Super Foods to Protect Your Valentine's Heart

©All articles are copyright of Dr. Susan Mitchell and Practicalories, Inc. and cannot be reprinted or used without permission. To obtain permission, please contact Dr. Mitchell.

Happy Valentine’s Day! What better day than Valentine’s Day to talk about how YOU can use food to help protect the hearts of the people you love. One of the great things about nutrition is the power of food to make a difference in your health and the health of your family today and in the years to come. Nutrition is one of the first lines of defense for your health. It’s like stacking the deck in your favor.

Nutrition for heart protection is really changing. Before, you didn’t go on any type of special nutrition plan or diet UNTIL you were diagnosed with a cholesterol/heart problem. Then you were told to lose weight or cut down on bad fats.

What we know today is that if heart disease runs in your family, it could also affect you. So…prevention is key…learning to be proactive. We now know terrific foods to include in the diet to help prevent high cholesterol or heart disease from becoming a problem and to help in the treatment protocol if you’re dealing with it already. Some of these foods may surprise you. In the past you might have been told to cut back on fat and alcohol. Now we know that certain types of fat may be helpful as well as alcohol in limited amounts

Think about a portfolio of heart-protective super foods which you include regularly in your diet as similar to your portfolio for your investments. The more you include per day, the bigger the benefit.

There are many healthy foods but we’re focusing on five superfoods for the heart:

1. Nuts: contain heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, fiber, and vitamin E. Try almonds, walnuts, and peanuts. Munch on these in place of chips or pretzels (not the entire can…more like a small handful), put in oatmeal, sprinkle in a salad or stir fry.

2. Beans and lentils: try black beans (soup, quesadillas), red beans and rice, kidney beans in chili, white beans, and green lentils for split pea soup. All of these help to bring down the lousy or LDL cholesterol.

3. Soy protein: try soy sausage with pancakes, soy milk or cheese; soy nuts, or tofu. There is some controversy now about soy protein’s ability to lower cholesterol but what typically happens is that if you include soy you tend to cut your saturated fat intake.

4. Cherries and blueberries: fight inflammation in the body which may increase the risk of plaque buildup and heart attack; use frozen, fresh or dried.

5. Oats (cereal and oatmeal): works like a sponge to help soak up cholesterol and remove it from the body. I make oatmeal or eat oat squares and add almonds or pecans, dried cherries or fresh blueberries. I also like vanilla soy milk and will use it on cereal or in smoothies.