What is Heart Disease ?
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Heart Disease :
If you asked an average group of 30 women what disease they most fear will kill them, 24 would say it is breast cancer that really scares them. Yet of those 30 women, only 1 is likely to die of breast cancer.
The reality is that 10 of those women will probably succumb to heart disease, the number one killer of women. In fact, cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke, claims more women’s lives each year than all forms of cancer combined.
Too many women think of heart disease as a “man’s disease” they don’t need to worry about. Yet nearly two-thirds of American women who die suddenly of a heart attack had no prior symptoms, and two-thirds of those who survive a heart attack never make a full recovery.
February is Heart Month, a good time for everyone, and especially women, to learn more about heart disease, the risk factors for heart disease, and how, with your doctor’s help, you can assess your won risk for developing heart disease. It’s also a great time for making changes in your daily habits to give you a better chance for living a long and healthy life.
What Is It ?
Heart disease is a disorder of the blood vessels of the heart that can lead to a heart attack. A heart attack happens when an artery becomes blocked, preventing oxygen and nutrients from getting to the heart.
Some people aren’t too concerned about this disorder because they think it can be cured by surgery. This is a myth. It is important to realize that heart disease is a lifelong condition – once you get it, you will always have it. The condition of your blood vessels will steadily worsen unless you make changes in your daily habits. That is why it is so important to take action now to prevent or control heart disease.
Risk Factors for Heart Disease :
Risk factors are conditions or habits that increase the chances of developing a disease or having it worsen. There are two types of heart disease risk factors, those you can’t change and those you can control.
One risk factor that cannot be changed is a family history of early heart disease. Also, for women, age becomes a risk factor at age 55, in part because a woman’s production of estrogen drops. Middle age is also a time when women tend to develop other risk factors for heart disease.
Just because you may be 55 or older or have a family history of heart disease is no reason to throw in the towel. Additional risk factors – those you can control - don’t just add to your likelihood of developing heart disease; they multiply it.
Risk factors you can control include smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, overweight, physical inactivity and diabetes. In our next column, we will look at how you and your doctor can determine your personal risk for heart disease.
By looking at the risk factors listed above, you can probably guess that a healthy diet is important to maintaining heart health. To prove that can actually be tasty too, try this low-fat, low-calorie dessert that the whole family will love. The recipe was passed along to Mrs. C, tweaked a little, and renamed:
Mrs. C’s Delight 8 oz. fat-free cream cheese, at room temperature
2 bananas, thinly sliced
½ cup Splenda sweetener (or sugar for slightly more calories)
16 oz. frozen strawberries, not thawed
½ cup crushed pineapple with juice
8 oz. fat-free frozen whipped topping, thawed
1. Cream together cream cheese and sweetener.
2. Stir in fruits.
3. Fold in whipped topping.
4. Pour into 9”x9” pan or 2-quart gelatin mold and freeze.
5. Allow to soften slightly before serving.
Makes 9 servingsOther Tips from MRSC:
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