Throughout my life my family has been struck by tragedy due to heart complications. My great aunt and uncle, on my mother’s side, were both killed by heart attacks during their late 40’s. With this knowledge of hereditary problems, I have pushed myself to promote heart health in my life through exercise and proper diet plans.

In order to maintain excellent heart health I exercise daily. On a normal day, I am exercising anywhere from an hour to three hours. The activities I participate in range from lifting and running to playing football and golf. Staying in great shape is one of my main priorities and these activities allow me to have fun while working hard. There are also many advantages of working out. For instance if you suffer from high blood pressure, it will decrease with exercise and, if it's a normal level, the chances of developing high blood pressure is drastically less. Consequently, your chances of not having heart disease and strokes will increase and controlling your weight relieves stress on your cardiovascular system. Since my family has a history with heart problems, exercise is a key in combating future heart complications in my life.

In addition, I strive to maintain a healthy diet to promote my heart health. My normal day of food consist of either egg whites or oatmeal in the morning, chicken or salmon with vegetables for lunch, and turkey or a lean red meat with vegetables for dinner. Snacks throughout the day include: cottage cheese, almonds, Greek yogurt, apples, and protein shakes which provide energy for the day. A healthy diet in particular provides you with essential vitamins and minerals and maintains proper function of every system in the body, including the cardiovascular system. It’s important to know that it's never too late to begin eating a heart-healthy diet and reduce your risk for life-threatening diseases later in life. A heart-healthy diet can reduce your risk of stroke and heart disease by as much as 80 percent. With the knowledge of these facts, I am driven to promote beneficial food groups into my life now to elongate it in the future.

Heart health has indeed played a major role in my life. The effect of the passing of my great aunt and uncle are a reminder of the consequences of poor heart health. In order to overcome hereditary problems I have placed myself in healthy-heart promoting activities with daily exercise and a steady diet to help attain the vitamins and minerals needed to properly function. These choices that may seem unimportant will pay great dividends in my later years.

Works Cited

Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Exercise: 7 Benefits of Regular Physical Activity." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 23 July 2011. Web. 31 Dec. 2012.

"What Are the Benefits of a Heart-Healthy Diet?" LIVESTRONG.COM. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Dec. 2012.