Chennai: Every year, World Heart Day is celebrated on 29 September, to raise awareness around cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and how they can be prevented.
World Heart Day is a reminder for people across the world to stop and assess lifestyle choices for them and their family, while acknowledging the need to take strict steps to ensure the safety of their health against this morbid disease. Research has suggested that due to the inherent genetic makeup Indians are more vulnerable to heart diseases.
Thus, with cardiovascular diseases becoming a serious health concern amongst many Indian households, dietary and lifestyle modifications can play an important role in bringing about a change and reducing risk factors for better heart health.
As people across the world adapt their lifestyles to accustom to this new sense of normal, taking care of our health is more important than anything now.
The first step in achieving better heart health is by making heart-healthy food choices. Adding a handful of nuts to your family and your daily diet is a good starting point, as they contain a host of nutrients, make for a healthy snacking option and can also help add to your heart health.
Sheela Krishnaswamy, nutrition and wellness consultant, emphasised on the need to eat right. She said, “Heart health should be a continued area of focus for individuals with an emphasis on making proactive, long-term lifestyle changes. To keep your heart healthy, itâs important to keep your weight under check, among other things. A 2015 study showed that snacking on 42 grams of almonds, on a daily basis, reduced the central adiposity (belly fat) and waist circumference that are well-established heart disease risk factors. The study also suggests that regular snacking on almonds helps in significantly lowering LDL cholesterol.”