Not just any fat, say the experts. Monounsaturated fats or stable fats like olive oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, and canola oil (which is high in monounsaturated fats) improve your heart health, which lowers your chance of developing heart disease. They also lessen your blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Bad fats, which cholesterol and trans-fats, are bad and not good, can not be avoided 100%. Dr. Spert cautions: “books alone are not the answer”. So which are the good fats to eat? Olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, walnut oil, salmon oil, and Flax seeds. A simple formula to work out your intake: Benefits per 100 ml of food or 1,200 calories.
o Drink more water, especially during exercise.
o Eat less high-fat foods and sugar-rich foods.
o Increase your physical activity by 40 minutes a day.
o Participate in activities that give you a total of 30 minutes of movement five times each week.
o eat less red meat and choose more poultry and fish. Cooking oils that are high in monounsaturated fats: olive oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil, walnut oil, and flaxseed oil. Replaced partly hydrogenated fat, which is unhealthy.
o Limit your consumption of packaged foods and fried foods (most of which are high in trans-fats), deep fried foods and sulphured oils (most of which are high in trans-fats).
o Move more, including stretching and lengthening your daily activities and exercising for 30 minutes a day will help.
o Eat more, including more, fruits and vegetables (as long as they are not canned, shortened or mutated).
3. Whey Protein Isolate Whey protein isolate is low-fat, low-cholesterol, wheat-free, and available in a form that does not require digestive enzyme stimulation to be absorbed into the bloodstream. This means that they may be taken in amounts of equal size to milk or water. This protein has a slow release of amino acids, helping to prevent the blood from feeling as though it needs to soak up a leaking pipe, and thus resulting in better absorption of nutrients. It also helps to avoid the irreversible side-effects of dairy, such as inflammation and allergies.
4. Soy Soy contains isoflavones, which are compounds that have properties similar to estrogen. These same compounds can react with estrogen in the body, and have been shown to reduce the risks as well as lengthen life expectancy of post-menopausal women. For post-menopausal women, that means a soy-free life (of course, comes with the associated risks of colon cancer, but that’s another article!).
- Dried peas and beans When you think of healthy heart foods, dried peas and beans come to mind due to the high levels of potassium, fiber, minerals, vitamins (especially B1, B2, B3, B6, Folic acid, and thiamine – to name only a few). They also have low levels of oxalic acid.
A cup of cooked kidney beans will provide nearly double the RDA of Folic acid. Include these foods in your diet regularly, and you will lower your chances of getting a heart attack and helping to prevent heart disease. I hope you found this article and some of the books I have written to be helpful.