Ultimate Heart-Friendly Foods You Should Have In Your Fridge | Healthy Living slideshows | Well Being center

Oatmeal--It's Not Just For Breakfast Anymore

Oatmeal is an excellent source of soluble fiber. The soluble fiber in oatmeal, unlike the insoluble fiber in wheat and wheat bran, won't accumulate in the stomach or the small intestine and cause acid to back up into the throat. The soluble fiber in oat bran traps some of the cholesterol in food and keeps it in the colon, so it is never transported into the bloodstream. Eating oatmeal won't make a huge different in your total cholesterol, but it's cheap, it's free of side effects, and it will probably lower your cholesterol about 10 mg/dl (0.25 mmol/L) in a month. Keep ready-cooked oatmeal in the fridge to heat and eat any time of the day.

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Photo courtesy of Nate Steiner by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/nate/359386784/
www.rxlist.com/25_heart-healthy_foods_slideshow/article.htm

Kidney Beans For Salads, Soups, And Main Dishes

Most Americans know the reddish purple kidney bean as one of the three beans in three-bean salad. They make an interesting addition to chili and minestrone, and they can be eaten by themselves, maybe dressed up with a little olive oil, some onion, or cumin and chili. Always eat kidney beans cooked. Raw kidney beans are toxic, and the least of their effects would be to give you severe gas. Thoroughly cooked, however, he fibers in kidney beans help fill you up and help slow down the absorption of the fats from other foods, making it easier to avoid overeating and just a little easier to manage your cholesterol.

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Photo courtesy of James Bowe by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/jamesrbowe/6018279017/
Mayilvaganan M, Singh SP, Johari RP. Hypocholesterolemic effect of protein prepared from Phaseolus aconitifolius (Jacq.). Indian J Exp Biol. 2004 Sep. 42(9):904-8.

Almonds In the Fridge

Most of keep almonds in the cupboard. There is actually a good reason to keep them in the refrigerator. Part of the distinctive nutty flavor of the almond is found in the oil, which can go bad if the nut is exposed to heat or humidity. Almonds can play a surprising role in heart health. Eating a handful (about 3-1/2 ounces, or 100 grams) of almonds every day in addition to your regular diet can actually help you lose weight. There are fibers and tannins in the nuts that reduce the absorption of fats from food. The fats in almonds also help you eat less if you eat your nuts as a snack about an hour before your regular meal time. Several experiments in Australia have found that eating almonds, even when adding calories to the daily diet, typically results in about a pound (500 grams) of weight loss per month without any effort.

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Photo courtesy of HealthAliciousNess by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/healthaliciousness/5604662193/
Spiller GA, Jenkins DA, Bosello O, Gates JE, Cragen LN, Bruce B (June 1998). Nuts and plasma lipids: an almond-based diet lowers LDL-C while preserving HDL-C.J Am Coll Nutr 17 (3). 285–90. PMID 9627917. Retrieved 23 July 2013.

Tuna, Canned Or Fresh

In the USA, just about anyone has ever had to eat on a tight budget has extensive experience with tuna fish, the indispensable ingredient in inexpensive tuna salad sandwiches and tuna fish on Saltine crackers. It turns out that tuna is right up there with salmon as a source of heart-healthy omega-3 essential fatty acids. It is an excellent source of the essential fatty acid EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), which every cell in the body uses to make the anti-inflammatory hormones that, among many other functions, keep the cholesterol in the linings of arteries from attracting white blood cells that can get stuck, calcify, and cause hardened plaque.

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Photo courtesy of pacificbro by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/pacificbro/2469946795/
www.rxlist.com/25_heart-healthy_foods_slideshow/article.htm

Tofu For Interesting Snacks

For most of us the problem with tofu is that it is, well, boring. White, vaguely slimy, jiggly, wiggly, and flavorless, not many people want to chow down on a bowl of tofu for their main meal. However, all tofu is not created equal. Baked tofu, dried tofu, and tofu infused with herbal flavors make an interesting snack, a tasty addition to a salad, or a substitute for eggs or tuna in sandwiches. The unique value of tofu in keeping your heart healthy is fighting the effects of heavy metals such as cadmium, barium, and nickel. You don't have to eat tubs of tofu, just an ounce ot so (30 grams) per day is enough.

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Photo courtesy of Emily by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/ebarney/5671877324/
Ferramola ML, Pérez Díaz MF, Honoré SM, Sánchez SS, Antón RI, Anzulovich AC, Giménez MS. Cadmium-induced oxidative stress and histological damage in the myocardium. Effects of a soy-based diet. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2012 Dec 15.265(3):380-9. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2012.09.009. Epub 2012 Sep 17. PMID: 22995158.

Brown Rice For Anytime Of Day

Brown rice is typically eaten as a side dish with lunch and dinner, but its nutty flavor makes it an interesting breakfast food or snack. Warm up brown rice and serve with leftover veggis or with fresh fruit. Add almond milk and sliced bananas to make a breakfast cereal. The naturally occurring oil (not the fiber) in brown rice slows down the absorption of fats and cholesterol from other foods. It also interferes with the absorption of minerals, however, so you should not eat brown rice at every meal, and you should avoid eating brown rice within 2 hours before or after taking any kind of multivitamin or mineral supplement.

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Photo courtesy of Dan McKay by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/mukluk/398231137/
Most, Marlene M
T
M
L (2005). "Rice bran oil, not fiber, lowers cholesterol in humans". American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 81 (1): 64–8.

Does A Carrot A Day Keep The Cardiologist Away?

If you are old enough to remember the original Bugs Bunny cartoons, you may remember the wascally wabbit crooning the line, "Oh carrots are divine, you get a dozen for a dime," the price have gone up quite a bit since the 1950's, "it's magic." Carrots are an amazing source of one nutrient, beta-carotene, the antioxidant pigment that gives the carrot its characteristic orange color. A carrot a day, in fact, even a carrot a week, can provide enough beta-carotene to help prevent certain kinds of cancer and to slow down the process of atherosclerosis. Carrots aren't a cure-all, and you don't have to eat them at every day or at every meal, but they are a very simple way to get a very useful nutrient.

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Photo courtesy of Harlan Harris by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/harlanh/764833075/
Yeager, Selene
Editors of Prevention (2008). The Doctors Book of Food Remedies: The Latest Findings on the Power of Food to Treat and Prevent Health Problems – From Aging and Diabetes to Ulcers and Yeast Infections. Rodale. p. 366.

Heart-Healthy Sweet Potato Side Dishes

Many of the cultures that have naturally low levels of heart disease emphasize the sweet potato as an everyday vegetable. This orange tuber is an excellent source of the antioxidants beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and vitamin C, as well as magnesium, potassium, and fiber. The sweet potato isn't a miracle food, but it can provide the minerals your heart needs to beat regularly and your arteries need to maintain stable blood pressure. Keep a few baked sweet potatoes on hand just to eat as a snack, or to add to casseroles, stews, and soups for interesting color and flavor. Slow-baked sweet potatoes wrapped in foil release intensely sweet sugars, and lacking acidity, don't leach aluminum out of the foil.

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Photo courtesy of Via Tsuji by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/via/454794842/
Sweet potato, cooked, baked in skin, without salt. Nutritiondata.com. 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2013.

Tomatoes For Heart Health?

When we think of heart-healthy foods, tomatoes don't usually jump to the top of the list. Tomatoes are better known as the best food source of lycopene, which seems to be especially useful in older men who are facing prostate problems. Other antioxidants in tomatoes, it turns out, help regulate the process of apoptosis, or cell death, in the heart, protecting heart cells from premature death during temporary conditions of low oxygenation followed by sudden reperfusion of oxygen to the heart muscle. Eating a tomato a day won't keep the cardiologist away, but it just might prove to be a factor in your surviving a heart attack, no matter which your gender or what your age.

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Photo courtesy of The Ewan by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/the_ewan/2962762666/
Li H, Deng Z, Liu R, Loewen S, Tsao R. Carotenoid compositions of coloured tomato cultivars and contribution to antioxidant activities and protection against H(2)O(2)-induced cell death in H9c2. Food Chem. 2013 Jan 15. 136(2):878-88. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.08.020. Epub 2012 Aug 22.

Oranges For Cardiovascular Health

Oranges play a suprising role in cardiovascular health. Two chemicals found in the pulp, diosmin and hesperidin, help the bloodstream recycle blood clots. A blood clot is not necessarily a bad thing. When the outside of the body is injured or the skin is broken, a blood clot keeps blood from leaking out. Sooner or later, however, a clot has to dissolve, and diosmin and hesperidin help the body break down blood clots in an orderly way. Clearing out a blood clot in a coronary artery might save your life--and that glass of orange juice or fresh orange you eat every day will help provide the chemicals your body needs to do this.

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Photo courtesy of Evan-Amos by Wikimedia Commons : commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AOrange-Fruit-Pieces.jpg
Napoleone E, Cutrone A, Zurlo F, Di Castelnuovo A, D'Imperio M, Giordano L, De Curtis A, Iacoviello L, Rotilio D, Cerletti C, de Gaetano G, Donati MB, Lorenzet R. Both red and blond orange juice intake decreases the procoagulant activity of whole blood in healthy volunteers. Thromb Res. 2013 Jul 13. doi:pii: S0049-3848(13)00273-9. 10.1016/j.thromres.2013.06.022.