Poor circulation can have nutritional causes, which may be halted or reversed by getting the right foods to eat. Your diet may be sending too much fat and cholesterol through your blood vessels or failing to provide certain vitamins or minerals. If you're not eating balanced meals and begin to feel fatigue or cold extremities, you may be developing atherosclerosis or anemia. Plan a good diet that limits total fat, cholesterol and salt, and emphasizes fiber, vitamin B-12 and iron to preserve your health and prevent coronary heart disease.
Salmon
To decrease saturated fat and cholesterol in a good diet's protein sources, increase unsaturated fat by choosing fish such as salmon over meats. The American Heart Association encourages you to do the most good for your cardiovascular system by making a habit of this practice at least twice a week. Unlike smoked salmon, fresh fish won't have added salt.
Other foods to eat include clams and oysters, which have large amounts of dietary iron, and low-fat perch and sole. Fish and shellfish also contain vitamin B-12.
Pinto Beans
Pinto beans and other legumes offer several nutrients to combat poor circulation, as well as little saturated fat to complicate atherosclerosis. Pinto beans, refried beans, black beans, lentils and soybeans offer high iron and dietary fiber, and also represent alternative foods to eat for protein. The American Diabetes Association suggests featuring cooked dry beans in several meals per week.
Spinach
Low-fat spinach provides variety in a good diet and helps satisfy several nutritional goals relevant to poor circulation at once. Cooked spinach is one of a few vegetables sources with high iron content.
By providing large amounts of fiber, calcium, magnesium, potassium and vitamins A, B-9, C and E as well, 1 cup of spinach eliminates the need for other, potentially fattier foods. It also adds to your protein daily total, as per the USDA Nutrient Database.
Fortified Cereal
Whole-grain cereals fortified with iron and vitamins are appropriate foods to eat for cardiovascular problems and nutritional deficiencies. If your anemia is caused by low iron, put a fortified cereal that contains 100 percent of the recommended daily value of iron into your good diet every day.
If you're over 50, your poor circulation may be caused by a dip in B-12 levels because your body isn't absorbing the vitamin from foods as well. The USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans notes that eating cereals enriched with an accessible form of B-12 will counteract this tendency.
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