If you or someone you know has been trying adjust their diet to have a healthier heart, you might be wondering where exactly you need to start. A lot of people assume that fixing their diet means getting rid of all of the food that they love, but that isn’t the case when it comes to having a healthy heart and a long life. If you are a senior, or even a young adult, these are the foods that you should keep in your diet to promote a healthier lifestyle.
Greens that are Fresh and Leafy
This is usually the first thing you will see when you walk into the supermarket, so it’s easy for you to pick up whenever you or a caretaker go shopping. The next time you go shopping, make sure that you pick up some leafy greens like:
- Lettuce
- Celery
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Spinach
These are just a few suggestions, but any fresh greens that are leafy will be helpful on your journey to getting a healthier heart.
Salmon and Other Fish Types that are Similar
Salmon has a lot of healthy benefits when you cook it in the right way. As long as you avoid over salting the salmon when it comes out of the oven, you can gain a wealth of heart healthy benefits from enjoying this fish, even only once a week. But since that can be a lot of dedication, and fish can get a bit old fast, you should probably still consider taking a look at the other foods that you can add to your diet for a healthier lifestyle.
Peanuts and Walnuts
If you aren’t allergic, peanuts and walnuts can be a very good source for trying to promote a healthy heart. You can eat a handful of walnuts or peanuts a day and you will notice a dramatic change in how your heart reacts in the day. If you are pairing these nuts with a heart healthy meal later in the day, you don’t have to eat a handful everyday. Instead, you can eat a handful on the days where you don’t have healthy meal planned, or you can follow up an unhealthy dessert with some peanuts or walnuts to undo what damage is trying to be done.
Circular vegetables like Peas, Beans, and Chickpeas
Darker beans like black beans, all sorts of ways you can cook chickpeas, and green peas are all things that can help you get a healthier diet and heart. If you are interested in hummus, chili, or you like to add peas to your stir fry, then you are already on the right track as far as these things are concerned. These things are also very easy to place into other meals, without making it a big deal. These things can stand alone as a snack, or as part of the base of a meal, or you can have them on the side with a meat dish. No matter how you decide to prepare these things, they will give you the same health benefits as long as there isn’t a lot of salt involved.
Dark Chocolate
Finally, dark chocolate is very pure and natural. Since dark chocolate doesn’t have all of the artificial and extra added sugars, you are practically receiving pure cocoa picked right off of the tree. Because of this, you get an extra set of vitamins, a bit more iron, and you are making your heart healthy and happy. While other chocolates are still good for you in moderation, if you love to have chocolate everyday, then you should try to switch over to dark chocolate more often than not.
These are just a few simple foods that you can add to your diet to get a healthier heart. There are still so many other foods and drinks that you can add to your diet in order to have a healthier lifestyle, but these are a great starting point. Even if you are not a chef and you have no idea where to start with these food items, a quick online search will give you many ideas.
