If you have heart health problems, a healthy heart menu is an excellent idea. In fact, it’s a good option for those that don’t even have heart issues at this point. The foods you eat have a lot to do with your lifestyle and they have an impact on your health.
Eating a diet that is made up of healthy foods is excellent for weight loss, for improving your cardiovascular heart, and even improving your moods, especially if you combine it with other methods of lowering your risk of heart disease. As you work towards a healthier heart, here are some guidelines that can help you to develop your own healthy heart menu.
Tips for Eating Heart Healthy
Here are some tips for healthy eating that you need to consider. A healthy heart menu is going to be centered around lean meats, whole grains, fresh veggies, and fresh fruits. There are some other tips that you need to keep in mind as you develop a good menu as well.
– Pay Attention to the Color of Your Food – One important tip is to make sure you pay attention to the color of the foods you eat. Vegetables and fruit that have vibrant color are full of healthy antioxidants and fiber.
– Eat Heart Healthy Nuts – Eating nuts is important too. They offer heart healthy fats. Other options that offer heart healthy fats include soy products, and healthy oils like flax seed and olive oil.
– Limit Saturated Fats – It’s very important that you limit the saturated fats when planning your menu. Try to go with entrees in your menu that have three or less saturated fats in them. Read labels to find out which foods contain these fats.
– Drink Teas – Another great idea is to drink teas. They are well known for their heart benefits.
– Add Legumes to Your Menu – Getting plenty of fiber in the menu you choose is important. Legumes are an excellent source of fiber, so try to include them in your meal choices.
Control Emotional Eating. Sometimes our emotions are our worst enemy when it comes to food.
Many people benefit greatly from supplementing their diet with vitamins, minerals, other nutrients and herbs. Get a vitamin Recommendation from Dr. Andrew Weil.
– Incorporate Exercise – Of course, planning the right menu is only part of the battle. It’s important to incorporate exercise into your life as well for the best cardiovascular benefits.
– Meditate – Meditation can help control binge or emotional eating. Keep learning how to meditate on this website and try to do it a little every day or every week.
Foods for Your Healthy Heart Menu
There are actually certain foods that can help protect your heart. You can create a menu that is full of tasty foods, so you won’t need to feel like you are missing out on anything. To help you create a good healthy heart menu, here are some heart healthy foods you’ll want to add.
– Heart Healthy Wine – Red wine is known to help lower cholesterol and raise good cholesterol. As long as you drink in moderation, it is very healthy for your heart.
– Spinach – Spinach is a heart healthy food, which can be eaten raw on sandwiches and salads, or you can eat it cooked on your menu.
– Oatmeal – Oatmeal happens to be one of the most highly recommended foods for heart health. It includes omega 3s, potassium, fiber, and plenty of calcium. Eat it alone or add it to other foods on your menu.
– Tuna – Tuna is an excellent fish choice that has folate and omega 3s, which are excellent for promoting heart health. Eat tuna salad, eat plain on whole wheat bread, or add to a green salad.
– Flax seed – Flax-seed can be ground up and added to yogurt, cereal, muffins, and more. It is high in fiber and contains a high amount of omega 3 fatty acids too.
More Healthy Food Options
Of course, those are just a few of the healthy foods that are great for heart health. There are many other healthy food options that you can add to your healthy heart menu. Just a few of them include berries, brown rice, kidney beans, tofu, carrots, red bell peppers, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and more. With all these choices it is easy to mix and match together foods to create a tasty and healthy heart menu that will leave you feeling satisfied for every meal.
Here is a book I can recommend. It has a forward by Puran and Susanna Bair (founders of IAM)
Click the book link to go to Amazon for more information about this book.
