Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.
When it comes to your heart health, it’s the little, everyday choices you make that can have the biggest impact on your future well-being. Along with exercising consistently and avoiding smoking, your diet is an important way you can control what your life looks like decades from now.
That’s why it’s so important to cut back on foods with minimal nutritional value in favour of foods that are good for your heart.
Here are five easy food swaps that can make the world of difference to your health and well-being!
1. Choose nuts over chips.
Sometimes your craving for a salty, crunchy snack is too strong to ignore. But that bag of chips is high in sodium and often contains unhealthy fats (saturated fat and trans fat), contributing to the buildup of plaque on the inner walls of your arteries and increasing your risk of coronary heart disease. Also, refined carbohydrates found in chips can spike your blood sugar. Try a handful of nuts instead. Nuts contain heart-healthy, unsaturated fats along with fibre, and other nutrients, but don’t overdo it.
2. Reach for coffee or tea, not soda.
If you’re looking for the energy boost that a caffeinated beverage brings, brew a cup of coffee or some green or black tea. They’re more beneficial than soda because they are naturally sugar-free and have heart-healthy antioxidants such as chlorogenic acids, which protect against cell damage that contributes to heart disease.
3. Switch from baked goods to dark chocolate.
Sweet treats such as cookies, cakes, and pastries get their delicious flavor from a host of bad-for-you ingredients like sugar and white flour, as well as butter, margarine, or hydrogenated oils, which are high in trans fats. To satisfy your sweet tooth, try a piece of dark chocolate instead. Chocolate and its main ingredient, cocoa, contain flavanols that help lower blood pressure and improve blood vessel function.
4. Broil or grill salmon instead of steak.
When we grill foods, steaks, burgers, and hot dogs are often the first thing we think of. But those meats are high in saturated fat, which increases low-density lipoproteins (LDL-C), the “bad” cholesterol in the blood. Having high levels of LDL cholesterol is a leading risk factor for heart disease. The better choice? Grill salmon or albacore tuna — and choose a steak cut for your fish instead of a filet. (It’s a dense, hearty cut that won’t fall apart on the grill.) Both types of fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which can decrease the amount of fat in your blood and plaque buildup along arteries.
5. Ditch white side dishes in favour of green ones.
Potatoes, noodles, rice, and bread are typical sides served with meals. But frequently eating these starchy carbohydrates can contribute to high blood sugar. Elevated blood sugar levels also put you at higher risk for heart disease. If you choose to have a starchy side dish, select whole-grain pasta, brown rice, or wild rice, in small amounts. You can get just as much — if not more — flavor from a side dish of green veggies. Vegetables such as kale, broccoli, and spinach are filled with fibre (it keeps you full longer), are low in carbohydrates, and supply vitamins K, A, and C along with other minerals and nutrients. Adding green vegetables to your plate can help lower high cholesterol and reduce internal inflammation, two risk factors for heart disease.
