Keeping Your Heart Happy
All right, here's a no-brainer: what you eat affects your heart's health. You knew that, right? What you may not know is which foods are best for your heart, so we've prepared some tips on how to keep your heart happy. But remember, this is not your doctor talking. If you have or suspect you have a heart condition, please talk to your doctor before changing your diet.
Fish
The Benefits
The evidence that eating fatty fish helps your heart just keeps getting stronger. The omega-3 "essential" fatty acids (DHA and EPA for you acronym lovers) found in cold-water fish like salmon, mackerel and tuna seem to be responsible for these benefits. That's why the American Heart Association thinks that people should eat two servings of fatty fish a week.
Shopping and Cooking Tips
Sustainably sourced fish, both fresh and frozen, is available at our seafood counter. For convenience, stop by our prepared foods department for a good choice of precooked dishes. If fish is not part of your diet, you can pick up fish oil supplements in our Whole Body department. For a quick meal or snack, top a green salad with canned tuna; make smoked salmon sandwiches or simply enjoy on whole grain crackers.
FDA Advisory
The FDA has advised pregnant women (along with nursing mothers and young children) to avoid eating long-lived, larger fish having more dark meat, particularly shark, tuna, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish, out of concern that mercury in them may harm a baby's developing nervous system.
Fruits and Vegetables
The Benefits
We all know that fruits and veggies are packed with good-for-your-heart stuff like vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, but it may surprise you that eating just one extra serving of fruit or veggies a day can give your heart a real boost. How simple! The new FDA dietary guidelines recommend eating a total of 4-1/2 cups of fruits and veggies daily, which roughly translates into filling half of your plate with them at each meal. If that sounds like a lot, just remember how much that single added serving can help your heart!
Shopping and Cooking Tips
Do we need to tell you where to go for the best produce? Of course not. When you're there, though, expand your palate a bit by picking up something new and different each time you shop. There's a lot of stuff in our produce departments and it's all good. Head into the other aisles for more options: dried fruit, bottled juices, frozen berries, applesauce, all-fruit jams and vegetable juice — they all count as veggie or fruit servings and are often overlooked. Don't forget, you can eat extra servings of veggies and fruits by putting them in spaghetti sauce, meatloaf, spreads and muffins. And why not have natural fruit for dessert instead of something sugary?
While all fruits and vegetables play their part, here are some super stars with special heart-enhancing benefits.
- Red berries, including blueberries, raspberries and cranberries have a lot of antioxidants, and people who eat berries frequently give a boost to their overall cardio protection. They're small in size but big in flavor and berries are so easy to add to your diet. When fresh berries aren't in season, just use frozen and add them to smoothies, muffins, pancakes or in a bowl of hot or cold cereal.
- Two ounces of pomegranate juice daily keeps the cardiovascular system, including arteries, healthy. Pomegranates are available fresh only in season, but pomegranate juice can be found in the grocery aisles year around. Drink the juice daily, mixed with sparkling water, blended with apple juice or simply enjoy straight up. The juice also easily mixes into a smoothie or can be made into a tangy salad dressing. The fresh seeds of this unique fruit are delicious out of hand, sprinkled over a salad, yogurt or even quesadillas.
- Kiwis are nutrient-dense and eating two to three a day can protect heart health and give you a blast of vitamin C. Available almost year around, look for and try the exquisite-flavored golden varieties when available. Kiwi juice is also bottled, most often mixed with another fruit juice. Fresh kiwi, cut in half and scooped out with a spoon, is a tasty snack or breakfast treat. Peel and slice kiwi into a fruit salad.
- Lutein- and carotene-containing vegetables such as kale, carrots, winter squash, sweet potatoes and spinach benefit eye health as well as keeping your arteries healthy. Research has shown that people with the highest levels of carotenes in the blood have the best cardio-protection.
Other Good Stuff
- Olive oil is a mainstay of the celebrated Mediterranean diet and is high in heart-friendly monounsaturated fat. Studies show that olive oil supports healthy cholesterol levels and helps prevent LDL or "bad" cholesterol from harmful oxidation. Look for extra virgin olive oil — the oil from the first pressing of the olives with less than 1% acidity — which contains higher levels of antioxidants and vitamin E than regular olive oil. You can use extra virgin olive oil for most of your cooking needs.
- Moderate consumption — that's one to two glasses daily for men and one for women — of red wine enhances heart health. For you teetotalers, Concord grape juice has similar beneficial effects. Whether a result of the alcohol content or the antioxidant-rich flavonoid (resveratrol) content is up for debate, but it is certain that red wine helps maintain normal cholesterol levels and healthy circulation.
- Green and black tea are exceptionally high in flavonoids, another kind of antioxidant that decreases the oxidation of LDL or "bad" cholesterol, which in turn positively affects the cardiovascular system. Three cups of tea per day benefits the heart. A great way to try new tea varieties is to experiment with the many different teas found in our bulk tea section.
- Hibiscus tea may be a good substitute for green or black teas. It contains similar beneficial compounds, called flavonoids, as red wine and the hibiscus leaves impart a stunning red color to teas, making it a popular ingredient in many herbal tea blends. Hibiscus may also be available in the bulk herb sections, so you can experiment with your own blends.
- All varieties of nuts, including walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans and cashews, are an excellent choice for people trying to improve heart health through diet. When nuts are eaten on a regular basis, heart health is thought to improve because arteries and cholesterol levels are kept normal. Although nuts are high in fat, they contain primarily monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat, which means they do not promote weight gain when eaten in moderation — about a small handful five times a week. In addition, many nuts are filled with important nutrients, including fiber, B vitamins, vitamin E and magnesium. This is good news for your heart and your waist-line, so don't feel guilty about snacking on nuts.
- Dark chocolate — sorry, milk chocolate doesn't cut it — benefits many different aspects of heart health, including good circulation and antioxidant protection. As an added bonus, micronutrients, including magnesium and copper, are concentrated in dark chocolate. There are many varieties and flavors of high-quality dark chocolate available, both in our Grocery and Specialty departments.
- Ginger, a versatile herb common in ethnic dishes, boosts heart health by keeping cholesterol levels healthy and preventing the oxidation of LDL or "bad" cholesterol. Available fresh in our Produce department, ginger is a knobby root that is often peeled, and then added to sweet or savory dishes. Fresh ginger is also a wonderful addition to freshly pressed juices. Dried ginger, found in our bulk spices section, can be added to baked goods for a little extra spice. And don't forget that crystallized ginger or chocolate-covered ginger, available in the bulk section, make a wonderful snack.