YOU TIPS!
It'd be easy for us to sit here and scold you: no more fried chicken, no more smoking, no more popping scoops of M&M's every time you walk by the cupboard. We believe that you're fully aware that candy, fried anything, and cancer sticks aren't exactly cardiac elixirs. So without taking away all your joys, here are the steps that you should do to let your heart perform its main job: moving blood through your body--with no obstructions.
YOU Tip: Feed Your Heart. These days, you don't have to be a dietitian to know that certain foods will create some serious roadblocks on your arterial highways. Saturated fats and trans fats are two of the things that accelerate and magnify the inflammatory process. That chili-drenched hot dog doesn't just add to your lousy LDL cholesterol; it also stimulates your genes to produce more inflammatory proteins to make the tissue irritation a whole lot worse. Thankfully, the following foods are good not only because of the heart-healthy nutrients they deliver but because they have strong anti-inflammatory effects.
Fruits and vegetables. Many fruits and vegetables--specifically red grapes, cranberries, tomatoes, onions, and tomato juice--contain powerful antioxidants called flavonoids and carotenoids. Found in colorful foods, flavonoids and carotenoids are vitamin-like nonessential substances that seem to decrease inflammation by handcuffing those damaging oxygen free radicals and stimulating your body to take them out of your system through urine.
Garlic. While it is still being debated, we believe a clove a day can help thin your blood and lower your blood pressure. (Plus, it helps keep people away, to lower your stress level.) If you don't like the taste or the fact that coworkers shrink away when they pass you in the hall, you can also take garlic in pill form (called allicin) at 400 milligrams a day (though the odor may still emerge through your sweat glands).
Olive oil. The "extra virgin" kind contains lots of healthy phytonutrients as well as monounsaturated fats, which help raise your good HDL cholesterol. Aim for 25 percent of your diet to come from healthy fats like those found in olive oil. That will reduce your RealAge by more than six years.
Omega-3 fatty acids. These fatty acids (found in fish or the plants fish eat, like certain algae) are the handymen of your arterial system, because they can do a whole lot of fixing up. They reduce triglyceride levels in your blood (high triglycerides are a big cause of plaque buildup), and they help reduce the risk of arrhythmia after a heart attack. In addition, they decrease blood pressure and also make platelets less sticky, to reduce clotting. Aim for three portions of fish per week. Best choices: wild, line-caught salmon; mahi-mahi; catfish; flounder; tilapia; and whitefish.
Alcohol. If you don't have a problem with alcohol, having one alcoholic drink a night (4 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or 1.5 ounces of spirits) for women--up to two for men--seems to have a beneficial effect on your heart by raising levels of that healthy HDL cholesterol. It also helps you to wind down, so your blood pressure can do the same. Our preference: red wine, because it also contains antioxidants.
Foods with magnesium. Foods like 100 percent whole-grain breads and cereals, soybeans, lima beans, avocado, beets, and raisins help lower blood pressure and reduce arrhythmias by dilating (expanding) the arteries. Get 400 milligrams a day. A serving of lima beans contains about 100 milligrams, 1鈦�2 cup of spinach contains 80 milligrams, twelve cashews contain 50 milligrams, thirty peanuts contain 50 milligrams.
Foods with soy protein. Getting 25 grams a day of soy protein in foods like tofu and other soybean products decreases your bad LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
Stanols and sterols. Good plant cholesterol in foods like the spread Benecol or Take Control helps your arterial health by displacing the lousy cholesterol in your arteries.
Dark chocolate. Recent studies show that eating dark chocolate may lower blood pressure as effectively as the most common antihypertensive medications and may increase HDL cholesterol and lower LDL cholesterol. Interesting fact: The Kuna Indians, who live on islands near Panama, have little age-related hypertension. They drink more than five cups of flavonoid-rich cocoa a day.
YOU Tip: Get Your Clothes Wet. We may not like to see sweat on treadmills or public speakers, but we want to see it on you. While we recommend different kinds of physical activity in different circumstances (including resistance exercise, walking, and stretching), the way to improve heart function is to sweat more than a kid in the principal's office. Why? Cardiovascular activity lowers both the top systolic (the pressure being exerted when your heart contracts) and the bottom diastolic (the pressure in the arteries when the heart is at rest) numbers of your blood pressure. Cardiovascular exercise may also be helpful because it makes your blood vessels more elastic by forcing them to dilate. In addition to thirty minutes of daily walking, aim for a minimum of sixty minutes a week of cardiovascular or sweating activity--ideally in three twenty-minute sessions--in which you raise your heart rate to 80 percent or more of its age-adjusted maximum (220 minus your age) for an extended period of time.
We recommend low-impact activities like swimming, cycling, or using an elliptical trainer to get your heart rate up without compromising the quality of your joints in the process (and to change activities, so you don't get repetitive use injuries from doing the same activity over and over). We also recommend interval training--that is, alternating periods of maximum effort with periods of recovery--for the maximum benefit of your heart. (Check with your doc beforehand; she may want to try it in the controlled setting of a stress test first.) Even doing one minute at the end of every ten with maximum effort can be beneficial.
One way to do it: After warming up, go for maximum effort for a minute, and then slow down to 60 percent of maximum (recover) for two minutes. Then go to 80 percent of maximum for seven minutes then cool down.
As you progress, you can do intervals, alternating between intense effort and effort that allows you to recover--one minute fast, two minutes slow, and so on.
YOU Tip: Kick Yourself in the Aspirin. Of all the things that you shovel down your throat, we think Aspirin should be one. As a huge anti-inflammatory agent, Aspirin works as the chief of the fire company called in to put out the inflammation response. Speak with your doc about making it part of your regular routine, just like brushing your teeth or walking the dog. We recommend half a regular aspirin or two baby aspirins (162 milligrams total) every day if you're a man over thirty-five or a woman over forty. Why? Many studies of primary prevention have shown that two baby aspirins decrease the risk of heart attack by 36 per cent. It's thought to work by making platelets less sticky to avoid clotting, and by decreasing arterial inflammation. You can reduce potential gastric discomfort by drinking a half glass of warm water before and after taking aspirin; the pills dissolve faster in warm water and are less likely to cause stomach irritation and ulcerations and bleeding. One note of caution: If you begin bleeding more during flossing or from a shaving cut, or if you notice that you're more susceptible to bruising, the aspirin is the likely culprit, and you may have to cut back.
YOU Tip: Supplement Your Diet. These vitamins and supplements have the most potent effects on strengthening your heart:
Pill: Folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin B12
Do We Recommend It? Yes
The Fine Print: Folic acid, vitamin B6, Folic acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 work by reducing levels vitamin B12 of homocysteine, a body chemical that's related to increased risk of heart disease. You should get 800 micrograms of folate a day. Most folks get half of that in their diet, so add an additional 400-microgram supplement. Get 50 milligrams of vitamin B6 and 800 micrograms of B12.
Pill: Coenzyme Q10
Do we recommend it? Yes
The fine print: Mitochondria convert glucose into electric energy, and one of the molecules carrying electrons in this process is coenzyme Q10. Taking it as a supplement seems to protect against heart failure and other inflammatory processes by improving the efficiency of the mitochondria. The usual dose is 200 milligrams a day (100 in the morning and 100 in the afternoon). It's especially helpful for people who take statin drugs, because statins decrease levels of CQ10, which may be why statins can be associated with muscle cramps and pain-- your arteries are literally being starved of energy and are crying for help.
Pill: Niacin (vitamin B3)
Do we recommend it? Sometimes
The fine print: A dose of 500 milligrams can lower LDL cholesterol and lower triglycerides, and help raise HDL. Take it with aspirin when going to bed to help decrease the risk of hot flashes, a common side effect. You can take a higher dose but need to talk to your doc because higher doses often need to be prescribed (Niaspan). Niacin is rarely associated with liver problems.
Pill: Vitamin D
Do we recommend it? Yes
The fine print: Recent research suggests that D isn't just good for your bones and immune system, but is good for your heart. Try 800 IU daily if under the age of sixty, 1,000 IU if age sixty or over.
Pill: Pantothenic acid
Do we recommend it? Yes
The fine print: It's a water-soluble vitamin that's essential for metabolism (vitamin B5) and for forming HDL cholesterol. We recommend 150 milligrams twice a day.
Pill: Red yeast rice
Do we recomment it? Not necessary
The fine print: It's been touted as a supplement that can help lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, as well as increase healthy HDL cholesterol. The rumors are true because the active ingredient is identical to a commonly used pharmaceutical statin drug. But because herbs are harvested without tight controls, you don't know exactly what you're getting inside the pill. For the same cost, you're better off using another supplement such as niacin or pantothenic acid.
Pill: D-ribose
Do we recommend it? Yes
The fine print: It's been shown to improve blood pressure and exercise tolerance in patients with congestive heart failure. It seems to work by getting ATP energy to heart and skeletal muscles. The dose is 5 grams once to three times daily.
