The following was posted here on What About Watermelon last February, but since National Heart Health Month is something that definitely deserves a reminder, I’ve decided to post it again.
It’s odd that our shortest month was chosen as the one for raising awareness of our biggest health issue, but 28 days is better than nothing, I guess. Could it have something to do with Valentine’s Day being observed in February? I doubt it, but it’s a good theory.
There are all sorts of facts and statistic about heart health and why it’s important for everyone to learn more about their tickers (for themselves and their loved ones), but the statistic that drives the point home for me is that heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States among both men and women.
There are a lot of things you can do to create a healthier heart – eat right, exercise, educate yourself about your heart – and I won’t get into all of them here (I’ll let the American Heart Association website do that), but I would like to remind everyone about the heart-healthy benefits of fruits and vegetables, including watermelon. Actually, I’ll let the National Watermelon Promotion Board do that. The National Watermelon Promotion Board (the owner of this blog, of course) has a page on its website about watermelon and heart health, which you should definitely check out.
So how will you observe National Heart Health Month? Might I suggest starting with a trip to your local grocery store’s produce aisle?