The heart is one of the most important organs in the human body, and everyone understands this. What kind of food is good for the heart and can make your heart “long-lasting”?
The British Nutrition Foundation has published a new report saying that no matter how old you are, if you can make five dietary changes that will help protect your heart from the threat of heart disease and stroke.
Heart disease is the number one killer of global health, but in most cases it can actually be avoided.
Most people know that having a healthy gut microbiome, watching your waist size, maintaining a healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels are all essential elements to maintaining a healthy heart.
But how to create a healthy heart through diet for you? The following are some of the major dietary habits that can help your heart health.
1. Eat more fiber-rich foods
First of all, make sure you get enough whole grains and other fiber-rich foods. Because these foods are important to promote healthy intestinal bacteria. Healthy intestinal bacteria are beneficial in lowering cholesterol levels.
High-fiber foods include vegetables, but if they are root vegetables, such as potatoes, it is best to keep the skins on. In addition, there are beans, food seeds and fruits.
When choosing starchy carbohydrates, choose whole wheat bread, whole wheat breakfast cereal, whole wheat pasta, and brown rice.
2. Eat less saturated and fatty foods
If the food you eat is high in saturated fats, it is easy for your body to produce cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart disease. Cheese, yogurt, fatty meats, cream, lard, pastries, biscuits and coconut oil all contain high levels of saturated fats.
When choosing foods, consider substituting foods that are high in unsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats for foods that are rich in saturated fats.
These foods include high-fat fish, nuts, seeds, etc. These foods can replace high-fat foods so that people are less likely to produce hunger. They are good for lowering cholesterol and therefore good for the heart.
For example, you can choose olive oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, corn oil and walnut oil when shopping.
Consider low-fat, nonfat products for dairy products, and check them to make sure they are sugar-free.
Lean meats, such as turkey, chicken and lean pork, are best. Eat at least one serving per week of high-fat fish, including salmon, sardines, mackerel and trout.
Snack less on crackers and potato chips and substitute nuts.
3. Use less salt
A diet high in salt tends to cause high blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. The NHS salt recommendation is no more than 6 grams, or one teaspoon, per day for adults.
In fact, people can use spices and other seasonings to enhance the flavor of food, not salt all the time. If you reduce the amount of salt in your food, your tastebuds will adjust to it within about four weeks.
When buying food, always check the salt content, as many foods already contain salt, especially those with finished and semi-finished products and seasonings, which already contain enough salt themselves.
Try to make everything yourself instead of buying ready-made spices, because then you can control the amount of salt you use.
4. Increase vitamins and minerals
The body needs a range of vitamins and minerals to maintain good health. Minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium can prevent high blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease and other risks.
Many experts believe that most of us can get the vitamins and minerals we need through a healthy, balanced diet. The exception is vitamin D.
If you are concerned that you are not getting enough vitamins and minerals, you can also consider the following diets.
- Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. It should be noted here that a small glass of juice (150 ml) can count as one serving of fruit, but drinking more is only one serving. Legumes are also vegetables.
- Eat more nuts and seeds to increase vitamin E
- Fish, dairy products and whole grains for B vitamins
- Bananas, potatoes and fish for potassium
- Lentils and whole grains for magnesium
- Dairy products and leafy greens have the highest calcium content
5. Maintain a healthy weight
If you have followed the above four suggestions, you may not be overweight.
But if you are already overweight, then you should pay special attention. Excessive obesity will increase the risk of heart disease, especially the waistline is too thick, you must lose weight. If you are overweight, you should try to reduce the calorie intake.
Generally speaking, men should not exceed 94 cm waist circumference, women do not exceed 80 cm.
Male adults daily calorie intake should be about 2000 or so, women are about 1500.
In addition, the British Nutrition Foundation recommends that people.
- Get 7-9 hours of sleep a day
- Do not drink more than 14 units per week, and, even if not more than 14 units, do not concentrate on drinking, but more than 3 times, evenly spaced.
- Exercise for at least two and a half hours a week
- Handle your tension and stress effectively
- Do not smoke.
In addition, pregnant women need to pay special attention. More and more studies show that the diet of pregnant women during pregnancy may affect the development and growth of their babies. A poor diet increases the risk of obesity and heart disease in the future.
Whenever possible, try to stay active and eat a healthy diet.
Recommended reading:
The World Health Organization released 5 principles of dietary health, take a look!
