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Heart health is whole body health. Every beat of our heart is what pumps beautifully nutrient filled and oxygenated blood around our body to keep us alive. This week I’m sharing my top THREE things (including a mini-meal plan) that can help keep your heart healthy because heart disease is still the NUMBER 1 cause of death globally. We all know we need to “eat right and exercise” to keep our hearts strong, but what does that really mean? Exercise can be all sorts of movement - it does not have to mean going to the gym and running on the treadmill. What do you like to do? Dance, garden, look at trees, move heavy things around? Not sure you know what you like to do… Introducing MOVEMENT SNACKS!Throughout the day do small amounts of activity for as little as 30 seconds or up to 3 minutes. This could be walking in place while on hold, doing 30 seconds of jumping jacks between one Zoom meeting to the next, or 1 minute of dancing to your fave song after plowing through the latest batch of emails. Make it work for you! Movement snacks will help you stay more energized throughout the day and prevent that 3 p.m. energy crash. This concept also makes movement feel less like a chore and a big time commitment. The little moments add up. Need more ideas? Here is the scientifically backed 7-minute workout. Do 1 or 2 exercises at a time and by the end of the day you have done them all!! Have extra time? Do the whole 7 minutes. And just to keep it real I’m humbled every time I get up to do jumping jacks. I can squat 100lbs no problem, but a minute of jumping jacks will kill me. HA! HEART HEALTHY NUTRITIONGosh, you already know what I’m going to say about nutrition and heart health right? But I’m going to tell you again. Eat your fruits and veggies, get plenty of fiber (25g/day at min), and limit heavily processed foods. All easier said than done because you are battling busy schedules, growing grocery prices, and an overabundance of processed convenience foods that are extra delish. So let’s try focusing on fiber. Fiber helps your heart because soluble fiber will bind to cholesterol in the intestines and keep you from absorbing cholesterol. Fiber also helps to slow down glucose absorption which can help manage high blood sugar; high blood sugar contributes to heart disease. Fiber also helps regulate blood pressure by helping to excrete excess sodium. Here is a list of high-fiber foods. And even better, I created a two-day high-fiber meal plan for you (recipes and all!). Check it out here! KNOW YOUR NUMBERSThe last two newsletters have been about knowing the health inside your body and I can’t stress enough how important it is to get regular blood screenings. Especially, advocating for expanded cholesterol panels. I was looking at the labs today of a client who has normal total and LDL cholesterol but has very high levels of Lp(a). Lpa(a) is a type of cholesterol, it is the smallest cholesterol particle and can infiltrate into the artery lining on its own, it doesn’t need a special package like other types of cholesterol. High levels of Lp(a) alone can create inflammation and plaque formation. The kicker is that statin therapy will not lower this kind of cholesterol. But, certain nutrients like niacin and Omega 3’s can help to lower Lp(a) when taken in the right doses. Tomorrow, Friday, February 7th, wear red to remember how much you love your heart and enjoy this playlist of songs all about your heart.
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