Life's Simple Seven, the recommendations made by the American Heart Association are the seven health and behavioral changes that can protect you from cardiovascular disease as well as helping during recovery from heart attack, stroke and other potential health risks. There are two sides of the simple seven including the ideal types of health related behaviors and the ideal health factors.

Cardiovascular health is determined by genetics, which cannot be controlled as well as behaviors that can be. The simple seven include never smoking or quitting if you do smoke, getting to and maintaining your body's healthy weight, getting the right level of physical activity and eating a well balanced diet which focuses mainly on plant based foods as much as possible.

Health factors which are also part of the simple seven include the blood pressure, blood sugar levels and total cholesterol levels. These should all be maintained at optimal levels as much as possible, preferably without the need for medical interventions. Some people are predisposed to conditions which can push their heart risks higher- including people with a family history of heart conditions or people who already have other health conditions which pushes the risk higher. Being even a few pounds over your healthy weight can increase your risk for high blood pressure, poorly controlled blood sugar levels which leads to diabetes and to other health problems all of which can influence your risk of heart conditions. Of the simple seven, weight management might be one of the most important but all are intertwined with one another.

Physical activity and better diet can lead to weight improvement- which in turn can help with cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure levels. In addition, smokers might may find it easier to quit while eating healthy foods as well. In a study by researchers at Duke University certain foods were found to make cigarettes unappealing to smokers while other foods were shown to make the cigarettes taste better. In the survey, nearly fifty percent of the smokers who were given certain types of foods, like fruits, vegetables, milk and even plain water were more likely to say that the cigarettes tasted bad.

The AHA often recommends the DASH diet, which is heavy on the plant based foods, encourages healthy fats and limits the unhealthy ones and also reduces the sodium content that the average person consumes as well. It is often the diet of choice for people even without any heart health risks.