Diet
A healthy diet can help reduce the risk of stroke. This involves both eating the right things and not eating too much.
Examples of health recommendations for diet:
- Eat both dark green veggies and red/orange veggies
- Eat legumes, such as peas and beans
- Eat whole fruits. Whole fruits are much better than juice, especially juice where the pulp has been removed.
- Eat whole grains rather than heavily processed ones
- Eat a variety of food rich in protein
- Avoid trans-fats
- Less than 10% of your daily calorie intake should come from added sugar
Physical activity
Physical Activity Guidelines can be found here.
Keep a healthy body fat level
Body fat level is a better measurement than weight, since a very muscular person can be “overweight” by BMI standards without actually having an increased risk for stroke.
Cigarettes
Smoking cigarettes thickens the blood and promotes plaque buildup in the arteries. This will in turn increase the risk of a stroke.
Alcohol
Alcohol can increase blood pressure and a high blood pressure increase the risk of experiencing a stroke.
To reduce the risk of stroke, keep your alcohol consumption below one drink per day if you are a woman and below two drinks a day if you are a man.
One drink = 1 (5 ounce) glass of standard wine
One drink = 1 (12 ounce) glass of standard beer
One drink = 1 ¼ ounce of 80 proof liquor