A balanced diet containing these foods, frequent exercise, and other beneficial habits may help maintain heart health.
Because they are good for the heart and blood vessels, some foods can help avoid heart disease and stroke. Most of the time, these foods contain nutrients and substances that lower risk factors for these diseases, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and inflammation.
What types of foods?
For example, fruits and veggies are full of vitamins, fiber, and potassium, which can help lower blood pressure and inflammation. Whole grains have fiber, which helps keep cholesterol levels in check and lowers the chance of plaque building up in the arteries. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in nuts and fatty fish like salmon. These acids reduce inflammation and help keep the heart healthy. This is a brief list since there are many heart-healthy foods available.
- Fresh Herbs: When you use these instead of salt and fat in food, you’re taking care of your heart. They add taste without adding anything bad. Spices and other heart-healthy foods are tasty ways to eat well.
- Black Beans: Black beans are soft, mild, and full of nutrients that are good for your heart. Folate, vitamins, and magnesium can all help lower blood pressure. Their fiber helps keep their blood sugar and cholesterol levels in check.
- Red Wine: Two antioxidants in red wine, resveratrol and catechins, may protect the walls of the arteries. The good cholesterol, HDL, can also go up when you drink. But don’t drink too much, because too much wine is bad for the heart.
- Salmon: It’s loaded with Omega-3s. These are good fats that may lower blood pressure and lower the risk of heart rhythm problems. Triglycerides may also go down, and they may stop inflammation. The American Heart Association says that you should eat salmon or other fat fish twice a week.
- Olive Oil: It’s full of vitamins that are good for the heart. They might help keep your blood vessels healthy. When olive oil is used instead of heavy fats (like butter), cholesterol levels can go down.
- Walnuts: Full of omega-3s, plant sterols, fiber, and good fats called monounsaturated fats.
- Edamame: Soybeans are called edamame in Japanese. Cholesterol can be lowered with the help of soy protein. A cup of edamame also has 8 grams of fiber, which is good for your heart.
- Oranges: Oranges are sweet and juicy, and the fiber pectin in them helps fight cholesterol. Potassium, which helps keep blood pressure in check, is also in them.
- Barley: The healthiest kind of barley is the hulled or “whole grain” variety. Grits are made by toasting and grinding barley. You may have them for breakfast or as a snack. Fast-cooking pearl barley has had most of its heart-healthy fiber removed, though. Substitute it for rice to see improvements in your cholesterol and glucose levels.
- Blueberries: The nutritional value of blueberries is outstanding.The antioxidant anthocyanins found in them are beneficial to the cardiovascular system. Fiber is only one of the many healthy components found in blueberries.
