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Which is better to improve heart health: diet or exercise?
To improve your heart health, diet and exercise are the best choices. However, the question is, which one is better? This article will help you figure it out.
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A good diet can help you improve your heart health. Eating is a simple yet effective way to maintain a healthy body. (Shutterstock.com/File)
The heart is like a machine. It pumps blood around your body. Like other machines, it needs to be maintained.
To improve your heart health, diet and exercise are the best choices. However, the question is, which one is better? This article will help you figure it out.
Eat a healthy diet
A good diet can help you improve your heart health. Eating is a simple yet effective way to maintain a healthy body.
Reduce cholesterol levels
There are many types of foods that can lower cholesterol levels and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) in your body, such as oats, beans, soy, fish containing omega-3 fatty acids and citrus fruits.
Increase high-density lipoproteins (HDL)
Your high-density lipoprotein levels are an important measure of heart health. HDL cholesterol can reduce the risk of heart disease. You can boost your HDL cholesterol levels by choosing healthier fats, which can be found in plants, nuts and fish like salmon or tuna.
(Read also: Which is more effective for losing weight: exercise or diet?)
Lose weight
Being overweight can put pressure on your heart, as it needs to pump harder to supply blood throughout the body. Thus, being overweight is linked to high blood pressure, which is a risk factor for many heart diseases such as stroke. Extra fat can also damage the function of the kidneys, which help to reduce blood pressure.
Weight loss may help improve your blood pressure, blood flow and cholesterol levels.
Exercise
Exercises has many benefits. These benefits apply to people of all ages and health conditions.
Strengthen your heart
Your heart is made of muscle, so it becomes stronger and healthier if you exercise. Exercise helps to improve your heart’s function and its ability to pump blood throughout your body.
Reduce coronary heart disease risk factors
When you do regular exercise, it can reduce your risk of getting coronary heart disease. Coronary heart disease is a condition in which your heart muscle is not supplied with enough oxygen-rich blood.
In this situation, the arteries are narrowed, reducing the amount of blood that flows to your heart. In some cases, an area of plaque can break open, causing a blood clot to develop on the surface of the plaque.
If a blood clot becomes larger, it can block the flow of blood in your bloodstream. Your heart tissue will not receive enough blood. This can cause a heart attack.
(Read also: Diet rules made to be broken)
Exercise can reduce risk factors because:
- It can lower blood pressure.
- It can raise HDL cholesterol levels.
- It reduces levels of C-reactive protein in your body. High levels of C-reactive protein may increase the risk of coronary heart disease.
- It helps reduce overweightness and obesity. Regular exercise can help you keep your weight in a healthy range.
- It may help you stop smoking. Smoking can increase the risk of heart disease.
People who are not physically active have a greater chance of developing coronary heart disease. Exercise can help your heart work more effectively.
Which one is better?
Both diet and exercise have advantages for strengthening your heart. But they also have some disadvantages.
It is hard at the beginning to follow a healthy diet or to build a workout routine. You may feel muscle soreness or find that food is not delicious, or you may feel you have to spend a lot of money on exercise equipment and food.
Diet and exercise should be applied together to create the best situation for a healthy heart. If you eat a healthy diet without doing any physical activity or if you exercise without eating a balanced diet, you cannot enjoy all the benefits.
Diet and exercise have their own benefits in improving your heart. Each offers benefits that the other does not. You should combine the two according to your healthcare provider’s instructions in order to have a healthy heart. (kes)
