A business associate mentioned about World Heart Day on September 29th a couple of days ago and the alarming statistics he shared got me curious to find out more about it.
Statistics he shared with me said that India had about 60% of World's Cardiac patients. Every 2nd person who gets detected with cardiac ailment in the world is an Indian. That, coming from an Indian heritage, I need to worry about my own heart health, don’t I?
About World Heart Day
As I began reading about World Heart Day, it was interesting to know that it was created in the year 2000 to inform people around the globe that heart disease and stroke are the world’s leading cause of death. Since then, World Heart Day takes place on 29 September each year.
The World Heart Federation conducts, and the members of this community promote this day and conduct, various worldwide events to help spread awareness about the importance of heart health among men, women and children.
Shocking Statistics Related To Heart Disease
Would you be alarmed if you knew that each year more than 17 million people die of cardiovascular disease out of which 80% of the population lives in the developing world?
According to a recent forecast on World Heart Federation’s website, these numbers are only rising. It is expected that by 2030, about 23 million people will die from cardiovascular diseases annually.
For more facts about heart disease, you may want to check out these two resources:
- Heart disease facts by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Key Facts on Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) from World Health Organization
What Can We Do About It?
The statistics are scary and nobody can guarantee a gunshot method to avoid any kind of heart disease. There are no guarantees in life in pretty much everything. Yet, with common sense and simple acts with daily discipline, we can significantly reduce the risk of a heart disease.
According to research, at least 80% of premature deaths from heart disease and stroke could be avoided if the main risk factors such as the use of tobacco, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity could be reduced.
The World Heart Day event is all about increasing awareness about these risk factors and encouraging people to take charge of their heart health.
Commitments I Have Made For My Heart Health
Especially when it comes to our own health and wellness, this is sometimes easier said than done. The main problem is, our body doesn’t complain until something goes wrong and therefore, we tend to ignore activities such as exercise or eating the right kind of food.
As soon as something goes wrong, our health gets our attention and we act in accordance with the best practices until recovery, and then, we tend to slip into old habits again.
Although I made these commitments last year and I have been diligently living up to them, I am going to share these 5 commitments with you with an expectation that it helps you renew your commitment to your heart health:
1. Diet – Go Organic As Much As Possible
In today’s fast food dominated society, where eating out is so much easier than cooking at home, resisting to eat outside is a decent daily fight with temptation. Although I can’t completely eliminate eating out, I have significantly reduced eating out for the last several months.
I prefer to buy milk, fruits and vegetables as much as possible from farmer markets where organically produced stuff is being sold. Surely organically produced fruits and vegetables may not contain all the nutrition, but it is certainly a better choice over non-organic stuff that we get from other stores. Plus, it definitely lacks pesticides which is definitely a much harmful health hazard that goes inside our bodies when we consume non-organic stuff.
This is one commitment I made to myself for my family’s health. We do not consume non organic fruits and vegetables unless we absolutely run out of options.
2. Add Organically Produced Vitamin Supplements To Diet
All the required nutrients may still not be available even within organic fruits and vegetables because the older the fruit (for example), the less nutrition it holds.
In our society today, we really can’t afford to get fresh from farm stuff everyday. Therefore, it is critical that we supplement our diet with high quality vitamins and minerals. That ensures that our body never lacks any vitamin or mineral that is needed on a daily basis.
In my family, we believe in Nutrilite, a company that is known for producing plant based organically produced multivitamins and supplements. All adults in my family are on their flagship product named “Nutrilite Perfect Pack for Your Health” and both my boys get daily vitamin reinforcement through Nutrilite’s multivitamins for kids.
With this, I have peace of mind knowing that we feed our family the best of nature even in this fast pace world!
3. Eliminate Consumption Of Unhealthy Food And Beverages
This is no-brainer and not at all a difficult one for me. I have never consumed tobacco products and I don’t like alcoholic beverages.
Research has shown that children learn from their elders at home. If parents don’t consume tobacco products and alcoholic beverages, chances are very high that children will also not get hooked onto such habits. On the other hand, children of those who do consume tobacco and alcohol are more likely to also cultivate those habits.
For my family, the calculation is simple. We are already paying premium prices for organic food and vitamin supplements. We can’t afford to nullify our efforts by consuming food which is known for only creating health issues.
4. Exercise For About 30 To 60 Minutes Every Alternate Day
This began last year when there was a weight loss competition I participated in. I lost weight, I exercised regularly and I felt so great at the end of the competition period.
Since then, I consciously made a choice to go for at least 30 minutes of brisk walking every alternate day. I have kept that routine as much as possible (except for the days I am travelling). If I get some extra free time, I also add a couple of other exercises to my routine that day (such as cycling or pushups etc.)
Getting 30 minutes of exercise in the morning keeps me energetic for the rest of the day. I feel lighter, happier, positive and upbeat the whole day. This commitment is a bit harder to keep because everyday there is a temptation to skip walking that day. It is a fight between discipline and temptation – every single day. But when I think of my heart health, it gives me a sense of responsibility and then I go out anyway and finish that 30 minute workout.
5. Eliminate Stress With Positive Mental Attitude
There is nothing more harmful than negative thinking for your health. A negative mind can only produce negative emotions which causes further stress for mind and body.
I learned early on in my career that negativity can’t be erased. It can only be diluted by putting more positive stuff into our brains. When positivity is overwhelming, we become people with a positive mental attitude. That’s exactly what I decided to do.
I don’t watch news. I don’t read what’s bad happening around the world today. I have no time for filling my mind with negative thoughts by accumulating general knowledge.
I study successful people. I invest my time reading personal development books. I associate with people who are excited about life, who are going somewhere in life. I make friends with people who are upbeat. I keep myself motivated by my dreams and goals. I have no time for negative people or defeating emotions.
By doing that, I’ve been able to significantly reduce the impact of negativity from my life and therefore, I hardly need to visit a doctor. I go to visit my doctor once a year for a general health checkup and in the end he says, “Okay! See you next year.”
What Resolutions/Commitments Are You Making?
Today we have an opportunity to prevent the future impact of heart disease and stroke by adopting heart-healthy living from childhood and throughout adulthood.
The World Heart Federation together with its members is calling on individuals and parents to reduce their own and their family’s risk because healthy children lead to healthy adults and healthy adults lead to healthy families and communities. What plans are you making to ensure a healthy heart for yourself and your family?
I look forward to your thoughts in the comments now. Thank you kindly!
Hi Kumar,
Actually I’m into health and wellness and this is so true. I don’t know if the statistics are the same, but quite likely it’s similar in the U.S. I know heart disease is one of our number one killers.
All of your suggestions are right to point. With obesity being a problem in the U.S, and it’s relation to heart disease, we must make people very aware.
Thanks for writing this post. It is important for us, particularly those of us over a certain age to watch our health and our hearts.
Thank so much. Great article.
Barbara
Hello Barbara,
I am glad to know that you are in health and wellness industry. It is always a pleasure to get to know somebody who understands what we are talking about and I am glad you enjoyed reading this post.
Oh yes, obesity is another problem and in fact, it is one of the leading causes to increased heart disease risk. But a regular exercise with a positive mental attitude can fix anything, isn’t it? 🙂
Regards,
Kumar
Hi Kumar,
Thank you for a heart-felt post. 🙂
When I was 12 years old I had a near-death experience, My heart had stopped and it seemed like I floated outside my body. Even though I was dead to the world, I was able to recount exactly what happened, because it was as if I had been observing myself outside of myself. Eventually my heart restarted.
When I was 16 years, I had very irregular heartbeats, called arrythmia.
My heart was so erratic, it would speed up, slow down, stop only to start and race again.
At the time, the doctor put me on an experimental drug to control it.
When I was in the military, I had an angiogram and went through a battery of tests.
I was subsequently released from the military.
I was pronounced clinically dead when I was 24. After 20 minutes of CPR and being paddled twice, the doctors were able to revive me. So, for me, every day is a gift.
As a background, my father had heart problems all his life. By the time he passed in 2009, I had lost track of how many heart attacks, bypass and stent surgeries he had.
I think much of his heart trouble stemmed from his anger. For much of his life he was an
angry, mean-spirited and violent man. I refuse to be anything like that.
Here’s the great news. When I turned 50, I had a stress test to monitor my heart, and other than a small hole in my heart the doctor deemed insignificant, I have a perfect heart. I exercise regularly and eat healthy.
I firmly believe that keeping an excellent attitude towards life produces heart health.
Kind Regards,
Bill
Kind Regards,
Bill
Wow Bill! Thank you very much for sharing such an incredible and inspiring story from your own life and what can be achieved with a simple thing like positive mental attitude. PMA is easy said than done and I know you are a great example of that!
I didn’t know about all these challenges you had to go through growing up. Wow! Truly, each day is a gift. Thank you!
Regards,
Kumar
Hi Kumar,
Well looking at the date for World Heart Day will be the two month mark since I lost my best friend for the past 17 years to a heart attack at the age of 44. He just celebrated his birthday and mine was still three days away.
The statistics for the United States claim that more men will die of a heart attack then anything else. He did have a hereditary heart condition and had triple bypass surgery two years prior but all was good or so his doctor said. It just goes to show you that you just never know. He took good care of himself but there obviously must have been something else that wrong.
This is so important and I would hope that people will be more aware of their health before there are issues. We just never know when our time will come.
Thank you for sharing this very important topic.
~Adrienne
Hello Adrienne,
Sorry to hear about your friend and his untimely departure. Life can be complicated and like everything else in life, there no guarantees and we never know when our time will come. That is why our friend Bill says,”Treat every day as a special gift from God” and I truly believe in those words.
However, if that gift was given to me today, it is my responsibility to treat that gift with respect and that means I need to take good care of myself today and if I am alive tomorrow again, do it again 🙂
Just another way to take responsibility of our health, our heart and to help those we love, do the same. What do you say?
Thank you for sharing your story and I am so glad you took time to share with me and all my readers.
Regards,
Kumar
Great post Mr. Kumar – I do follow most of the commitments mentioned here. I think all 5 commitments are very important for us and every one should have such commitments in their life.
Positive Mental Attitude clears my head, gives me clarity in my thinking and recharges my body in a way nothing else does.
Statistics shared here is more horrible for me specially when I’m an Indian….surprised to know cardiovascular diseases is next to ‘KAAL’ – the God of death.
I fully agree with Kumar, let’s grab this opportunity and start caring yourself and your heart!
Kumar, you just inspired me to get off this computer soon and get walking. I have been trying to get those organic vitamins and eat better. Some days are harder than others. Heart disease is near and dear to me as that is how most of my relatives have died. Some in 40’s others 80’s and beyond. It sure is a shock when in the 40’s and 50s though. Thank you for sharing this important information.
I also lost a good friend at 36 to heart disease several years back. It can happen at any age.
Thank you Lisa for taking time to share your thoughts and I am glad you found the post inspiring to get some walking, done 🙂
Death is inevitable but we can have some healthy habits and know that if at all it happens, it wasn’t because of our ignorance. Isn’t that true with almost every aspect of life? We can’t change the inevitable, but we can do better today and feel great having known that we did our best. That is the whole idea behind being health cautious. I am glad you enjoyed!
Regards,
Kumar
Hello Mr. Kumar
Excellent article on health and longevity.
I did not realize the statistics for Heart Disease in India are so high.
It imperative that awareness on heart disease continue.
It will take all the things you pointed out, especially if heart disease runs in the family.
Longevity belongs to us,but we need to take action.
I agree on foods we consume, they need to be organic. Supplements are vital and they provide energy and nutrients to our cells.
Thank you
Gladys
Hello Gladys,
It’s so nice of you coming here and sharing your endorsement on this concept. I enjoy your writing on your blogs every time and it is definitely a pleasure to get to know you better through your writing and through your comments.
Regards,
Kumar
There is nothing to add to this post:) Everything you mentioned here, Kumar, is very true and I implement these things in my life as much as I can. I made such choice about one year ago and I’m really happy about it, because I really feel much better everyday than I used to feel before starting to change my habits to those you mentioned here. Thanks, Kumar! I believe this information will make people look more deep to their health!
Hello Aistis,
Hey, it’s wonderful to hear from you again. Also, I am amazed how consistently you acknolwdge every time there is a post you enjoyed reading. Thank you my friend! I know it takes a man with consistence in attitude to be this way. This is why you are succeeding. Keep up your great work!
Regards,
Kumar
Kumar,
I agree with everything you wrote in your article. It is very important to keep your heart and body healthy. The diet should be well balanced: organic food, water, exercises.
Thank you for sharing these tips with us!
Jody
Thank you Jody. Appreciate you taking time to add value through your endorsement of this concept. Have a wonderful weekend!
Hi Kumar,
Thanks for great article.
Actually, cardiovascular diseases, especially ischemic heart disease, will be the leading cause of death in the world in very near future. I hope that everybody could realize that they are killing themselves by eating junk food everyday. But that’s not so easy.
Regards
Dr. CS
Hi Kumar,
This is some amazing stuff. Using common sense when trying to avoid heart diseases, like organic food, is almost ignored in today’s society. Your heart is the most valuable part of your body, and if people continue to ignore these things, they will die much younger than they should.
Thanks,
Jason Harrison
Great advice. Just one thing would make a huge difference, eat nothing from a package. Its amazing how much preservatives are linked to heart disease, diabetes and even cognitive diseases.
Hi Kumar,
Thank you for sharing this article, it create more awareness for me to keep healthy heart. I interested with start positive thinking because I often think negative in my life, feel pesimistic and worried about something that have not happen.
I want to ask, usually I smoke (not regularly). Is it danger for our heart? How and why?
Thank You.
Great post Kumar! I had no idea the statistics were so grim. I definitely need to do better with the exercise thing.
Thank you too for sharing this post over at Bliss Habits in our “Speaking of Nurture” party. Taking care of our hearts is vital and I appreciate you sharing this important information with my readers.
Hi Kumar,
Great information and extra links to more information!
Yes, it would be great to apply the suggestions you are making. Eliminating chemicals from our diet and environment is so important. That includes our cleaning products and personal care products.
One thing I recently learned about from Dr. Bruce Fife,is how coconut oil is beneficial to our health and even the cholesterol levels. Most other oils are difficult to stop going rancid or detrimental when heated.
Thank you so much for doing your part in raising the awareness!
To Health!
Yorinda
Yes i also committing to myself for making my health healthy and fine…Thanks for sharing health care article…i will definitely taken care of this things.
Kumar you have just made a great post. I am reblogging it on my website and including it my newsletter which goes out next month. Keep blogging.. your loyal reader
Jack
Thanks Jack. Appreciate the appreciation!
This is a good information. I also interested in writing about dieting and my blog article is focusing on diet meal plan. So far I wrote about GM, Paleo and more. Do visit me sometimes
I’m trying to form the habit of a short but brisk excercise each morning and a longer physical activity such as swimming for 1/2 hour about 3 times per week.
Hi Kumar Gauraw, will these tips and advice help with blood pressure, i suffer with high blood pressure which i am on medication for to keep it under control, But it always worries me the older i get what effects it could be having on my heart.
Hi Kumar Gauraw!
I think that your really wrote some good ways to have a healthy heart. I really struggle with trying to cut the foods that aren’t good for me, but I try and make it up with exercise. Is this healthy? or do i need to balance everything out?
Hi Kumar Gauraw, great article puts a lot of time for research, and thank for sharing a valuable and informative blog on heart problem, your suggestion of going veg is really appreciable as being as non vegetarian chances of increasing unwanted fat in body is high.
Hi,
Kumar, can we substitute multivitamin supplements since organic vitamins intake might not be sufficient.I fear many times body doesn’t absorb nutrients from food for several reasons. taking multivitamin supplement by consulting doctor can be useful.
Yes, consume the wrong food and rarely a sport is a pattern of life that I have to fix. I think almost everyone had a problem here and should be immediately corrected. Thank for your sharing, Kumar.
Your Post is awsome about heart and keep your heart healthy .Last night i have pain in my heart next morning i went to Manipal heart care there treatment is awsome