It's time to take care of your Ticker!

It's Ticker Time during the month of February and with this month wrapping up, we should have one last push for Heart Month!!! Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.

There are so many things (even small things) that we all could be doing to take better care of our hearts. Small lifestyle changes are worth doing to be able to stick around for your family and loved ones. Here are some changes we can do to keep our heart ticking away!

• Start exercising
• Quit smoking
• Watch your sodium intake
• Switch to whole grain foods - full of heart healthy vitamins, minerals and tons of fiber
• Splurge - on dark chocolate sometimes
• Make sure to always rinse your foods
• Sleep good - this can help your risk level of heart attacks and irregular heartbeats
• Try some flaxseed on your food. Flaxseed is wonderful in keeping your blood cells from clumping up and forming blood clots.
• Lose a little weight - losing some pounds can lower your blood pressure and reduce your chance for diabetes and lower your cholesterol.

Living for Zachary always encourages good and healthy choices to take better care of your heart. For more information about how to get "heart healthy" - please visit the American Heart Association or the HEART HOSPITAL Baylor Plano.  You can also visit the Heart Risk Calculator to see if you are at risk or what changes you can make.

Please stay tuned for an update of our wonderful Living for Zachary HeartBeats Gala 2011. This wonderful night was a huge success and we will have details and pictures posted soon. In the meantime, take care of your TICKER.