According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the leading cause of death for women and men in the United States, and many Americans are still at risk. Making small changes daily can have a significant impact on your overall health.

7 Simple Steps to a Healthier Lifestyle

The following are 7 Simple Steps you can take to help you to live a healthier lifestyle.

Exercise and eating better are two of these steps that can help you get started on your path to better health. Making smarter food choices and getting more exercise can help you lose weight, control cholesterol, manage blood pressure, lower blood sugar, and quit smoking.

Two of these steps—exercise and eat better—can help you start your health journey.

• Get active. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week (or a combination of both). Spread it out over several days. Even small amounts of physical activity can make a big difference.
• Eat better. Make sure your diet is colorful and high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, poultry, fish, and nuts. Limit intake of sugary foods and drinks, fatty or processed meats, or salt.
• Healthy weight. Maintaining a healthy weight helps keep your body in good shape. To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. Losing weight more easily and keeping it off is achieved when you balance healthy eating and physical activity.
• Cholesterol control. You get cholesterol from two sources: your body (which makes all the cholesterol you need) and food made from animals. Adding color to your diet, exercising more and eating smart can all help lower cholesterol levels.
• Blood pressure. High blood pressure is caused when the pressure in arteries is higher than normal. Stress and poor nutrition may both contribute to high blood pressure, so it’s important to stay healthy and eat a balanced diet.
• Blood glucose (sugar) control.  Your body uses blood glucose (blood sugar) as fuel. Diet is important for your health because it is derived from what you eat. You can cut added sugar by checking nutrition facts labels and ingredients, reducing sweets and sugary drinks, selecting simple foods over heavily processed ones and rinsing canned fruits with syrup. You can also move more to regulate your body’s insulin levels because aerobic exercise helps your body respond to insulin.
• Stop smoking. Having a healthy lifestyle includes not smoking. When you quit smoking, your lungs can begin to heal themselves. Smoking is harmful to your circulatory system and puts you at risk of multiple diseases.

Remember, taking a little time each day to take care of yourself can help protect your heart health in the long run. Relaxing, moving more, cooking healthier meals, and sleeping more are simple self-care measures to help your heart.

References

• Lifes Simple 7. (n.d.). Www.heart.org.