10 Guidelines to Prevent a Stroke Naturally

Hence here are a few guidelines for preventing a stroke naturally, meaning no preventative drug therapy:

1. Don’t Smoke

Smoking greatly increases your risk of atherosclerosis, a building up of fatty tissue (mostly cholesterol) in
your blood vessels. This narrows the diameter of the blood vessel and leads to high blood pressure and increased risk of blockage in a vessel, cutting off the blood supply and leading to strokes.
For women, smoking and the chances of a stroke are also especially increased if the woman is on birth control. Hence, if you are on birth control and want to avoid having any blood clotting or strokes, it is imperative that you stop smoking.
The risk of ischemic stroke in current smokers is about double that of nonsmokers.

2. Decrease or Eliminate Your Intake of Saturated Fats

Saturated fats are the most stable fats that also cause the most problems for our body and heart health. This is due to the fact that they are the main source of dietary cholesterol. These fats are almost solely found in animal products, like meat, eggs and all dairy. As for plants, they are only found in coconut, coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and cocoa butter (the base of all commercial chocolate).
Bad cholesterol (LDL) from these fats and from its own pure sources too, accumulates in our blood vessels as hard sticky plaque. This build-up called atherosclerosis, narrows the diameter of our blood vessels, which tends to increase blood pressure. It also increases the risk of an arterial blockage, because at any time, a piece of this plaque may break off and get logged in a smaller artery, blocking blood supply.

3. Eliminate Your Intake of Trans or Hydrogenated Fat

This is usually fat that was unsaturated, but was chemically altered so that it could have a longer shelf life or better stability in products. Trans fats are found naturally in small amounts in most animal products . Other than that they are only found in most processed and fast food. Hence, it is very easy to avoid them entirely, just by being mindful of your diet and eating as naturally as possible. Also, by always reading the ingredients or nutrition facts on labels of all the food products you buy.
These fats raise bad blood cholesterol (LDL) and lower good cholesterol (HDL), thereby being a major contributing factor to heart disease and strokes for reasons mentioned in #2.

4. Exercise

Exercise in moderate amounts has many beneficial effects on our heart and blood vessels. Its main effects are that it strengthens the heart muscle, increases your oxygen intake, keeps blood flowing smoothly, lowers blood pressure and helps maintain a healthy weight.

5. Adopt a Plant-Based Diet

Plant-based diets are low or can even be entirely devoid of bad fats (saturated and trans). They are also high in fiber, which helps decrease the risk of all heart disease and high in many valuable vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals, which have been proven to be very beneficial for not only cardiovascular health, but promote optimal health in general.

6. Reduce Your Intake of Salt To About 2000mg Daily

Salt contains about 40% sodium. High sodium intake throws off our sodium-potassium balance, whose main effect is increased blood pressure. And as we know increased blood pressure, increases the risk of a stroke. When it comes to eliminating sodium it goes much further than not using the salt shaker, as all processed foods today contain sodium and most of them in amounts that are double, triple of worse the intake that is healthy for us.
Hence, an easy way to make sure that your food passes the sodium test, is to make sure that the sodium amount on the nutritional label is never higher than the amount of calories per serving. The most the sodium should ever be is a 1:1 ratio of calories to sodium.

7. Maintain a Healthy Weight

Being overweight or obese usually goes hand in hand with high blood pressure as more stress is put on the heart and blood vessels. Hence, lose weight if necessary to optimize your heart health. If you are currently a healthy weight for your body type, be sure to stay diligent with this, as it is usually very easy to gain weight and very hard to lose it.
Exercise and an optimally healthy and natural diet, are the ultimate ways to maintain a healthy weight or to lose weight if necessary. And most importantly, one should not bother with pills, gimmicks and diets that usually put more stress on the heart and brain, than the benefit they provide.

8. Make Time For Yourself

In a busy, busy world, many times we feel like nothing more than a speck in the madness. Realize that you own your life and no one is making you run around like a mouse on an exercise wheel. The same pressures we put on ourselves, we have the control to remove. And one of the best ways of assessing your own life is to have some time for yourself.
Whether this be time to reflect in silence, contemplate or do some fun activities or hobbies that you enjoy, it is extremely valuable to your health and well-being as it decreases your levels of stress and makes you see the bigger picture of life.

9. Meditate

Many people still cringe at this word in our modern day society, thinking that it is something some far away monks or hippie yoga enthusiasts do. Well on the contrary, meditation is easy, normal and probably the best way to detach yourself from your stressful surroundings and get back in touch with your true self. It is easy to do, does not require any money and everybody can make time for it, as it offers benefits in as little as 10 minutes a day. Today we even have scientific studies72431-4/fulltext) that prove this.
Stress is toxic to our bodies in so many ways and an increased incidence of strokes is no exception. A study that followed 2,303 Finnish middle-aged white men for 11 years reported that stress was linked to increased stroke risk. Thanks to this and many other similar examinations, we know today more than ever of the strong mind-body connection. And that is why it is so important, perhaps more than ever to get back in touch with our body and mind on a conscious level.
So if you lead a stressful life, do not be shy, do not make excuses and do not rationalize your thoughts and actions. Instead get serious about incorporating at least 10 minutes of meditation into your daily routine and learn how to let go of your thoughts, reduce your stress levels and get back in touch with who you really are through the process of meditation.

10. Enjoy Your Life

It is no surprise that happier people are healthier in every aspect. When we wake up in the morning excited to take on a new day, when we feel joyful and fulfilled in our relationships, careers and the ins and outs of everyday life, our body chemistry is very different to someone who does not exhibit these characteristics.
Yes, we can also prove using science that negative thoughts are toxic to our system. This does not mean to fake your happiness. But people who hold anger, guilt, frustration, fears and who are typically found complaining regularly are actually in a constant state of stress where their body is concerned.
Hence, to reduce your risk of strokes, heart disease and so many other things in fact, start looking at each day, each person and each situation brand new. And most importantly look at your life and start focusing on all the things that are going right in it, instead of wrong. Start infusing more appreciation and gratitude into every moment and watch your life and health transform right before your eyes!