#13: Are You Eating These Heart Healthy Foods?

#13: Are You Eating These Heart Healthy Foods?

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Today’s episode is about yummy nutrients and foods recommended for a healthy heart. The awesome part of is that these same foods will fuel (F-U-E-L) all your other organs, including your brain.

These same foods will help prevent illnesses like heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and other chronic diseases.

Raise your hand if you want that? Heck, I can feel your hand up from here!

Are you ready?

P.S. Check out the full transcript below for various sources/citations that support today’s content

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT (+ SOURCES) IN ACCORDION

Let me share a little bit about my past eating habits and for most of my years in corporate.

Breakfast: was coffee with hazelnut cream and whatever pastries, bagel, cookies, or junk people will bring to the kitchen in the office.

Lunch. I was good at bringing my lunch because I didn’t like to spend money eating out. Chicken, cheese, whole wheat tortilla flour, deli meats, hard boiled eggs, packaged frozen meals, and other processed foods. Rarely, you’d see colors on my plate, especially coming from raw foods.

After lunch, I’d snack 3-4x times until dinner. Snacked on junk around, lots of sweets that included candy, chocolate, pastries, and some fruit and nuts.

Dinner, if I ate at home, it was about the same kind of stuff I had for lunch, plus, more sweets and lots of cheese.  If I ate out, it was whatever looked good in the menu and that I didn’t eat often at home. Plus, 1-3 glasses of wine or some fruity alcoholic beverage.

If I drunk 2 full glasses of water a day, that was pretty good.

Oftentimes, I look back and wonder how I did and what [health problems] else would have emerged if I hadn’t changed. Sugar and caffeine got me through daily. I was so starving for nutrition and hydration and had no idea.

I am so grateful to have stopped this self-destruction years ago. If I was able to transform, I know you are able to do the same.

You do not want to follow that old path of mine. And if you are on the path right now. STOP! You, your body, and mind deserve better. You will be better at serving others as well.

There are many nutrients that support the cardiovascular system. Today, I will talk about 5 very important ones:

>>Vitamin C: it’s an anti-inflammatory and an antihistamine. High levels of histamine are associated with heart disease.

Foods rich in vitamin C are guava, kiwi, bell peppers, strawberries, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, snow peas, kale. Notice that fruits may spike your blood sugar. I recommend always testing so you can choose the amount and time of the day to eat them.

>>EPA and DHA: they are Omega 3 fatty fats and your body cannot make them. EPA is important for the regulation of inflammation and DHA is important for the regulation of blood sugar. Both of them are important for your heart health.

Foods rich in EPA and DHA are fatty fish like salmon, tuna, and sardines, which also have the lowest amount of mercury of any fish.

If you don’t like fish like me, you can take supplements.

I must also add hemp seeds to this list. They have an optimal 3:1 ratio of Omega 6 to Omega-3. You can add them to your foods or you can take hemp seed oil. I prefer the food. I love chewing the seeds.

>>B Vitamins, especially B1, B2, B3, B-5, B6, B12. B vitamins are important for the formation of red blood cells, fatty acid and amino acid metabolism to red blood cell production and for energy production.

Foods rich in B Vitamins are salmon, green leafy greens, organs meats, eggs, beef, legumes like beans and lentils, and nutritional yeast. It’s very important that you choose your animal meats carefully. I mean, wild caught, grass feed meats, and pasture raised poultry. Pick your battles here especially when it comes to your budget.

>>Vitamin E: it’s a powerful antioxidant and it protects the lining of the vessels.

Foods rich in vitamin E are sunflower seeds, almonds, avocado, spinach, butternut squash, broccoli, and trout. You’d have to consume a significant quantity of sunflower seeds and almonds and in this case, I’d be careful because they are also high in Omega 6, an inflammatory fatty acid. Supplementation of vitamin E might be a good option.

>>Zinc: it’s not only essential for metabolic functions and immunity, but it’s also protective against free radicals. Free radicals are known to accelerate aging and contribute to heart disease and chronic diseases like cancer.

Examples of foods rich in Zinc are oysters, beef, hemp seeds, lentils, shiitake mushrooms, pumpkin seeds.

I hope you find this information and list helpful. Don’t let this information rot somewhere. Take action and witness powerful changes.

It comes down to the choices you make daily. You have a choice. And you have lots of choices.

If you are saying…

  1. oh Maria, it’s easier said than done.
  2. That’s a lot of work and I am too busy to figure all this out. (by the way, you don’t have to figure all this out on your own)
  3. I’ve tried eating more of these foods but I was hungry all the time.
  4. I’ve tried that I didn’t lose weight.

Let me ask you this?

  • If you had a heart attack tomorrow, I bet that suddenly your calendar would open up for surgery and recovery. What do you think is easier? To choose to eat healthier or go through open-heart surgery?
  • Do you make sure you eat balanced meals rich in foods discussed earlier so your body got the nutrients it needs to thrive?
  • How long have TRIED eating healthier?
  • Did you log your foods?
  • How consistent were you?

And lastly…

Is your weight defining who you are?

Maybe it’s time for you to stop arguing for your limitations.

You CAN DO WHATEVER YOU define to be very IMPORTANT to you!

If you feel confused with information overload, feel discouraged and stuck, unsure that the goals you’re setting are challenging, realistic and yet achievable, get on my calendar at www.BeFabBeYou.com/energy-audit.

I’d love to work with you. Just be ready to go!

Before I let you know, grab that pen and paper.

Go back to the list of foods I mentioned above (get the transcript at www.BeFabBeYou.com/podcast). Select 2-3 foods you commit to adding to your daily plate. Here an idea for you. Pick ONE food to add to each ONE of your meals and be consistent with me. For example, let’s say you chose hemp seeds, green leafy greens, and avocado. Pick the meal you will add these foods to daily. Hemp seeds for breakfast, leafy greens for lunch and avocado to dinner. That’s a beautiful thing!!!!

Next episode, I will talk about things that damage your cardiovascular system and conditions that can contribute to lipid abnormalities.

Like interventional cardiologist, Dr. Fred Feit says “Until then, follow your heart!”

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