Heart health is important for everyone particularly if you have a heart condition or cardiovascular problem. Your lifestyle, activity level and especially your diet affects your heart health and your body's ability to turn the foods you eat into healthy fuel for energy. There are foods that you can eat in order to promote and maintain a healthy heart.
Foods High in Fiber
Fiber helps to lower your cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Keeping your cholesterol and blood pressure at a healthy level lowers your risk for cardiovascular disease. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of fiber is 21 to 25g for women and 30 to 38g for men. Foods like whole wheat spaghetti or pasta, oat bran muffins and bran cereal contain 5 to 6g of fiber (16 to 20 percent of RDA).
Fruits and Vegetables
While containing a variety of vitamins and minerals, many fruits and vegetables are low in calories, which ultimately helps to control your blood pressure. Vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables like apples, grapes, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, melon, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, carrots, squash, potatoes and tomatoes are all good options. Stick to fruits and vegetables that are fresh or frozen to get the maximum benefit.
Protein
If possible, incorporate fish or seafood into your diet. In addition to being a good source of protein with minimal fat, seafood is high in omega-3 fatty acids. When choosing meats to incorporate protein, go with lean meats such as chicken breast, steak or turkey over processed meats such as deli meats, hot dogs or cuts of meat with a lot of fat. Consider getting protein from alternate sources like soybeans or tofu which have a number of health properties.
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