For your heart

Sumathi has had a bad week. Her father was admitted to the hospital with a heart attack. She and her sister took turns staying at the hospital. During the interminable waiting while he underwent a coronary by-pass, she and her sister had time to reflect on their own risks for developing heart disease. “Women don’t have heart attacks, do they?” she asked. Wrong. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in urban Indian women. Women can and will develop heart attacks, specially if they have risk factors like high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity or abnormal levels of cholesterol and triglycerides.

Safeguard yourself

In February 2004, the American Heart Association published guidelines for prevention of heart disease in women. These guidelines are appropriate for Indian women also. By following these guidelines you can lessen your risk for developing heart disease. If you already have heart disease, you can still make a difference in the quality of your life.

Lifestyle interventions

Physical activity

Make sure that you accumulate a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity, like brisk walking, every day or at least 5 days a week. If you so wish, the exercise can be split into sessions of 10 minutes 3 times a day or 15 minutes twice a day.  For the walking to be considered effective, your pulse rate must increase but you should still be able to talk without becoming breathless.

Heart-healthy diet

Establish healthy eating habits. Do make sure that you eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Whole grains and a variety of dried beans are highly recommended. Stick to low-fat or non-fat milk (skim milk) and skim milk curds. Protein can be obtained from plant sources like legumes, and meats low in saturated fat (like fish and chicken). The saturated fat intake should be limited to less than 10% of calories. Saturated fats can be identified as fats that are solid at room temperature like butter, ghee and coconut oil.