Eliminate These Foods From Your Diet
To prevent heart disease, eating healthy foods is key, as the heart needs proper nutrition to function efficiently.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in most racial and ethnic groups in the United States. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that one person dies every 34 seconds from cardiovascular disease, which involves conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels.
Maintaining a healthy heart doesn’t mean that you must exercise for hours a day or eat only plant-based foods and drink purified water.
A simple way of keeping your heart healthy is to eliminate (or strictly limit) certain foods from your diet. But what foods do you stay away from? The HuffPost interviewed two cardiologists and a nutritionist about three foods to remove from your diet immediately and replace with healthier options.
1. Bacon
If you enjoy bacon with your breakfast or add it to a lettuce-and-tomato sandwich, you may need to cut back on bacon or eliminate it completely to protect your heart. Why? Because the way bacon is made can adversely affect heart health, according to Michelle Routhenstein, a preventive cardiology dietitian-nutritionist.
“The curing process of bacon with sodium nitrite and its high sodium content can elevate blood pressure, while the compounds formed during cooking, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic amines (HCAs), contribute to inflammation and damage to blood vessels, collectively increasing the risk of heart disease,” Routhenstein explained.
Bacon is especially high in salt, saturated fat, cholesterol, heme iron, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heterocyclic amines, according to Dr. Saman Setareh-Shenas, a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai.
However, it’s not just bacon. Dr. Setareh-Shenas says that people focusing on heart health should also be cautious about processed meats and red meats.
“People who eat diets rich in red meat, especially those with highly processed meats, have been associated with higher cardiovascular disease incidence and mortality, and obesity,” Dr. Setareh-Shenas said. “Ingredients used to make these foods include sodium and nitrites.”
While pork is considered white meat by culinary standards, the Cleveland Clinic and Diabetes UK classify it as red meat.
2. White bread
The pleasant aroma of bread hits you as soon as you enter the bread aisle in your local grocery store. But health experts recommend leaving white bread on the shelf, and that includes Wonder Bread, a staple that has been in kitchens for decades.
“White bread, with its high glycemic index and lack of nutrients and fiber compared to whole-grain options, can lead to rapid blood sugar spikes, insulin resistance and weight gain, all of which increase the risk of heart disease and related complications,” Routhenstein explained.
Refined carbohydrates, like white bread, are processed to remove the bran and germ. As a result, refined carbohydrates are stripped of healthy fiber, vitamins, and minerals. What’s left is pure sugar, said Dr. Daniel Luger, a preventive cardiologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
To find a product with all of its grain ingredients, Dr. Luger recommends looking for a “100% whole-grain” stamp on the package and carefully reading the list of ingredients.
“When looking at the ingredient list, you want to see the first ingredient being listed as whole (whole wheat, whole grain, etc.),” Dr. Luger said. “Ideally, when looking at the ingredient list, you want to see only a handful of ingredients, and be able to recognize what those ingredients are.”
3. French Fries
What is a hamburger without French fries or fish fillets without chips? While French fries are an enjoyable, salty pleasure, they provide no nutritional value, health experts say.
According to Dr. Setareh-Shenas, frying changes the nutritional content of food. For instance, the food loses water and takes up fat, he said.
“Especially in the case of French fries, the oil is often reused, which leads to a loss of unsaturated fats and an increase in trans fats,” Dr. Setareh-Shenas said. “French fries are also topped with lots of salt, and high sodium intake has been associated with high blood pressure and an increase in heart disease.”
He added that regularly consuming fried foods has been associated with an increase in coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity.
What You Should Eat Instead
If salty, fried, and fatty foods are not good for the heart, then what foods should you be eating instead?
Dr. Luger highly recommends eating legumes, such as beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas, peanuts, and soybeans.
“Legumes are high in healthy fiber and help promote satiety, regulate bowel movements, and feed healthy gut bacteria,” Dr. Luger explained. “Also, legumes can easily be made in bulk and are great for weekday meals.”
Flaxseeds and almonds are favorites of Dr. Routhenstein.
“These foods contain lignans, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that support heart health by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation,” she said. “These compounds, alongside other nutrients such as vitamin E, alpha-linolenic acid, and magnesium, contribute to improved cholesterol levels, blood pressure regulation, and vascular health, collectively offering cardioprotective benefits.”
While grains are good for the heart, the key is choosing the right ones, Dr. Routhenstein said. For example, she mentioned that quinoa and whole-wheat bread are rich in nutrients, such as fiber, phosphorus, zinc, plant-based protein, and antioxidants, which collectively lower LDL cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol) and reduce the risk of heart disease.
“Their high fiber content regulates blood sugar levels and supports a healthy gut, contributing to overall heart health,” she said.
While what you eat is important, it’s not the only thing to consider when it comes to heart health. Routhenstein, Luger, and Setareh-Shenas all stress the importance of regular exercise and avoiding smoking and other unhealthy habits.
Maintaining a healthy heart is an ongoing process, and diet is only one aspect of the journey.
Source Link:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eliminating-these-3-foods-from-your-diet-can-be-a-game-changer-for-heart-health-ano_l_67081a8ee4b047df57071473
https://www.cdc.gov/heart-disease/data-research/facts-stats/index.html
