Good day, dear readers. Today we will talk about one of the most important organs of our body and taking care of it. So, we will talk about the heart and its nutrition. When choosing heart-healthy foods, you need to keep in mind that the heart is not just a muscle. In fact, it is a super muscle.
Because it consists of a special type of contracting fibers that can work constantly, without rest, for many years. This ability distinguishes the heart from all other muscles, which require rest after tension.
The most important thing our heart needs
In order for the heart to beat without rest throughout its life, the cardiac muscle, the myocardium, needs a constant flow of blood. Blood enters the heart muscle through the coronary arteries, the first branches of the body's main blood vessel, the aorta. If blood flow through the coronary arteries is reduced or interrupted, the heart “complains” of sharp, pressing pain - the main symptoms of a heart attack.
Caring for the heart requires, first of all, keeping the coronary arteries clean so that blood flows freely through them to the myocardium, allowing it to do its job.
Based on this, leading cardiologists have developed the best recommendations. These five simple rules can save many hearts today.
Fats, which ones are healthy?
The first and main rule: foods for the heart should contain less fat and at the same time be of better quality.
Our diet should contain some amount of fat - no more than 30% of the total calories consumed. So, for a 2000 calorie diet, this is 67g of fat (a little more than four tablespoons of vegetable oil).
The typical diet of a modern person is rich in fats: fats make up from 45% to 60% of the total calories consumed. And first of all, these are saturated fats found in meat, milk and margarine. Such fats are accompanied by cholesterol, and they themselves stimulate the production of cholesterol in the body.
However, excess fat and cholesterol are deposited on the walls of the coronary vessels that supply the heart muscle. As a result, this reduces blood flow to the heart and weakens it. When fat and cholesterol block a coronary artery, it leads to myocardial infarction.
For a healthy heart, you need to eat:
- Reduce the total amount of fat consumed.
- Reduce or eliminate trans fats found in hydrogenated vegetable oils, some margarines and fried foods.
- Replace saturated (bad) fats (found mainly in meat, sausages, whole milk, butter and cheese) with unsaturated (healthy) vegetable fats. Read about the cholesterol diet here.
For heart-healthy foods, use unsaturated vegetable oils such as olive, sunflower, sesame and others.
Whole grain flour products are also a good alternative.
Well, legumes and nuts need to be replaced with products such as margarine, sausages, and cheese.
Get a furry friend
Bringing a dog into your home can actually benefit your heart health. Specifically, for heart attack and stroke survivors, dog ownership was soon associated with better heart health and longer life, according to a meta-analysis published in October 2020, Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
Dog owners are more likely to engage in heart-healthy activities, including increased exercise and a healthier diet. Owning a dog usually leads to more frequent walking or running, which can create a domino effect with other healthy lifestyle options.
Cardiologists recommend
For example, walnuts are considered an excellent food for people suffering from coronary artery diseases. It can be included in heart-healthy foods for three reasons:
- They are rich in fatty acids - the main supplier of energy to heart muscle cells. In the case of other cells, including neurons, glucose acts as the main fuel.
- It contains vitamin B1, which affects the proper functioning of muscles, including the heart muscle.
- Nuts contain impressive amounts of phosphorus and potassium (502 mg per 100 g of raw product) and at the same time, they are low in sodium, which promotes heart and vascular health.
- They also contain decent amounts of iron, calcium and magnesium.
- Finally, they prevent cholesterol plaque from building up on the inner lining of arteries, lowering blood cholesterol levels. As you know, the less cholesterol in the blood, the lower the risk of arteriosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries) and the better blood circulation.
Thus, walnuts should definitely be included on a regular basis in the diet of those who suffer from heart failure, angina or are prone to heart attack.
In addition, the consumption of walnuts is also recommended for those who have suffered a myocardial infarction and are undergoing rehabilitation.
For example, a study conducted in California looked at the habits of 25,000 people. Among those who ate walnuts five or more times a week, the risk of heart attack was minimal. By the way, you don’t need to eat a lot of them; up to 10 nuts per day are allowed.
Drink in moderation
Scientists are still undecided about how alcohol affects our hearts. Some studies suggest that alcohol may cause a slight increase in good cholesterol levels.
However, the argument is that you can get the same benefits from exercise and eating fruits and vegetables without the potential negative side effects that come with drinking alcohol.
Currently, it is recommended that men limit themselves to one or two glasses of low-alcohol drinks per day, and women - no more than one glass per day.
Product for updating the cardiovascular system.
If we talk about healthy foods for the heart, it is also worth mentioning such a long-lived product as soy. Soybeans are unique among all legumes. So, according to experts, they contain 16.6% fat, and other legumes contain 1%. Do you feel the difference? And these are plant-based unsaturated fats, which actually supply energy for contraction of the heart muscle.
However, soy helps lower blood cholesterol for three other reasons: it contains fiber, isoflavones and phytosterols. Recent research has shown that these four powerful factors in soy can even reverse cardiovascular disease. Thus, in patients who consumed soy, the lumen of the arteries increased and their elasticity increased.
That is, processes were launched that healed the coronary arteries, and therefore the heart.
It is not surprising that world-famous cardiologists have included soy in the most beneficial products for health and strengthening the heart. Read more in the material about the extraordinary benefits of soy at the link.
The most common preventative heart health checks
69. The exercise test, or bicycle ergometry, is the most commonly used examination method both for diagnosing the initial stages of coronary heart disease and for assessing the severity of the disease.
70. Doppler echocardiography is an examination of the heart using ultrasound, during which you can assess the condition of the heart, detect pathologies, etc.
71. Holter monitoring - this method helps the doctor evaluate heart rhythm disturbances within 24 hours, determine the type of arrhythmia in the patient, the frequency and duration of episodes of arrhythmia.
72. 24-hour blood pressure monitoring is a method used to detect changes in blood pressure throughout the day.
73. An electrocardiogram is one of the most important examination methods, which shows fluctuations in the work of the heart muscle.
Your heart may be in trouble
Rule two: eat less sugar.
As you know, excess sugar in the diet turns into fat and increases the level of triglycerols (a type of fat) in the blood. All this contributes to blockage of the coronary arteries that supply the heart muscle.
Additionally, white or refined sugar, whether sucrose (regular sugar), fructose or glucose, unlike the natural sugar found in fresh fruit, does not contain the vitamins, minerals, fiber or antioxidants needed by the heart.
Therefore, for a healthy heart, it is recommended to reduce or eliminate the consumption of sweets, cakes, candies made from white flour and refined sugar. For example, if you want sweets, use fresh or dried fruits.
Physical activity
Physical activity for a healthy person should be moderate, especially if the person has not previously been involved in sports or physical activity, and suddenly decided to start doing it. The heart must be subjected to a feasible load. It is enough to start with a little exercise in the morning. Then add light jogging, swimming in the pool, and play sports. As a base exercise, it is recommended to perform the following: squats, swings of arms and legs, bends to the side, push-ups, abdominal exercises, stretching.
As an optimal example, aerobic exercise training can be recommended for beginners without cardiac pathology who are starting to actively engage in sports. cardio exercise in reasonable quantities. With increasing training time based on endurance, heart rate and well-being. The best options for this are elliptical trainers, jogging, or on a treadmill. It is important that for effective training you need to choose not extreme loads, but longer, but “feasible” ones. The pulse should be in the “aerobic zone” - best between [(190 beats/min) minus (age, years)] and [(150 beats/min) minus (age, years)]. Those. for a 30-year-old person, the effective and relatively safe zone for strengthening the heart muscle is from 120 to 160 beats per minute. (It is best to take low-medium values, i.e. 120 - 140 beats/min, especially if you are insufficiently trained).
For people with a healthy heart who are already exercising professionally or doing regular exercise in fitness centers or gyms, the exercise program should be drawn up individually with the help of a trainer, and increased in doses and gradually.
As for the activation of a patient with existing cardiovascular diseases, it should be carried out only after consulting a physical therapy doctor.
Video: examples of gymnastic exercises to strengthen the heart
Video: example of opinion/practical experience on heart training for athletes
Sweets for the heart
Best Source of Potassium
Of course, when talking about foods that are good for the heart, one cannot fail to mention bananas. Today it has been proven that bananas are an ideal food for the heart. Since minerals such as magnesium, potassium and iron are found in large quantities. Moreover, banana, due to its high potassium content along with magnesium and iron, is recognized as perhaps the best source of heart-healthy minerals.
For example, a banana contains 396 mg of potassium per 100g of edible part. Only dates and avocados can boast of high potassium content. Banana is recognized as the best fruit in terms of composition for patients with angina pectoris, arrhythmia, heart failure or those who have had a heart attack.
It is also recommended as a remedy for high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis. A diet enriched with potassium prevents arrhythmia, increased blood pressure, and therefore stroke. Moreover, a potassium diet has been found to prevent certain types of cancer.
Foods rich in potassium. The leaders are dried apricots, raisins, parsley, spinach and avocado. Then come nuts, zucchini, lentils, potatoes, buckwheat and oatmeal, followed by banana, grapes, pumpkin and carrots.
A short but useful video about foods rich in potassium.
Simple sugars supplier
Another amazing fruit that successfully replaces sweets is grapes. Nutritionists recommend grapes as another important source of nutrition for the heart, whether healthy or sick. So, it is needed as:
- A source of simple sugars for stable heart contractions. Such sugars are another source of direct nutrition for the heart muscle in addition to fatty acids.
- An important supplier of potassium, as well as magnesium and calcium. In a word, minerals that are so necessary for our heart to function smoothly.
- Supplier of phenolic phytochemicals (resveratrol and flavonoids), which have a positive effect on blood flow especially in the coronary arteries supplying the heart. As a result, platelets' ability to form clots is reduced and arterial clogging is reduced.
As a result of the experiments, the positive properties of grapes and grape juice were revealed. Which manifested themselves in improved blood flow, dilation of arteries, reduced accumulation of cholesterol plaques, and reduced thrombus formation. Can we expect anything better from a product that keeps our vascular system and heart healthy?
It was found that if, starting in summer and ending in late autumn, you systematically consume grapes, and eat raisins in winter and spring, then in response to such simple efforts, the condition of your heart will significantly improve. This is evidenced by the reviews of many patients with heart diseases. It’s not for nothing that cardiologists strongly recommend including grapes in your diet during recovery from a heart attack. This measure helps suppress the development of coronary arteriosclerosis. Thus, grapes should also be included in healthy foods for our heart.
Drugs to strengthen and maintain the heart muscle
You can also strengthen your heart muscle through pharmaceuticals. This is an extreme measure, but most often it is impossible to do without it.
What names and groups can be recommended:
- Preparations for the protection of myocardial tissue. So-called cardioprotectors. Mildronate, Riboxin and others from this group. To support the heart of an elderly and young person, it makes sense to take cardioprotectors for a long time, because they directly affect metabolic processes in myocardial tissue, reduce the need for oxygen, and restore trophism (nutrition).
- Vitamin and mineral complexes with potassium and magnesium. Magne B6, Asparkam or Panangin and many others can nourish the heart and improve its functioning. It is not recommended to drink without permission, because the likelihood of side effects is high. The best solution would be to consult a specialist.
Other medications are used only for diagnosed and confirmed diseases, such as chronic heart failure. Therefore, there is no point in prescribing them without indications. This can be deadly.
What drugs are we talking about?
- Glycosides. They restore and enhance the contractility of the heart, they are used with great caution, because such drugs have a lot of side effects and are difficult for patients to tolerate with prolonged use.
- Diuretics. Diuretics to reduce the load on cardiac structures. Medicines allow you to remove excess fluid and restore normal circulating blood volume.
- Antihypertensive. ACE inhibitors, centrally acting agents, calcium channel blockers and others. If necessary, if excess pressure develops, which is not corrected by natural methods. The doctor also selects dosages and constantly “adjusts” them if necessary.
- Antiplatelet agents. To normalize blood fluidity. Not always required. Typically these are Aspirin-based brands suitable for long-term use (for example, Thrombo-ass and others).
Drugs for strengthening the heart muscle are cardioprotectors like Mildronate or medications whose effect is based on the normalization of ion exchange: Asparkam and others.
Others are not used without indications, because they are extremely dangerous and can lead to unpredictable consequences.
Artery protectors
Rule Three: Increase Your Antioxidant Intake
Antioxidants protect artery walls from deposits from cholesterol and saturated fat. If the arteries are healthy and clear, the heart works much better. Good sources of protective antioxidants are fruits.
Vitamin E is an antioxidant that fights fat. It prevents the oxidation of bad cholesterol - LDL, which is the first step in the formation of fatty deposits in the arteries. The best natural sources of vitamin E: sunflower seeds, almonds, wheat germ, unrefined olive oil.
Vitamin C maintains the elasticity of arteries, especially coronary ones. This is a powerful antioxidant involved in the absorption of vitamin E. The best natural sources: currants, kiwi, citrus fruits. Meat, milk, fish and eggs do not contain vitamin C.
Lycopene is a bright red antioxidant vegetable pigment. A study conducted by Harvard University among 28,345 women found that increased levels of lycopene in the blood led to a twofold reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease. The best natural sources of lycopene are tomatoes, watermelons, and papaya.
Magnesium. The better the body is provided with magnesium, the lower the risk of vascular diseases and myocardial infarction.
Foods rich in magnesium: pumpkin and sesame seeds, almonds, legumes, including soy and whole grains. On the contrary, meat and milk are actually poor in magnesium.
Products rich in magnesium on video:
Strengthening a weakened heart with complicated heart ailments: advice from a cardiologist
It is especially important to follow the advice of cardiologists for people who have suffered or have mild forms of pathology.
To the recommendations described above, the following should be added:
- Visit a specialist in this profile.
- Get your cardiovascular system checked periodically. Take the necessary tests and undergo examinations (ECG, ultrasound and ECHO, tests). Visiting a doctor depends on your disease, but at least once a year. The cardiologist will monitor the dynamics of changes and adjust treatment.
- Check other organs as any other disease can interfere with the heart's function.
- Be sure to follow your doctor's instructions. Self-medication can negatively affect the myocardium and will only worsen the course of the disease.
Irreversible cardiac changes are very difficult to prevent, sometimes even impossible.
In complex forms of heart disease (myocarditis, cardiosclerosis, etc.), it loses its ability to circulate blood. Therefore, it is necessary not only to adjust your lifestyle, but also to take cardioprotectors and additional medications to treat the whole body.
In severe form
Unsuitable product for the heart
Rule four: eat less meat.
Meat, especially red meat (beef, pork and lamb), is bad for the heart for the following reasons:
- It contains saturated fats and cholesterol, which clog blood vessels.
- Heme iron in meat is better absorbed by the body than non-heme iron from plant foods. However, such iron can damage the coronary arteries. Since it has the ability to bypass the control of the system of distribution and exchange of iron in the body. As a result, with increasing meat consumption, the risk of heart attacks also increases, as evidenced by statistics and modern medical research.
- Meat proteins break down to form acidic products that contribute to the development of atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries.
- Meat can be contaminated with toxins, heavy metals, dioxins, pesticides and hormones.
- Meat does not contain any protective antioxidants.
Cranberry
Red berries contain a large amount of antioxidants, which means they protect the body from harmful effects. Cranberry helps the immune system, strengthens blood vessels, and is useful for preventing blood clots.
Cranberries help cleanse the body, normalize cholesterol levels, and strengthen blood vessels. It promotes the dilation of venous vessels, which improves blood flow and reduces blood pressure.
How to protect your heart? Infographics Read more
Don't hurt your heart
Rule five: eat less salt.
As is known, with abundant salt consumption, the sodium contained in it contributes to the development of atherosclerosis and increases blood pressure, which creates unnecessary stress on the heart and blood vessels.
Today, nutritionists strongly recommend reducing or eliminating the consumption of ready-made canned foods and pickles with high salt content.
For this purpose, use unrefined sea salt in small quantities (contains magnesium and other minerals that neutralize the negative effects of sodium).
Important tip: the amount of salt can be reduced by seasoning dishes with lemon, garlic and aromatic herbs.
Fruits and dried fruits
It’s not for nothing that the saying appeared: “An apple a day will keep the doctor out of work.” These wonderful fruits provide nutrition for the heart. Products that contain a minimum of calories and maximum benefits, and are also very tasty - all this is about ruddy fruits. They contain fiber, which is the most essential element for lowering cholesterol levels. The potassium included in the composition, among other things, activates the excretory system, reducing swelling, and pectin removes harmful substances from the body. But not only apples will help you resist heart disease.
Pomegranate thins the blood, protects against atherosclerosis and reduces cholesterol. Another useful product is grapefruit. It not only fights premature aging of the heart muscle, but also provides the body with vitamins. We can't forget about avocado. This amazing fruit contains large amounts of potassium and polyunsaturated fatty acids. It is this composition that allows the body to fight stress and high blood pressure.
