5 Delicious Heart-Healthy Foods You’ll Want to Eat

Do you know that heart disease is the number one killer disease in America? In every 37 seconds, someone dies from cardiovascular disease.

You can enhance your heart health by minimizing stress, sleeping adequately, and exercising. Nutrition is also vital in maintaining heart health.

Regrettably, many people associate heart-healthy meals with boring, bland meals. However, there are a plethora of foods and recipes that are both tasty and valuable to your ticker!

Continue reading to know the five heart-healthy foods that you will enjoy eating.

1. Leafy Green Vegetables

Leafy green vegetables like kales, spinach, collard greens are rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Vitamin K, in particular, is essential for the protection of your arteries and ensuring that blood clots correctly.

Leafy greens have been shown to help reduce blood pressure, improve the function of blood vessels, and reduce the stiffness of arteries cells lining.

Increasing your intake of leafy greens will thus lower the risk of heart disease.

2. Consume Whole Grains

Whole grains contain all three important nutrient-rich parts, the endosperm, bran, and germ. The common grain you should eat includes whole wheat, oats, brown rice, barley, and rye.

Whole grain contains a higher percentage of fiber that is good for reducing cholesterol, which puts you at risk of heart disease.

When purchasing whole grains, ensure you read the ingredients labels carefully. Phrases like whole-grain may indicate a whole product, while phrases like wheat flour may not be whole.

You should also know your heart when making healthy life changes.

3. Berries

Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries are packed with nutrients that centralize heart health.

Berries are rich in antioxidants essential in preventing oxidative stress and inflammation that contribute to heart disease. Consuming berries has also been shown to decrease harmful cholesterol levels, improve blood vessel function, and control clotting and blood pressure.

4. Avocados

Avocados are a rich source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats that are known to lower the level of cholesterol. According to a study, consuming one avocado per day reduces LDL cholesterol, which raises the risk of heart disease.

Apart from fats, avocados are also rich in potassium, a mineral vital for heart health. A single avocado provides 975 milligrams of potassium, or 28 percent you need in a day.

5. Fatty Fish and Fish Oil

Fish like salmon, sardines, tuna, and mackerel are rich in omega 3 fatty acids, beneficial to heart health. For instance, eating salmon three times a week has been shown to decrease diastolic blood pressure significantly.

Other studies have shown that you will lower total cholesterol levels and blood triglycerides if you continue eating fish for a long time.

If you don’t have seafood, fish oil is an alternative that will provide your daily dose of omega fatty acids.

Start Eating Heart-Healthy Foods Today

Now that you have learned how to keep your heart healthy, be selective about what you put on your table. It will affect every aspect of your heart health, including; blood pressure, inflammation, cholesterol levels, and triglycerides.

Consider heart-healthy foods rich in fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, potassium, and low in saturated fats next time you go shopping. Focus on fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, among other nutrients. Also, consider eating whole grains.

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