Ideal Cardiovascular Health

What It Means to have Ideal Cardiovascular Health (Taken from an email directly from the American Heart Association)

For the first time, the American Heart Association has defined what it means to have ideal cardiovascular health, identifying seven health and behavior factors that impact health and quality of life.

Ideal Cardiovascular Health is determined by a set of health facts and lifestyle behaviors called Life's Simple 7.

* Abstinence from Smoking
* Healthy Body Weight
* Adequate Physical Activity
* Healthy Diet
* Fasting Glucose < 100
* Blood Pressure < 120/80
* Total Cholesterol < 200

One of the components of achieving a Healthy Diet is reduced sodium intake. The American Heart Association recommends that all Americans reduce the amount of sodium in their diet to less than 1500 mg a day. This is a change from previous American Heart Association recommendations for the general population that set the limit at no more than 2300 mg a day. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released in 2009 showed that 70 percent of the U.S. population is salt sensitive, which means that their blood pressure is prone to rise in response to excess sodium in their diet.