Life's Simple 7

July 11, 2010
By: Stacy Sawyer

A year ago, Tisha thought she was pretty healthy, despite a junk food diet. Then one day she was dizzy and couldn't get her balance. When her computer screen seemed blurry, she told herself she needed new glasses. "I finally went to the doctor, and when I walked in my blood pressure was 190 over 120. I was a walking stroke."


Unfortunately this can be the story of many of our friends and family members. Heart disease can affect anyone at anytime. It's up to us to be proactive about our heart health.

To help with this, the American Heart Association has created a new online tool, My Life Check, a tool that gives you your personal heart score and a custom plan with 7 simple steps you can do to start living your best life.

The 7 steps are things we hear about all the time and make a huge difference in our health:

Don't smoke

Lose weight if you need to

Be more active

Cut the Salt

Eat more fish

Eat less sugar

Keep your cholesterol and blood pressure in good standing

Now Tisha controls the risk factors that she can. She stays physically active by doing something she loves - dancing. Tisha has made other positive lifestyle changes too, as well as taking blood pressure medication.

"I've learned that if you can control your body and what you put in your mouth, you can control anything, like saying "no" to that bag of salty chips. I'm not a saint all the time, but I do make wiser choices. I've learned that if I control what I eat, everything else is a piece of cake - no pun intended!"

You can make these changes too. Visit heart.org/MyLifeCheck to get your personal plan. Let me know what your Life Check results are. I'd love to know how you're going to start making changes in your health.

Stacy Sawyer
Communications Director -- American Heart Association
989-225-7513 (cell)
517-349-3240 (fax)

I invite your questions and feedback.