Diabetes And Heart Disease: Important Facts You MUST Know
Today I want to talk to you about how diabetes may increase your risk factor for another condition as well: namely, heart disease.
You see, many people who have diabetes tend to focus exclusively on their diabetes. They have a lot to worry about with this condition – they must make sure they are eating the right foods at the right times and doing proper exercise as well. And they may also have medication to concern themselves with. It’s a lot to take in.
As such, they may find themselves overlooking other things that they really do need to be focusing on – such as other diseases that are related.
Sadly, heart disease is a condition that many of those with diabetes also suffer from. This, in part, is due to the fact that many of those who do have diabetes are also suffering from excess body weight as well, and this weight is one thing that is putting their heart health in jeopardy.
It’s important that you learn some facts about heart disease as well so that this condition can also be on your radar. Doing all you can to improve your heart health will definitely put your mind at ease regarding the possibility of battling this in the future.
Here’s what to know:
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women, accounting for about 25% of the total deaths in America.
Coronary heart disease is the most common cause of heart disease and takes the lives of over 300,000 people each year.
In the US, someone will have a heart attack every 42 seconds. Even worse, someone will die every minute from a heart-related condition.
Heart disease is expensive! Americans will pay $207 billion dollars each year covering the costs of heart disease.
Diabetes is one of the greatest risk factors for heart disease.
Other risk factors include obesity, being overweight, having a poor diet, not getting enough exercise, and excessive alcohol use.
These are all facts taken directly from the Center for Disease Control and Stroke Prevention.
As you can see, heart disease is a very real threat to all Americans, making it very critical that you sit up, take notice, and do something about it. If you hope to side-step it, you need to take steps to ensure optimal heart health.
This means losing excess body weight, which you should be doing anyway to manage diabetes, but also choosing healthier sources of fats in your diet, limiting your intake of refined and overly processed carbohydrates, and making sure that you minimize your consumption of alcohol as well.
The good news is that heart disease is largely preventable, so it’s within your control. Don’t forget that.