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Heart disease checklist for women

If you can check off all of these, then make copies of this easy-to-follow list to all of women in your life.
1. Quit smoking. Everyone has to know this by now, but many women simply make no effort to toss the cancer sticks for good. Even if a woman is thin, smoking still ranks high as a risk factor for heart attack and stroke.

2. Watch your weight. Don't make excuses, like you bore five children or you're too old to lose weight. Excess fat is excess fat is excess fat, regardless of where you think it came from. Excess weight strains the heart; it's as simple as that.

3. Nutrition. Curb sodium intake; this doesn't just mean eliminate the salt shaker; but most sodium intake comes from boxed microwavable dishes, canned goods and boxed dinner preparations. Eat three whole fruits every day no matter what; and eat three servings a day of a green vegetable.

4. Supplements. Take garlic and fish oil supplements every day.

5. Get moving. You've heard this before, for sure. And the words, "Get moving" are open to wide interpretation. This doesn't mean vacuum more often. It means take the bed sheets off the treadmill in your basement and briskly walk on it for 30 minutes every day with a good arm pump. Take aerobics classes, and if you're not using weight machines, then start using them.

6. Alcohol. Do you really need this? Examine why you drink if you do. Is it because of social expectationsor business meetings, in which colleagues are offering you alcohol, and you think you must accept in order to get the business deal? Is it to relax and unwind? In other words, is taste ever the reason you drink? Though reports abound that the French drink a lot and have lower rates of heart disease, there are other lifestyle factors that certainly contribute to their lower heart attack incidence; for example, the French don't eat as much sugar and processed junk as do Americans. Alcohol is never necessary for heart health.

7. Stress. Don't let the little things in life set you off. So what if your child spilled juice all over the kitchen floor. When something like this happens, pretend you just got diagnosed with life-threatening heart disease and can only be saved with surgery. You'll see how quickly that spilled juice becomes insignificant.

8. Menopausal symptom management. It has not been scientifically proven that menopausal women must take traditional hormone therapy to deal with this point of their lives. Estrogen alone will not prevent heart attacks; and estrogen with progestin actually increases heart attack risk, blood clotting and stroke.
Numbers, numbers. Do you monitor your blood pressure faithfully with one of those home gadgets? And if the numbers are always low, do you then assume your cholesterol must be low? Big mistake! If one numerical value is low, this doesn't mean the other is too! Have all numbers regularly checked.

Learn more about this author, Lorra Garrick.
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