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In This Issue:

} Healthy Eating and Heart Disease

} Food for the Heart

} Women, Take Charge of Your Heart

Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death of Americans.

Also called coronary heart disease, heart disease involves the buildup of a waxy substance called plaque inside the blood vessels of the heart.

That buildup can cause blockages that lead to heart attacks. Or over time the blockages can weaken your heart muscle and lead to heart failure or irregular heart rhythms. But the risk of these outcomes may be lowered by following your health care provider’s advice.

Treating heart disease may include changing lifestyle habits, including your eating habits, taking medication, and undergoing medical procedures such as putting stents in clogged arteries.

Adopting a healthy diet is an important way to help prevent or delay the impact of heart disease. Guidelines for heart health encourage people to eat a diet that:

• Emphasizesvegetables,fruitsandwholegrains

• Includeslow-fatdairy,poultry,fish,legumes,non-tropicalvegetableoilsandnuts

• Limitssodium,sweets,sugarybeveragesandredmeats

Heart Health

Healthy Eating and Heart Disease Heart disease is America’s deadliest disease. Limiting certain foods and increasing others may help lower your risk.

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Heart Health

Here are some suggestions for putting these recommendations into practice:

Increase fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet. Eattherainbow!Emphasizedark-green,redandorangevegetables like broccoli, spinach, carrots or peppers.

Watch your salt.Expertsvaryinhowmuchisthe right amount of sodium. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend persons 51 years of age or older (with or without heart disease) consume no morethan1,500mgofsodiumdaily.Heart-healthguidelines from the American Heart Association in 2013 recommend that Americans who could use a little lowering of their blood pressure consume no more than 2,400 mg of sodium daily. They also say that you may enjoyevenmorebenefitsifyoucutitto1,500mgofsodium each day.

Tipsincludeconsumingmorefreshandhome-preparedfoods instead of processed foods that may be high in sodium.

If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. That means no more than one drink a day for women and no more than two drinks a day for men. Some people should not use alcohol at all.

Reduce your intake of saturated fats. The goal is to limit your intake of saturated fats to less than 10 percentofyourtotalcalories.Loweringto7percentmay further reduce your risk. This includes items like pizza,cheese,sausage,baconandicecream.

Avoid trans fats. Some foods may contain synthetic or natural trans fats. Synthetic trans fats are in partially hydrogenated oils used in some margarines, snack foods and prepared desserts.

Focus on leaner alternatives.Skinlesspoultry,fishandseafood,fat-freeorlow-fatdairy,andunsaltednutscan be healthy alternatives to fatty meats and cheeses.

Consider the DASH diet. Many of the above suggestions come from the DASH diet, which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. Studies confirmthatitmayloweryourriskofheartdiseasebylowering high blood pressure and improving cholesterol

levels. You may also want to consider following the American Heart Association diet or the U.S. Department of Agriculture food pattern. The USDA pattern offers options for people who are lacto-ovovegetarianorvegan.

Other lifestyle strategiesReducing your risk of heart disease involves other lifestyle changes. They include achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, quitting smoking and staying physically active. Discuss with your doctor the best way to adopt these changes to improve your health.

Healthy Eating and Heart Disease (continued)

SOURCES:

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. What is coronary heart disease? Accessed: 12/15/2014

• Smith, SC Jr., Benjamin EJ, Bonow RI, et al. The American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology Foundation: 2011 update: A guideline from AHA/ACCF secondary prevention and risk reduction therapy for patients with coronary and atherosclerotic vascular disease. Circulation. 2011;124:2458-2473. Accessed: 12/15/2014

• Eckel RH, Jakicic JM, Ard JD, et al. 2013 AHA/ACC guideline on lifestyle management to reduce cardiovascular risk: A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association task force on practice guidelines. Jour Am Coll Cardio. 2014;63(25_PA):2960-2984. Accessed: 12/15/2014

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary guidelines for Americans 2010. Accessed: 12/15/2014

Copyright © 2015 myOptumHealth.

COnSUmE mORE fRESH And HOmE-pREpAREd fOOdS

HEA

RT dISEASE In AmERIC

A#1 CAUSE Of

dEATH

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Heart Health

Eatingwellisanexcellentwaytohelpprotectyourheart. More than one third of Americans have either cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure, or both. Having a healthy diet and lifestyle helps reduce the chance of developing those deadly diseases.

It’simportanttoeatavarietyofnutrient-richfoods.Guidelines for heart health encourage people to eat a dietthatemphasizesvegetables,fruits,wholegrains,andincludeslow-fatdairy,poultry,fish,legumes,nontropicalvegetableoilsandnuts.Expertsalsorecommend that people limit sodium, sweets, sugary beverages and red meats.

Here are some suggestions for putting these recommendations into practice:

Vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fiber• Aimtofillhalfyourplatewithfruitsandvegetables.

• Colorisagood—darkgreen,redandorangevegetables are especially nutritious.

• Yourvegetablescanberaworcooked;fresh,frozen,cannedordried;whole,cut-upormashed.

• Yourfruitscanbefresh,canned,frozenordried;whole,cut-uporpureed.

• Don’tforgetbeans andpeaswhichhavefiber andprotein.Theycanbedry,cannedorfrozen.

• Makeatleasthalfyourgrainswholeformorefiberandnutrients.Eatlessrefinedgrains.

Lean meats, poultry, fish, dairy• Withpoultry,chooselightmeatoverdarkmeat. Lightmeatisleaner.Eitherway,don’tforgettotakeoff the skin.

• Pick“choice”or“select”gradesofbeef.Buy“round”or“loin”cutsofbeeforpork.Cutoffthevisiblefatbefore eating.

• Eatfishorshellfishatleasttwiceaweek.Salmon,trout, oysters and herring are good choices because theyarehighinhealthyomega-3fattyacidsandlower in mercury. (Note: pregnant women are advised to eat 8 to 12 ounces of seafood each week. Avoid tilefish,shark,swordfishandkingmackerel,whicharehighinmercury.Whitealbacoretunahaslessmercury, but pregnant women should limit it to 6 ounces per week.)

• Usefat-freeorlow-fatmilk,cheeseandyogurt.

Food for the Heart Heart-healthy eating involves more than slashing fat and cholesterol. Learn what foods may help keep you healthy.

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Heart Health

Oils and healthy fats• Limityourintakeofsaturatedfats.Experts

recommend people aim for an eating pattern where 5 percent to 6 percent of calories come from saturated fats. Saturated fats are in red meat, bacon, poultry skin,butterandhigh-fatdairy.

• Lowerthepercentageofcaloriesthatyougetfromsaturated fats. You may replace the

saturated fat with polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats and carbohydrates (preferably whole grains instead of refinedcarbohydrates).Polyunsaturated

fats are in soybean and corn oils, salmon, trout and flaxseed. Avocados, nuts, olive and canola oil are good sources of

monounsaturated fats.

• Lowerthepercentageofcaloriesthatyougetfrom trans fats. Trans fats can be synethic or natural. Synthetic trans fats are found in partially hydrogenated oils used in some margarines, snack foods and prepared desserts. Natural trans fats are found in meat and milk products.

EatingplansliketheDASH(DietaryApproachestoStopHypertension) dietary pattern, the American Heart Association diet or the U.S. Department of Agriculture foodpatternallfitthebill.TheUSDAfoodpattern offersoptionsforpeoplewhoarelacto-ovovegetarian or vegan.

Conversely,cutbackonfoodsthatdon’toffermuchnutrition or may increase the risk of developing certain chronicconditions.Expertsadvisewatchingyour intake of:

• Added sugar. Most of the sugar in typical American diets are added during processing, preparation or at the table. They help preserve the food or make it taste better. But they also add calories with little nutritional valueorfiber.

• Sodium. Most Americans consume more sodium than they need. Sodium is added mainly during the preparation, preservation of foods or at the table. CurrentdietaryguidelinescallforAmericanstoconsumelessthan2,300mgofsodiumdaily.Peoplewho are over age of 50, or are African American or have high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease should aim for 1,500 mg of sodium a day.

• Solid fats. Most fats with a high percentage of saturated fat or trans fat are solid at room temperature. That’swhythey’recalled“solidfats.”Theseincludebutter, lard, stick margarine and shortening. They add a lot of calories to the diet.

• Alcohol.Ifyouchoosetodrink,dosoinmoderation.That means up to a drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men. Some people should not use alcohol at all. Talk with your doctor if you have questionsaboutalcoholuse—orhavedifficultydrinking in moderation.

Food for the Heart (continued)

SOURCES:

• U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dietary guidelines for Americans 2010. Accessed: 12/10/2014

• Eckel JM, Jakicic JD, Ard VS, et al. 2013 AHA/ACC Guideline on lifestyle management to reduce cardiovascular risk: a report of the Amreican College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association task force on practice guidelines. Circulation.Accessed: 12/10/2014

• ChooseMyPlate.gov. Healthy eating tips. Accessed: 12/10/2014Copyright © 2015 myOptumHealth.

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Heart Health

The myth that heart disease is something only men have to worry about is slowly going away as more peoplerecognizethedangerthisdiseaseposesfor men and women.

Heart disease is actually the No. 1 killer of American women, accounting for nearly a quarter of deaths.

But progress is being made. The death rate for females from heart disease is coming down, largely due to treatment and reduction of major risk factors.

Still,toofewwomenrecognizethedangersposedtothembyheartdisease.Infact,onesurveyshowedthatonly 53 percent of women said they would call 911 right away if they thought they were having a heart attack.

What are the risk factors?Certainriskfactorsforheartdiseasecan’tbecontrolled– like your family history, age and pregnancy issues such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. However, you may be able to do something about these risk factors:

• Smoking

• Poordietandbeingoverweightorobese

• Havingprediabetes,diabetesorkidneydisease

• Highcholesterol

• Highbloodpressure

• Physicalinactivity

Taking actionKnowing your risk factors allows you to start a conversation with your health care provider about what steps you can take to reduce your risk of heart disease. Lifestylechangesmayinclude:

• Quittingsmokingifyousmoke

• Eatingadietrichinfruits,veggiesandwholegrainsaswellaslow-fatdairy,fish,poultry,legumesandnuts;reducingyourintakeofsaturatedandtotalfats,andtransfats;limitingsugarandsodium

• Beingphysicallyactiveonaregularbasis

Women, Take Charge of Your Heart You may think of it as a man’s disease, but more women than men die of heart disease. Learn more about your risks.

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SOURCES:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women and heart health awareness. Accessed: 01/23/2015

• American Heart Association. Effectiveness-based guidelines for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in women: 2011 update. Accessed: 01/23/2015

• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Explore heart disease in women. Accessed: 01/23/2015

Copyright © 2015 myOptumHealth.

Heart Health

©2016 United HealthCare Services, Inc.UHCEW000000-000 1/16

Insurance coverage provided by or through UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company or its affiliates. Administrative services provided by United HealthCare Services, Inc. or their affiliates. The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and not intended to be nor should be construed as medical advice. You should consult your own doctor to determine what may be right for you.

• Keepingyourweightinahealthyrange

• Keepingstressincheck—learninghowtorecognizeyour stressors and how they might affect you

Many women suffer from heart disease but have no symptoms. Others may have symptoms such as heart palpitations, shortness of breath, fatigue or swelling in their legs, feet or abdomen.

Recognizingthesignsandsymptomsofaheartattackiscrucial as well.

Whilechestpainisthemostcommonsymptomformenand women, women are more likely than men to have someotherwarningsymptoms.Womenmaynoticechestdiscomfort—pressureortightness—ornopainatall.Womenaremorelikelytofeelshortofbreath,nauseatedorfatigued.Theymayalsovomit,feeldizzyor have back or jaw pain. They are less likely than men to feel severe chest pain.

Remember:Ifyouthinkyouorsomeoneelseishavingaheart attack, call 911 immediately. Do not drive yourself orhavesomeoneelsedriveyou.Callanambulancesothatmedicalprofessionalscanhelpyou.Earlytreatmentcan save your life and reduce the chance of lasting damage to your heart.

Women, Take Charge of Your Heart (continued)