Foods and Nutrients to Support your Heart

Is your Ticker Ticking Nicely?

Cancer and heart disease have been Britain’s number 1 killers for many years. Here we look at simple steps to improve cardiovascular health.

The following nutrients are known to support good heart health:

Positive Foods for Heart Health:

-  Cereal grains oats, whole brown rice, buckwheat

-  Vegetables garlic, onions, spring onion (including green tops), celery (including leaves), broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, spinach, lettuce, capsicum

-  Fruits freshly squeezed & diluted lemon juice, ripe pineapple (including stem), ripe banana, berries, apples, pears, figs, dates, olives, apricots, plums, red grapes, blueberries, prunes

-  Legumes most members of the bean family including dahls and pulses, butter beans, black beans, green peas, dried peas, barley, soya beans

-  Teas, Herbs & Spices green tea, sage tea, camomile tea, ginger, gingko biloba, ginseng, basil, sarsaparilla

-  Nuts & Seeds sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds taken in moderation, hazelnuts, cashew nuts, pistachio nuts, walnuts, pecan & macadamia nuts

-  Fungi Reishi & Shiitake mushrooms

-  Dairy 3 portions weekly of organic live yoghurt

-  Additional Foods a glass of good quality organic red wine at most once a day

Negative Foods:

-  Cereal grains refined cereals, refined flour products

-  Vegetables excess garlic

-  Fruits orange, orange juice, grapefruit & grapefruit juice

-  Legumes soya milk

-  Nuts & Seeds old Brazil nuts and high intake of peanuts

-  Fish mackerel (due to high heavy metal content)

-  Poultry battery chicken, hens’ eggs

-  Meats pork & pork products, reduce intake of proteins from red meat, salami

-  Dairy cow’s milk, reducing dairy to a minimum, reduce non-organic cheese

-  Fats hydrogenated fats, refined cooking oils, fennel oil, trans-fatty acids

-  Food Additives tartrazine, artificial sweeteners, sulphates (preservative)

-  Beverages avoid dehydration - ensure adequate water intake, excess coffee intake; take alcohol in moderation.

-  Avoid low fat foods, refined carbohydrates, white sugar (sucrose), high additive processed foods, artificial sweeteners, chocolate, pickled foods

-  Cooking methods fried foods