Your Heart And Your Favorite Tipple: Be Alcohol Aware
This week I am sharing with you a guest post provided by Lisa Redmond.
When tackling the problems associated with heart disease, raised blood sugar and cholesterol the onus is usually rightly on tackling diet, weight and whether the patient is a smoker or not. One often overlooked issue with all of these conditions relates to the amount of alcohol a person drinks and how that can affect the overall health of someone who is battling cardiovascular disease. Many people assume that alcohol is something that may perhaps only affect organs like the liver, but it can take its toll on the heart too. Being alcohol aware and knowing the problems it can create are so important in getting a handle on heart disease.
Your heart and alcohol
In the US, it is recommended that anyone, whether suffering from ill health or not, should only drink one or two alcoholic drinks a day. A measure of alcohol equates to a 4oz glass of wine, a 12oz glass of beer or a 1oz measure of spirits. In small quantities alcohol can be beneficial for you, as part of a healthy, well balanced diet and exercise regime.
In fact studies have shown that red wine can be one of the drinks that actively helps to fight against heart disease – but only if it is taken in moderation and not drunk to excess. Red wine contains flavonoids which have a positive antioxidant effect on the system and help to fight against furring of the arteries.
Should You Use Sports Drinks to Stay Hydrated?
Sports drinks provide the body with fluid, carbohydrates, and electrolytes.
First, let’s make sure we are thinking about the same types of drinks when we use the term “sports drinks”. By sports drinks, I’m referring to Gatorade, Accelerade, Powerade, Propel, and the like.
When you are in the grocery store and see the labels on some sports drinks you may be confused into thinking it’s something you would benefit from consuming. The variety of health benefits claimed can include such things as improved health and more energy.
When sports drinks we initially created, the whole point was to provide athletes the replacement fluid, electrolytes, and macronutrients (ie carbohydrates) they need to perform long term bouts of exercise optimally.
So think about that….do you perform long duration exercise where you want to replace carbohydrates burned? If you are like the average American or individual fighting heart disease, your goal is to lose weight. Replacing the calories you burn is not part of the ideal plan to achieve your goals.
In most cases, water is going to be enough for you to replace lost fluid during activity and keep core body temperature to an appropriate level.
Now, for workouts lasting more than 60 minutes, sports drinks do contain some nutrients that can be of value.
Carbohydrates
I’m going to include carbohydrates in this list, so we can differentiate for athletes versus you. When working out, your muscles utilize glycogen. Muscle glycogen levels are limited and become depleted. How quickly levels are depleted depend on exercise intensity and duration. Many sports drinks contain 10 to 20 grams (40 to 80 calories) of carbohydrates per 8 ounce serving. This is a 6 to 8% carbohydrate concentration. Due to high fluid losses during high intensity/duration activities you do not want the carbohydrate concentration to exceed 8% which can delay gastric emptying and lead to gastrointestinal issues.
As an FYI, soft drinks and energy drinks typically contain carbohydrate concentrations above 10%.
As I mentioned above, your goal is not necessarily to replace carbohydrates burned via the carbohydrates in sports drinks. However, there are now low calorie sports drinks on the market that also provide some of the below nutrients which may be beneficial to you.
Electrolytes
The Best Type of Rice to Promote Heart Health
Rice is frequently consumed in combination with other foods, such as vegetables, beans, and meat. It is a low cost food, so it allows you to stretch your food budget.
There are many varieties of rice, many of which you are probably not familiar with, such as Arborio, black, red, jasmine, basmati, and then the more common wild, brown, and white.
All rice provides a variety of nutrients, including carbohydrates and protein. Plus, rice is gluten free. A one cup serving of wild rice even contains 156 mg of omega 3 fatty acids to help promote heart health and lower cholesterol.
The two most common include white rice and brown rice, so let’s by compare these two options.
White Rice vs. Brown Rice
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Tobacco And Your Heart: Can Weight Gain After Quitting Be Harmful?
This week I am sharing with you a guest post provided by Lisa Redmond.
If we’re all brutally honest there are perhaps certain habits we all have that we know are bad for us, yet continue to carry on with them regardless. It may be drinking to excess frequently, indulging in foods that we recognize aren’t the most healthy dietary choices, or it could be smoking, whether it is done socially or regularly, every day. May 31st saw in World No Tobacco Day and this may well have been the incentive for a lot of people to finally ditch nicotine and reduce their risk of a heart attack, stroke or cancer. What sometimes puts people off stopping is a worry that they will gain weight and not be able to successfully shed the pounds once they quit, but a new study published in the Journal of American Medicine has put that theory to bed once and for all.
Quit smoking for good
The study, carried out by JAMA was done intensively over a period of thirty years from 1981 to 2011 – with the results being published in March this year. It involved over three thousand participants. The results of the scientists’ work showed that people who had chosen to give up smoking and had successfully managed to keep off nicotine for four or more years reduced their risk of having either a heart attack or stroke by as much as 54%, significantly higher than those people who carried on smoking, but knowing the risks. Similarly, those smokers who had recently quit and had managed to keep away from cigarettes, cigars or pipes for up to four years also had a 53% decreased chance of suffering the same complaints compared to those who carried on.
These results were a surprise given that many of the participants of the study typically gained anything between 5-10lbs during the period they quit. Speaking of the results, Dr James Meig who is based at Harvard University and is one of the co-authors of the study commented that “We can now say without question that stopping smoking has a very positive effect on cardiovascular risk, even if they experience moderate weight gain”.
Weight gain, smoking and your heart health
Lower Blood Pressure with Vegetables
Are you familiar with the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet? The DASH Diet is a very effective plan to lower blood pressure. However, it can be difficult to follow, especially if you don’t currently consume many vegetables. The DASH Diet calls for 4-5 servings of vegetables each day. One vegetable serving equals one-half cup or a one-cup serving of greens, such as spinach and lettuce.
Here are 3 easy to locate aromatic vegetables you can incorporate more into your daily diet for a variety of health benefits. Aromatic vegetables are used to add flavor to many dishes.
Onions – Probably one of the most often used aromatic vegetables in the United States. Onions are high in allyl sulfides, which aid in the fight against heart disease and cancer. Onions provide inulin, vitamin C, fiber manganese, and folate.
Celery – A great low-calorie addition to meals, celery promotes a lower blood pressure. Celery contains Vitamins A, C, and K, as well as potassium and quercetin. Quecetin is a flavonoid with anti-inflammatory properties to protect heart health.
Garlic – Reduces atherosclerosis, which is the thickening of your arterial walls, and reduces cancer risk.
Continue readingReduce Heart Disease Risk with “Meatless Mondays”
The Meatless Monday program is associated with the John Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. This program advocates that you can make a positive impact on your health by decreasing your meat intake once a week.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans in 2010 even included a section on vegetarian diets, indicating that vegetarian style eating patterns are associated with lower levels of obesity, decreased cardiovascular disease risk, lower blood pressure and reduced total mortality. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines focus on a diet rich in legumes, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts/seeds, with moderate amounts of lean meats, eggs, and dairy.
Notice that this focus is similar to recommendations of the DASH Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) to lower blood pressure. Those who follow a vegetarian diet tend to have healthier weights and lower intakes of saturated fat and cholesterol.
Are Plant Based Meals Nutritionally Adequate?
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