8 Simple Heart Healthy Foods You Can Eat Today

Heart Healthy Foods

Heart healthy foods are foods that help to lower blood pressure, triglycerides, and/or cholesterol levels over time. This helps to prevent and treat heart diseases. Many whole foods found in nature contain substances such as resveratrol and omega-3 fatty acids which are just some of the powerful substances that are good for heart health.

Therefore, heart healthy foods don’t need to be some grand mixture of tons of ingredients. In fact, there a quite a few of these foods that you more than likely already have in your kitchen that require no to little preparation. But, what exactly are those foods? Read below to find out!

The Eight Foods

1. Bananas

Bananas are high in potassium. Potassium is a mineral and electrolyte found in nature and in our bodies.

Some research has shown that eating more potassium than sodium helps to regulate your blood pressure by pushing sodium out of your body through your urine. Less sodium in your body means this may lower your blood pressure over time.

If you’re really a fan of bananas, you can try eating nuts.

2. Nuts

Nuts contain protein, unsaturated fats, and fiber. These nutrients may help to lower Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.

Protein found in nuts and other plant based sources can help lower LDL cholesterol levels when replaced with animal proteins.

By replacing saturated fats (butter, lard, palm oil, coconut oil, beef, pork, bacon) with unsaturated fats (olive, canola, sunflower, soybean, avocado), it reduces the production of LDL cholesterol and improves the liver’s ability to remove it from the blood.

Fiber, particularly soluble fiber, helps to lower LOL cholesterol by binding to it in the digestive tract and removing it from the body before it is absorbed.

Read more about how cholesterol affects your body in my blog post by clicking here.

Nuts can be a great heart healthy food to pair with the next one on this list – low fat yogurt.

3. Low Fat Yogurt

Full fat dairy products contain high amounts of saturated (“bad”) fat compared to low fat dairy products such as low fat yogurt. By replacing low fat yogurt and other dairy foods, this helps to lower the total amount of saturated fat consumed daily, similar to what we discussed above.

Note that a low fat food product is one that contains 3 grams of fat or less per serving or derives 30% or less of their total calories from fat.

Yogurt is truly a versatile ingredient that can be paired with anything including dark chocolate.

4. Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate (with 70% or more cocoa) contains very powerful substances called epicatechin and catechin. These are flavonoids stimulate the production of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide improves blood flow and relaxes blood vessels. This reduces blood pressure.

It can also reduce LDL cholesterol and potentially increase high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.

And what a great way to enjoy this powerful and delicious treat than with one of America’s most popular fruits, apples.

5. Apples

There’s quite a bit of truth in the old saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”.

Apples are free from saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol. They’re high in soluble and insoluble fiber. Pectin is the specific soluble fiber that exist in apples that helps lower LDL cholesterol.

Note that most of the fiber from apples (or any fruit or vegetable) is located in the skin. Therefore, if you want the full benefits that apples can provide for your heart, it is recommended that you eat them unpeeled.

Generally, many red foods are heart healthy foods. Red grapes are no exception.

6. Red Grapes

By now, you may have heard that red wine, which is made from grapes, is healthy for your heart. This is indeed true. That’s because it contains and antioxidant called resveratrol.

You also may have heard that you need to limit alcohol to optimize your heart health. This is also true. Alcohol raises blood pressure and causes irregular heart beats. So, should you drink red wine for heart health if it’s good and bad for you?

This mighty antioxidant, resveratrol, is found in the skin of red grapes. Resveratrol can decrease the oxidation of LDL cholesterol which prevents it from damaging blood vessels and forming plaques which prevents blood clots. It also helps to relax blood vessels and produces the production of nitric oxide.

So, essentially, if want the benefits of resveratrol without the side effects of alcohol, just simply consume more red grapes than red wine.

Additionally, just like bananas, grapes are high in potassium which is another reason why grapes are an excellent heart healthy food.

These next two foods require a bit of preparation, but provide just as much benefits as the ones presented above.

7. Oatmeal

Whether you prefer overnight oats or hot oatmeal fresh off the stove, it has been shown to be a heart healthy food choice. The reason why is because it contains soluble fiber, which we know by no helps to lower LDL cholesterol.

Oats also contain antioxidants that increase the production of nitric oxide which dilates blood vessels and improve blood flow.

The final food on this list is not only a goof food for your heart, but it also pairs quite well with oatmeal. They are chia seeds.

8. Chia Seeds

Chia seeds are a tiny, but mighty heart healthy food. They are high in protein, fiber, and omega-3 fatty acids.

The protein in chia seeds are obviously a plant sourced protein. As we discussed earlier, eating more protein from plant sources than animal sources helps to lower LDL cholesterol and lower blood pressure.

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential polyunsaturated (“good”) fats that the body cannot produce on it’s own, and must be obtained through food. They help to lower triglycerides, reduce plaque buildup in the heart, lower blood pressure, improve blood vessel function and maintain a normal heart rhythm.

Lastly, chia seeds contain fiber. They are mostly made up of insoluble fiber and less of soluble fiber. We’ve discussed in the article how soluble fiber is heart healthy. Insoluble fiber is not directly linked to heart health, but is essential for digestive health.

What Are Your Favorite Heart Healthy Foods?

That concludes eight heart healthy foods that you can eat today. Do you regularly enjoy any of these foods? Do you have other foods in mind that didn’t make the list? Talk about it in the comments below.

DISCLAIMER: I am a medical professional, but I am not apart of your healthcare team. Always consult with your primary care physician or other medical professional of your healthcare team when making changes your your diet or lifestyle.