4 Ways to Prevent Heart Disease With Vegetables

1. Vitamin Rich Veggies

Heart disease and your risks of suffering with it can be reduced by eating a heart healthy diet. Vegetables are an important part of a heart healthy diet as the consumption of fresh vegetables is shown to reduce your fat intake and lower your cholesterol. Vegetables are high fiber foods and loaded with vitamins that can even assist in heart disease prevention. So your mom was right when she told you to stop playing with your food and eat your veggies.

2. Can the Canned Vegetables

Choose fresh or frozen vegetables over the canned versions, as these are loaded with sodium and other preservatives. Fresh is always best, but frozen is a much better alternative than canned. Season your vegetables with flavors salt and pepper instead of drowning them in butter and cheese. If you're on a low or no-sodium diet, choose a product such as No Salt to get the salt flavor you crave without the health risks.

3. Treat Your Vegetables Right

When preparing vegetables, it's better to steam than boil them. Many vegetables loose a great deal of their nutritional value when boiled, especially you do it until they're soft and mushy. Another good option for preparing vegetables is to grill or broil them. Lightly coat your veggies with a non-fat cooking spray and sprinkle them with lemon juice or seasonings. Grilling makes vegetables taste great, and they keep their yummy nutrients so you eat heart-healthy.

4. Nobody Needs to Know it's Heart Healthy

You can make simple changes to your diet that will go a long way towards heart disease prevention. Add tomatoes, cumber slices or sliced zucchini to your sandwiches. Ditch the french fries and potato chips, and serve raw veggies instead. Toss out the sodas and sugary drinks and replace them with vegetable juice; each glass of vegetable juice you drink is one serving of vegetables. You can also experiment with new ways to eat vegetables, cooked and fresh, to add healthy food to your daily diet. Add diced onions, green peppers or red peppers to your ground beef when you make chili or sloppy joes for dinner. Top off your steaks with fresh onions, and add fresh peas to your salads. With a few simple switches, you'll be amazed at how many veggies you're sneaking into your family's diet.