It's ok, there are a few habits you don't have to break!

Everyone seems to have some kind of habit and some even have more than one. Good and bad habits, we all have them. Research shows that there are certain habits that can be very destructive and really play havoc with your heart. Being overweight, poor diet, alcohol in excess, smoking and not exercising and being active are all pretty bad habits. These habits can also affect blood pressure, cholesterol and even blood sugar levels. They can also lead to a long list of heart complications such as stroke, heart attack, heart failure etc. Long-term excessive drinking increases your risk of developing problems with your heart as well. Check out this statistic, being a nonsmoker who is at an average healthy weight, who exercises and eats right would be 83 percent less likely to have a heart attack or heart disease. That’s very encouraging.

Don’t get discouraged if you struggle in some of these areas, you can always make some positive changes. Start exercising. Find something you enjoy doing. Mix it up. Try to do something for at least 30 minutes a day. You can always work your way up to some serious cardiovascular exercise that will really benefit your heart. You don’t have to exercise strenuously to achieve benefits, but you can see bigger benefits by increasing the intensity, duration and frequency of your workouts. Physical activity helps you control your weight and can reduce your chances of developing other conditions that may put a strain on your heart, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

Excess weight can really put a strain on your heart. Change your nutritional plan. Add fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and fiber to you diet. Try to really limit processed foods, simple carbohydrates and sugar. Pay close attention to the kinds of fats in your diet.

Watch the good and bad cholesterol; LDL is the dangerous kind of cholesterol and HDL is the beneficial kind to your heart. You can produce more of the HDL cholesterol by exercising regularly and limiting saturated fat, and cholesterol by avoiding too many animal products such as red meats and full-fat dairy, and including healthier fats such as certain vegetable oils. It’s also important to limit trans fats (like palm oils, fried foods, and what you find in a lot of processed foods).

Watch those habits everyday and read more on our Living for Zachary blog about all kinds of habits; good and bad.