While many people are concerned that they have a healthy heart, they may not know exactly what is used to measure heart health. In fact, there are some very basic measurements that you can take regularly to make sure your heart is in optimum condition.

Blood pressure is the first number you’ll want to check. This is actually a measurement of the force of blood against the walls of your blood vessels. It’s made up of two numbers. The top number is your systolic pressure.

This is the pressure on your vessel walls when your heart is actually beating and is at its highest. The bottom number is called your diastolic pressure. This is the pressure at its lowest when your heart is between beats.

Your blood pressure may go up or down because of stress or movement. But overall it should be around 120/80. The bottom number is the one that usually concerns your doctor more because it’s the pressure when your heart is resting. If this number is high, it usually indicates a problem.

Cholesterol is the other number you need to know. There are four numbers here that you’ll want to measure. The first is your total cholesterol. A healthy total cholesterol number is under 200. From 200-239 you’re at borderline risk for heart disease, and higher than 240 puts you at high risk.

Cholesterol can also be broken down into HDL, LDL, and triglycerides. HDL stands for high-density lipoprotein and is the healthy cholesterol. That number should be at least 40 or higher.

LDL is your low-density lipoprotein, or unhealthy cholesterol. Your LDL numbers should be below 100 to have the best heart health. Finally, your triglyceride numbers should be below 150. This is the kind of cholesterol that comes from unhealthy fats.

You also need to know your blood glucose level. This is also known as your blood sugar level. It’s a measurement used to find out if you have diabetes. Many people have high blood sugar and have absolutely no symptoms. However, diabetes can cause an increased risk of heart disease. Healthy blood glucose levels are between 70 mg/dl and 100 mg/dl.

By making an appointment with your doctor, you can have all of these numbers and levels checked. The blood test required for your cholesterol and blood sugar levels is quick and easy. You’ll get your results back in about two weeks. Once you know where you stand, you can make any changes necessary in your lifestyle to improve your heart health.

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If you want to improve your heart health then you need to take the appropriate steps each day to start living a healthier lifestyle.

Heart healthy recipes are a good way to start improving your nutritional intake each day.  Improving and balancing your diet isn’t as hard as it may appear.  Start with a few changes and incorporate a few others each couple of weeks.  Before you know it you’ll be eating the recommended amount of fruits, vegetables and whole grains each day.

Making these changes to your diet using heart healthy recipes will help to decrease your risk of heart attack, stroke and immune mediated disease and will improve your cholesterol and triglyceride levels.  And the best part is that when you have a great basis of flavenoids, omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins, and folate the occasional chocolate, processed foods and desserts won’t be as detrimental to the health of your heart.

Most of your current recipes can be made into heart healthy recipes with a few basic changes.  You can begin by changing the oils you use.  Instead of using vegetable oil, lard or even canola oil the best oil to use is Olive oil.  The difference is in the way in which the oil is processed.  The olive oil is cold pressed while other oils are heat-treated which changes the chemical make up of the food.   Using a light extra virgin olive oil will decrease the flavor to almost nothing and you won’t notice the difference in any of your cooking – but your heart will.

Next try another substitution.  After dinner each night eat a serving of seasonal fruit such as pineapple, berries, cherries, melons, or watermelon.  The additional natural sugar will stave off your cravings for ice cream, candy and chocolate while delivering a high vitamin packed punch to your diet.  After you have decreased your sugar, changed your oils and increased your fruits you begin to eat a salad with each dinner or lunch.  This will increase the amount of green leafy vegetables you eat.

Instead of snacking on chips and dips try using raw nuts and seeds with organic raisons.  Mix them together for a great trail mix that will kill your hunger pangs in the afternoon and give your heart protection against clots and arrhythmias.  Try to get rid of all of the processed chips and snack foods in the house.  Substitute ice cream for sherbet or homemade Popsicles made with real fruit juice.

When you are cooking meals don’t deep fry but oven bake instead.  Get rid of the sour cream, heavy whipping creams and butter from recipes.  Instead substitute whole foods using baked potato for French Fries, brown rice instead of white or vinegar and oil based salad dressings instead of mayonnaise-based dressings.

Using heart healthy recipes to boost your nutrition will help your heart, your energy, decrease your cholesterol and triglycerides as well as decrease your risk of diabetes, stroke, heart disease and immune mediated illnesses.  Keeping your heart healthy keeps the rest of your body healthy too.

Here are a couple of heart healthy recipes to get you started.

BAKED DIJON CHICKEN

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, all visible fat removed

1 tablespoon Dijon or coarse-grained mustard

2 teaspoons lemon or lime juice

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 375:F.

Rinse chicken or turkey and pat dry.

In a small bowl, stir together remaining ingredients. Arrange chicken or turkey in a single layer in a baking dish. Spread the mixture over the top of each piece.

Bake, uncovered, 15-20 minutes, or until chicken or turkey is tender and no longer pink.  If you want flavored broth for rice or potatoes add approximately ½ a cup of water or chicken stock to the chicken approximately 10 minutes into cooking and cover the cooking dish.

BAKED CHICKEN PARMESAN

Olive oil spray

6 boneless chicken breast fillets (approximately 4 ounces each), skinned, all visible fat removed

4 slices whole-wheat bread

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 4500F. Lightly spray with olive oil spray a rectangular baking sheet and a rectangular cake-cooling rack of a slightly smaller size.

Place rack onto baking sheet. Set aside.

Rinse chicken and pat dry. Set aside. Place bread in blender or the work bowl of a food processor. Process into fine crumbs.

Pour crumbs into a shallow bowl. Add garlic powder, paprika, cheese, parsley and thyme. Stir to mix well.

Pour buttermilk into a shallow bowl.

Dip fillets into buttermilk, shake off excess and then dip into crumbs.

Place fillets on prepared rack. Drizzle each with a teaspoon olive oil.

Bake 15 minutes; turn fillets over and bake 10 minutes more.

You can achieve a healthy heart if you are willing to take simple steps each day to start living a healthier lifestyle. Try incorporating heart healthy recipes into your diet weekly.

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