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Cardiovascular diseases caused by poor diets is one of the biggest problems facing society causing millions of deaths globally every year. Around 17.5 million people die every year due to these kinds of diseases, which gives room for pause. 

According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), 31% of deaths each year are due to cardiovascular problems, a much higher rate than from tobacco (6.5%) or alcohol (5.5 %). In their studies they say that “The effects of behavioral risk factors can manifest themselves by way of hypertension, hyperglycemia, or by being overweight or obese. These “intermediary risk factors” which can be measured in primary care settings are indicative of heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and other complications”.

There is a very close relationship between cardiovascular disease and diet. Of course, it’s not to say that it’s the only cause, since there are congenital diseases, or others that develop naturally or that could be a side effect of other diseases and / or medications. But what is very true is that a poor diet leads to poor health particularly problems throughout the circulatory system and the heart. 

Eating well does not mean not eating delicious things, but it does cut out all processed foods, full of sugars and trans fats that in the end are the ones that cause us to be overweight, hyperglycemic and have hypertension and/or hyperlipidemia, among others. It is very difficult to get rid of these types of “drugs” when we have been eating them our whole lives and have even thought that they are healthy, however this is not the reality.

The problem with society is that we even pass this poor diet on to our children, often ignoring how bad it really is. The reasoning is simple, if it’s bad for you it’s bad for them. We need to rethink how we see food. It’s one of the activities we spend more time doing in our lives other than working and sleeping. If the majority of our diet is poor we are just slowly poisoning ourselves and we will have a lower quality of life and cut our time short  rather than living a long and healthy life.   

It is logical that doing physical activity helps improve our cardiovascular health, but doing a lot of sports does not give us a blanch check to go and eat any crap they sell us in the grocery store. We must be aware of the global poor diet that exists and remember what is important: to go back to eating the most natural diet possible.

Needless to say, bad habits such as a sedentary lifestyle, and the consumption of alcohol and tobacco also affect our health, causing great harm. However, people who take care of their diet tend to have healthier habits than those who don’t.

Food is a choice.You can choose foods that nourish you and provide you with the energy, vitamins and minerals that your body needs, or choose a poor diet, choosing those addictive and over-processed foods that don’t serve any nutritional purpose, but that little by little are seriously harmful to your health. The choice is yours!