February is American Heart Month, so there's no better time to commit to a healthy, well-balanced diet that keeps your cardiovascular system strong. So often when I talk with people about eating to control cholesterol and blood pressure, the discussion immediately turns to foods they should be eating less of, like red meat, white starch, sugar, butter, and cheese. To shift the conversation in a more positive direction, I prefer to emphasize ingredients and meals that can actually boost heart and blood vessel function — and foods that supply beneficial fats, like nuts, seeds, plant oils, and fish, are at the top of that list.
Choose Fats Wisely to Optimize Health
These foods all contain a good amount of unsaturated fat, one of the nutrients that appears to be most helpful for lowering heart disease risk. A study published in January in the Journal of the American Heart Association quantifies just how important choosing the right fats can be. Researchers at Harvard University and Tufts University collected data on fat consumption and heart disease death rates in 186 countries representing some 3.8 billion adults across the globe. They estimated that low intake of health-promoting unsaturated fats (specifically the omega-6 type) accounted for more than 10 percent of cardiovascular deaths worldwide in 2010. That's more than the roughly 8 percent of deaths calculated to be attributable to an excessive intake of harmful trans fats, or the 4 percent that were accredited to a high intake of saturated fats. While this type of analysis has some major limitations, these don't take away from the overall conclusion: The foods you do eat have just as great an impact on cardiovascular health as those you don't eat.
20 Ways to Feature Friendly Fats
If you follow this topic closely, the advice you've probably been hearing a lot lately is to substitute unsaturated fats for refined carbohydrates (white flour and sugar) and saturated (animal) fats. But that kind of academically-formulated advice can be confusing, because we think in terms of foods, not nutrients. Grocery stores sell almonds, avocados, and olive oil — not unsaturated fats. A more practical approach to following this recommendation is to learn simple swaps for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks that introduce more healthy fats into your menus at the expense of less desirable ingredients. Here's a list of suggestions that do just that.
- Spread whole-grain toast with your favorite nut butter instead of butter or jelly.
- Top oatmeal or cereal with chopped nuts or seeds.
- Add ground flax or chia seeds to smoothies.
- Serve scrambled eggs or egg whites (cooked in olive or another healthy plant oil) with avocado and salsa instead of cheese.
Replace carb-y snacks like crackers, chips, pretzels, and cookies with one of the following:
- Apple, banana, or celery sticks with peanut or almond butter
- A handful of roasted, unsalted nuts (peanuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts, pistachios, or another favorite)
- A handful of toasted pumpkin seeds
- Plain, low-fat yogurt topped with nuts or seeds and fruit
- Raw veggies with hummus (made with olive oil)
- Half an avocado sprinkled with lime juice and a dash of salt
- One cup edamame in the pod drizzled with toasted sesame oil and a dash of salt
- One ounce chocolate spread with a thin smear of peanut butter
At Lunch and Dinner
- Roast or sauté veggies with olive, canola, grapeseed, avocado, or another healthy oil.
- Top sandwiches with hummus or sliced avocado instead of cheese.
- Swap salmon or tuna salad for deli meat on sandwiches.
- Enjoy seafood (especially fatty fish like salmon or Arctic char) at least twice per week.
- Garnish veggies with chopped, toasted nuts (like hazelnuts on Brussels sprouts or almonds on green beans).
- Stir chopped nuts or seeds into side dishes like brown rice or quinoa.
- Serve Tex-Mex meals like tacos, burritos, and enchiladas with diced or mashed avocado, and skip the sour cream.
- Use olive oil and vinegar to dress salads instead of creamy options like ranch (add a few olives, too, if you like).