The heart is a muscular organ in humans and other animals, which pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. Blood provides the body with oxygen and nutrients, as well as assists in the removal of metabolic wastes. In humans, the heart is located between the lungs, in the middle compartment of the chest.
The human heart is situated in the middle mediastinum, at the level of thoracic vertebrae T5-T8. A double-membraned sac called the pericardium surrounds the heart and attaches to the mediastinum.
The Heart is very delicate hence the reason we take a lot of precaution when it comes to our diet and what may likely affect it.You may not even realize it, but chances are good that you eat at least one thing that’s terrible for your heart on a daily basis.
Some many deaths are caused by heart attack and nearly every single case is caused by one of three things, or a combination of them; poor eating habits, lack of exercise, and chronic stress. Reducing all three of these reduces your chance of dying from heart disease to almost nil.
Many foods directly damage your heart while others create other health issues that will then affect your heart. For example, sugar isn’t bad for your heart, but if eaten in large quantities, it causes obesity, which then damages your heart. Some of the foods are:
Fatty Meats
If you’re a meat eater, then be cautious because fatty meats raise your cholesterol. This doesn’t just apply to red meat; chicken skin and pork fat are bad for you too. The reason why is because it raises your bad cholesterol, which causes atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. This, of course, causes heart disease.
When you’re storing meat, especially if you’re dehydrating it, you want it to be as lean as possible because fat goes rancid fairly quickly. You need to cut the fat, literally.
When canning your meat, trim the fat off and try to use leaner meats such as venison. When you can chicken, do so without the skin. Of course, it’s fine to keep some of that fat so that you can make gravy, etc.
You don’t need to cut the fat completely out of your diet, but you should limit your consumption of the bad stuff. It will kill you slowly, but certainly.
Energy Drinks
A lot of people like to consume energy drinks, however, the mix of “proprietary blends” found in most of them contain such ingredients as taurine, caffeine, ginseng, B vitamins, guarana and sugar all work together to give you a quick energy boost but it also raises your blood pressure for a couple of hours after you drink them.
This may be fine occasionally as long as your heart and your blood pressure is healthy, but if you drink them chronically or if you have high blood pressure or heart disease, energy drinks can be harmful to your heart.
Salt
Salt is literally what keeps your blood volume up so that it can pump through your veins in a healthy manner. Stated very simply, it regulates your blood pressure. Too much salt, or if your body can’t regulate salt properly, and you’ll have high blood pressure.
Of course, if you already have high blood pressure caused by medications, atherosclerosis or other cardiovascular issues, you need to limit your salt intake.
Your body needs salt; it’s a mineral essential to your survival. However, you don’t need TOO MUCH salt. When you’re stockpiling, watch the levels of sodium in your foods. You can do this by canning or storing natural foods instead of processed, boxed foods.
Trans Fats
Originally created as an alternative to that horrible, evil substance known as butter, (note sarcasm), trans fats have now been proven to increase bad (LDL) cholesterol while decreasing good (HDL) cholesterol.
There are several types of fats: trans fats, saturated fats, polyunsaturated fats and unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats typically have the least impact on your cholesterol levels.
Your body needs fats in order to survive. For example, omega-3’s found in olive oil, fatty fish, coconut oil, nuts and seeds is an essential nutrient that your body can’t produce but still needs in order to preserve heart and brain health.
Typically, saturated fats (with the exception of coconut oil) should be consumed in limited quantities. Trans fats should be avoided altogether. No good comes from it.
Foods that you should avoid eating or stockpiling because of their trans-fat content include packaged baked goods and icings, packaged cookies, hot dogs, canola oil, margarine, processed fried foods, shortening, biscuit mixes, microwave popcorn, non-dairy creamer and “butter” crackers.
