Saturday, January 30, 2010

February is heart month




Isn't Valentine just too cute (unfortunately she's probably bacon by now, I know I didn't eat her). So you may already be aware that February is indeed heart month, or the month for heart & stroke awareness. I was reading the latest issue of SHAPE magazine the other night, and came across an article about lessening our risk factors for heart disease.


Well, the article got me thinking about how I had allowed my good habits to decline. And I began wondering what sort of affect this was having on my heart. I asked my Mum about our family history, and if heart disease or strokes were scattered in there. I have an uncle who suffered a stroke on my father's side, but that was it as far as we knew.


So my genetic risk factors seem fairly low. But I know genetics aren't the only factors. My day to day choices today will affect how well my ticker works in ten-twenty-fifty years. Should I be proactive, or reactive?


I hope the answer to that is clear. So after much thought and rereading of the article, I decided to make some positive changes. Mum and I made an agreement to try to eat our healthiest for one month. Now, we don't eat horrible anyway, but there are some processed foods that maybe should be less frequent in our home. I was surprised that Mum was so willing to accept the challenge, but she is totally up for it (after all she's not the one addicted to her nightly bowl of ice cream...that is my own demon to face).
The great thing is we've planned out the month's meals. We've found that making up meal schedules ahead of time, makes a huge difference in the quality of the food we eat (no lazy pizza or fries), and the grocery bill gets affected for better (less food wastage, and its cheaper because we don't run to the store and just pick up anything frequently). I'm excited to cook meals every night, some old, some new recipes. I'll be certain to document a few of the new vegetarian ones we'll make.


So think about YOUR heart this month, and give it a little lovin. I'll be writing more about the topic througout the month.



Cheers.

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