TLC this past week, and they said that about 20,000 people weigh over 500 pounds. They should a special on a half-ton teen, half-ton dad, and a half-ton mom. The half-ton mom died because her heart could not pump for her anymore. They were all getting gastric bypass surgery and she was the only that didn't make it She weighed about 900 pounds. The mom and the dad had to be carried out by the ambulance on a larger bed with a lift. It was sad to see how upset they were about their bodies, and their lives. They all wanted to do things that everyone else did, like run, go out, walk. By them not doing any of the physical activity, they got overly-obese. The episode also showed them eating a lot of fast food, and admitting that because it was cheap and tasted good - they ate it. Obesity can cause heart failure, high blood pressure, blood clots, and an un-healthy life. Don't let this happen to you.

High Blood Pressure (hypertension)

High Blood Pressure can increase a persons risk of developing heart failure by 2 or 3 times. It starts by eating bad foods. Food that is fried, fast, greasy and tastes good usually ends up being food that is not good for your body to maintain a low blood pressure. Try eating peanuts, cashews, walnuts, fruits, vegetables and foods that are raw. If I were you I would also try and avoid red meat and whole milk altogether. If you change you eating habits and exercise you can avoid having high blood pressure. Blood pressure screenings are really important when it comes to your heart!

Blood Clots

Blood clots are from eating greasy foods. In health class I would always remember my teacher stressing that blood clots cause strokes and heart attacks. My health teacher also stressed that blood clots are caused by you and the foods you eat. Blood clots are scary, and could be fatal. All things that help the heart work properly help blood clots from not forming. By exercising, and eating healthy you can avoid blood clots. The heart already has enough to do daily. It would help if it didn't have to pump hard to get blood through veins that look like a clogged up sink pipe.

These four things are causes of cardiovascular problems. Exercise daily and avoid sodas, greasy foods and starches. If you stay healthy, I can assure you that you will feel healthy. I usually try and drink a lot of water throughout day. I also keep a bag of cashews in my purse, and I sometimes pack applesauce so that I don't crave fast food. It is better to eat small portions of food. Eating smaller portions of food allows you to satisfy your stomach and you won't feel as hungry. I also just recently got a Wiifit from Nintendo. This also gets me off the couch and its fun for kids and adults.

There are also great websites online that can give you more information on how to lower your cholesterol and keep your heart healthy!

I hope that I raised your awareness! Treat you heart right and it will pump you a long lasting life! American heart month! Raise your awareness. Visit American Heart Association online at Americanheart.org and get more information on this topic!

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_failure

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=324