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Lifestyle Choices Do Your Heart Good

There’s good news for people who have heart disease. Now more than ever, research shows that lifestyle choices can help you live a longer, healthier life — even if you’ve already had a heart attack.

That’s the message from the experts. Every five years, an expert panel reviews the latest research on heart disease and provides updated health guidelines. The most recent review boiled down to this: When it comes to coronary artery disease (CAD), there’s no better cure than prevention.

What’s New

The panel endorsed several new preventive steps for people who have CAD:

• Get a flu shot every year. CAD increases the risk for complications from the flu.
• Exercise for 30 to 60 minutes a day, five to seven days a week. This is up from three to four days a week. The panel also suggests adding resistance training — weightlifting — two days a week.
• Keep LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol below 100 mg/dl — ideally, below 70 mg/dl. This was previously recommended only for people at very high risk for heart attack. It’s now the goal for all people who have CAD.
• Take only low-dose aspirin. If your doctor advises daily aspirin, take 75 to 162 milligrams per day. The previous recommendation allowed up to 325 milligrams.

Tried-and-True Measures

Amidst the new findings, research continues to reinforce the importance of these standard measures for managing CAD:

1. Don’t smoke. If you do, quit now. Within a year, your risk for CAD complications will be cut in half.
2. Eat a healthy, low-fat, low-salt diet. This is one of the best ways to help control blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure. Choose 1% or skim milk, whole-grain breads and multigrain cereals. Eat lots of veggies, without butter or sauces. Skip frying in favor of baking, steaming or broiling.
3. Be active. Brisk walking, bike riding, dancing and swimming are good choices. Lifestyle activities, such as housework and gardening, count too.
4. Maintain a healthy weight. Eating less, choosing nutritious foods and getting more exercise can equal a steady weight loss of up to 2 pounds a week.

If you have CAD, it’s especially important for your doctor to monitor your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. You may need medications in addition to making lifestyle changes.