Did you celebrate World Heart Day?

Tuesday, 29 September 2015, was World Heart Day. I was amused to read posts, articles and forwards on social media, newspapers and TV about how to keep your heart healthy, heart-friendly habits, tips to improve heart longevity, top foods that care for your heart, etc. I was further amused on watching ads where cooking oils boasted of caring for your heart...I am still looking for an explanation on how oil consumption improves efficiency of the heart!

This made me ponder - what exactly are we supposed to do on a World Heart Day? Care for your own heart for that day? Spread awareness about how to maintain a healthy heart? Hug foods that are good for the heart? And all this, on just one day... because, we do not even exactly remember what we celebrated or ate one month ago!

My cellphone was bombarded with WhatsApp messages, one of which spoke about top 5 heart- healthy foods. According to the message, these foods were Salmon, Blueberries, Walnuts, Oatmeal and Dark Chocolate. I started thinking which of these I already have in my house, so that I can immediately bite on it. I opened my refrigerator and saw a half-empty bag of walnut kernels - I immediately mouthed them with a good feeling that I am now caring for my own heart!

I later realised that it was pseudo feel-good factor. Out of these so-called best top heart-healthy foods, none are really easily affordable to me. Salmon is not a fish native to India, so I will have to hit a supermarket to buy an imported one, which will mostly be tinned or canned; blueberries would be seasonal and rare, too; rates of walnuts are greater than skyscrapers, dark chocolate is something I can easily get, but will not come cheap, and oatmeal is cheapest of the options, but completely tasteless! So what should people like me do in such situations, where healthy food comes with a heavy price, where so-called health-caring cooking oils are most expensive, where following heart- healthy habits is a challenge in today's lifestyle, and a list of do's and dont's fill up the entire notebook?

So when I was in the midst of a whirlpool of thoughts and confusion, I found a solution : to start caring for my heart, I need to listen to my heart! I need to do what my heart tells me to do. I needed to listen to that inner voice which is familiar, but often neglected, and who never stops telling me what to do. That voice, which came straight form my heart, pulled me out of my dilemma. 

I shoved away all the messages, folded the newspapers and stacked them back into their place, switched off my phone GPRS, and started out for my early morning brisk walk. 

That's what you need to do - listen to your heart, and it will take care of itself!

~Saili

#BeModernBeResponsibleBeRespectful

    Samuchit Enviro Tech.     samuchit@samuchit.com     www.samuchit.com