Getting Heart-Strong With Stats, Warning Signs, and Health Tips, Too

In case you missed it, red was the color of choice when choosing what to wear last Friday, as the first of February marked the tenth anniversary of the American Heart Association's National Wear Red Day. Its purpose: to help raise awareness of heart disease in women, while at the same time, launching American Heart Month.

Be aware, too, that The Million Hearts™ national initiative sponsored by the American Heart Association and others is also making headlines right now. Introduced by the Department of Health and Human Services in September, 2011, its aim is to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes in the U.S. over a 5-year period. To that end, this month Walgreens has engaged "its 26,000 health care providers to offer free blood pressure testing in consultation with a Walgreens pharmacist."

Is the need great? You bet. Just take a look at these unsettling facts of life about cardiovascular disease, the umbrella term for all heart and blood vessel diseases, including heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and aortic aneurism:

1. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women.
2. About 600,000 people die of heart disease in the U.S. every year-or one in four.
3. Every year, some 935,000 Americans have a heart attack; about 610,000 first-timers.
4. Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease, killing more than 385,000 people every year and costing the U.S. $108.9 billion annually in services, medications, and lost productivity.

Meanwhile, recognizing the warning signs is key to survival; experience any of them and call 911 immediately:

• Chest pain or discomfort
• Upper body pain or discomfort in arms, back, neck, jaw, or upper stomach.
• Shortness of breath.
• Nausea, lightheadedness, or cold sweats.

Know, too, that while the most common sign is chest pain or discomfort, women are somewhat likelier to feel short of breath, nauseous, and/or experience jaw pain.

Meanwhile, be advised that lifestyle is a determining factor, so be forewarned if you don't exercise, enjoy a high fat, sodium, and/or sugary diet, smoke, are overweight/obese, and/or have diabetes. To be in the know, head to your primary care doctor for a physical and make it an annual event. These are the numbers you'll want to hear:

• A blood pressure reading less than 120/80
• A total cholesterol that's less than 200 mg/dl
• An LDL ("bad" cholesterol) that's less than 100 mg/dl
• An HDL ("good"cholesterol) that's more than 50 mg/dl for women and 40 mg/dl or higher for men
• Triglycerides that are less than 150 mg/dl
• Blood glucose levels that are less than 100 mg/dl

To get you there, take time to de-stress every day, allowing yourself some "chill" time to meditate, garden, walk, and so on. You get the idea. And then:

• If you smoke, promise to stop. There's lots of quitting help out there, everything from gums and lozenges to patches and hypnosis. Online assistance is right at your fingertips, too. Need motivation? Quitting before 40 reduces the risk of death by about 90% finds an American Cancer Society study. Plus, smokers die, on average, about 10 years earlier than non-smokers.

• Get moving, aiming for at least 30 minutes a day of low to moderate intensity activity. The upside: lower blood pressure and triglyceride numbers, as well as higher HDL levels. Do it all in one outing or break it up into 10- or 15-minute workouts that can include walking, jogging, dancing, gardening, even playing outside with the kids. Then add just two weight training sessions a week-about 20 minutes or so each-and you're on your way.
• Start every day with a heart-healthy breakfast, as in oatmeal, a smoothie made, for example, with frozen berries, a banana, yogurt, and skim milk, a veggie-filled egg-white omelet, or even peanut butter on whole wheat toast sprinkled with ground flaxseed. Tempted to skip it and go right for the coffee? Keep in mind that eating breakfast cancels out the need for a mid-morning pick-me-up or heavy lunch, thus helping prevent weight gain.

• Eat a heart-healthy lunch and dinner, too, ones that are rich in fruits, veggies, fiber, whole grains, low-fat, calcium-rich dairy, and lean protein. Aim for two servings of fish each week, too. Not sure how much produce you should be consuming every day? The CDC has the answer for you.

• Take an inventory of what's on your pantry shelves when it comes to snacks, soups, salad dressings, etc. and consider tossing a few of them. As you read the nutrition labels, keep in mind that you want to limit your daily sodium intake to less than 1,500 mg and less than 150 mg of cholesterol. Then opt for better-for you alternatives like baked chips, nutrition-dense granola bars, heart-healthy soups and frozen dinners, and so on. While you're at it, put away the salt shaker and replace sugary drinks with plain water or sparkling water with a spritz or two of lemon juice.
• Be heart-savvy when eating out, too. Need some help as you peruse the menus of your favorite restaurant chains? There's actually an app for that, and it's called "Restaurant Nutrition."

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8 Cat Health Tips

Cat health and cat food are closely related. We know that overfeeding leads to obesity which in turn is linked with feline Diabetes- with roughly 40% of cats being overweight.

Just like in humans ad excessive amount of food can lead to feline obesity. Some of the issues a cat can face are actually very similar to what a human can suffer from.

poor hair coat
4 x increase in Type 2 Diabetes
arthritis
hepatic lipidosis

The following 8 tips are here to help your cat health and advise you in helping your cat stay lean and trim and reduce their risk of the above main conditions.

1- Fee a restricted calorie reducing diet. A natural cat food alternative is to feed you cat a high protein, low carbohydrate and potentially high fiber diet which is a mimic of their natural diet. Any change in diet though needs to be consulted with a Vet.

2- Feed regular measured meals 2-3 times a day. When the cat has finished the bowel of food it must go without until the next feed.

3- Cat food from "your table" and treats are not wise to give cats. If you want to give a treat, minus some of their food and give it back to them as a treat.

4- Monitor to see what your cat actually does. Does it go next door to get fed thus reducing the benefits that you are doing?

5- Chart the cats weight per week. It should lose about 1% of their body weight per week. Drastic weight loss or increase is then wise to seek vet assistance.

6- Provide daily exercise and human companionship. This is especially noted for indoor cats who have a reduced exercise plan anyway. Also make your cat work for it's food- put it in different areas so that they have to "hunt for it".

7- L-carnitine can be helpful in reducing your cats weight and it tends to increase lean body mass- which will help in your cat health. Any supplement will need vet approval.

8- When the ideal weight is obtained we need to keep it level. This can only be done with proper balanced food intake coupled with exercise.



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Simple And Fast Weight Loss Tips

Losing weight is a pretty simple proposition. Really, it is quite simple. There is no mystery to it. There is no arcane arts or magical steps to it. You just need to keep a simple formula in your mind in order to achieve the weight loss you have always wanted. The simple truth is that you have to work to deserve the body you have always wanted. A great figure doesn't happen overnight nor can it be bought in a pill. Sure, many 

hucksters try to get you to sign on to the latest and greatest weight loss fad, but the truth of the matter is weight loss is easy. Just remember this formula: eat less and move more often. That's it. That's all, Finito. Seriously. There is no hocus pocus. No magical incantations. No complex chemical supplements. Just eat less calories than you burn. Day after day. Keep it up.

 And see the pounds just melt off. The reason things aren't so simple and straightforward is that both parts of this equation take something that most people nowadays want to avoid-work. You have to work to take the pounds off and keep them off. In this age of instant results and convenience, people aren't having it. People aren't interested in eating their meal now and dessert later. They don't care about doing the work now and going on vacation later. In our modern age, people want the good stuff now and they are more than happy to worry about paying for or working for it all later. So if you want to lose weight-if you truly want to lose weight-you need to use the simple equation above. The best and simplest way is to do the following.

Eat two main meals a day

The first part of the weight loss equation involves calorie intake. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories than you burn. There is no better way to do this than limiting the number of meals you have every day. Just eat two meals. Have a great breakfast and a sensible lunch. Give yourself about six to eight hours to burn off your lunch. That's right-eat lunch no later than 1PM. If you stick to this schedule, your body won't have a late burst of calories and it would have to burn off calories you ate earlier in the day. You end up with a negative calorie balance. When this happens, your body burns your stored form of energy-fat-to get energy. If you do this long enough, you will get leaner and lighter.

Do bookends workouts

Limiting your calories might not be enough if you don't get enough exercise. If you just limit your calories through one meal a day but you just sit on your lounger all day, you might have a tough time losing weight. To boost your body's weight loss mechanisms, push things forward by exercising in the morning and at night right before you go to bed. Start your day with a morning run. Work during the rest of the day. Click on the link below for nighttime tips.

This is Best Guide Can Help you
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