EAT FIT/NOT FAT

You have read several articles over the years about heart healthy foods and probably still feel a bit confused by all the mixed information. Don’t be discouraged — even the experts find it difficult to keep up. The discovery that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailments will be treated. Therefore, any attempt to eat smart should focus on lowering this inflammation.

In an attempt to get you up to speed on the most recent research, I have decided to use the acronym B-E-H-A-V-E to help you understand some simple and important facts that will help you improve your risk factors for heart disease.

Be aware of sugar. Sugar in your diet increases blood sugar beyond what the cells need, causing sugar levels in the blood to rise. The pancreas then produces more insulin and the glucose converts to stored fat. Therefore, anything that turns into sugar should be minimized. Read your food labels and watch out for anything labeled low-fat because this usually means high sugar. Additionally, although fruit has nutrient value, it is sugar, so limit your intake to two servings per day.

B:Eat lean protein, trim the fat, and eat grass fed and organic meat products to avoid ingesting the hormones and antibiotics feed to animals. The average American diet is protein poor and carbohydrate rich, which is the opposite of heart healthy. Protein has been shown to be effective in lowering blood pressure and is necessary to build or maintain muscle. Remember, your heart is a very important muscle that needs to maintain its workload.

H:E:Have non-starchy vegetables. Eat them raw or lightly cooked, and leave them a little crunchy. Eat colorful and enjoy a variety. Also, consider buying from local farmers to avoid the long shelf life of foods, which reduces the nutritional quality of your foods.

Avoid transfats. They can increase triglycerides and cause more inflammation. For that reason, consider eating other heart healthy fats such as olive oil and moderate amounts of coconut oil. Eating fish and nuts such as almonds and walnuts are also a great source of healthy fats.

A:View your nutritional labels. If you are eating foods that are packaged and processed, check out your label. Ingredients such as maltodextrin, BHT, and BHA are all preservatives added to those foods, and if you look these up on the Internet, you will also find they are used in our local morgues. Therefore, choose foods with few ingredients, or better yet eat whole foods. Eating items in their natural state is the key.

V:E:Exercise your brain and your body. Although this is not necessarily part of your diet, it needs to be part of your heart healthy lifestyle. Recent research shows just walking can improve brain function, intellect, and memory. So not only are you protecting your heart, you are preserving your brain, too.

Eating heart healthy is not rocket science but it does require proper knowledge and some detective work. I urge you to recognize that these simple facts and have the power to change not only your heart but also your overall health. So B-E-H-A-V-E, eat heart smart, and get moving to preserve your heart health.