Preventing A Heart Attack
Those who have been diagnosed with coronary artery disease are at a high risk for heart attacks. Yet, just because of this risk does not mean that there isn’t a way for them to prevent it from happening. In order to do that you need to make drastic life changing choices.
Healthy lifestyle choices to help prevent heart attack include:
• Following a low-fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Pay careful attention to the amounts and types of fat in your diet. Lower your salt intake. These changes can help lower high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol.
• Losing weight if you’re overweight or obese.
• Quitting smoking.
• Doing physical activity to improve heart fitness. Ask your doctor how much and what kinds of physical activity are safe for you.
In addition to making lifestyle changes, you can help prevent heart attacks by treating conditions you have that make a heart attack more likely:
• High blood cholesterol. You may need medicine to lower your cholesterol if diet and exercise aren’t enough.
• High blood pressure. You may need medicine to keep your blood pressure under control.
• Diabetes (high blood sugar). If you have diabetes, control your blood sugar levels through diet and physical activity (as your doctor recommends). If needed, take medicine as prescribed.