Easy Tips for a Healthy Heart:Highlights from Saturday's Show

Easy Tips for a Healthy Heart:
Sorry I'm late posting this.  I lost track of time, and forgot to post this.  February is National Heart Month, so Saturday morning I mentioned a few easy to implement tips on keeping your heart healthy.  Heart disease is the nations #1 disease, but prevention doesn't have to be as hard to implement as you may think.

Oranges:
(Reduces blood pressure, cholesterol, & heart failure)
This super food is probably in your fridge or fruit bowl right now.  Oranges are readily available and packed with lots of heart healthy goodness.  Here's the nerdy girl breakdown: the soluble fiber pectin acts like a giant sponge and sops up cholesterol in your food and blocks it from being absorbed by your body.  Potassium in oranges counteracts salt and keeps your blood pressure in check, and citrus pectin helps neutralize galectin-3 (a protein) that causes scarring of your heart tissue which causes congestive heart failure.  Congestive heart failure is difficult to treat with meds, but a diet high in fruits and veggies like the orange will decrease your risk of heart failure by 37%. Not too shabby.

LOL!
(Burn Calories, increase circulation, works cardiovascular muscles)
Easy enough, yet sometimes we forget that laughter really is good for us.  Laughing burns calories, increases your circulation, and activates your heart muscles.  Researchers at the University of Maryland found that people with an active sense of humor were less likely to have heart disease that those who didn't laugh as often.  Harvard researchers found that individuals with positive attitudes were 50% less likely to develop heart problems.

Music:
(Stress reducer, stabilizes blood pressure)
Your favorite tunes are not just a great stress buster.  Japanese researchers found that people who regularly listened to their favorite music lowered their systolic blood pressure by 5 to 6 points within 3 months.  Keep tuning in to 88.5 WJIE.  We are 100% heart healthy.