Many factors beyond your control can contribute to cardiovascular disease, such as your age, sex, or family history. But there are also cardiovascular disease risk factors that you can control, such as tobacco use, high cholesterol and blood pressure, diet, obesity, exercise levels, and diabetes.
We have assembled a diverse and accomplished team of medical professionals whose members take a collaborative approach to diagnose your cardiovascular condition and treat it. Even with this team of experts, you are the most important member on your health care team because you can take so many steps to improve your heart health. We created these living healthy pages to provide resources to help you understand how your lifestyle affects heart disease and how you can make the changes necessary to live a healthier life.
Eating a well-balanced, nutritious diet is an important part of maintaining a healthy heart. A diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains can help you reduce your risk for heart disease.
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Exercise is an important component of getting and keeping your heart healthy. Not only does exercise help strengthen your heart and vascular system, it helps you control your weight and reduces stress.
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Individuals can become more prone to develop heart disease based on their family history. If an individual's brother, father, or grandfather has suffered from heart disease before the age of 55, he is twice as likely to develop heart disease.
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Keep track of your numbers and see your doctor if any of your results are out of the normal range.
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Smoking contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease and quitting is one of the best things you can do for your heart and overall health.
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The way you respond to stress can contribute to heart disease. Some people experience increased blood pressure during times of stress. Other people smoke more, consume too much alcohol or overeat. We can help you learn about stress reduction and coping.
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Cardiac events and cardiac procedures can affect you emotionally. Our support groups and educational programs can help you cope with your situation as well as learn about your condition so you can adopt healthy lifestyle habits.
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Achieve heart and vascular wellness by taking our commitment to advanced patient care a step further.
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This list of screenings can help you start on 12 months of healthy living. Start with a phone call to your doctor. He or she can recommend self-tests and set up the screening tests than can help you uncover health problems early, when they're most treatable.
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For information regarding our calcium score screenings.
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HeartSpeak Podcast
In his cardiology practice in Dallas, Carlos E. Velasco, M.D., sees first-hand how income and education affect his patients’ motivation to exercise.
What is atrial fibrillation?Hear from Jay Franklin, MD, an interventional cardiologist on the medical staff at Baylor Scott & White Heart and Vascular Hospital – Dallas, to learn more about the symptoms, risk factors, and treatment options for this condition.
Teaching Your Kids to Eat RightStart your kids off right and teach them healthy eating habits when they are young. One of the most important things they can learn is that healthy eating can be fun.
Screening for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA)Jim Craig, Goalie, 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team discusses how easy it is to get screened for AAA.
The Skinny on FatsNot all fats are created equal and not all fats are bad for you.
Getting a Good Night's SleepHow do you feel in the morning? Refreshed, recharged, ready or do you wake up feeling like you never slept?