The 4-Step Heart-Saver Plan

You will be walking at a new pace! Heart disease is one of the biggest killers. Every year, thousands of men and women die of heart disease while they are still in their 30s, 40s, and 50s.

If you want to reduce YOUR risk of heart disease, or your partner’s chances of dying prematurely from heart disease, here’s how you can do it in four easy steps:

1. REDUCE ANIMAL FATS

Four out of five people still eat 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 morsel of fat you eat clogs your arteries a little more. But no matter how much fat you’ve eaten in the past, it’s not too late to act, if you act NOW. Reducing your fat intake will help keep your arteries open. If you continue to eat fatty foods, the fat will stick to the inner walls of your arteries.

This is what you need to do:

Eat less red meat, and when you buy meat, make sure 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 do? One in three people do not exercise regularly. And most of the rest exercise sporadically or exercise too much.

Remember: the keywords are REGULAR and MODERATE. If you’re going to protect your heart, you should exercise three times a week for an hour or so.

Join a gym. Go to a pool. Buy a bike. Go to dance.

3. LOSE EXCESS WEIGHT

Fat is not just ugly. It is also deadly. This is not the time to waste time with nice words like “chubby” or “chubby.” FAT kills. You don’t need scales or weight charts to know if you’re fat. When you undress tonight, take a good look at yourself in the mirror. You will know if you are fat. If so, decide to do something about it.

To lose weight you have to eat less. And you need to make sure that in the future you only eat when you are hungry.

4. STAY AWAY FROM CIGARETTES

Cigarette smoke narrows blood vessels and dramatically increases your chances of having a heart attack. The risk is higher if you are a smoker. But you could be at risk even if you don’t smoke or if people you live or work with smoke a lot. Smoking causes at least a quarter of all cases of heart disease. So ditch the tuxedo. Or cut back if you can’t give up. And if you don’t smoke, stay out of smoky rooms and avoid people who smoke.

Remember: you are a thousand times more likely to die from someone else’s cigarette than from someone else’s gun.