Click here to Calculate Your Stroke Risk:
PREVENTION
To help prevent a stroke:
- Avoid fatty foods. Follow a healthy, low-fat diet. Include several daily servings
of fruits and vegetables. Adding fish to your diet at least twice a week may
be helpful. However, do not eat fried fish.
- Do not drink more than 1 to 2 alcoholic drinks a day.
- Exercise regularly: 30 minutes a day if you are not overweight;
60 - 90 minutes a day if you are overweight.
- Get your blood pressure checked every 1 - 2 years,
especially if high blood pressure runs in your family.
- Have your cholesterol checked. If you are at high risk for stroke, your
LDL "bad" cholesterol should be lower than 100 mg/dL. Your doctor may
recommend that you try to reduce your LDL cholesterol to 70 mg/dL.
Few medications have been found to clear up plaque. Statins and other
cholesterol-lowering drugs can help prevent more plaque from forming.
- Follow your doctor's treatment recommendations if you have high blood
pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease.
- Quit smoking.
Heart disease may be prevented by recommended healthy diet, regular exercise
and to stop smoking if you are a smoker. Follow your health care provider's
recommendations for treatment and prevention of heart disease.
Know your numbers:
* Weight
* Height
* BMI
* Blood Pressure
* Blood Sugar
* Cholesterol (total, HDL, LDL)
* Triglycerides
|
