Focus on Food.

As Ian found, after a husband has a heart attack, his wife is often instrumental in making diet changes for the entire household. A better diet doesn’t need to be an all-or-nothing proposition; just moving in a healthier direction is a powerful weapon in preventing another heart attack.

The majority of your diet should be based on whole grains, vegetables, fruits, fish, lean protein, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products. Avoid all sources of trans fats (common label tip-off: the words “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” oils), minimize saturated fat, and aim for

less than 300 mg of cholesterol and less than 2,300 mg of sodium each day.

Get a heart-healthy boost by cooking with more garlic, since this herb significantly lowers total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, combats atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), lowers blood pressure, and decreases homocysteine levels. Consider becoming a tea drinker. Green tea (and to a lesser extent black tea) affords a certain measure of heart and blood-vessel protection. In a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, it was found that adults who drink five or more cups of green tea daily are significantly less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those who drink less than one cup a day.

Supplement for
Extra Insurance.

There are numerous safe and effective dietary supplements that can promote a healthier heart and blood vessels. For example, omega- 3 fatty acids from fish oil lower triglycerides and blood pressure, decrease clotting tendency in the blood, and can even enhance the cholesterol-lowering effects of statin drugs. If you don’t eat several servings of oily fish each week, consider supplementing with 1 to 3 gm of fish oil daily.

The B vitamins (chiefly vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and folic acid) reduce homocysteine levels, an independent risk factor for heart disease that is increasingly viewed as more important than cholesterol. If you take a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement, it likely already provides these vitamins, or you can take a separate B-complex supplement.

Stress Less.

Sure, everyone feels stressed at times, but you need to keep in mind how stress affects the heart, cautions cardiologist Jerome Granato, M.D., medical director of the coronary care unit at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Penn., and author of