Pump Of Life

Needless to say that if your heart stops beating, you're dead. It is truly the pump of life as it circulates blood throughout our bodies. It is the main organ that needs care and maintenance to keep us in top form.


There are seven lifestyle factors that will reduce your chances of heart disease.


-Get active. You should strive to do at least 30 minutes of daily moderate physical activity. A brisk walk, five times per week, can be the minimal.

- Control cholesterol (lower than 200 mg/dL). If you are on medications, be sure you get monitored by your doctor.

- Eat better. I've discussed this often on this blog. The important thing is to cut the fats, salts and sugars and increase fiber, protein and potassium to mention a few.

- Manage blood pressure (lower than 120/80 mm Hg).

- Lose weight (achieve a normal BMI).

- Reduce blood sugar (fasting glucose below 100).

- Stop smoking. This should be number one on a healthy heart list. If you never smoked, don't start.


We should always try to maintain an overall healthy lifestyle and the heart is ground zero to your well being.

To Be OR Not To Be

You think you're doing the right thing and you see the results. Suddenly what you were told was the right thing arrives with a few flaws. How many studies have said that coffee is bad? Then came that coffee was good, then bad, then good, then bad, and so on.


When I switched from white bread to whole wheat, I began to feel better and even began to lose weight. Now they say that wheat, even whole wheat, isn't as healthy as first thought. And the controversy goes on.


My point is that what you may have been told about the benefits of foods may be debunked in the future. I say that if it works, keep doing it.


Having said that, we have come to another controversy because fish oil isn't as heart and brain healthy as first thought. This applies especially to the supplements.


The real key to healthy nutrition comes in the final paragraph:


Says Tufts’ Lichtenstein, “The important point to focus on is it’s the whole diet and not just one component that can be put in a pill. I think current guidance to consume at least two fish meals per week, with the exception of battered and fried fish fillets, is still the best advice we can give people.”


It is the overall nutrition that will lead to a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Foods For The Heart

Heart healthy foods should be incorporated in our daily meals to help our most important muscle function smoothly. The Ornish Diet was ranked as one of the best heart-healthy nutrition of 2012. It ranked high heart health and other health benefits. Perhaps it's because the foods that benefit the heart, also benefit other health issues.


The overall heart health resource can be found at the American Heart Association site. There is also a guide that goes with your heart to help prevent heart disease through your nutrition and habits.


Feed your heart what it needs and it will do a fantastic job at boosting your overall health.

Super Salads

I'll start off by telling you that there is no healthier salad dressing than vinegar and extra virgin olive oil(EVOO). The vinegars can be red wine, distilled, apple cider, etc., vinegar. For a semi sweetness add more oil. For more bitterness add more vinegar. Lemon juice can also be added or as a vinegar replacement. If you are looking for other healthy dressing options, find them here.

Replace salt with a turmeric, garlic salt, black pepper, combo. These are super spices that combined with greens and vegetables have a super antioxidant affect.

I talked about the greens. If you want to make a heart-healthy salad. Experiment with adding salmon, nuts, berries, beans, and rice. For the grains, try wrapping it in a whole-wheat tortilla, or bake the tortilla and use as chips for a taco salad, with a salsa dressing. I wouldn't recommend that you use all three meats(fish, poultry, lean meats) in one salad, but alternate using the fish as the better choice meat.

Tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, broccoli, mushrooms, will all supercharge your salads. Add onions, bell peppers, hot and sweet peppers, etc., the list is endless.

My suggestion is that if you want to make a salad to fit your needs, such as weight loss or energy, you Google "energy foods" or "weight loss" foods and build your own.

Think you can put together a brain salad? You can even create an aphrodisiac salad!