Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States.  Many times heart disease is preventable with life style changes that you can do.  Here are five changes that you should take to prevent heart disease.

1. Stop smoking and all use of tobacco products.  Even occasional smoking, low tar and low nicotine cigarettes and smokeless tobacco put you at risk.  Even worse news is that even second hand smoke is risky to your health.  Cigarette smoke and nicotine make put stress on the heart and make it work harder.  Women who take birth control pills and smoke increase their risk of heart attack and stroke.  The risk is even greater after women turn 35.  Within only a year after quitting smoking, the risk of heart disease drops quickly.

2. Start exercising.  Moderate exercise can reduce your risk of a heart attack.  It also helps you to maintain a healthy weight and can help reduce chances of high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes.  You should get ½ to 1 hour of exercise most days of the week.  The time can be broken up into shorter segments as long as you reach the total time during the day.

3. Eat better food.  The American Heart Association has published the DASH eating plan that is available online.  The plan encourages you to eat low cholesterol, low fat and low salt.  It is also important to include Omega 3 fatty acids in your diet to lower cholesterol.  Almost all of us should include more fruit and vegetables in our diet.  Also remember that if you drink alcohol, it should be in moderation.

4. Keep your weight under control.  Excess weight leads to greater chances of developing other conditions that lead to heart disease.  One indicator of a healthy weight is a BMI of less that 25.  A ten percent reduction in weight can lower your blood pressure.

5. Visit the Doctor regularly.  Unless you are checked your will probably not know that you have high cholesterol or high blood pressure.  Regularly having these checked also allows you and your doctor to know if the trends are increasing or remaining about the same.  If your blood pressure is normal, it should still be tested every two years.  Cholesterol should be tested at least every five years.  If the numbers are high, then have them checked more regularly.

Heart disease prevention is a numbers game.  If you take steps to reduce the risk factors, you reduce the risk of developing heart disease.  Remember that heart disease is not only the number one cause of death among both men and women, but also is the number one cause of disability for both sexes.  If heart disease disables you, it reduces your earning potential and may cause economic hardship for your family.  If heart disease kills you, it not only causes economic hardship but also causes emotional pain for the family left behind.  Take steps to prevent heart disease you are worth it and your family will appreciate it.

Quitting smoking is the best thing you can do to improve your life and health. Any attempt to quit smoking will make you stronger. It’s never too late to reap the benefits, some of which happen within the first few days. With the right combination of practice, determination and support, you will be able to stop smoking for good! Quit smoking and you’ll start feeling better within 24 hours. The minute you stop smoking, your body will begin cleansing itself of tobacco toxins. Two days after you quit, your risk of heart attack will start decreasing … and that’s just the beginning! If You Need Help To Quit Smoking that’s a good thing, It’s the first step in Quitting smoking!

Each year thousands of people quit smoking, Over 85% of Those people Needed Help To Quit Smoking. So can you. It’s not easy, but quitting smoking is the single best thing you can do to improve your health and your quality of life.Quitting smoking can be a major turning point in your life. For many former smokers, quitting gives them a better sense of well-being and often leads to a number of other positive health changes.

Why Quit Smoking? You know You Need To Quit Smoking, Don’t feel any shame at all if You Need Help To Quit Smoking!

Most people know that smoking can cause lung cancer, but it can also cause many other cancers and illnesses.
As smokers, we live in denial about what cigarettes are doing to us. We have to, otherwise there would be no comfort in smoking, no relief…no pleasure. Yes, we know that smoking causes cancer and emphysema – we know smoking kills and that we’re playing roulette with our health. However, we also know that most smoking-related diseases take years to develop, so we tell ourselves we have time, that nothing will happen to us. Besides, the bad stuff always happens to other people anyway, right? Wrong You Need Help To Quit Smoking!

As smokers, we learn early on to put up a mental wall of denial between our smoking habit and the harsh reality of the damage we’re inflicting on ourselves with every cigarette smoked. We tell ourselves lies that allow us smoke with some level of comfort. We say we have time to quit…that cancer doesn’t run in our family…that we can quit any time we want to…that the bad things happen to other people. And because smoking is typically a slow killer, those lies support the framework of our wall of denial for years and years. If You Need Help To Quit Smoking, There is Tons of Help Online To Help You With Quitting Smoking!

TAKE YOUR LIFE BACK TODAY! If you’re a smoker wishing you could quit, make your mind up to dig your heels in and do the work necessary to get this monkey off your back now. You’ll never regret it.

NEED HELP TO QUIT SMOKING? 20 TIPS TO HELP YOU QUIT SMOKING!

1. Make an honest list of all the things you like about smoking.

2. Then make another list of why quitting won’t be easy.

3. Set a quit date.

4. Write all your reasons for quitting on an index card.

5. As you’re getting ready to quit, stop buying cartons of cigarettes.

6. Keep a list of when you smoke, what you’re doing at the time, and how bad the craving is.

7. Prepare a list of things to do when a craving hits.

8. When your quit date arrives, throw out anything that reminds you of smoking.

9. Instead of a cigarette break at work, play a game of solitaire on your computer.

10. Switch to a cup of herbal tea whenever you usually have a cigarette.

11. Switch your cigarette habit for a nut habit.

12. Carry some cinnamon-flavored toothpicks with you.

13. Think of difficult things you have done in the past.

14. To minimize cravings, change your routine.

15. If you relapse, just start again.

16. Put all the money you’re saving on cigarettes in a large glass jar.

17. Switch to decaf until you’ve been cigarette-free for two months.

18. Create a smoke-free zone.

19. Find a healthy snack food you.

20. Quit when you’re in a good mood.

Most people who make up their minds to stop smoking decide to go cold turkey. This means that one day they just stop. Unfortunately, it seldom works. Strong willed people tend to think they can make it, but will power has little to do with the process. Nicotine is among the most addictive of drugs, which can cause you severe withdrawal problems. Some people are successful for a while when they quit cold turkey, but generally they start again soon.

Another popular method is to slowly wean oneself of nicotine through the use nicotine gum or patches. The directions for the use of these products are found on the packages, and a number of people have found this to be a successful method to quit smoking. The gum and patches allow you to wean yourself off at your own pace. Follow the directions on the package carefully. Make an appointment with your physician to go over you plan in depth. Although this method eliminates the craving for nicotine it does not satisfy the hand to mouth habit that smoking established. Smoking is usually a physical, mental and emotional addiction.

Another option to consider is using medication to help you quit your smoking habit and nicotine addiction. Again, check with your doctor to discuss your options. Your doctor can prescribe a medication that is successful with few side effects. Of course, never take any medication that has been prescribed to someone else – the medication could adversely affect you or interfere with other medications you may be taking.

Stopping smoking is a lifelong process. The social habit of smoking hard can be hard to stop long after you’ve beat the nicotine addiction. You may need to change your social life, at least temporarily, while you try to quit smoking. For example, you may need to stop putting yourself in social situations where you smoked, such as enjoying a cigarette with a drink. This is a hard social to break and It may be necessary for you to these pitfalls for a while as you are trying to quit your dependence on a nicotine habit.