Heart disease can be preventable, so it is important to know what you should do to improve your heart health, as well as what you shouldn’t do. Although there are some things you can’t control, such as getting older or having a parent with heart disease, there are many more things you CAN do to lower your risk of heart disease. Poor food choices and living a sedentary lifestyle can have a negative effect on your heart, weight, and overall health. A healthy diet may reduce your risk of heart disease or stroke by as much as 80%! Take care of your ticker with these 5 do’s and don’ts to prevent heart disease and take greater control over the quality and length of your life:

Image: Transforming Health

1. DO focus on fruits and vegetables. The recommended amount is a minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Aim for all kinds and colors of fruits and vegetables that are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that promote a healthy heart and body. Filling fiber and low calories in fruits and vegetables help in promoting weight management as well. Switch it up with fresh, frozen, dried, canned (without sugar/syrups or added salt), raw, and cooked fruits and vegetables to keep it exciting.

DON’T overdo it on juice and processed fruit snacks. Avoid pastries or snacks with fruit filling since it is mostly sugar, not a real serving of fruit. Small amounts of 100% fruit juice (no added sugar) can fit into a healthy diet, as long as most servings come from whole fruit that also offer heart-healthy fiber while juice does not.

2. DO focus on wholesome, nutrient-dense foods. Choose unprocessed foods rich in unsaturated fats, fiber, and lean protein. These include fruits, vegetables, fish, beans, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.

DON’T overlook sodium. Processed foods, frozen entrees, canned vegetables (with added salt), common condiments (like ketchup), deli meats, and some cheeses can be high in sodium as can many restaurant dishes. Try to monitor sodium intake and strive for no more than 1,500 milligrams a day to help prevent high blood pressure and heart disease. Eating fresh foods, looking for unsalted meats, making your own soups or food at home, and using salt substitutes while cooking can dramatically decrease your sodium intake.

3. DO limit unhealthy fats. Saturated fat is found in butter, lard, cream, and meats. Reduce the amount of solid fats in your diet by finding lower-fat substitutes. Try topping your baked potato with salsa or low-fat yogurt instead of butter. Instead of spreading margarine on your toast, try using a low-sugar fruit spread. Cook with liquid oils like canola, olive, safflower, or sunflower or substitute two egg whites for one whole egg in a recipe. Flavor your dishes with herbs or lemon juice. Trim fat off your meat or choose leaner proteins such as fish and poultry instead of red meat, bacon, sausage, or fried chicken. Limiting saturated fats and cutting out Trans fats entirely can help lower your risk for heart attack and stroke.

DON’T eat out often, especially fast food places. Not only do they offer foods that are high in the unhealthy fats discussed above, they tend to offer huge portions that are often more than we need. This is a recipe for disaster when it comes to heart health. Try to cook meals at home using fresh produce and lean protein choices. For those with busy schedules, cook just a couple days out of the week and make extra helpings of your healthful meals. Store the leftovers in single-portion, reusable containers that are ready to grab and eat for the rest of the week. If you do decide to eat out at a restaurant, try to split an entrée with a friend or take half your meal home for tomorrow’s lunch. (Read this skinny gene article for portion control tips: http://skinnygeneproject.dreamhosters.com/portion-control-tips/)

4. DO increase physical activity. Not only does exercise have physical benefits such as healthy weight maintenance and positive health outcomes, it also reduces stress hormones that cause negative heart health risks. Exercise may improve heart health by regulating the body’s cholesterol and blood pressure. Evidence also shows that regular physical activity improves brain health, bone health, mood, and the ability to fight colds, as well as decreasing risk of cancer and diabetes. Even a modest amount of exercise helps and it’s never too late to get started! Aim for at least 30-60 minutes of physical activity daily.

DON’T smoke. Studies have linked cigarette smoking to coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attacks. A smoker’s risk of dying from this disease is two to three times greater than a nonsmoker’s.

5. DO manage stress. Chronic stress may increase your risk to have heart disease, high blood pressure, chest pain, or irregular heartbeats. The stress itself can be a problem, but the way you handle stress also matters. Responding to stress in unhealthy ways (such as smoking, overeating, or being physically inactive) can make matters worse. Finding healthy ways to deal with stress such as exercising, maintaining a positive attitude, not smoking or drinking too much alcohol, getting plenty of sleep, enjoying a healthy diet, and maintaining a healthy weight can help keep you in good heart health as well as improve your overall quality of life. If you’re finding it hard to deal with stress, seek help from a doctor or counselor.

DON’T skip your checkups. There are silent heart risk factors that are harder to detect on your own so it is important to regularly get checked out by a doctor. Some of the most common, symptom-free heart issues are easily treated, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. It is better to get the milder problems and heart risk factors in line before it becomes a major issue.

By Emily Barr, MS,RD,CNSC – V.P of Nutritional Services and Co-creator of Ignite Your Skinny Gene Program

Love your mate

Our instinctive nature tells us to shower our loved one with sweet treats or rich decadent meals, all of which are loaded with an unimaginable number of calories, heart stopping saturated fats, and sweetened with sugar that could turn our blood into syrup!  Our goal is to show them our undying love, not poison them with unhealthy, non-nutritive foods!

Ideally we show our love through food every day, not just that special day in February.  In order to love our mates the right way, we need to take a look at the big picture.

Take a look at our special someone’s family history, generations before can provide us with a lot of information of their possible health risks.  Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes all travel down family blood lines.  Identifying the risk is the first step; next we need to modify their diet to help reduce their risk of carrying on the family disease.

• Heart disease – limit saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol
• Cancer – limit saturated fat, alcohol, tobacco, and sun exposure
• Diabetes – limit intake of concentrated sweets and extra calories and fat

Love our mate’s body.  Over the years, extra weight may have snuck its way onto our bodies, extra pounds that may not have been present early on in our relationship.  Weight gain is an indicator that the current diet situation may not quite be on target.  Of course, that doesn’t change the love we have, but we do want to live long healthy lives together, so a change in lifestyle may be necessary!

If you are showing your love in a healthy way every day, then the special occasion splurge is a-okay!

Love your kids

Our instinctive nature with our children is to feed them kid foods, peppy little animal sugary shape snacks, juices in fun containers, chocolaty flavored cereals, and cartoon character endorsed cookies.  As much fun as these foods are, they are not the healthy choices that our little ones need.  Our kids have the same health risks as adults (like you and your spouse), and not to mention the additional risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes growing up in this generation of excesses.

Our goal as parents is to teach our children about healthy food choices and the importance of eating them at every meal and snack time.  This can be a challenging venture, but over time, it only gets easier and easier as it becomes routine.  We need to make healthy habits mandatory in our homes, leaving the junk foods out of the house and filling the refrigerator and your child’s plate with the healthy ones.  Don’t forget that we need to model healthy eating habits.  That means that everyone in the home is eating the same healthy foods, no exceptions.  Of course, it seems harsh, but we are only doing this out of love.

Love your dog

How can we forget to show our four legged companion some love?  Walking the dog is the best reward they need, which is great because it benefits us, as well!

Oh yes, and don’t forget to love ourselves.  Surrounding ourselves with our loved ones is the greatest gift of all.  Knowing we are teaching and providing our families with healthy, nourishing foods will definitely allow us to sleep well at night.   Which isn’t that what we all want anyway?

1. WEIGHT – Yes, your weight plays a major role in your heart health. If your BMI is over 25 kg/m2 (that is the

photo: eatingright.org

overweight/obesity range) and/or if you have extra love around your midsection, you are at a higher risk for heart disease, including heart attack and stroke.  The good news is that you can improve your heart health by losing weight.   To achieve weight loss, try to focus on exercise, food selections, and portion sizes.

2. FAT – Of course fat plays another major role in heart health! Be alarmed if your diet is loaded with higher fat foods, specifically foods high in saturated fat from animals including beef, pork, poultry fat and whole or 2% dairy.

Guidelines: Saturated fat should be limited to 7% of your total calories, due to its contribution to increasing your blood cholesterol. Following the American Heart Association’s guidelines, a heart healthy 2,000 calorie diet should be limited to 65 grams of total fat and 15 grams of saturated fat.

3.  SODIUM– Our bodies need a little bit of sodium (a.k.a. salt), though too much sodium can raise your blood pressure – not in the heart throbbing, good loving type of way – and increase your risk of heart disease including, heart attack and stroke.

Guidelines: The average American takes in 3,800 mg of sodium per day, which is nearly 2 times the recommended intake of ~2,000 mg per day for a heart healthy diet.

Helpful Tips: To lower your sodium intake, be sure to read the labels of any food in a package, jar, or can.  These processed foods have a lot of sodium to help preserve them to sit on the shelf.  Look for foods with reduced sodium label claims, such as “Sodium-free”, “Very Low Sodium”, or “Low Sodium”.  Another route is to go for the foods without packaging, especially the lovely colorful fresh fruits and vegetables!

4. CHOLESTEROL – Increased circulating cholesterol in your bloodstream can slowly make its home on the walls of your blood vessels, narrowing those important passage ways from your heart to your brain, lungs and other important parts of your body.  Our bodies naturally make cholesterol; therefore, it is important to limit the cholesterol in our foods to keep our blood flown properly!

Helpful Tips: One of the most important foods to be aware of when limiting your cholesterol is eggs!  One egg has 213 mg Cholesterol which is enough for your entire day!  Try to substitute those eggs with a cholesterol free egg substitute, just as it claims 0 mg of cholesterol and no fat!  Double heart loving bonus!

 5. FIBER – Fabulous, functional fiber can also help keep that lovable fiber heart of yours healthy.  Specifically soluble fiber, which binds with cholesterol and then takes a lovely ride out of the body, in turn reducing your blood LDL cholesterol (that’s the “bad” one).

Helpful Tips: To maximize the benefits of soluble fiber, include fruits, such as apples, bananas, pears, plums, peaches and citrus fruits, vegetables, such as carrots, brussel sprouts, broccoli, and chick peas, whole grains, such as barley, oats, psylium, and beans in your diet.

Renew your love for your heart and commit to making these heart healthy changes!

Have questions? Please don’t hesitate to contact us, we’re here to help!

By Emily Barr, MS, RD, CNSC

This February, SHOW YOUR HEART SOME LOVE 

 Learn what you need to do to have a healthy heart!

It’s February; the month of love. People everywhere are trying to come up with the perfect gift or gesture to express their love and appreciation for that special someone in their life. It’s strange though, because when we really want to give something meaningful, everlasting from the heart, we rarely thinking about our actual beating heart. When in reality, one of the best acts of love is making the priority to LOVE YOUR HEART.

Here are 3 reasons you should show your heart some love:

1.   One in three women will die from heart disease, while one in 31 will die from breast cancer. In fact, heart disease is the number one killer of women over the age of 20

2.  Heart disease is complicated because anyone could be at risk, not just those who are overweight or obese, but people with high blood pressure and high triglycerides.

 3.  Eighty percent of the heart disease is preventable by simply living a healthier lifestyle (e.g. food and fitness)

You see, YOU – being around – is the best gift you could ever give to yourself and to others.

Since  having a healthy diet is essential to having a healthy heart, our non-profit wants to offer you….

A FREE nutrition appointment to discuss what you can do to have a healthy heart.

During your FREE consultation, your new Nutritionist, Nancy, will be interested in learning more about you, so that she can provide the best solutions to fit your specific needs.

Throughout the 30 minute session, you will discuss

• Any past struggles and current obstacles you’re experiencing with your health (e.g. high blood pressure, high cholesterol, weight gain, prediabetes, diabetes, heart disease)
• How choosing the right foods can boost your metabolism and address other health concerns at the same time
• Small changes to your current diet that can make a big difference, improving both the health of your heart and metabolism
• Steps you should do today to regain your health and start showing your heart some love
• Our 2012 Guide to a healthy heart, including a list of foods that will help your heart and appeal to your taste buds. Plus an extra bonus.

Getting your FREE Healthy Heart Consultation is easy! Simply follow these 3 steps:

1. Click here to Book your FREE consultation, or click on the BOOKNOW button below
2. Select FREE: Getting a Healthy Heart
3.  Find a time and date that best fits your schedule ( NOTE: All times are listed as PST)

Please keep in mind that the time you select is reserved for YOU. So, mark it on your calendar!  We will call you at your selected time at the phone number you provide.

**Important** Due to the limited number of appointments available, and to reduce the number of no-shows, you will be asked to reserve the appointment with a credit card. You must give at least 24 hr  notice prior to cancelling or rescheduling appointments, otherwise you will be charge $5 no-show fee.

How good of deal is this?

Well, let’s just say that some Nutritionists charge $110 for a 30 min session. We DON’T have these charges.  We’re a non-profit organization that is sincerely interested in helping you to have a healthy heart. We are offering this program for FREE in February only, so don’t miss this great opportunity to show your heart some love!

We know how busy things can get, so don’t wait. A healthy heart is too important. Click the BookNow Button below to book your appointment.

We look forward to speaking with you!

Win it!

There is no remedy for love but to love more…Henry David Thoreau

February is American Heart Month…what are you doing to keep your heart healthy?  

A healthy heart is the center of your body and what gives love to your family, friends and others.  

This month, in honor of Valentine’s Day, we are excited to offer a beautiful Personalized Charm Necklace from B-Side Metalworks. You can have it personalized with your choice of word or initials and it can be a showcase of what is in your heart!  

Do you want to win it? It’s easy!

Showcase what's in your heart!

Required for contest entry:

1. Follow Skinny Gene Healthy Mommas on facebook and share the page with your Facebook friends (leave a comment on this post letting us know you did both!)

Optional for extra entries (leave a comment on this post letting us know you did it!):

2. Check out B-Side Metalworks on Etsy and show some love by giving her a heart (leave an additional comment below letting us know you did it!)

3. Like B-Side Metalworks on Facebook (leave an additional comment below letting us know you did it!)

4. Follow Skinny Gene (@skinnygene)  on Twitter  (leave an additional comment below letting us know you did it!)

5. Post this giveaway on your blog, facebook and/or twitter (leave a comment below for each posting that you share)

This giveaway will end on 2/14 at 11:59 p.m.

Each entry counts as one chance to win.  US Only!  Winner will be announced February 15. Winner will be chosen AT RANDOM by random.org.

BERRIES 

Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries-whatever berry you like best-are full of anti-inflammatory agents, which reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer. Berries may also help to prevent diabetes and age-related cognitive decline. Their low fat and high dietary fiber content makes them ideal for weight loss they are satisfying without adding on the pounds.

Love berries? Try this recipe!

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/strawberry_melon_avocado_salad.html

LEGUMES 

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/NU00577

SPINACH

Spinach can help keep your ticker in top shape thanks to its stores of lutein, folate, potassium, and fiber. Upping your servings of any veggies is sure to give your heart a boost.

The Physicians’ Health Study examined more than 15,000 men without heart disease for a period of 12 years. Those who ate at least two-and-a-half servings of vegetables each day cut their risk of heart disease by about 25%, compared with those who didn’t eat the veggies. Each additional serving reduced risk by another 17%.

Looking for ways to eat more spinach? Try this recipe!

http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/spinach-artichoke-dip

Start your day with a steaming bowl of oats, which are full of omega-3 fatty acids, folate, and potassium. This fiber-rich superfood can lower levels of LDL (or bad) cholesterol and help keep arteries clear. Opt for coarse or steel-cut oats over instant varieties-which contain more fiber-and top your bowl off with a banana for another 4 grams of fiber.

Add a little color to your oatmeal with this recipe.

http://www.eatrightamerica.com/Recipes/Breakfast/Blueberry-Nut-Oatmeal

SALMON  

Super-rich in omega-3 fatty acids, salmon has been found to keep blood flowing through the body and reduce the risk of heart attack. These essential fats, meaning you need to eat them because your body cannot make them itself, not only prevent cholesterol from becoming embedded in artery walls, but reduce blood clots from forming, a major cause of heart attack. Aim for two servings per week, which may reduce your risk of dying of a heart attack by up to one-third.

Here’s a great salmon recipe to try

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/black_bean_salmon_tostadas.html

AVOCADO 

Add a bit of avocado to a sandwich or spinach salad to up the amount of heart-healthy fats in your diet. Packed with monounsaturated fat, avocados can help lower LDL levels while raising the amount of HDL cholesterol in your body.

The fat in avocado is mostly the good fats -essential, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated.  These good fats have been found to lower the bad cholesterol and increase the good cholesterol, which is important for everyone, especially those with diabetes or are overweight and at risk for heart disease

One avocado should be divided into 5 – 1 oz servings- providing 50 calories, 3.5 grams unsaturated fat, total fat of 4.5 grams.  With one avocado totaling 250 calories, you can see a bowl of guacamole (and the fried chips) can provide 500-1000 calories and 50-75 grams of fat pretty quickly.

There are lots of ways to add avocado into your diet. Here’s one suggestion. http://www.avocado.org/recipes/view/16772/avocado-cilantro-bagel-spread

COCOA 

Dark chocolate and cocoa are super foods that contain a very high amount of antioxidants and flavanols – meaning they have been proven to lower your blood pressure and cholesterol , therefore lowering your risk of heart disease! The darker the chocolate the more super the food! Try dark chocolate with the highest percent of cocoa, preferably 60-70% cocoa solids (it’s written on the package). It is the “perfect combination between health and taste.”

If you love cocoa, you’re sure to love this recipe .

http://skinnygeneproject.dreamhosters.com/i-heart-chocolate/

NUTS 

Walnuts are full of omega-3 fatty acids and, along with almonds and macadamia nuts, are loaded with mono- and polyunsaturated fat. Plus, nuts increase fiber in the diet, and they are a great source of healthy fat.

Try new ways to incorporate nuts into your recipes. Here’s an example.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/health-nut-blueberry-muffins