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How Can You Help Your Heart Health?

How Can You Help Your Heart Health?

Maintaining an effective diet, how to prevent heart disease, and the best way to create public change with regards to heart health are some of the topics Dr. Manchanda covers in his interview with Radio 620 WTMJ with Derrell Connor.

 

Customizing your diet using food swaps

Food swaps are a dieting tactic Dr. Manchanda outlines in his book, Your Heart House. By simply replacing certain food items for heart healthy snacks and alternatives (lettuce for bread, water for juices and soda, fruit for dessert, etc.) you’re already taking an enormous step towards preventing heart disease.

Regulating alcohol intake is another way to ensure your heart health is top notch. Although studies show that alcohol can have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects, too much can cause cardiomyopathy and damage the heart walls. It’s best then to stick to 1-2 glasses of wine or its equivalent a night, Dr. Manchanda says.

Sugar versus fat is another issue covered in the interview, particularly how much more dangerous sugar can be due to its deceptive properties. For instance, sugar can easily be hidden in the unlikeliest of places, like salad dressing or condiments or sports drinks, and thus can be consumed without even knowing it. And once in the body, it is mostly turned directly into fat.

Boosting Your heart health through prevention and education

Dr. Manchanda recommends four different techniques to help prevent heart disease.

• Get active

• Quit smoking

• Improve your diet

• Reduce your stress levels

Many people have probably heard of these preventative techniques before, and many who have heard of them have still chosen not to use them. They are overused clichés that end up falling on deaf ears for many.

However, Dr. Manchanda says, getting these messages across while at the same time educating the public on how they work to help your body on a fundamental level is the key. When you know how and why something works you are more likely to use it than if someone simply tells you to do it.

That’s why Dr. Manchanda’s Your Heart House is so effective: it simplifies the complexity of your heart and puts it and its health into terms anyone can understand. And that, Dr. Manchanda says, is the key to change.

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