15 BEST Heart-Healthy Foods
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Heart health is incredibly important, especially in today’s world. There are so many sudden heart incidents, and younger people are having more and more heart problems.
My father had a sudden heart issue at the age of 51, lost his job, and was full of inflammation, so I’ve lived it.
We need to take care of our hearts.
Let’s break down the top 15 foods that will help support a healthy heart.
Sea Salt
Salt is actually very important for heart health. In fact, researchers did a study with a couple hundred million people and found that those with a low-salt diet were at high risk of having strokes and heart attacks.
Those that had a diet high in processed salt were also at high risk for having heart attacks and strokes.
Those that had a diet with moderate intake of proper sea salt excelled and had fewer heart attacks and fewer strokes.
We need electrolytes like potassium and magnesium, let alone calcium and chloride.
That means we need proper salt. Table salt is toxic, so you want to stick to real Himalayan salt or Celtic sea salt.
Green Tea
Green tea is chock full of antioxidants, polyphenols, and catechins that prevent cell damage and reduce inflammation.
A study has shown that drinking green tea actually helps to increase your fat-burning and reduce your LDL cholesterol.
Another study showed that it helps with reducing blood pressure.
Olive Oil
Olive oil is packed with antioxidants and helps relieve inflammation.
Be careful not to heat it too hot, because that will damage all of the benefits.
I like to use it on salads that are mixed up like a broccoli salad. I have plenty of recipes for that which you can find on drlivingood.com.
Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids.
Many studies show a direct correlation between olive oil and a lower risk of heart disease.
One study of 7,216 people showed a 35% lower risk of developing heart disease in those who consumed olive oil on a regular basis.
When you’re consuming olive oil, you’re getting a lot of extra antioxidants, which is very helpful when it comes to inflammation in the body.
It also lowers your blood pressure, so it’s a good choice for heart health.
Garlic
Garlic is great for the heart, especially garlic extract.
I use this in my cholesterol support supplement because the studies on its ability to help lower LDL cholesterol and level out lipids are fantastic.
According to studies, it helps reduce blood pressure over a 24-week period.
Garlic also helps prevent platelet build-ups, so it’s going to reduce your stroke risk.
Getting garlic in is super good for you. I like to mix it in with veggies when I’m cooking and add it in as a seasoning whenever I can.
You can also take aged garlic extract in a supplement formula, like in the cholesterol supplement that we make.
Chia & Flax Seeds
These little guys can be used all the time, I love them. You can put them into smoothies, or you can make chia seed pudding.
Flax itself is an excellent source of plant-based omega-3s, which have lots of benefits in the body, such as lower cardiovascular risks, gastrointestinal help, and lower risk of cancer.
It also lowers inflammation in the body, making it very heart-friendly.
Chia seeds have many of the same benefits. Some preliminary studies on them found that they help lower your triglyceride levels and boost beneficial HDL.
I recommend getting them in their full seed form.
The oil forms can get rancid very quickly, which is terrible for you.
Chia seeds in particular can be absolutely delicious, especially as a dessert.
Almonds
Assuming you don’t have a sensitivity to them, eating raw almonds is good for heart health.
Make sure they’re raw and not cooked in rancid oils, because that would be the opposite of heart health.
If you want, you can even soak them overnight and sprout them for even more nutritional benefits.
There’s a study that followed 48 people that had high cholesterol as they ate 1 ½ ounces (43 grams) of almonds daily for just 6 weeks.
This reduced both their belly fat levels and their LDL cholesterol, which are two big risk factors for heart disease.
Almonds are associated with increasing HDL in certain studies, prevent plaque buildup, and are an excellent source of magnesium.
That makes it very thermogenic, which means it’s going to burn up fat inside of your body and support your muscles—and your heart is the most important muscle!
Tomatoes
Assuming you’re not sensitive to nightshade vegetables, tomatoes are great for your heart because they have high levels of lycopene.
If your lycopene levels are down, you have a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Increased tomato intake also has a positive effect on the lipids inside of your blood, blood pressure levels, and endothelial function, which controls your blood vessels.
A study on 50 overweight women found that eating two raw tomatoes 4 times a week increased their levels of HDL.
I think the best way to eat tomatoes is by sprinkling a bit of sea salt and pepper on them, which would be very heart-healthy.
Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate is packed full of antioxidants. You do want to stick to brands that use natural sweeteners instead of sugar or a toxic sugar alternative.
I recommend getting dark chocolate in a more organic form, which will eliminate chemicals, and get you the antioxidants.
You don’t want to overdo this. Just eat it in moderation, less than 6 servings a week.
Beans
Beans have so many different benefits and are fantastic for you. You are getting some carbs, but you’re also taking in a lot of good fiber that’s going to help stabilize your blood sugar.
This is very important for preventing type-2 diabetes, which is one of the main predictors of heart disease.
A study done with 16 people who were fed pinto beans found that they reduced blood triglyceride levels and had an impact on LDL cholesterol.
Another study found that a diet high in beans significantly reduces LDL cholesterol.
Because of the impact beans have on lipids and blood sugar levels, they should absolutely be in the diet of someone trying to prevent heart risk factors.
Walnuts
Walnuts are a superfood! They are a great source of fiber, and of micronutrients like magnesium, copper, and manganese.
A lot of us are lacking those micronutrients, which can create health problems.
Walnuts can also help protect against heart disease because they have so many antioxidants.
There was a big study done in 2009 on 365 people that showed that diets containing walnuts led to greater decreases in LDL and cholesterol levels.
They’re also chock-full of nutrients and anti-inflammatory omega-3s, and you only have to eat a couple of walnuts to get those nutrients in!
Avocados
Avocados are a superfood, especially when it comes to your heart.
One study looked at 3 different cholesterol-lowering diets in 45 people that were overweight and obese. One of the test groups consumed one avocado every day.
The avocado group reduced their LDL cholesterol, including lower levels of small and big LDL particles.
Small particles are what get you into trouble, so if you’re high in LDL, you want to measure the small particle sizes.
That’s covered more in my cholesterol video, but lowering small LDLs significantly reduces heart disease risk.
Avocados are also rich in potassium and magnesium. One avocado supplies 975 milligrams of potassium, which is 28% of the amount you need in a day.
That’s super heart-friendly, and it’s going to help pull fluid off of the body.
4.7 grams of potassium per day can decrease your blood pressure by an average of 8 points, so eating an avocado could be reducing your risk of strokes!
Berries
I love blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries because they’re low on the glycemic scale so they don’t spike your blood sugar levels, and they’re absolutely packed with nutrients.
They’re loaded with antioxidants that protect against oxidative stresses and inflammation that damage our body, including our heart.
One study showed that when 33 adults with obesity consumed 2 ½ servings of strawberries each day for four weeks, it significantly improved their insulin resistance and LDL cholesterol levels.
Another study found that eating blueberries daily improves the function of blood cells and vessels, helps control blood pressure, and prevents blood clotting issues.
Putting these in your diet has an impact on LDL, blood pressure, BMI, and inflammation levels.
If you have artery, cholesterol, or blood pressure problems, add berries to your daily regimen, either in a smoothie or straight up.
Whole Grains
A lot of times grains get us in trouble because there are way too many carbohydrates. Oftentimes, the grains we consume have bad fats.
If we increase the amount of omega-3 in our diet through seeds and fish oil, then we can lower the amount of omega-6 in our diet, which comes from bad seed oils.
This way we can level out the inflammation, but we don’t want to add more by eating too many carbs.
If we’re adding grains back in, they need to be whole grains, whole grain wheat, and sprouted wheat.
Whole-seed bread and whole-grain bread have all the nutrients that are stripped from white bread.
They don’t have as much of an impact on your carbohydrates and blood sugar levels because you get fiber from them.
Studies have shown that eating whole grains can reduce your heart disease risk by up to 22%.
If you’re having pasta, I recommend going for a bean form.
If you’re having bread, I would go for whole-seeded bread or whole-grain bread that has protein, fiber, and omega-3.
Try to stay away from any oils in the bread or grain.
Grains can be beneficial and heart-friendly as long as we eat them cautiously.
Leafy Greens
Green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, and collard greens are excellent sources of a lot of different vitamins.
Vitamin K is one of those vitamins, and can help with blood clotting.
If you’re on medication for blood clotting, you don’t want to overdo it, but you can still have some.
Leafy vegetables are high in nitrates, which are shown to reduce blood pressure.
Veggies also help lower blood pressure and help the lining of blood vessels.
Some studies even show that there’s a link between leafy greens and a lower risk of heart disease.
All you need to do is add a handful of spinach or kale to a smoothie to get your greens for breakfast.
Increasing the number of leafy vegetables in your diet can also lead to a 16% lower incidence of heart disease, and a lower risk of coronary artery disease.
If you want powdered greens you can find mine here, which is what I use to easily get spinach and kale into a smoothie.
Fish Oil
Dr. Dyerberg was a researcher back in the 1960s who studied populations around the world.
He studied the Eskimos for several weeks and found that their heart disease rates, cholesterol and blood pressure problems, and stroke risk were significantly lower than those of Americans.
He analyzed their blood and found that their diet was high in omega-3s, because they were eating mostly fish and fish fat.
The higher amounts of pure, clean, concentrated omega-3 you can get into your blood, the lower your heart disease risk.
You can get this by eating salmon, mackerel, sardines, and tuna, which are loaded with omega-3 fatty acids.
The acids from the fish protect the heart and blood vessels from developing cardiovascular disease and arrhythmias.
There’s another study that shows short-term use of fish oil supplements or eating fish lowers your total cholesterol, your total blood triglycerides, fasting blood sugar, and systolic blood pressure.
If you don’t like fish, you can supplement with it.
Even fish oil supplements have tons of studies showing they lower and reduce your triglyceride levels, improve your arterial function, improve your brain health, and decrease your blood pressure.
Omega-3 has massive impacts on blood flow and heart health, which is why I believeI it’s the number one nutrient to get in for your heart.
Summary
If you need help working through this, you can check out my heart health masterclass where you can go through 3 days of learning about your cholesterol and blood pressure.
As a next step in removing or preventing heart disease, coronary artery disease, and clogged arteries, check out my video that covers it here.
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