If you want to live a long and healthy life, you’ve got to take care of your heart! After all, it’s the most important organ in your body (well, besides your brain, of course). It’s like the engine of your body – it pumps blood and oxygen to all your other organs, keeping you going strong. So if you want to keep on ticking, you’ve got to treat your heart right! Eat well, exercise regularly, and take care of any heart-related health issues as soon as they arise. Your heart will thank you!
You may be familiar with the usual ways that you can take good care of your heart. To improve heart health, it is important to follow a healthy diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins and low in saturated and trans fats and added sugars. Regular physical activity can help to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease. It is also important to quit smoking, as it damages the heart and blood vessels and is a major cause of heart disease. Getting enough sleep and limiting alcohol intake to recommended levels can also contribute to heart health.
You can improve your heart health by cooking more
Parade.com reveals that cardiologist Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, reveals the daily habit that can make a huge difference when it comes to a person’s heart health: cooking more at home. Mozaffarian is also a professor of nutrition at Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
But how can cooking possibly improve our heart health? Here’s how: cooking at home can reduce the number of processed foods in a person’s diet.
Dr. Dabhadkar explains as Parade.com quotes:
A diet that is high in calories, especially saturated fats, trans fats and refined carbohydrates, increases bad fat levels in the body and insulin levels,
A combination of these increases cholesterol deposition in the arteries leading to the hardening of the arteries and plaque formation in the arteries.
Let’s also keep in mind that regularly monitoring blood pressure and cholesterol levels with a healthcare provider and making any necessary lifestyle changes can help to keep these values within a healthy range.
