living in a fastpaced world often leaves little time for making those drastic lifestyle changes that doctors recommend after all its difficult to plan a balanced meal when fast food chains offer quick and cheap alternatives and its tough to get motivated to exercise with a schedule packed with work family and television but its these arteryclogging foods and sedentary activities that increase obesity rates and lead to heart attacks by making 3 simple changes to your lifestyle you can improve the health of your heart and your bodyeat like the greeks studies have shown that the consumption of healthy fats like those found in the mediterranean diet can reduce the chance of developing heart disease greek men have longer life expectancies than men in other european and north american countries and its likely that the traditional greek diet has a lot to do with this olive oil legumes vegetables seafood and wine are all common foods that are consumed in mediterranean countries a recent study at the university of athens in greece showed that individuals who ate foods commonly associated with a mediterranean diet had crp creactive protein levels that were 20 percent lower than those who didnt eat like the greeks this is important because crp has been linked to an increased risk of coronary heart disease diabetes and high blood pressure simply replacing butter with olive oil and choosing seafood over other meat can positively impact your heart healthdont smoke cigarettessmoking cigarettes has been one of the leading causes of heart disease and cancer in the us for decades the good news is that the amount of smokers in the united states has been steadily decreasing over the last few years the bad news is that smoking is becoming more common in asian countries like china and india while many people think that smoking only causes breathing problems and lung cancer the reality is that 20 percent of deaths from heart disease have a direct correlation to smoking smoking reduces oxygen in the heart increases blood pressure and clotting and damages the cells that line coronary arteries leading to coronary artery disease to quit smoking you have to be both mentally and emotionally prepared its a difficult path often fraught with plenty of cravings but the end result is a healthier hearttake a walk it sounds ridiculous that something so simple could have an immense impact on your health but its true exercise doesnt have to come in the form of running on the treadmill or lifting weights for an hour at the gym simply going for a walk a few times a week can reduce the chance of developing high blood pressure diabetes and high cholesterol in addition walking makes you feel good and can help trim your waistline and that metaphor about exercise only being effective if youre sore the next day isnt true research shows that brisk walking can reduce the probability of a heart attack on the same scale that jogging doesthe takeaway