Heart Health

Preventing Cardiovascular disease (CVD)

Many cardiovascular disease risk factors are very similar in both sexes.  They do not account for the increased prevalence in men. Risk factors for cardiovascular disease that are similar in men and women:

• Elevated blood cholesterol
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Tobacco use (this risk factor is decreasing in men, yet increasing in women)

Risk factors that occur more often in men:

• Being overweight
• Not consuming enough vegetables and fruit
• Excessive salt intake in the diet
• Feelings of anger and hostility

Ways you can prevent cardiovascular disease:

• Quit smoking
• Lose weight if overweight
• Check blood pressure regularly
• Know your blood cholesterol levels
• Improve your diet by eating more fruits and vegetables, and reducing salt intake (eat less processed/packaged food and restaurant meals)
• Reduce stress and learn how to manage anger and hostility

Cholesterol

• High blood cholesterol increases your risk of heart disease and stroke.
• LDL, or low-density lipoprotein, is also known as “bad” cholesterol because it can narrow the walls of your arteries by increasing the amount of plaques deposited.
• HDL, or high-density lipoprotein, is also known as “good” cholesterol because can decrease the amount of plaque that gets deposited.

To improve cholesterol:

• Limit your consumption of foods that contain high amounts of saturated fats (commercially prepared pastries, baked goods, animal fats (especially red meat and high fat dairy products), trans fats, palm and coconut oil, etc.)
• Decrease or stop smoking, as it increases LDL cholesterol.
• Increase the amount of physical activity you do—try taking the stairs, walking to the grocery store, and decrease the amount of time you spend sitting.

High Blood Pressure (hypertension)

Blood pressure numbers:

• Normal is less than 120 over 80
• Prehypertension is 120–139 over 80–89
• High is more than 140 over 90

What you can do:

• Reduce sodium intake.  About 75% of the sodium in our diet comes from processed (packaged) foods and eating out.  Eating more fresh foods and preparing your own meals can drastically reduce the amount of sodium you eat.
• Cutting sodium intake by half can make a big difference in most Canadians, preventing heart attacks and strokes and reducing blood pressure to normal levels.

Recommended Links

• Heart & Stroke Foundation

• Heart Diseases - Medline Plus

• High Blood Cholesterol - Mayo Clinic

• High Blood Pressure - Heart & Stroke Foundation

• High Blood Pressure - Mayo Clinic