Dinner Diva
To Five Foods for Your Heart
By Leanne Ely, C.N.C
Even though I’ve been touting the benefit of eating from this list for a while, it bears repeating and since we’re focusing on the heart (both in matters of love with Valentines day and in health) this month. How many of these do you have in your home right now?
1. Optimal Oatmeal
Nothing starts the day off right better than a hot steaming bowl of oats. They are full of omega-3 fatty acids, folate, and potassium. This fiber-rich superfood can lower levels of LDL (the bad) cholesterol and help keep arteries clear which makes for a happy healthy heart.
Go for steel-cut oats over the instant varieties and learn to eat it without sweeteners. Looking for an extra fiber bonus? Top your oats with a banana all sliced up; you just added another 4 grams of fiber. Good for you!
2. Savory Salmon
Did you know that eating two servings of salmon per week may reduce your risk of dying of a heart attack by up to one-third? Read that sentence again–ONE THIRD! Salmon is also effective at reducing blood pressure and keep clotting at bay–it’s all those super-rich omega-3 fatty acids. When fishing for salmon at the supermarket be sure and cast your line toward the wild salmon and not farm-raised variety. Wild salmon is how you get those omega-3’s, farmed is not.
3. Big on Berries
Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries—whatever berry you like best—are chocked full of anti-inflammatories, which reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer. Toss a few berries on your morning oatmeal or into your smoothie and you’ve got a super-heart-healthy start to the day, not to mention a fiberlicious one as well! 3/4 cup of raspberries will get you 5 grams of fiber.
4. Love me some Legumes
Fill up on fiber with lentils, chickpeas, and black and kidney beans. Packed with omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, and soluble fiber, these babies are good for the heart, plus you score extra points in the budget department as they’re cheap, filling and easy to prepare, SCORE!
5. Set on Spinach
Spinach can help keep your ticker in top shape thanks to its stores of lutein, folate, potassium, and fiber. Add a handful of baby spinach leaves to your morning smoothies for an extra dose of fiber (no one will ever know if you use blueberries as your foil, snicker!). Add a second handful to your evening dinner salad each night or saute up a huge mess of it with garlic, yum! Check out my video on how to saute up some Fast Food Spinach on SavingDinner.tv
Start with these 5 heart healthy foods–we’ll be adding more to the list for sure. This is a great start! If you’re looking for more Heart Healthy foods check out our Heart Healthy Menus here: Saving Dinner Shop