February is American Heart Month and in honor of the 28 days in this month, each day you will get a tip to start you on a Heart-Wise path. Although some of the topics will be explained in more detail in upcoming months, these tips will give you concrete ways to make changes in your lifestyle right now.
28 Tips for Heart-Wise Health:
Strategies for improving your health, losing weight,
and reducing your risk for cardiovascular disease
Tip 1. Since breakfast may lessen your risk of a heart attack, eat a healthy breakfast every day.
You probably know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A healthy breakfast gives us energy and fuels our bodies for the day ahead. Breakfast raises our metabolism, thereby allowing us to burn more calories and either lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. Also, the increased energy from breakfast gives us a sense of well-being and can often improve our outlook on the day. Studies have shown that most people’s mental acuity is improved after eating breakfast.
Here is information that you probably did not know: Breakfast may lessen the risk of heart attack. Our bodies contain an amino acid called L-arginine; our bodies use L-arginine to produce nitric oxide, a chemical responsible for dilating coronary arteries (when coronary arterties constrict a heart attack can occur). Because we derive L-arginine from food, our bodies’ L-arginine level is normal during our waking hours when we have eaten, but the level decreases during the nighttime fast of sleep. New research suggests that the depletion of L-arginine (and consequently nitric oxide) while we are sleeping may account for the greater incidence of heart attacks in the morning than at any other time of day. Eating breakfast replenishes L-arginine and nitric oxide, keeps blood vessels dilated and, thus, may lessen the risk of a heart attack. So when your mother said “breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” she was right.
