Happiness Begins with a Healthy Heart
- sunshineherbs
- Feb 10, 2018
- 3 min read
February is heart month and we covered a lot of great ways to keep your heart healthy in our monthly newsletter that went out on the 1rst. This post is going to cover some of the practices you can incorporate in your daily life to keep your heart feeling youthful and strong.
Hawthorn berry:
This pretty little berry is a heart specific herb. The Website has a recipe for a spice blend you can keep on hand that incorporates Hawthorn as a condiment.
L-Arginine:
L-arginine has a whole body approach to it's protective properties. There are many ways this supplement benefits us. Not just with heart health, but much more!
fighting inflammation
lowering risk for arteriosclerosis and heart attack
repairing blood vessels
fighting congestive heart failure (CHF) and coronary artery disease
helping lower high blood pressure
improving athletic performance
increasing immune function
reducing muscle pains (especially in the legs caused by blocked arteries)
improving kidney function
improving mental capacity
fighting dementia
Diet and Excercise
No one wants to hear that moving our bodies is the answer to good health. Who has time for that? I get it, everyone is busy. What we forget while we are busy being busy is that all of the run around is more stressful for our heart, not less. That kind of active living is not actually keeping us healthy. Exercise is cardio protective. Breaking a sweat though walking, stretching, jogging or doing other physical activities that gets our blood pumping are the kinds of movement our bodies require in order to maintain proper heart health. Tone muscles and a lean body is easier to maintain than one that is overworked, over-fed and underused.
The diet part of this involves taking the moment we deserve to eat the foods we know are helpful. Its easy to reach for a fast food burger, chips, sub or taco. The results are instant and you feel full. This is a bad habit that has serious effects on the heart. All the grease, preservatives and other hidden ingredients in those kind of foods have such a detrimental effect that doctors are now urging people to stay away from fast food altogether.
Exercise comes in many forms. Walking, running, yoga, stretching and just moving intentionally have a profound impact on our health. 15 minutes a day of movement can greatly reduce our risk for heart attack. Lift your legs while you are sitting at your desk. Bend your arms and twist your waist. When you get up in the morning reach down and touch your toes! (if you already have an existing heart condition do not do this!) No matter which form of movement you choose on any given day, you are doing your heart and entire body a favor.
"Longevity comes not in the amount we accomplish in a given day, but in the quality of that accomplishment."
-Anonymous
Food be thy medicine,
Food, when recognized as more than just fuel can be our greatest healer. Knowing why these food-like products are so satisfying will help us replace them with better choices. Its not fair to our bodies how satiating junk food is. Pleasure is 90% of eating. How do we make healthy food taste good? It starts with deciding that health is more important than just scraping along in a half-alive-stupor-food-coma that keeps us weak and vulnerable to disease.
Including into your diet:
Beets
Leafy Greens
Warming spices like cayenne, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, pepper.
Whole Grains and beans
Fresh Green foods like broccoli, cucumbers, brussel sprouts, celery.
Eating RAW foods whenever possible
Desserts that are health protective like, figs, dates, raw cocoa, stevia, coconut meat
Coconut oil (high in good fats that feed your brain!) (not good for use with Statin Drugs)
Fresh plant juices!
All Berries, they are very high in antioxidants.
Excluding from your diet:
Heavy, greasy foods like fast food
Root Vegetables that are high in starch, potatoes, carrots.
Bad Fats in many meats, excessive butter or highly refined vegetable oils.
Lunch meats, (they are high in preservatives and nitrates that are hard on your arteries)
Sweets that are made with refined flours, sugars and other processed sweeteners.
Overall, there are a number of practices we can incorporate into our busy lives that will improve our general outlook. Physical health doesn't have to be a big question mark any more. Your heart and other organs will work their best when you fill them with the fuels that provides nourishment and nutrition. There's a lot of EMPTY food on the market that is designed to trick consumers with flavor and texture. We are sense pleasure creatures so are tricked perfectly by this marketing method. Rise above this and live for health by incorporating practices you can turn into habit, which in turn becomes your daily life.
Simple practices like the ones listed above can dramatically reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
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