4 Tips for Heart Health

By: Dr. Meredith Butulis, DPT, MSPT, OCS, CIMT, ACSM CEP, NSCA CSCS, NASM CPT, CES, PES, BCS, BB Pilates, Yoga, PBT level 3

Did you know February is Heath Health Month? Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of mortality in the U.S. Your everyday actions, however, can dramatically alter your risks. Follow these tips to help improve your heart health now.

1. Enjoy movement snacks. The CDC recommends 150 minutes of physical activity per week to achieve baseline health. If you are just getting started, 150 minutes is a daunting task! Instead of tackling 150 minutes all at once, break the time into snack-size pieces. 10 minutes of movement in the morning, around lunch, and before dinner each day will add up to more than 150 minutes! While walking is often convenient, allow any movement to count. You can count cleaning your house, trying a free Internet video workout, lifting weights, doing yoga, playing with your dog, grocery shopping . . . finding something you already do, or trying activities until you find something you like will lead to daily success.

• Practice inclusive nutrition. The Mediterranean diet continues to take the lead in research-based heart health nutrition. The idea of “diet,” however, leads to short-term restriction of “forbidden foods,” followed by a rebound of behaviors that detract from health. Instead of practicing exclusion, shift to inclusion. The Mediterranean nutrition plan includes vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, fish/seafood, poultry, dairy, healthy fats like olive oil, and up to one glass of red wine each day. Sometimes this diet is misinterpreted as “eliminate carbs.” Eliminating all carbs like oats, quinoa, brown rice, beans, peas, and apples may actually have the opposite effect on heart health by increasing your cholesterol levels. The nutrition plan was designed to minimize heavily processed carbs like cookies, cakes, crackers, chips, and sodas, as opposed to minimizing all carbs. Generally, if you want to take out an entire food group long-term, you should work with a registered dietician to create a plan that includes all the essential nutrients for your health.

• Know your numbers. Measuring blood pressure is easy! Your medical team, and even some local fitness providers will be more than happy to show you how. Even though high blood pressure doesn’t have symptoms, it is a sign that your arteries and heart are being damaged silently over time. A normal number is < 120 mm Hg for the top number (systolic), and <80 mm Hg for the bottom number (diastolic). While some people do need medications to regulate blood pressure, many others can manage blood pressure with daily habits. Top daily habits to manage blood pressure include:
  • Eating high fiber foods like oats, beans, broccoli, berries, and apples each day
  • Including a little bit fish and/or olive oil in daily nutrition
  • Accumulating 30 minutes of activity per day
  • Consuming no more than 1,500 mg sodium per day (including sodium listed on food labels)
  • Limiting alcohol to no more than one drink (12 oz beer, 5 oz wine) per day
  • Quitting smoking
  • Engaging in daily de-stressing activities

If you are taking blood pressure medications, they are most effective if you follow the dosing instructions exactly. Also be sure to discuss any supplements like fish oil, or major nutrition changes with your doctor, as your medication dose may need to be altered.

• Build your stress management core. Activities like deep breathing, massage, and warm baths can all be part of your feel-good strategy. These, however, are supplements. A core stress management routine needs to stop the stress sources before they escalate to a 10/10. Top causes of unnecessary heart-health-detracting stress escalation include: 
  • Committing to do more than you have time for
  • Forgetting to schedule free non-purpose driven time
  • Multi-tasking
  • Perseverating on issues outside your locus of control
  • Lack of a bed time routine
  • Lack of sleep, or continuously variable sleep schedules
  • Consuming high levels of caffeine in the later part of the day
  • Thinking, speaking, and writing mostly negative thoughts

All of these stress escalators are under your locus of control to change, if you make a dedicated effort for alternative actions such as block scheduling, single-tasking, creating a bed time routine and schedule, and reframing thoughts to seek possibility, your health will thank you.

Next step: Find an accountability partner. We’ve explored over a dozen actions you can take right now and every day to enhance your heart health. Once you’ve selected one or two to start with, find an accountability partner that will help you maintain your new habit on a daily basis. Once you’ve mastered one or two new daily actions for 30 days, try an additional 1-2 new habits for the next 30 days. Habit stacking over time will help build the lifestyle practices that it takes to support a healthy heart for years to come.

Website: Http://MeredithButulis.com

Podcast host: Fitness Lifestyle for Busy People 

Author: Mobility | Stability Equation

LinkedIn: Meredith Butulis