Myrian Baltian-Dill is the nurse specialist for Cardiac Care at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Body & Soul asked her to name ten preventative measures locals can adopt to decrease their risk of heart disease. Here's what she said.

1. Move that body: This is definitely important for those who want to lose weight. However, research shows that people who are normal weight and who are also sedentary, are at a higher risk of heart disease than those who are physically active but are overweight.

Moving your body, 30 minutes a day most days of the week helps keep your bones and muscles activated. Don't have 30 minutes? Take the stairs when you can, park your car ten minutes away, or just dance.

2. Eat fruits and vegetables: Fruits and vegetables are loaded with minerals, vitamins and anti-oxidants important in helping to heal the body, and protect it from the effects of inflammation. Researchers in Toronto found that those who added a couple of servings of vegetarian fare to their diets each day for a month lowered their LDL cholesterol by nearly 30 percent. Try to incorporate five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables into your daily diet (one serving is roughly ½ cup).

3. Fibre up: Incorporate 25-35 grams of fibre/day into your diet. Incorporating whole grain and whole wheat breads, cereals and pastas help slow the digestion and absorption of fats and sugars.

4. Butt out: Smoking is the number one cause of heart disease. Those who smoke have at least a three times higher risk of having a heart attack. Unfortunately, the effects are not limited to smokers, researchers in Greece found that individuals who were exposed to cigarette smoke for just 30 minutes, three times a week had a 26 percent greater risk of developing heart disease than people who rarely encountered secondhand smoke. So butt out ¿ and if you have a smoker in your midst, kick them out.

5. Check out the fats: Incorporate healthy fats into your diet and limit the bad ones. Limit foods high in saturated fats, such as meats (particularly organ meats) cheeses and dairy. Foods high in saturated fats increase your LDL-cholesterol-the bad cholesterol. Trans-fats are the special type of fat that are found in margarine ¿ these fats act as preservatives that increase the shelf life of foods. Trans-fats not only increase your LDL, but also decrease your HDL (the good cholesterol). Choose foods with higher percentage of polyunsaturates, and monounsaturates ¿ healthy fats. A recent study showed that those whose diets included two ounces of olive oil a day had an 82 percent lower risk of having a fatal first heart attack compared with those who consume little or no olive oil. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats ¿ known to hinder the oxidation of LDL cholesterol ¿ an important process in building blockages in your arteries.

6. Get enough sleep: Not getting enough sleep can increase your risk of heart disease. A ten-year study of 70,000 women found that those who get five or fewer hours of sleep on a regular basis have a nearly 40 percent greater risk of heart disease than those who sleep a full eight hours. The exact reasons are unclear but it appears as though not getting enough quality sleep increases blood-clot forming proteins.

7. Know your heart health numbers and keep them under control. The following are the numbers that you should know:

a.) BP ¿ this number should be as close to 120/80 mmHg or lower, if not, talk with your doctor on how to lower it.

b.) Cholesterol-total cholesterol 50 mg/dl, triglyercides Know when to say when: Eat slowly, savour your food and stop when you are full.

9. Brush your teeth: Brushing your teeth regularly helps limit the bacteria that live in your mouth. Researchers from the University of Buffalo showed a 200-300 percent decrease in heart attacks in those who brushed their teeth regularly.

10. Smile: Smiling not only attracts other people to you, but it also shows your happy disposition. Researchers at Harvard University kept tabs on 1,300 healthy people for ten years. At the end of the study, they found that individuals with the most positive attitudes at the start of the trial were half as likely to have experienced heart problems as compared to those with more negative attitudes.