Heart Healthy Food

Your favorite foods are great for comfort, but are they helping your heart? Here’s a list of some delicious heart healthy foods for you to try.

Nuts and Berries
Nuts that are full of omega 3 fatty acids like walnuts, almonds and macadamia nuts are also rich in monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. Intake of nuts also increases the amount of fiber in the diet, thereby helping in lowering cholesterol.

Berries like blueberries, raspberries and strawberries have anti-inflammatory properties and therefore reduce the risk of a heart disease in many ways.

Ground flaxseed

This is an Omega-3 fatty acid, which contains phytoestrogens. The flaxseed needs to be milled-grounded in order to reap the benefits. These anti-inflammatory Omega-3s have been linked to helping boost your immune system, lower blood pressure, reduce blood clots, protect against heart attacks, increase “good” HDL levels, lower triglyceride levels, & protect arteries from plaque buildup. You can sprinkle ground flaxseed to yogurt, cereal, sandwiches, muffins, actually to anything you want.

Oatmeal

Oats contains an extremely high proportion of dietary fiber, selenium, manganese and magnesium. The relatively high proportion of soluble fiber beta-glucan helps in lowering LDL cholesterol. Other high fiber foods such as barley, prunes and psyllium seed husks are also known to reduce cholesterol levels and keep the heart healthy. The benefits of oatmeal in the context of a heart disease are so significant that in 1997 the FDA authorized this food as a functional food that can reduce the risk of heart disease. However, to qualify for this claim the oatmeal should contain at least 0.75 grams of beta glucan soluble fiber.

Another high fiber food that also contains lutein, potassium, and folate is spinach. The fiber that vegetables provide can reduce the risk of heart disease to a large extent. The Physicians’ Health Study, which examined fifteen thousand men for a period of 15 years, stated that those who ate two and a half servings of vegetables each day could reduce the risk of heart disease by as much as 25 percent.

Salmon

Salmon is another great food that can help in keeping blood pressure and cholesterol under control. Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and carotenoid astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant. If you are not too fond of salmon, you can choose from other fish types like tuna, mackerel, herring and sardines to get your daily dose of omega 3 fatty acids for your heart and cholesterol.

Hot Cocoa

Hot cocoa is chock-full of antioxidants – twice as much as red wine and three times more powerful than green tea. The chilly air of February is no match for a cup of hot cocoa. Here’s a tip: many hot chocolate mixes are loaded with sugar. Buy 100% cocoa and then add a small amount of sugar. A teaspoon is enough for me. Don’t forget there are natural sugars in the milk so you’re better off starting with less sugar.

Olive oil

If you have to use oil, let it be olive oil. Olive oil lowers bad cholesterol since it has monounsaturated fats. It also reduces the probability of heart disease. A seven countries study showed that white men in Crete had a higher tendency of high cholesterol, not many died from a heart disease. This was traced back to their habit of consuming a diet that was almost always made in olive oil.