One of my New Year’s resolutions is to spread the word about the importance of protecting your body’s most important organ—your heart. And the very first step to prevent a heart attack is to understand what triggers one.

Although many conventional doctors believe that changing to a healthy lifestyle can prevent close to 30 percent of the deaths from heart attacks, I now firmly believe that almost EVERY heart attack can be prevented—and many surgeries could be avoided—with a lifestyle of true health.

Let’s look at some of the causes of a heart attack. Coronary arteries provide blood and oxygen to your heart muscle, but…

• As early as age 10, you start to accumulate small deposits of cholesterol and fat molecules in those arteries.
• By age 20, your arteries may be as much as 20 percent closed, causing cold or tingling in your hands and feet due to less efficient circulation.
• By age 30, the plaque has thickened and your arteries may have been traumatized by high blood pressure, social stresses, viruses and bacteria.
• By your 40s and 50s, you could experience more damage and be accumulating thicker plaque that restricts your blood flow.
• By the time you hit 60, your arteries are so stiff and full of plaque that blood flow is drastically reduced…

and you become a heart attack waiting to happen!

Plus, certain physical characteristics and lifestyle activities make these heart blockages more likely.

Many of these risk factors may be familiar to you, but remember there are a few that you can’t control—such as a family history of coronary heart disease… female menopause… and getting older, especially past age 65. But cheer up—here are some risk factors you CAN do something about:

• Quit smoking.
• Control your high blood pressure (hypertension).
• Change your sedentary lifestyle and start exercising.
• Reduce your high LDL cholesterol.
• Control your diabetes and blood sugar levels.
• Reduce your stress, anger and depression.
• Lower your high homocysteine levels.

By changing these risk factors, you can help protect your heart from damage and dramatically lower your chances of a heart disaster. And to aide you in keeping your heart healthy, I highly recommend you start the New Year with my Advanced Artery Solution™ from True Health™.