Tips for your heart: Healthy eating

Here are a few tips to keep your heart healthy.

SHOP HEALTHIER

Everything on the perimeter of the supermarket doesn’t have a label which means it is not processed.

Processed food is high in sodium, lower in nutrients, often higher in added sugar, and will hurt your brain trying to sound out the 26 letter ingredients.

High sodium consumption can raise blood pressure, and high blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

COFFEE LOVERS

Drinking a second or third cup of coffee may do more than get you through a long day — it may also reduce your risk of death from heart disease and other illnesses.

In a study reported in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, people who regularly drank moderate amounts of coffee daily —less than 5 cups per day — experienced a lower risk of deaths from cardiovascular disease, neurological diseases, Type 2 diabetes and suicide.

The benefit held true for drinking caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, suggesting it’s not just the caffeine providing health perks but possibly the naturally occurring chemical compounds in the coffee beans.

THE SALTY SIX

While we may think we get most of our salt from sprinkling it on our food, only a small portion of our total salt consumption comes from sprinkled table salt. The majority is already packed into our foods while its processed in the factory or prepared in the restaurant.

To assess how much sodium the country is consuming, and from what, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) assessed proportions of sodium consumption from over 100 specific food categories in 7,227 participants to determine what the American Heart Association calls the “Salty Six”.

The surprising “Salty Six” includes bread and rolls, cold cuts and cured meats, pizza, poultry, soups (especially canned soups), and sandwiches (like cheeseburgers).