Introduction

Hi!
A few months ago my roommates and I watched this Ted Talk below. We were all inspired by the idea of 30 day challenges, but I never knew what type of thing I wanted to do.

Two years ago (almost exactly), my father had a heart attack. I was in England and was unable to be there for him while he underwent quadruple bypass surgery. Obviously this was very hard for me (and my family). Today, my mother posted this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sec-kathleen-sebelius/american-heart-month_b_2618088.html about how February is Heart month and to dedicate this month to taking better care of yourself. (The article is also about the Affordable Care Act and how that can help as well -- but that is a different issue).

Anyway, to summarize from the article, heart disease kills half a million AMERICANS each year, and more so-- a WOMAN has a heart attack every 90 seconds. That is crazy considering many of the causes of heart disease are totally preventable.



That brings me to this blog-- which will be a 30 day challenge in itself to keep it written-- I want to take a 30 day challenge of doing heart healthy activities, meals, etc every day. I hope you all will join with me to, or at least be inspired to take on your own 30 day challenge!

I will (attempt to) post every morning with an outline of my plan of how to live in an heart healthy way: that way if you so wish, you can do the same or similar things as I am.
I am beginning this challenge today, February 5th and it will last until March 7th. Between Feb 28-March 10 I will be in Bermuda-- with catered food, so that will be the most challenging part of this journey.








TODAY: My heart Healthy Day will start off simple.

I am trying to get myself up to 5k-10k distance in running (I'm not a runner).
I am up to about 1.5-2ish miles. So today I am going to add another half mile to my distance (meaning if all goes well I am going to run 2 miles).

But all you need to keep your heart healthy is 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day! GET YOUR HEART PUMPING!

Below are some informational Links about heart health.



http://www.cardiosmart.org/
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/educational/hearttruth/
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/GettingHealthy_UCM_001078_SubHomePage.jsp


ANYWAY.
I hope you all will at least follow my journey through these 30 days of keeping my heart healthy for my future.

Sara