You’ll be walking to a new beat! Heart disease is one of the biggest killers. Every year thousands of men – and women – die of heart disease while still in their 30s, 40s and 50s.
If you want to reduce YOUR risk of heart disease – or your partner’s chances of dying early of heart disease, here’s how it can be done in four easy steps:
1. CUT DOWN ON ANIMAL FATS
Four out of five people still eat far too much fatty food. If it’s going to do its job properly your heart needs a good regular supply of oxygenated blood. But every mouthful of fat you eat clogs up your arteries just a little bit more. But however how much fat you’ve eaten in the past, it’s not too late to act – if you act NOW. Cutting down your consumption of fat will help keep your arteries open. If you keep on eating fatty foods, the fat will stick to the inside walls of your arteries.
Here’s what you must do:
Eat less red meat – and when you do buy meat, make sure that you buy lean meat. Then cut off any visible fat.
Drink skimmed or semi-skimmed milk.
Eat low-fat spreads instead of butter. Butter has probably killed thousands.
Limit yourself to 2 or 3 eggs a week.
2. START EXERCISING
How much regular exercise do you take? One in three people takes no regular exercise. And most of the rest either exercise sporadically or exercise too much.
Remember: the key words are REGULAR and MODERATE. If you’re going to protect your heart you need to exercise three times a week for an hour or so.
Join a gym. Go to a swimming pool. Buy a bike. Go dancing.
3. LOSE EXCESS WEIGHT
Fat isn’t just ugly. It’s also deadly. This isn’t the time to mess around with gentle words like ‘plump’ or ‘chubby’. FAT kills. You don’t need scales or weight tables to find out if you’re fat. When you get undressed tonight, take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror. You’ll know if you’re fat. If you are, make up your mind to do something about it.
To lose weight you need to eat less. And you must make sure that in future you only ever eat when you’re hungry.
4. KEEP AWAY FROM CIGARETTES
Cigarette smoke narrows your blood vessels and dramatically increases your chances of having a heart attack. The risk is highest if you’re a smoker. But you could be at risk even if you’re a non-smoker or if the people you live or work with smoke heavily. Smoking causes at least a quarter of all cases of heart disease. So give up smoking. Or cut down if you can’t give up. And if you’re a non-smoker, keep away from smoky rooms and avoid people who smoke.
Remember: you’re a thousand times more likely to be killed by someone else’s cigarette than by someone else’s gun.
