Women over 40, we, at MissVanderbilt, think that it's high time to literally talk about your heart: About the things that matter for your health and heart health. So wear your heart on your sleeves as it’s time we discuss how you can improve your heart health, lowering cholesterol naturally, and really just all about the things that really matter to you an your heart.
The Bottom Line: Aim Low
If you have finally made that visit to your doctor’s office last month, we congratulate you. But if you have had your doctor writing hypercholesterolemia a.k.a high cholesterol all over your paper, then you know that it’s time to modify how you eat, what you eat, and what you do. In other words, even if your doctor has prescribed you that cholesterol drug, you still need to get up and modify how you live your life. If you truly love your health and want to improve heart health – like the people who love you – these simple tips are essentially designed by Mother Nature and approved by experts to lower cholesterol naturally.
Know the Good from the Bad
The first thing that you think need to be out from your diet is fat. Well, there’s a truth in that. But before you get on removing all the fats in your healthy heart, it’s time that you know what is really good and downright bad for your heart health.
The truth is that our body needs cholesterol to function normally. But how much cholesterol and what type of cholesterol? Good question. The reality is most Americans consume way too much cholesterol and saturated fat, which essentially do bad things for your heart health by raising LDL cholesterol (we’d like to call them just bad cholesterol). And LDL is bad for you because it’s the leading cause of plaque build-up in your arteries that lead to the big H disease. On the other hand, there’s what we call the good cholesterol, or the HDL cholesterol. Their function: Help free our heart from all the plaques that clog our arteries. To improve your heart health, the only logical thing to do is to, therefore, raise your HDL cholesterol. How? Simply by prepping up meals loaded with healthy heart foods.
Practicing portion control
Before we head straight to the buffet table, let’s go over one important detail: Knowing your portions. To improve your heart health it’s not enough that you eat the right thing. It’s really also about eating right.
Eating too much of a good thing, yes, even healthy heart foods, can lead to an escalating cholesterol and, worst thing for dieters, weight gain. So whether you are dining out or preparing a special meal for your family, always have time to remember that you still need to watch your portions – no matter how heart healthy your food is. A good rule of thumb is to use your hands. But we’re not telling you to count everything you put to your mouth. Here’s our quick measuring tool: Your rice, veggies, or pasta serving should fill your cupped hand, for fruit it should be the size of your fist, and, meat (whether you go for white or red) should be as small as the size of the palm of your hand.
Knowing healthy heart foods
The great thing about taking care of your heart health is that the right tools come cheap. It is really inexpensive to serve you and your family healthy heart foods like fruits and veggies everyday – even if your doctor requires you to meet at least five servings of these items per day. And the best thing about serving fruits and veggies is all the antioxidants that you can harvest just by including them in your diet. And the thing is, the more veggies and fruits we eat, the less fat we actually consume. So instead of picking on snack bars, we encourage you to stay on the fresh side and be friendly to your heart.
Fish be with you
Lowering your cholesterol and getting your daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids can be easily achieved by simply including fish to your list of healthy heart foods. Omega-3 fatty acids, one of the most priced nutritional fats, are known to not only help lower cholesterol but also drive down trigylcerides, a type of fat that can be found in the bloodstream. So for managing cholesterol and fishing omega-3 fatty acids, we recommend you set your eyes on fatty, cold water fishes like trout, tuna, snapper, and our all-time fave salmon. But don’t fry your catch, no matter how tempting to just drop these items in the deep fryer. Opt to savor the freshness of these fatty yet healthy plate items by limiting your prep methods with the healthy ones: Grill, boil, or better yet, steam.
Have a healthy breakfast
When it comes to breakfast, nothing beats a super filling and healthy bowl of your favorite whole-grain cereals or good ol’ oatmeal to jumpstart your day. A bowl-full of cereals contains all the complex carbs and fiber that you need to keep you going from morning ‘til noon. And if you’re planning to loose some weight, pouring milk to your bowl of cereal can help you curb your appetite by making you feel fuller longer, making you less tempted to guzzle down that slab of beef steak at lunch.
If you feel bored with the mere sight of oatmeal, you may want to squeeze in some variety. Instead of yawning your way through your breakfast, we recommend going wild with wild rice, brown rice, and even popcorn.
Go nutty
Craving for a mid-day snack? Why not go for heart healthy item that does not only lower your LDL but also replaces all the “bad” cholesterol with truckload of HDL, or “good” cholesterol. Though nuts are heart healthy snacks, make sure that you still keep tabs of everything that you much. A bowl of nuts contain more fats and calories than you could actually imagine; so make sure that you only eat a handful. Another reminder: Limit your intake with plain nuts; as much as possible look for the ‘less grease and less salt’ variety. Though it is equally tempting, targeting your daily nuts portion with a snack pack of chocolate and nuts is definitely a health DON’T.
Carbs for the heart
You think that a serving of white potato is a safe choice. But if you’re after your daily servings of carbs, go for the filling and high-fiber variety. Our expert-recommended list of carbs includes quinoa, wild rice, or brown rice.
When dining out, make sure that you stay away from these un-friendly heart health foods: White bread, pasta, white potatoes, and even white rice. Including these items on your heart health menu only puts you at risk of type 2 diabetes and can even elevate your blood sugar faster than you can imagine. A good rule of thumb: Anything that’s too processed and ends up being white as snow is a definitely a DON’T for the heart.
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