Foods That Keep Your Heart Healthy

Foods for Healthy Heart:

In this era, when cardiovascular diseases have become so common, healthy heart is a boon to human body. Certain causes of heart diseases are stress, lack of exercise, unhealthy food habits, excessive weight, extreme use of drugs and alcohol, smoking. In spite of this, maintaining a disease-free heart becomes quite easier if you include certain elements to your daily diet and some sets of exercise in your schedule. There is a list of some foods that can be added to your diet to make it appropriate for your heart.

Foods That Keep Your Heart Healthy

Foods That Keep Your Heart Healthy

1. The Fruit Power

Fruits are the most nutritious and delicious food. Adding below mentioned fruits to your diet is one of the best decisions you can take to get a happy heart.
Apple :- The famous proverb- ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ includes cardiologists too. Apples contain strong antioxidant flavonoids which are very important in preventing plaque in arteries and inhibiting inflammation. Pectin is also a constituent of it which ensures lower cholesterol levels. It also contains generous amount of another antioxidant i.e. vitamin-C.
Berries :- Berries too are rich in antioxidants. A bowl full of raspberries, strawberries, black currants, bilberries and blueberries will give you relaxed blood vessels, pump up good cholesterol levels and lowers blood pressure.
Pomegranate :- Fights with several cardiovascular diseases by decreasing oxidative stress and supporting the production and function of nitric oxide to combat inflammation. A study showed that it has a unique cardio-protective antioxidant named as punicalagins. Pomegranate also inhibits the oxidation of injurious LDL cholesterol.
Banana :- Though indirectly, but banana, being rich in potassium, helps a lot to maintain healthy heart. Potassium is very helpful to kidney in excreting excess amount of sodium and as a consequence, balanced blood pressure is attained by the body.

Foods That Keep Your Heart Healthy

Foods That Keep Your Heart Healthy

2. Heart-friendly Vegetables

Vegetables are always the best in terms of good health. Tomatoes abundant in lycopene (which is also responsible fot the red color) named antioxidant prevent heart from various risk factors. Profuse in Vitamin A, K and C, carrots not only safeguard heart from coronary diseases but also boost it. Spinach and lettuce are rich in folic acid which lowers the level of homocysteine and low levels of it ensures less risk of getting heart strokes and attacks.

Heart-friendly Vegetables

Heart-friendly Vegetables

3. Caring Wholegrains & Beans

Whole grains and beans contain high amount of fibers, antioxidants, phytosterols and phytoestrogens. These elements make them very suitable for heart. Especially the soluble fiber present in it. Liver use bile juice to digest fat and these soluble fibers bind to bile as we cannot digest fibers. In this way, this fiber-bile complex gets excreted out as the body waste, and consequently, the levels of cholesterol in body become lowered. Some examples of whole grains are oats, barley, wheat, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, triticale etc. Popcorn is also a great source of fibers and can be an excellent choice in terms of taste and snack.

Caring Wholegrains & Beans

Caring Wholegrains & Beans

4. Nutritious Yoghurt, Raisins & Green Tea

In a study, it was found that people having gum diseases are quite prone to suffer from heart diseases. Yoghurt, raisins and green tea are best to rescue oneself from gum diseases and thereby the heart disorders. Curd or yoghurt contains probiotics which creates unfriendly environment for the bad bacteria to grow in mouth and gums remain healthy. Catechins present in green tea, induces inflammatory action of body to fight against the bacteria of mouth.

Nutritious Yoghurt, Raisins & Green Tea

Nutritious Yoghurt, Raisins & Green Tea

5. Nourishing Fishes

Fishes like salmon and tuna are enriched with omega-3 fatty acid that escapes heart from blood clotting by lowering the levels of triglycerides in the blood. Also, it is capable to decrease blood pressure and prevent irregular rhythms of heart.

Nourishing Fishes

Nourishing Fishes

6. Wholesome Nuts and Oils

People who include canola oil, flaxseed oil, walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, pistachios, peanuts are less likely to get heart diseases than the individuals who do not consume these often. These oils and nuts contain omega-3 fats to secure the heart from coronary and cardiovascular diseases.

Wholesome Nuts and Oils

Wholesome Nuts and Oils

7. Yummy and Healthful Chocolate

Everyone loves chocolate and now you have one more reason to like it. Chocolate is very amiable to heart. It has a lot of benefits regarding heart health. Cocoa has a compound named as epicatechin which boosts nitric oxide- substance crucial for healthy vessels. Dark chocolate is rich flavanols that ensures the proper functioning of blood vessels. Healthy blood vessels lower the danger of high blood pressure.

Yummy and Healthful Chocolate

Yummy and Healthful Chocolate

Due to excessive use of cigarettes, unhealthy living conditions and wrong food habits, people have become vulnerable to have heart disorders. However, some of the foods which are mentioned above can obstruct your heart to get diseases. Right food accompanied with some workout will give you the healthy heart as well as keep yourself in a good shape.