If there was a way to cure heart disease, whichever drug company developed it would instantly become one of the biggest companies in the world. Heart disease is so deadly, so prevalent, and growing so rapidly, that the ability to cure heart disease is the holy grail of medicine.

Of course, that doesn’t prevent people from claiming to have cured it. Some web sites say that green tea, organic food and a steady diet of supplements are good for personal health care and can cure heart disease. Others – many, many thousands of others under the guise of “holistic” medicine – will claim a mixture of herbal and aromatherapy remedies can cure heart disease.

In all cases they are lying. Heart disease can’t be cured. It can only be prevented or managed.

The way to prevent heart disease is actually simple: quit smoking, eat right and exercise. Quitting smoking is the big one. If you’re a smoking, you’re roughly twenty one times more likely to suffer from heart disease than a non smoker. The chemicals in cigarettes not only harm your lungs, but they actually cause a build up of fatty deposits in your veins and arteries. If you cut open the aorta of a smoker, you can actually squeeze fat out of it like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. It is gruesome and disgusting, but you need to know that is the effect of smoking on your heart.

And if you do smoke, it’s not too late to quit. A year after quitting smoking, your risk of heart disease decreases by half. Every cigarette you skip stops you from poisoning yourself just a little more and decreases your risk of heart disease.

The second part is exercise, particularly cardiovascular exercise. Yes, your free weights are nice if you want to develop big muscles and impress the girls at the beach. But that’s for down the road. What you need to do first is to do “cardio” – whether it’s jogging, swimming, riding the bike, or an aerobics class, whatever. You need to do it for at least three days a week for half an hour, but that’s the bare minimum. You should shoot for five days, with the goal of getting your heart rate up to 170. Not only will this make your heart stronger and improve circulation, but it’ll also burn fat.

And finally, diet. Avoid foods high in saturated fat like red meat and dairy. Once in a while is ok, but remember, these are indulgences. Instead get used to eating stuff like fish and white meat chicken, and try to go at least one meal a day where you eat no meat at all. And as always, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. This won’t cure heart disease, but it’ll prevent it. And prevention is the best cure.

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