Good heart health foods....
Today's Post: Thursday, 7-22-2010
Recently one of my health emails had an article from WebMD on foods good for your heart I thought included some foods that weren’t that good along with some that were.
I thought I’d do a post that did three things differently. It would leave out the not that great foods; it would group foods by their main heart healthy effects; and it would have more foods.
The effects you want to achieve, high HDL, low LDL, very low triglycerides, and low systemic inflammation, we have posted on a good bit.
One way to achieve them is to NOT eat or drink things that make them worse instead of better. In fact, if you have bad readings on these or want to avoid them, NOT eating the bad things is critical to do as is getting regular exercise, particularly vigorous exercise.
But, we’ve had a lot of those posts recently. And it can be a lot more fun to focus on the good things you can and should eat and drink instead.
Researchers have found that the higher your HDL and lower your triglycerides are the less of the heart disease producing small particle LDL you have.
A. Here are some of the many foods that help increase HDL.
1. Berries are known to do this. Organic ones are safer and have more nutrition. Wild and organic blueberries work. Organic strawberries work. So do organic raspberries and blackberries. (You can also take bilberry extract supplements.)
(Robust intake of vitamin C also helps heart health and berries are high in it.)
2. If you aren’t allergic, eating nuts works. Doing so only works if no junk oils have been used on the nuts. And, it works better by avoiding blood pressure problems if you leave out the salt. So the ideal way to eat nuts is raw or dry roasted with no salt. Pecan, walnuts, and almonds all work. Although you may not want to overdo it since they seem to always come salted, eating pistachio’s also boosts your HDL.
(Eating nuts also helps lower LDL due to the sterols in them; and raw walnuts have other heart protecting effects besides increasing HDL. Plus nuts are good sources for magnesium which helps heart health and to prevent high blood pressure or lower it some.)
3. Drinking red wine in moderation increases HDL. Drinking grape juice in moderation or taking grape seed extract does also. Additionally some red wines such as zinfandel, pinot noir, and burgundy contain saponins which lower LDL. And, although red wine contains resveratrol which has been shown to have heart protective effects, taking supplements with trans-resveratrol (the natural form that is protective) likely works better. (Also note that while higher levels of red wine may also be heart protective, they can help cause obesity, traffic accidents, and other health problems. So only drink red wine moderately.)
4. Foods and supplements that contain choline have brain supporting effects as they help your brain have ample supplies of the key neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
Wheat germ is surprisingly high in choline. Egg yolks are high in choline though the lipid profile of eggs from pasture fed chickens is better for you than factory raised. The supplement lecithin contains choline. B complex vitamins usually have some choline as it is classified with the B vitamins. And you can also get choline supplements. Dr Al Sear says the taking the supplement DMAE also helps keep your choline levels high since your body turns it into choline. DMAE also helps protect your body from the effects of sugars in your diet.
5. Three supplements that increase HDL are niacin, inositol hexaniacinate, and chromium polynicotinate.
6. Even though it’s not a food, regular vigorous exercise is very effective in increasing and keeping high HDL levels. I felt this part would be incomplete without noting that since the effect is so strong.
B. Lowering triglycerides. Besides NOT eating or drinking the large number of junky things that increase them, these foods tend to lower them.
1. Wild caught salmon, sardines, small mackerel, and herring are high in omega 3 oils. Eating one or more of them two or three times a week lowers triglycerides and also helps lower chronic inflammation or keep it low.
2. Omega 3 supplements from purified fish oil also have this effect and can be taken daily. DHA supplements from fish oil or algae also work.
3. Onions, garlic – either fresh crushed garlic or deodorized garlic supplements, and leeks and shallots tend to help your blood vessels stay resilient and appropriately responsive and also lower triglyceride levels. (As a bonus, they also help prevent many cancers.) Well used they can add a great deal of flavor to foods as well.
C. Lowering LDL foods include three categories of foods. Foods that are quite high in soluble fiber; foods that are high in fiber to some degree but can be eaten often, and foods containing sterols.
Foods high in soluble fiber include beans and lentils; old fashioned or steel cut oatmeal (instant does too but is high glycemic and often has sugars added); oat bran; and apples and applesauce. (Applesauce that has had NO sugar of any kind added is better for you than the ones that do have.)
The berries we listed; nuts; other whole fruits; cruciferous vegetables; and other nonstarchy vegetables are all relatively high in fiber and have other health benefits. The cruciferous vegetables and the other nonstarchy vegetables also help keep or get you trim because they are nutritious, filling, and have very few calories.
WebMD listed cantaloupe and whole oranges in this group and also because they are high in vitamin C.
And, while the vegetables that are high in mixed carotenoids may be better cancer fighters, they are relatively high in fiber. WebMD listed carrots, broccoli – which is also a cruciferous vegetable, sweet potato, and acorn squash.
Nonstarchy vegetables include asparagus, spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, green beans and more.
Most vegetables also contain some sterols; nuts contain them; and you can also take sterol supplements. I’ve found betasitosterol supplements work well to lower LDL, for example.
D) Keeping systemic inflammation low is best done by NOT eating oils high in omega 6 or the fats in grain fed protein foods or very much grain itself.
The fish and omega 3 oils we noted help do this.
Extra virgin olive oil fits here as it is an oil that has direct health benefits; and either does not lower or may even increase HDL; it helps keep LDL low; but most important perhaps, it is an excellent substitute for the omega 6 oils you might otherwise use and which create inflammation.
The fish, nonfat and very lowfat dairy, some eggs, nuts, and beans and lentils also fit here as they help you eat far less fats from grain fed meat with its high levels of pro-inflammatory omega 6 oils.
E) WebMD also listed tea and dark chocolate.
When you eat dark chocolate or drink unsweetened cocoa or drink tea or green tea or take green tea extract supplements AND do so at a time you have not consumed milk, your blood vessels tend to relax and be more responsive AND your chances of dying of a heart attack if you have one are reported to fall in HALF.
That is very good news indeed!
(Do note that quarter of a small bar pieces of dark chocolate tend to work BETTER than whole bars of it as do drinks of unsweetened cocoa. You also wind up eating less sugar that way.)
Today's Post: Thursday, 7-22-2010
Recently one of my health emails had an article from WebMD on foods good for your heart I thought included some foods that weren’t that good along with some that were.
I thought I’d do a post that did three things differently. It would leave out the not that great foods; it would group foods by their main heart healthy effects; and it would have more foods.
The effects you want to achieve, high HDL, low LDL, very low triglycerides, and low systemic inflammation, we have posted on a good bit.
One way to achieve them is to NOT eat or drink things that make them worse instead of better. In fact, if you have bad readings on these or want to avoid them, NOT eating the bad things is critical to do as is getting regular exercise, particularly vigorous exercise.
But, we’ve had a lot of those posts recently. And it can be a lot more fun to focus on the good things you can and should eat and drink instead.
Researchers have found that the higher your HDL and lower your triglycerides are the less of the heart disease producing small particle LDL you have.
A. Here are some of the many foods that help increase HDL.
1. Berries are known to do this. Organic ones are safer and have more nutrition. Wild and organic blueberries work. Organic strawberries work. So do organic raspberries and blackberries. (You can also take bilberry extract supplements.)
(Robust intake of vitamin C also helps heart health and berries are high in it.)
2. If you aren’t allergic, eating nuts works. Doing so only works if no junk oils have been used on the nuts. And, it works better by avoiding blood pressure problems if you leave out the salt. So the ideal way to eat nuts is raw or dry roasted with no salt. Pecan, walnuts, and almonds all work. Although you may not want to overdo it since they seem to always come salted, eating pistachio’s also boosts your HDL.
(Eating nuts also helps lower LDL due to the sterols in them; and raw walnuts have other heart protecting effects besides increasing HDL. Plus nuts are good sources for magnesium which helps heart health and to prevent high blood pressure or lower it some.)
3. Drinking red wine in moderation increases HDL. Drinking grape juice in moderation or taking grape seed extract does also. Additionally some red wines such as zinfandel, pinot noir, and burgundy contain saponins which lower LDL. And, although red wine contains resveratrol which has been shown to have heart protective effects, taking supplements with trans-resveratrol (the natural form that is protective) likely works better. (Also note that while higher levels of red wine may also be heart protective, they can help cause obesity, traffic accidents, and other health problems. So only drink red wine moderately.)
4. Foods and supplements that contain choline have brain supporting effects as they help your brain have ample supplies of the key neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
Wheat germ is surprisingly high in choline. Egg yolks are high in choline though the lipid profile of eggs from pasture fed chickens is better for you than factory raised. The supplement lecithin contains choline. B complex vitamins usually have some choline as it is classified with the B vitamins. And you can also get choline supplements. Dr Al Sear says the taking the supplement DMAE also helps keep your choline levels high since your body turns it into choline. DMAE also helps protect your body from the effects of sugars in your diet.
5. Three supplements that increase HDL are niacin, inositol hexaniacinate, and chromium polynicotinate.
6. Even though it’s not a food, regular vigorous exercise is very effective in increasing and keeping high HDL levels. I felt this part would be incomplete without noting that since the effect is so strong.
B. Lowering triglycerides. Besides NOT eating or drinking the large number of junky things that increase them, these foods tend to lower them.
1. Wild caught salmon, sardines, small mackerel, and herring are high in omega 3 oils. Eating one or more of them two or three times a week lowers triglycerides and also helps lower chronic inflammation or keep it low.
2. Omega 3 supplements from purified fish oil also have this effect and can be taken daily. DHA supplements from fish oil or algae also work.
3. Onions, garlic – either fresh crushed garlic or deodorized garlic supplements, and leeks and shallots tend to help your blood vessels stay resilient and appropriately responsive and also lower triglyceride levels. (As a bonus, they also help prevent many cancers.) Well used they can add a great deal of flavor to foods as well.
C. Lowering LDL foods include three categories of foods. Foods that are quite high in soluble fiber; foods that are high in fiber to some degree but can be eaten often, and foods containing sterols.
Foods high in soluble fiber include beans and lentils; old fashioned or steel cut oatmeal (instant does too but is high glycemic and often has sugars added); oat bran; and apples and applesauce. (Applesauce that has had NO sugar of any kind added is better for you than the ones that do have.)
The berries we listed; nuts; other whole fruits; cruciferous vegetables; and other nonstarchy vegetables are all relatively high in fiber and have other health benefits. The cruciferous vegetables and the other nonstarchy vegetables also help keep or get you trim because they are nutritious, filling, and have very few calories.
WebMD listed cantaloupe and whole oranges in this group and also because they are high in vitamin C.
And, while the vegetables that are high in mixed carotenoids may be better cancer fighters, they are relatively high in fiber. WebMD listed carrots, broccoli – which is also a cruciferous vegetable, sweet potato, and acorn squash.
Nonstarchy vegetables include asparagus, spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, green beans and more.
Most vegetables also contain some sterols; nuts contain them; and you can also take sterol supplements. I’ve found betasitosterol supplements work well to lower LDL, for example.
D) Keeping systemic inflammation low is best done by NOT eating oils high in omega 6 or the fats in grain fed protein foods or very much grain itself.
The fish and omega 3 oils we noted help do this.
Extra virgin olive oil fits here as it is an oil that has direct health benefits; and either does not lower or may even increase HDL; it helps keep LDL low; but most important perhaps, it is an excellent substitute for the omega 6 oils you might otherwise use and which create inflammation.
The fish, nonfat and very lowfat dairy, some eggs, nuts, and beans and lentils also fit here as they help you eat far less fats from grain fed meat with its high levels of pro-inflammatory omega 6 oils.
E) WebMD also listed tea and dark chocolate.
When you eat dark chocolate or drink unsweetened cocoa or drink tea or green tea or take green tea extract supplements AND do so at a time you have not consumed milk, your blood vessels tend to relax and be more responsive AND your chances of dying of a heart attack if you have one are reported to fall in HALF.
That is very good news indeed!
(Do note that quarter of a small bar pieces of dark chocolate tend to work BETTER than whole bars of it as do drinks of unsweetened cocoa. You also wind up eating less sugar that way.)
Labels: eat to protect your heart, heart healthy foods, prevent heart attacks, prevent strokes, protect your heart
posted by David at 1:46 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home