3 Dietary Changes To Benefit Your Heart Health
Heart health is about relationships, truthful relationships. What is your relationship with your food? Importantly, the knowing of why you eat what you eat will be an advantage when trying to improve your heart health. Also, you should know why you should eat healthier options and what those options are.
By The Numbers
If you are trying to achieve optimal health, go to a professional to get a baseline. In the end, your health is a numbers game. So, do you know if your numbers are in check? Let’s take a look.
- Total Cholesterol should be under 200 mg/dl
- LDL Cholesterol below 100 mg/dl
- HDL Cholesterol for Women should be 50 mg/dL or higher and Men should be 40 mg/dL or higher
- Triglycerides less than 150 mg/dl
- Blood Pressure of 120/80 is normal
Food For Heart Love
It is time for you to call on your inner food critic. Truly, we need to choose wiser and healthier even when it seems out of our control. Yet, when it comes to knowing what is okay to eat and what we should pass up, that decision should be based on sound nutrition.
1. Fat
Obviously, there are good, bad, and really awful fats. Bad is a harsh term because we still need saturated fats in our diets. Typically, you should have 10% or less of this type of fat. However, too much saturated fat in your diet can increase your unhealthy cholesterol, especially your LDL’s. The awful fat mentioned is Trans fat. This fat can not only raise the unhealthy cholesterol but also lower your healthy HDL cholesterol. The good fats are unsaturated fats and omega 3 fatty acids. Adding these fats to your diet will help you improve your cholesterol numbers. Moreover, adding omega 3 fatty acids can increase your HDL’s, lower triglycerides, act as an anti-inflammatory, and lastly lower blood pressure.
Here are some foods to put on your grocery list and some to take out of your shopping cart.
Limit these from your diet.
- Whole milk dairy products
- Red meat (beef, pork and lamb)
- Processed Meats (ham, hot dogs, sausage, bacon, pepperoni)
- Poultry Skin
- Butter, shortening, frying oil
Remove these foods from your diet.
- Stick margarine
- Hydrogenated oil
Add these quality fats.
- Olive oil
- Avocado
- Fatty fish like salmon, sardines and tuna
- Nuts such as walnuts, chia seeds, flaxseed
2. Fiber
Fiber is a regulator of the body’s use of sugar; furthermore, it satiates your hunger levels. There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. These, individually, play roles in lowering cholesterol and may benefit your blood pressure. To reap the benefits of fiber, you need to consume around 25-30 grams per day.
Try to add these foods into your diet.
- Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and legumes
3. Antioxidants
Antioxidants are found in natural foods like fruits and vegetables. Importantly, these substances are linked to prevention or delaying some types of cell damage caused by free radicals. As such, antioxidants have an anti-inflammatory effect that can protect the heart and its vessels. Additionally, they can lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol.
Increase these foods in your diet.
- colorful fruits and veggies
In the end, it is about eating foods that are truly natural more often. Sadly, we are surrounded in the duplicity of food company’s marketing strategies. However, we can arm ourselves with knowledge so we can choose foods that will benefit our health and heart. Rise and shine, my fitness friends!
