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Foods to Keep Your Heart Healthy After 50

By Charlotte on February 12, 2014 1:20 AM

By Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D., F.A.C.C.

How do you eat for a healthy heart when there are so many different ways to eat, so many different diets and so many opinions? As an integrative cardiologist who emphasizes the healing power of food, I have been asked that question many times. My answer is based on what I've learned over nearly four decades in a medical practice dedicated to optimum health as well as what I've learned in the kitchen as an avid cook.

Julia Child gives us a great starting point. "You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients," she said. I would add organic, if possible, to minimize your intake of assorted toxins and pesticides.

A heart-healthy diet should include plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, preferably organic to minimize intake of toxins and pesticides.

Eat to Beat the Heat

By heat, I don't mean the weather. I mean chronic inflammation, a major factor in the aging process. Today, researchers regard inflammation as the source of multiple serious diseases, including cardiovascular disease. Bodies are afire!

My dietary approach aims to help put out the fire and bolster your body's ability to defend against the destructive inflammation that leads to cardiovascular disease. The best foods to do that are found in traditional Mediterranean or Asian diets. They're superbly anti-inflammatory because they're generally low glycemic (low sugar), antioxidant rich, high fiber and contain healthy fats.

• Low-glycemic foods are anti-inflammatory because they're digested without much insulin, a hormone that helps your body carry glucose (another name for blood sugar) into your cells to generate energy. As a general rule of thumb, most fresh fruits and vegetables are low-glycemic, while sugary foods / processed carbohydrates (pastas, breads, cookies, etc.) are high-glycemic.

When you eat excess refined carbs, your body releases excess insulin. The short-term effect is weight gain, as you store excess carbs as fat. Over time the stakes get higher: a constant high tide of blood sugar and insulin leads to insulin resistance, a forerunner to type 2 diabetes and obesity, damaged blood vessels, and cardiovascular trouble.

Additionally, too much sugar can also rear its ugly head on the outside as well as the inside. Advanced glycation end products, created when sugars interact with proteins, cause premature wrinkling of the skin.

• Foods rich in antioxidants help counteract free-radical oxidative stress that can cause inflammation. Fresh fruits and vegetables are great sources of antioxidants, as are seaweed, various herbs and spices.

• High-fiber foods include fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains like oatmeal and brown rice. Fiber (also known as roughage or bulk) consists of plant constituents that our bodies cannot break down and absorb. Instead, as it passes through our digestive tracts almost intact, fiber boosts transit time and helps prevent accumulation of pro-inflammatory toxins and unhealthy bacteria.

• Healthy fats, like the anti-inflammatory omega-3s found in fish and monounsaturated fats found in olive oil and avocado, help slow down the release of insulin.

Avacados are packed with healthy monounsaturated fat and antioxidants.

5 Foods that Put Out the Fire

My favorite heart-healthy foods actually serve your whole body well. They include:

• Wild Alaskan salmon contains coenzyme Q10, an absolutely essential antioxidant involved in cellular energy generation and cardiac health; astaxanthin, another excellent antioxidant; and omega-3 fatty acids.

Wild Alaskan salmon includes essential antioxidants as well as anti-inflammatory omega-3s.

• Kale is a cruciferous vegetable with potent anti-cancer compounds that also promotes healthy nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide, a chemical the body uses to keep arteries supple and dilated, helps keep blood pressure down.

• Onion is rich in compounds that lower blood pressure and help prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol.

• Avocado comes packed with an abundance of monounsaturated fat and antioxidants Vitamin E and glutathione. Avocados also help you absorb other nutrients.

• Asparagus is full of fiber, valuable antioxidants such as glutathione and Vitamin C, and alpha-linoleic acid and folic acid that prevent hardening of the arteries.

Want to get the benefits of these five favorites in one meal? Make a chopped raw kale and spinach salad; add steamed asparagus, avocado and onion; and toss with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Serve it with poached wild Alaskan salmon.

My heart-healthy recommendations also include anti-inflammatory foods like nuts (think walnuts, almonds and macadamias), brown rice, soups, fish and vegetable stews. With a main meal, I like a side salad or vegetables drizzled with olive oil.

Whenever possible, steam your food. Use ample amounts of lemons, basil, parsley, watercress, and lots of garlic and onions. All are heart healthy. Plus, minimize the use of salt and pepper.

Board-certified cardiologist Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra specializes in nutrition and anti-aging.

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About the Author

Board-certified cardiologist Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington, CT and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in Biddeford, ME. Certified as a bioenergetic psychotherapist and nutrition and anti-aging specialist, he integrates psychological, nutraceutical and electroceutical therapies in the matrix of healing.

Dr. Sinatra is the founder of www.heartmdinstitute.com, an informational website dedicated to promoting public awareness of integrative medicine. In addition, he is a fellow in the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Nutrition. His latest book, The Great Cholesterol Myth Cookbook, includes a variety of heart-healthy recipes.

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