Top 10 Heart Healthy Foods

Featured Articles, Recent Research — By admin on February 2, 2011 2:24 pm

In general, the best foods you can eat for benefits not only to your heart, but your whole body are those that are closest to their natural state. Whole foods, like fresh produce that help protect our fragile blood vessels by eliminating free radicals in the blood, should be included in every healthy diet.

Other foods that contain essential phytonutrients that protect the heart include whole grains, fatty fish, tea, nuts, beans, and legumes. For the ultimate in a healthy heart, try to include servings of these foods every day.

This article outlines the ‘cream of the crop’ foods with regard to protecting the heart and keeping it healthy. Incorporate these top ten heart healthy foods into your diet on a regular basis to keep your heart and the blood vessels that feed it as healthy as possible.

Salmon – for omega-3 fatty acids. Enjoy it grilled, with veggies or add some to a salad or pasta.

Oatmeal – another good source of omega-3 acids, plus the benefit of fiber as well as important vitamins and minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, folate, and niacin. Add fresh fruit for double punch of healthy yumminess.

Ground flaxseed – contributes fiber, phytoestrogens and those all-important omega-3 fatty acids. Add ground flaxseed to your oatmeal or yogurt, or hide it in your favorite cookie or muffin batter.

Kidney Beans, Black Beans – despite what any poems about beans say, adding beans to your meal or in your soup gives you a healthy dose of vitamin B complex, calcium, fiber, magnesium, folate, niacin and omega-3 acids.

Almonds – besides being a tasty snack, these nuts are loaded with mono and polyunsaturated fats that do a heart good. They also contain vitamin E, phytosterols, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids (are you detecting a pattern here?), and fiber.

Walnuts – if you’re a nut lover, you’ll have no problem treating yourself to these nuts as well as almonds. Walnuts offer the same heart boosting benefits as almonds.

Red wine – who knew being healthy could be so much fun? Full of important flavonoids, a daily glass of red wine can actually improve your cholesterol numbers by increasing HDL cholesterol (the ‘healthy’ kind).

Tuna – another fatty fish that adds vital omega-3 fatty acids plus niacin and folate. And just so you know, you’re not limited to just tuna in a can; try grilling a tuna filet for a different taste treat.

Tofu – this mostly misunderstood food is full of magnesium, niacin, potassium, calcium, and folate. When added to other foods, tofu takes on their taste. Or you can slice it up, marinate it for a few hours, then stir-fry in a wok or grill it in a skillet.

Brown rice – not the starchy white kind. Brown rice is nutritious and delicious and thanks to Uncle Ben, can be cooked in less than two minutes. Add some veggies for a tasty side dish chock full of fiber, B complex vitamins, magnesium, and niacin.

So there you have it, the top ten foods your heart loves the most. Adding even a few of these on a regular basis could add years to your heart. And since you only live as long as your heart does…well, it just makes sense to keep it as healthy as possible for as long as you can.

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