Foods to Fuel Heart Health

I stole this joke from my colleague, Jennette Turner a number of years ago and it still makes me laugh:

“The French eat a lot more fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans and the British. The Japanese eat less fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans and the British. The Italians drink a lot of red wine, and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Americans and the British. Koreans drink little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Americans and the British. So it seems you can eat and drink what you want – it’s speaking English that kills you!”

My take away message: the interactions between diet and heart disease are still elusive. There’s definitely a relationship but we’re not quite sure yet what is related. Americans have been told to reduce fat consumption, but since doing so heart disease in the US has increased. In response, researchers got a little bit more specific and starting pointing fingers at specific fats, naming saturated fats as the culprit. But now we know that some saturated fats like medium chain triglycerides (found in coconut and palm oil) are cardio-protective…I could go on.

All uncertainty aside, there are a few pieces of the heart health puzzle that securely fit, so let’s focus on that:

• What we learned from the low-fat craze is that high carbohydrate diets, especially those high in refined carbs and sugar, promote heart disease more than diets high in fat. Add that to this list of good reasons to get a grip in the sweet tooth!

• Heart disease is an inflammatory state, so increasing anti-inflammatory foods like garlic and onions, dark leafy greens, cold water fatty fish, green tea, turmeric and ginger can go a long way in reducing risk. Avoiding inflammation is even better! How do you do that? Reduce stress, avoid air pollution, drink clean water, maintain a healthy body weight and get adequate sleep.

• The process of developing heart disease is also oxidative – just like rust developing on your car. Antioxidants combat this process (selenium, vitamin C and E are three powerful antioxidants). These powerful nutrients can be found in deeply colored fruits and vegetables like blueberries and kale, extra virgin olive oil, Brazil nuts, cruciferous veggies, nuts and seeds.

• Other specific nutrients that are beneficial for the prevention of heart disease include fiber, magnesium, potassium, B vitamins, vitamin K, omega-3 fats and flavonoids.

• Beyond nutrition, how we live is incredibly important. The role of stress in the development of heart disease cannot be emphasized enough. The majority of us are not battling daily stressors that are life-or-death, but as far as our bodies are concerned there’s no difference between looking down the barrel of a gun and being late to pick our kids up from school. And while many of the stressors we encounter are unavoidable, our response to them can be modified. Meditation, mindfulness, counseling, exercise, downtime and sharing our burdens with a loved one over a hot cup of herbal tea (or glass of wine) are all techniques that lessen our stress response. Get into a daily practice.

You flex your power of prevention every time you eat. Fuel your body with a heart-healthy diet.

Jesse Haas is co-founder of Wellness Minneapolis, a holistic health center in the Kingfield neighborhood where she offers nutrition and health coaching that focuses on cultivating wellness one step at a time.