Six steps we can take to reduce our risks for heart disease

There are certain steps that we can take to reduce our risks of ever getting heart disease and having a heart attack.

For people like me who already have heart disease we can only do two things.

• Follow these steps in order to prevent the progression of our disease.
• Hope that a cure will be found to unclog our arteries before it’s too late.

For all others you don’t have to wait.

You can begin taking these steps now. You can ensure yourselves that you are reducing your risks of getting a heart attack and of developing heart disease. In the process you will be improving the way you look and feel today and live a more satisfying life.

Step number one- decide that you want to live healthy with pleasure, instead of being ill and suffering in pain

Daily we make decisions that affect our health; we decide whether to smoke, what to eat, whether to relax and whether we will exercise.

These decisions, done repeatedly, become our habits and determine our health, lifestyle and the quality of our life.

The first step we must do to change our bad and unhealthy habits to good and healthy ones is to associate pain with the bad habit, and pleasure with the good one.

When we are aware, know and realize that our bad habit will create pain disease and suffering we implant that idea into our mind and consciously and subconsciously begin to abstain from doing it.

When we create the same awareness and association, that pursuing the good habit will bring us pleasure joy and health, we implant that image into our mind and consciously and subconsciously we begin to pursue it.

So to begin, we must realize that living unhealthy is a cause of heart disease, heart attacks and death, and living healthy is a cause of happiness, success and wellbeing.

Step number two – We must begin by stopping the worst and most harmful habit of them all smoking

Quitting smoking is the next necessary step we must take. Smoking, beside for being a direct cause of heart disease, lung cancer and other diseases, inhibits our ability to do cardiovascular exercises.

Stopping to smoke is difficult for two reason, one since it becomes such an ingrained habit we cant see ourselves existing with out a cigarette, we define our existence and being as a smoker.

Another reason it is so difficult is because of the nicotine included in the cigarette which is very addictive, we feel we need it and we cannot live with out it.

Conversely, if we can convince ourselves that by continuing to smoke we are really shortening our existence and by continuing to smoke we soon won’t exist at all.

If we can also implant the true idea in our minds that our existence as a smoker inhibits our ability to live life to the fullest and robs of living a really satisfying happy active life. We can begin to fantasize of what an active healthy full lifestyle is, and begin to crave it.

When our cravings for the good life increases our cravings for cigarettes decreases, and slowly but surely we can replace the bad habit smoking with a good one exercising.

Step number three- Begin living a active lifestyle by starting to do cardiovascular exercises

Exercising besides for the obvious benefit of getting us into shape, it also relieves stress, tension, and feelings of depression. All three, stress, tension, and depression are leading causes and risk factors for heart disease.

Once we have stopped smoking we have the ability to begin exercising, we can begin gradually by walking 30 minutes to 45 minutes every day. Since as a smoker leading a sedentary lifestyle we never walk, just walking will already increase our wellbeing.

Gradually as we get used to walking and we don’t feel the effects, we can gradually increase our pace turning our leisure walks into brisk walks. By this time we should be feeling healthier and more courageous; we can now begin a real cardiovascular exercise regimen, keeping our heart rates elevated within our target heart rate zone for 20 minutes 3 to 5 times a week.

Step number four – Begin feeling good about ourselves

Now that we stopped smoking and are exercising three times a week for twenty minutes we start feeling good about ourselves. We don’t feel stressed, we don’t feel tensed, and when we do, we just take a walk or exercise and get immediate relief.

We feel accomplished we feel we can do anything and want to do everything. We feel that we want to live healthy for many years to come, we don’t want things to change we don’t want to age. We begin to search for ways to achieve it.

Step number five- Begin to watch our diets and our eating habits

Looking for ways to make sure we remain healthy.

We start watching the types of food we eat. Make sure not to eat fatty, fried foods, saturated fats and Trans fats, red meat and anything that is detrimental to our health.

We control our processed carbohydrates and begin looking for whole grains. We start eating fiber, fruits, vegetables, legumes. We eat lots of fish and essential fatty acids. We drink a glass of red wine every day

Step number six – we enjoy every moment we live healthy

By doing all of the above steps we can feel accomplished and enjoy every moment knowing that we did everything that we can to control our risks of getting heart disease and dying of a heart attack.

We stopped smoking, we lost weight, we reduced our LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, we increased our HDL, and we aren’t stressed, tensed and depressed. We are leading a happy active satisfying lifestyle and live healthy.

At age 37 I had a heart attack. I wish I would of taken the necessary steps before that fatal day.

I have commited myself to educating and inspiring others to begin living a healthy active lifestyle, before the heart strikes.