Hopefully, by now, you’re aware that your diet is the single most significant factor in determining your health (or lack thereof).
This is especially true of your heart and cardiovascular system!
What you put in your mouth has an enormous impact on your ticker and vessels, and eating the right foods can go a long way in ensuring that high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, stroke, and heart disease are NOT in your future!
And no, I’m not talking about Cheerios. Give me a break—a highly processed starch (that turns to inflammatory sugar upon digestion), sugar and salt are within the first 4 ingredients. How in the name of heaven can that be good for your heart?
Here instead are my…
Top 12 food choices for a healthy heart:
1- Fatty fish
Fatty fish like salmon are great sources of anti-inflammatory Omega-3 essential fatty acids. Inflammation is the main culprit behind clogged arteries, so Omega-3 EFAs are crucial to healthy blood vessels.
Be sure to choose wild caught varieties—NEVER farmed fish.
2- Beets
Beets contain nitrates (not to be confused with dangerous nitrites found in cured meats) which help your body produce nitric oxide, a natural vasodilator that relaxes and opens your blood vessels.
3- Walnuts and almonds
These are rich in Omega-3 fats, plus vitamin E (an important antioxidant for heart health).
4- Spinach
Another food high in nitrates, plus spinach is an excellent source of folate. Folate is needed by the body to help prevent against heart attack or stroke.
It also has magnesium, a mineral that can help lower high blood pressure and protect against heart disease.
And if your vision of spinach is a tasteless green mush, I have a pleasant surprise for you. Here is an outstanding recipe that will make a spinach lover out of ANYONE (plus it also features heart-healthy beets):
Spinach Salad with Beets & Goat Cheese
Serves: 4 - 6
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon whole grain or Dijon mustard
Dash salt
1 pound fresh baby spinach
1 pound fresh beets or 1-14 1/2 ounce can sliced beets, drained
1 cup crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese
Preheat oven to 350°. Spread pine nuts on a baking sheet and toast until golden, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
If using fresh beets, peel and slice beets. Cook in boiling water until tender; drain, rinse in cool water, drain again and set aside.
Make vinaigrette dressing by combining olive oil, maple syrup, mustard and salt and blend until smooth.
Place spinach in a large salad bowl, pour dressing over and toss to coat. Divide spinach among 4 - 6 salad plates. Top with sliced beets, cheese, and pine nuts.
5- Watermelon
The carotenoids, lycopene and beta carotene in this delicious fruit help to neutralize free radicals to promote a healthy heart.
6- Bananas
The potassium in bananas helps your kidneys excrete excess sodium, thereby contributing to healthy blood pressure.
7- Garlic
Garlic helps boost nitric oxide production, which helps keep your blood vessels relaxed and smooth.
Plus garlic helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol and is a natural antimicrobial that supports your immune system.
8- Coconut oil
Contrary to what the American Heart Association says, coconut oil is a good, stable saturated fat that’s an especially wise choice for cooking.
The AHA is still regurgitating that old, tired advice that all saturated fats are all bad for you and that’s simply not true. Your body needs healthy saturated fats—to the tune of about 10 percent of your daily calories.
And get this—saturated fat is the type of fat your heart draws upon in times of stress!
9- Olive oil
Olive oil helps lower blood pressure.
Plus a Spanish study found that “Virgin olive oil significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease clinical events,” supporting that it’s good for cardiovascular health over and above blood pressure.
10- Berries
The polyphenols in berries help to increase your levels of blood vessel relaxing nitric oxide.
In addition, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that eating just under a cup of mixed berries every day for 8 weeks was associated with increased levels of HDL cholesterol and lowered blood pressure.
You will LOVE me for these next two…
11- Dark chocolate
Dark chocolate is associated with lower blood pressure, likely due to its phytochemicals that act as antioxidants. It has a blood thinning effect and can also help boost the immune system by reducing inflammation.
But as the same time you are reaping chocolate’s benefits, you don’t want to load up with inflammatory sugar! So look for organic varieties with an 80 percent cocoa content, and limit your consumption to an occasional 1-ounce square.
12- Red wine
Studies repeatedly show that people who drink red wine moderately are less likely to have heart disease. Drinking in moderation may protect the heart by raising HDL cholesterol, decreasing inflammation and preventing clots that can cause heart attack and stroke.
More heart support!
In addition to eating the right foods, it’s important to make sure you have proper levels of vitamin D, vitamin B12 and Omega-3 essential fatty acids.
Unfortunately, all three of these are common deficiencies in our society, so it’s no wonder that heart disease continues its reign as our #1 killer.
If you have concerns about deficiencies, we have the products you need to make sure your heart has what it needs!
Optimum DK Formula with FruiteX-B it a top-notch vitamin D and K formula, along with the mineral boron. All three of these nutrients work as a team to support cardiovascular health.
Hydroxaden 2.5 Vitamin B12 spray is an easy way to get the B12 you so desperately need. Many people’s GI systems don’t absorb the B12 like they should, so using a sublingual spray like Hydroxaden can overcome this issue since the B12 is absorbed through the mucus membranes in your mouth.
And VitalMega-3 Omega-3 fish oil formula is an easy way to get proper levels of Nature’s anti-inflammatory Omega-3 EFAs, especially if fish is not something you eat very often.
To your health,
Sherry Brescia
