What makes a Healthy Heart ?

Understanding our heart is not an easy task, but we do know what foods make us at greater risk for heart disease. Unfortunately heart break does not have the same research behind it as it relates to food. We only know which food we might start craving when there is a heartache in the house.

The overall approach is : Some healthy fat, lots of fiber-rich vegetable, green leafy food, and wholegrain instead of white flour. Good food choices mixed with daily movement, a dash of fresh air, good quantities of deep breathing, several minutes of mindful relaxation or meditation, a little yoga, lots of laughter and hugs; this should help you be pretty healthy.

But you if you want to know more -

Fats :

Look at your intake of daily fat. In a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, only about 600 calories should come from fat. That is about 67 grams - not much when you start reading food labels. Then you also need to note that your fat intake should be in a ratio of 1:2:1 of saturated to monounsaturated to polyunsaturated fat - no more than 150 calories per day should come from saturated fat.

Fat is however essential to our health. It provides linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid for growth, healthy skin and metabolism. It also helps absorb fat-soluble vitamins (A,D,E, and K). And it helps us feel satisfied after a meal, feel fuller, and keeping hunger at bay.

How to do the right fat :

• Reduce consumption of butter, cream, cheese, and other dairy products.
• Consume less, little, or no fatty meats. Forget about red meat.
• Remove the skin from chicken before eating
• Choose extra-virgin olive oil (or coconut oil ) as your principal oil when cooking, and omit products made with soybean, corn, and other vegetable oil.
• Get your fat from healthy sources such as essential fatty acids from omega3 rich food. Replace your choices of meat with fish, especially wild salmon.
• Choose fats from vegetable sources such as avocado, olives, and from nuts.
• Also opt for beans, lentils, and chickpeas which are naturally low in fat instead of protein from animal sources.

Since it is not just about fat. Eat more Fiber-rich vegetable and leafy greens.

This is my favorite food because you can do so much with it and it always helps balance whatever else I eat. And I can eat lot’s of it, feel full, and not consume a lot of calories.

• Green leafy food and veggies are superfoods because of their carotenoids and lutein, which protect the heart.
• Rich soluble fiber from oats, beans, berries, and citrus fruit can help lower cholesterol.
• Flavonoids are found in such foods as carrots, blueberries, dark grapes, grains, grapefruit, green tea, and nuts, which may help plaque from developing.
• Foods such as fish, nuts, olives, and vegetable oils raise HDL while maintaining a low LDL level.

Other HeartFelt Notes :

• Watch for excess salt, choose a nice sea salt when possible. One option is:
  Celtic Sea Salt
• Make sure you keep that hardest-working muscle in your body fit. Make sure you move, breathe, and sweat everyday. Yoga and meditation are both great tools. So is a brisk walk and or short run.
• Limit or omit refined carbs and sugar. This includes soda, crackers, pasta, white rice, and candy, cakes and cookies. This stuff raises the triglycerides and lowers the good cholesterol + increase inflammation.
• Be mindful about your alcohol consumption.
• If a heartache is involved and you can only think of chocolate as the one alternative to accepting the pain, at least then go for really really dark chocolate. The higher the % the better. Try for the absolute best you can find. You deserve only the best. Or have those very small delicious gourmet ones. They have so much taste that you don't need a lot to feel satisfied. Key is to make you feel that you are the very amazing person that you are. So spoil yourself in the good sense of the word. Not in the "overeat and feel even more lousy afterwards" kind of spoiling yourself way. It is about self-care.
• Better yet. Take a nice bath, light some candles, play nice music. Basically, do everything for YOU that you would like someone else to do with you.
• Try some yoga sun-salutations to open the heart and let all the "other" love in.

That’s is all for now. Go give someone a smile or a hug. Or two.

Yours healthy hearted,

jeanette