5 Healthy Food for the Heart: The heart is a finely tuned machine that needs healthy foods that act as fuel to keep it running smoothly.
This means that a person should always choose a heart-healthy diet regardless of age, gender, and other environmental factors.
The Best Healthy Foods For Your Heart
Over 1 million Australians have been diagnosed with heart disease, stroke, and other related conditions. But picking the right healthy food can lower the risk factors which can lead to these illnesses.
Following nutritional strategies from doctors and nutritionists can help reduce or even eliminate some of the risk factors of heart disease. These include promoting a healthy body weight, and lowering blood pressure, blood sugar levels and LDL-cholesterol.
While most dietary plans focus on what foods to eliminate, the most effective nutritional strategies tend to instead highlight the recommended food intake. Research proves that adding certain foods to the diet is as important as cutting back on unhealthy ones.
Here are the top food choices for healthy eating habits.
Fruits And Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are good sources of essential vitamins and minerals. They are low in calories and rich in dietary fibre, which is good for health.
Eating fruits and veggies can also fill you up and help you cut back on high-calorie foods such as meats, dairy, and processed snacks.
Add a variety of strawberries, raspberries, peaches, oranges, carrots, green celery, lettuce, kiwis, and bananas to the plate. Choosing a rainbow of colours of these food choices helps ensure a diverse intake of nutrients.
Fibre-rich Foods
As mentioned earlier, fibre-rich foods help reduce the high cholesterol level. Fibre is a component of food that the digestive system does not break down. As it passes through the body, it will affect how your body digests food and absorbs nutrients.
A fibre-rich diet has many health benefits that go beyond cholesterol control. It helps manage blood sugar, promote regularity, prevent gastrointestinal disease, and help keep a healthy weight.
The suggested dietary fibre intake daily, for both soluble and insoluble, is 25 or more grams.
Low-fat Protein Sources
The best protein sources are lean meat, poultry, fish, and low-fat dairy products.
When choosing one, opt for the lower-fat option. For example, choose skinless chicken breasts rather than fried chicken patties, or skim low-fat milk rather than whole milk.
Low Fat Or Non-Fat Dairy Products
Dairy Australia suggests only consuming 2.5 servings of dairy per day. This level of intake is good for the heart, bone, and managing blood pressure health.
Common low-fat or non-fat dairy products are skim milk, non-fat yogurt, and cottage cheeses.
Dark Chocolates
Contrary to misconceptions, not all chocolate is bad for your health. Dark chocolate is a food example that not everything that tastes good is wrong for you (in moderation of course).
Research believe that dark chocolate has benefits in fighting off several diseases. These include atherosclerosis (thickening or hardening of arteries), heart attack and stroke.
Coffee
One study has found that regular coffee drinking is linked to decreased risk of developing heart failure and stroke.
Dietary guidelines indicate that consuming three to five cups of plain, black coffee a day is part of a healthy diet. However, despite its benefits, it can be dangerous when taken in large amounts.
Conclusion
When it comes to heart health, food choices matter.
Certain foods are great for keeping the heart in its best condition, while others are not. Some can help lower and manage cholesterol levels and slow down plaque formation, which help prevent heart disease.
In all kinds of diets, moderation is part of healthy dietary patterns. Any food choices can aggravate a heart condition when taken in unhealthy amounts.
Follow these tips for mindful eating and learn first aid to attend to heart-related emergencies successfully.
Visit First Aid Courses Darwin for more information.
