Love Your Heart

Take care of your heart so it can return the favor.

Keep Your Numbers in Check

The first step to a healthy heart is learning the simple things you can do every day. By getting involved in fun physical activities and enjoying nutritious meals, you can help reduce your risk of heart disease. But don't do it for the "numbers," do it for you!

Get Physical

One of the best ways to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease is to start getting regular, moderate exercise, at least 30 minutes a day, most days of the week. Of course, if it's been a while since you've been physically active, the hardest part is just getting started. Lucky for you, there's Choose To Move™, a free 12-week physical activity program for women that you can follow in your own home, with no expensive gym memberships or special equipment.

Sign up today and you'll receive:

• Weekly emails with exercise tips to help you protect your heart
• Heart-healthy recipes to help you balance your nutrition
• Valuable nutrition advice you can share with family and friends
• Plus, to help you stay motivated, you can view video and blog entries from seven real women and get inspired by their triumphs, as you reach for your heart-healthy goals one move at a time.

Join now, it's FREE!

Diet & Nutrition
Make Good Food Choices

Healthy food habits can help you reduce three risk factors for heart attack and stroke, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, and excess body weight.

Set the stage for success by:

• Eating a balanced diet by following diet and lifestyle recommendations from the American Heart Association
• Eating foods low in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol.
• Drink delicious, unsweetened 100% fruit juice instead of soda.
• Enjoying a large glass of ice water, hot tea or another calorie-free beverage. Garnish with a twist of lemon or lime
• Dividing the extra portions of recipes into containers to eat throughout the rest of the week.
• Eating with other people. You'll eat less than if you eat alone.
• Knowing your snack "triggers" and planning ahead. Fight the urge for high calorie/high-saturated-fat and trans fat foods, by grabbing pre-cut carrots, celery and other raw vegetables when you're on the run.

Quit Smoking

Smoking is the single most preventable cause of death in the United States. If you smoke cigarettes (or cigars), you have a higher risk of illness and death from heart attack, stroke and other diseases. These include lung, mouth and throat cancers; chronic lung diseases and infections; congestive heart failure; and peripheral vascular disease (in the legs and arms). What's more, constant exposure to other people's tobacco smoke increases your risk, even if you don't smoke. The good news is that when you stop smoking, no matter how long or how much you've smoked, your risk of heart disease and stroke starts to drop. It's cut in half after one year without smoking, then continues to decline until it's as low as a nonsmoker's risk. So if you don't smoke, don't start. If you do smoke, love your heart and quit today. Need more motivation? Visit these American Heart Association resources for help quitting smoking.