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February is American Heart Month

Are You Ready in Red? It's time for American Heart Month 2014!

February is American Heart Month. We encourages all women to take charge of their heart health — today and every day! Here are some of the latest statistics* about women's heart disease:

• 42.9 million women are currently living with some form of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

• More than 2.6 million women have a history of heart attack.

• 33.2% of women do not engage in leisure-time physical activity.

• 60.2% of Caucasian women, 79.9% of African-American women, and 78.2% of Hispanic-American women are overweight or obese.

• Among Mexican-American women, 30.7% have cardiovascular disease.

• Among African-American women, 48.9% have cardiovascular disease.

* Source: Go A S, Mozaffarian, D, Roger, V L, Benjamin E J, et al. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2013 Update: A Report from the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Circulation 2013

Cardiac Health Tips for eating for your heart

Be sure to check with your doctor regularly.

Some general food guidelines are:

· Eat more fruits and vegetables. Half of your plate should be veggies.
· When eating meat, chose more fish and chicken rather than beef and pork.
· Eat nuts (1 oz. serving), and whole grains like oatmeal and whole wheat.
· Eat colorful foods, avoid the whites such as white bread, white rice, white potatoes, and sugar. These are simple carbohydrates.
· Limit fried food to only occasionally.
· If you are overweight, getting the excess weight off is important.
· Lowering your cholesterol is important. Getting your cholesterol to lower is often difficult when you're carrying around excess weight.