February is National Heart Month

Four weeks dedicated to heart disease awareness. According to the CDC (center for disease control) over 715,000 americans will have heart disease. 600,00 die of heart disease. Having sickle cell is bad enough. Having heart disease on top of that would be much worse. As you know sickle cell has many complications. How did we allow heart disease to be so rampant? We were not vigilant, we allowed lobbyist and companies to rewrite the rules.

We allowed process foods high in fat, sugar, and sodium in our homes. We ate out of control portions in restaurants, which contributed to obesity. We need to break those habits and create some good ones. We need to read labels, cut out process foods, exercise, and eat right. Heart disease is the biggest killer of both men and women. When you read the label read the ingredients they are listed in order of what is most prevalent, look at the fat, sugar, sodium and the portion size and how many portions are in the container. Wherever possible cook from scratch eliminate process foods. If you were to come to my house and look in my pantry you would find Pasta, Spaghetti Sauce, GMO free tacos, salsa, sodium free tuna, Crackers, and a lot of can fruit in case theres a hurricane. I occasionally have chips (they are my husbands). If you don’t bring it home you can’t eat it. If you must eat it go to the convenience store and buy a single serving bag of whatever your weakness is. You don’t need a giant bag of chips, no one does. Use less sugar in your coffee and tea. Put down the salt shaker use spices, and herbs. Make your own spice blends it will save you money, and taste better. It will also eliminate the extra salt.

To avoid heart disease take the steps to exercise three to five days a week. Eat right everyday. Increase your consumption of fruits and vegetables. Eat less process foods. Take care of your heart it is the only one you have. Happy Valentines Day.

SC Warrior

1 Comment

  1. Ellej on February 5, 2014 at 2:31 pm

    This is a great article! I never new this month was National Heart Month. Recreating a healthy menu for at home is a challenge but a must. We must travel and look for deals on healthy food because for most that is the challenge to change. Most people can’t afford to buy better so we buy what we can afford. So seeking healthy options outside our comfort zone may work. Thanks for the great info!



Categories