Every month, we'll offer helpful tips and information on exercise, nutrition and recipes to try and make it a little easier. Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, is the number one killer of women, claiming combined the lives of more than half a million women.
Diabetic women are at even higher risk for heart disease than diabetic men.
In addition to diabetes, other risk factors leading to heart disease include high cholesterol, smoking, high blood pressure, sedentary life style, central obesity, and family history of cardiovascular disease. How to reduce the risk of heart disease Many risk factors for heart disease can be modified or controlled, interventions especially important for women with diabetes. Here are some things you can do to reduce the chances of heart disease. Control your blood sugar Keeping your blood sugars normal before and after meals helps to prevent the complications of diabetes, including heart disease. Importantly, all approaches to normalize blood sugar, including medications, diet and exercise, work equally well to reduce heart disease risk.