Here at

The Royal Gazette, the importance of looking after your heart-health has been brought firmly home. It was a sobering moment when we learned that a colleague had suffered a heart attack and it sparked much comment from staff about their need for lifestyle changes.

It would be an interesting exercise to go back to those people to see how much they have changed their lifestyle the odds are that not many actually have, at least in meaningful ways.

Bermudians like their ‘national sauce’ (mayonnaise), their fried chicken and mac ‘n’ cheese, yet according to the Bermuda Heart Foundation (www.mybermudaheart.bm) two out of three Bermudians are overweight.

The Foundation also says on its website that cardiovascular disease is the cause of one in three deaths in Bermuda making heart disease the number one risk factor on the Island.

It’s almost like a silent killer creeping up on you when you don’t expect it because you always think it will happen to someone else. Too many people are inclined not to accept that their lifestyle is unhealthy (even though they know it is) or just pay lip service to changes.

As Mark Twain said, presumably with some irony: “The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like and do what you’d rather not.”

It does not have to be as drastic as that, just a few tweaks to your lifestyle (the ‘no cholesterol mayonnaise’ for instance) might suffice. Take a step (literally) in the right direction you don’t want to be the colleague who shocks everyone else into action.