The Food that Protects Your Heart – what You should eat

Medical doctor and writer Helena Nyblom says that you can protect your heart by eating a lot of vegetables, fruits, berries and healthy fats.

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The risk of cardiovascular disease decreases when eating a lot of vegetables, fruit and berries.

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The body needs fat. Olive oil is the very best.

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But you can protect your heart by eating a lot of vegetables, fruit, berries and healthy fats.

– You counteract inflammations in your body, get better blood fats and lower blood pressure when you eat this type of diet, says doctor Helena Nyblom.

Bad eating habits are a well-known risk factor.

According to Helena Nyblom, the food that is good for the cardiovascular system is also good for the body's other organs - which get oxygen and nutrition through the blood.

A herbal diet is good for the body for several reasons. To begin with, it is low-calorie, which reduces the risk of obesity. In addition, vegetables, fruit and berries contain plenty of vitamins, minerals, fibers and antioxidants.

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Green leafy vegetables, like spinach, contain a lot of antioxidants and potassium.

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Counteracts inflammations in the body

When eating herbal diet, inflammations in the body also reduce. Helena Nyblom explains that inflammations occur in a variety of conditions - for example in cardiovascular disease, various types of cancer, diabetes and dementia.

Inflammations are the body's response to an injury or an attack. In that sense they are good and vital. But when we walk around with inflammations in the body, for example in different organs, they are injured and work worse and worse. Here, antioxidants are very important.

- As we breathe, so-called free oxygen radicals form - a by-product of oxygen. The free radicals are good, but when we get an excess they will attack different proteins in our body tissues. The attacks are short-lived but they cause inflammation. When we have a lot of antioxidants in the body, the free oxygen radicals are neutralized instead, says Helena Nyblom.

High blood sugar increases the inflammation in the body. Here, a herbal diet is good, since vegetables, fruit and berries help keep the blood sugar at a low and even level.

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Raspberries contain a lot of antioxidants and fibers. In addition, they increase the body's fat burning capacity.

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Important to eat healthy fat

High blood lipids are another well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Also in relation to the blood fats, the herbal diet is useful.

- Many vegetables - and not least berries - positively affect the blood fats. Part of the herbal diet contains plenty of potassium that helps relax the blood vessels. The blood pressure then decreases. So the herbal diet also affects the blood pressure positively, says Helena Nyblom and continues:

- You should supplement with legumes (pulse), nuts and seeds, whole grain products, oily fish and healthy fats. Cause what kind of fat we eat is also important.

Healthy fats:

The body needs fat, but some cats are harmful. The very best fat source is olive oil, which contains much monounsaturated fat. The monounsaturated fat is kind to the blood vessels and also reduces inflammations in the body. Monounsaturated fat is also found in many nuts, seeds and in avocado. Omega 3 fat, which is plentiful in rapeseed oil and oily fish, is also healthy.

Eat less fat dairy foods - which contain much saturated fat. Trans fat, chemically hardened fat sometimes found in ice cream and pastries, is the worst.

Less red meat:

Red meat contains some saturated fat, which is not good for the vascular system. At the same time, substances that can be carcinogenic when frying meat, are formed. On the other hand, there are also benefits of red meat - which i.a. contains iron and protein. Charcuterie products are the worst.

According to the Swedish Food Administration's recommendation, you should not eat more than 500 grams of red meat and charcuterie products a week. However, today many people clearly eat more than that. Rather, eat more fatty fish.

Green leafy vegetables:

Green leafy vegetables are good for the body for several reasons, i.a. because they contain a lot of antioxidants and potassium. Antioxidants protect against inflammation in the body, while potassium causes blood vessels to widen so that the blood pressure drops.

The vascular system is also very important for the brain health. A couple of years ago, a group of researchers in Chicago did a study where they saw that people who ate a lot of green leafy vegetables had much better functioning brains than others who did not.

Source: Helena Nyblom, Medical Doctor and author