It’s not surprising that heart disease is still the #1 cause of death in America. While that statistic alone should be a wake-up call for us, that’s not always the case.
The truth of the matter is heart disease is the reality of poor lifestyle choices. There are a few factors that cause heart related conditions and most of them are within our control.
They include:
- High Blood Pressure
- Smoking
- High Cholesterol
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Poor Diet
- Excessive Alcohol
- Lack Of Exercise
The good news for us is it’s never too late! If we make a few lifestyle changes, it could change our quality of life drastically.
This is one of those examples of coulda woulda shoulda…
How many times in our life have we said those exact words about something we shoulda done or woulda done when we were younger?
Our health is not an exception. The number one thing I hear from older people is they “Should have taken better care of themselves sooner”.
We need to start now! Our age shouldn’t matter. We all need to live our healthiest life possible today.
I personally feel our heart should be our #1 priority.
Not only is the heart our most important organ but it never stops working. It’s constantly pumping blood and nutrients throughout the body even while we sleep. It NEVER rests.
Without our heart, we can not survive. We need to make sure we are doing everything we can to ensure a healthy heart.
I will include a few products we personally recommend. We are not sponsored by any of these companies. Feel free to check them out.
Disclosures: This post contains affiliate links. LEARN MORE HERE (but basically it just means that if you purchase the item through the link on this page, we get a small commission and are super appreciative!)
There are 11 Lifestyle Tweaks You Can Make Starting Now
- Cholesterol: Get your cholesterol checked often. By being aware of this information, you can identify the areas in your life you can make changes to get your levels where they should be. Being educated on what you can do to lower your cholesterol is very important. This can decrease your risk of heart related issues in the future.
- Get that body moving! Moderate cardio exercise 4-5 days a week for 30 minutes will boost HDL and increase your quality of life.
- Fiber=Friend: Fiber lowers cholesterol and as an added bonus, It can help you lose weight! You can get fiber by eating fruits and veggies. Men should get at least 38 grams and women need 25 grams. However, if you do not eat enough of these foods you should get a good fiber supplement. I recommend Fibercon fiber therapy. You can VIEW ON AMAZON HERE.
- Eat Good Fats: Knowing the differences between good fats and bad fats is critical for good heart health. We need “healthy fats” or unsaturated fats in our diet in order to decrease LDL and inflammation. These include nuts, avocados, and seeds. You can also read my article “Uncovering the truth about MCT oil” where I discuss good and bad fats in detail.
- Don’t sprinkle the salt! Salt increases your blood pressure. High Blood Pressure can put you at risk of a stroke, heart attack or other health problems. Limiting your salt intake but If you have to use salt, I would suggest using sea salt.
- Limit Sugar: Sugar can increase your risk of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
- No Smoking Please: Smokers are more at risk for heart disease than nonsmokers so if you smoke, please stop. This could be the key to your success.
- Rest: The quality of your sleep is important for your overall health. Poor sleep quality can increase blood pressure. Getting 7-8 hours of sleep can do wonders for your health. You should definitely read my article on “Best Supplements and Simple Tricks To Get You Sleeping Better” where I go over this in detail.
- Healthy Weight: Being overweight or obese puts you at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and other health problems. Just by losing 10 percent of your body weight can help you get back on track for good heart health and reduce these risks as well as lower your cholesterol. What you eat and drink has a lot to do with the quality of life you will experience.
- Don’t Stress: Stress has been found to increase your risk of heart disease. Not only does it damage the artery walls and cause irregular heartbeat but it also causes you to do things that will then contribute to poor heart health. For example, how many of us stress eat? Grab a cigarette when we get stress out? Drink alcohol when we have had a stressful day? Finding ways to manage stress in healthy ways! Take deep breaths, exercise and find healthy snacks. This will keep you one step closer to good heart health.
- Dental Health: Good dental health is very important for a healthy heart. Many studies have shown a connection between gum disease and heart disease. That’s because of the bacteria and inflammation. The infection and bacteria go from your gums and get into your bloodstream where it will attach to the damaged areas in the heart and cause inflammation.
Watch for the signs of heart disease.
If you suspect you or anyone you know may have heart disease or other heart conditions, please contact 911 or your doctor immediately.
Fish Oil and CoQ10
If you are intentionally setting out to make better choices, you will have one strong and healthy heart. I also recommend taking a good supplement as well.
If there is one supplement we should all take to improve and maintain good heart health it is Omega 3 and CoQ10.
We absolutely NEED these to ensure a healthy heart.
You can get Omega-3 by adding 2 servings of fish a week to your diet. Just by adding Omega-3, you actually reduce the risk of dying of heart disease. If you don’t eat enough fish, you should definitely take a supplement.
Omega-3 fights inflammation. Any inflammation can damage your blood vessels and lead to a stroke or even heart disease.
Omega-3 Will also decrease bad cholesterol, lower blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, and decrease the risk of heart disease.
I recommend: Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega
CoQ10
Coenzyme Q10 is a nutrient our bodies make but as we get older, we produce less of it. As this natural process happens, we should find a way to supplement our deficiency. We can get them from the foods we eat like fish, meats, vegetable oil, asparagus, and broccoli.
We can also take a CoQ10 vitamin as a way to supplement it.
Whatever method you use is fine as long as you include CoQ10 to your daily regimen.
CoQ10 can lower blood pressure and is used to treat heart failure and other heart conditions. They also have been proven to help prevent cardiovascular disease.
Not only is it ranked one of the top Supplements because of its cardiovascular benefits, but it also has tons of added bonuses.
The one I recommend is actually a combination of The Omega-3 along with CoQ10.
The Take-Away
TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEART! Make changes where you need to so you can live your best life possible. Adding Omega-3 and CoQ10 supplements into your daily regimen will get you one step closer.
You should also give our Green Superfood Cocktail a try. It’s packed with every single thing your body and heart needs for optimal health. Take a look at the recipe for yourself HERE.
Considerations
In general, vitamins are safe for people to use, though you should always check with your doctor before beginning a new supplement. Some vitamins can be dangerous for people with weakened immune systems, which can occur due to long-term use of corticosteroids, an HIV/AIDS infection or organ transplants.
You may also need to avoid some supplements if you have an artificial heart valve; in rare cases, these bacteria can infect your heart muscle, and patients with artificial valves have an increased risk of this complication.
Now it’s your turn
I hope you enjoyed this post Intended for optimal health.
Now, I would love to hear from you:
Which supplement from this post are you excited to try?
Let me know by leaving a quick comment below.
If you found this post helpful, please don’t hesitate to share it with your friends. Also, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on upcoming posts full of tips and tricks to make your health journey easier.
If you enjoyed this article you should definitely check out some of my recent posts!
10 Comments
Wow! Great information! Thank you!
Hi Angela! Thank you for reading!
Love these tips! Thank you for sharing. It can be hard to sort through which are the best supplements.
Optimized Life tries to help people filter through all of the many supplement options currently on the market. Thank you for reading!
Thank you for these tips! Taking care of your heart is so important 😊
Optimized Life feels the same way!
These are great tips to keep the heart healthy. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome! I am so glad you like it! Optimized Life is really passionate about sharing information that could help others!
I think dental health is one that doesn’t occur to most people. These are really interesting to read, because there’s lots of information!
Thank you lisa! Dental health is absolutely vital for optimal health. Thats why Optimized LIfe decided to write this article to educate our readers. Thank you for taking the time to read it!