Your Heart is In Your Hands

I like the Today show. 

I like to start my mornings with it. 

The other morning Dr. Nancy Schneiderman was on talking about health.

She was specifically talking about the health of a woman's heart.

Did you know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in American women?

I hadn't realized that.

Because I have been on a mission to shrink my waist via The Flat Belly Diet, 

when she started talking about waist measurements, my ears perked up even more.

She said that NO woman's waist should be more than 35 inches. 

This is not for the sake of beauty, or bikinis, or husbands, or vanity. 

IT IS FOR YOUR HEART"S SAKE.

Because your heart is important to me, I want you to go right now and get a measuring tape and measure your waist. 

Don't measure it where the current trend in jeans button, but rather more where the mom jeans usually button- just below your ribcage. 

It's okay..

go on...

I'll wait!

Now, if your waist is below 35 inches, you are doing great. 

Hooray for you and your more than likely healthy heart.

That is, if you are not smoking. 

If it is more than 35 inches, let me lovingly tell you what that is doing to your heart and your body.

According to a study done at Tufts University Boston, if your waist is over 35 inches (37 for men), you can get a build up of visceral fat, which tends to bind to itself and also to your liver and heart organs. NOT GOOD NEWS! 

This can double your odds of getting heart disease and stroke. DOUBLE! Meaning increase your chances by 50 percent!!!! That is a lot.

Other problems include interference with insulin production and research also suggests that there may be a connection between a large abdomen and Alzheimer's disease and an increased risk for cancer.  

Before you start zoning out on me and make me get off my new soapbox let me tell you-

THE GOOD NEWS!!!

Your heart is in your hands. Decreasing your waist size and increasing the amount of exercise you do can immediately reduce your risk. 

When I started The Flat Belly Diet, my waist was in the danger zone. I have since lost 5 inches and I am now in the much safer zone. Those five inches have decreased my risk for heart disease and stroke by 50 percent!

It is a month to celebrate matters of the heart. May your gift to yourself be a goal of attaining a healthy heart. 

So, if you are above that magic number, avoid the scale altogether and make your goal instead to get your waist to a measurement which ensures that you are doing everything you can to be around for a long time for your family. 

Loving your sweet hearts my Mamasistas!