Heart Health: 10 Foods That Are Good For Your Heart (PHOTOS)

Take heart with berries, beans, and other healthy fare.

1 of 10

Oatmeal

1 of 11

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

Start your day with a steaming bowl of oats, which are full of omega-3 fatty acids, folate, and potassium. This fiber-rich superfood can lower levels of LDL (or bad) cholesterol and help keep arteries clear. Opt for coarse or steel-cut oats over instant varieties -- which contain more fiber -- and top your bowl off with a banana for another four grams of fiber. More From Health.com: 20 Meals That Won’t Kill Your Cholesterol Heart-Healthy Recipe of the Day 7 Causes of High Cholesterol

Midwest Storms April 2012

Midwest Storms

Syria Bombing 2/26

Conservative Pundits On Newt Gingrich

Start your day with a steaming bowl of oats, which are full of omega-3 fatty acids, folate, and potassium. This fiber-rich superfood can lower levels of LDL (or bad) cholesterol and help keep arteries clear.

Opt for coarse or steel-cut oats over instant varieties -- which contain more fiber -- and top your bowl off with a banana for another four grams of fiber.

More From Health.com:
20 Meals That Won’t Kill Your Cholesterol
Heart-Healthy Recipe of the Day
7 Causes of High Cholesterol

comments(130)

featured comment

Reply | Share

Contact1972 said on 4 Tuesday 2011 pm31 4:29 pm: If you shop at Costco you can find groud flax seed there. I sprinkle some on my oatmeal. Awesome.

Total comments: 130 | Post a Comment

1 of 11

Rate This Food

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

All Good Need More Of That!

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10

Top 5 Foods

loading...

Top 5 Foods

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

← Prev|Next →

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

← Prev|Next →

loading...

Comments

[BlackYowe]

04:14 AM on 01/07/2011

Soy is bad news. I avoid it whenever I can. It's used as a cheap filler in so many foods today and you shouldn't eat much of it unless its fermented.

[R Z]

05:15 PM on 01/07/2011

agreed- i only eat it chinese style or as tempeh. I really dislike soy burgers and dogs.
will only go for non gmo too.

[GonzoFactor]

10:47 PM on 01/06/2011

A considerable number of these foods are no-no's for folks with kidney stones.

[ZeoGetty]

04:29 PM on 01/06/2011

Happy to say that all of these are in my diet- Apart from the Salmon. Used to love it though in my pre-vegetarian days.

[Chuck Bluestein]

03:57 PM on 01/05/2011

This looked like a very good list. Oatmeal is a very good source of fiber which does help with cholesterol but I could not find oatmeal on a list of good food sources of omega-3 fatty acids. It is definitely not an excellent source of it like salmon, flaxseed or chia seeds.

I think that the very best group of foods for heart health are berries like you have on here. There have been many studies done showing how different berries help with cardiovascular health. http://bit.ly/card-io When it comes to herbs for healing, hawthorne berries are among the best for heart health. It is amazing to look at all the studies showing how different berries help with heart health. Also blood can be blue, purple or red depending on the oxygen in it and that is the color of berries.

[Kathy8185]

02:46 PM on 01/05/2011

I get my beans and veggies by making chili recipes. I also like to stir in baby spinach leaves right before serving. I also top it with fresh avocado. My favorite is this tasty recipe
http://www.chili-everyway.com/crock-pot-meals.html

Sometimes if I am not in the mood for a vegetarian meal I add some diced chicken breast to the recipe

[constantcomments]

11:13 AM on 01/05/2011

Pema
I was making fun of the so called experts that are trying to turn us all into Chicken/Fishy Vegetarians ( I mean that literally and figuratively).

A Healthy diet consists of food from all food groups and meat is usually excluded in so called healthy diets. I am not making fun of Eastern Religion I am making fun of people who follow dogma any kind of dogma because it sounds good, not because it is based on facts.

Yeah vegetarian plant based diet sounds good but it is not based on fact. The fact is humans have been eating a variety of plant and animals for thousands of years. Since the 1930's our health has been declining which is about the time we started thinking butter and lard were bad, the time the vegetable oils started making it to the market, the time people started thinking that humans are really herbivores we were just too stupid to realize that in the previous thousands of years of our existence. That's the "truth" according to our current set of experts, which is really a lie.

This is not the forum to go into all those details and I thought my little silliness would provoke people to look more closely into the vegetarian agenda that is being force fed to us.

[purenergy]

07:17 AM on 01/05/2011

Soy is bad, mkay! http://westonaprice.org/soy-alert.html
Don't believe the marketing of the Soybean Association....unless you are eating edemame beans, you are poisoning yourself with hexane and phyto-estogens. TVP, tofu, and soy milk are highly processed, many contain MSG and other hydrogenated fats to give them flavor.

[saskatoonie]

10:11 PM on 01/04/2011

I cook my steel cut oats in the slow cooker overnight. I usually make enough for several days at a time.......great breakfast!

[Pema]

10:31 AM on 01/05/2011

ok question. we had steel cut oats at my in laws, they were slimy. is this how they are or did they cook them improperly?

[saskatoonie]

03:51 PM on 01/05/2011

Different people like them cooked different ways. Maybe they were cooked too long with too much water, you have to play around with them a little to suit your taste!

[constantcomments]

07:07 PM on 01/04/2011

Meat is bad and Veggies, Grains, Soy, Fake Vegetable Oils are good. Ommmmm.

But haven't humans been eating meat for thousands of years without obesity and heart disease? And doesn't meat have antioxidants?

Shhhh, just relax and repeat after me. Meat is bad and Veggies, Grains, Soy, fake Vegetable Oils are good, only blueberries have antioxidants, everybody knows that. Ommmmm.

But Americans have seriously cut down on fat and it has almost disappeared from our dairy products and we are fatter and sicker then ever.

Ommmmm. Meat is bad. Eat your veggies, Enjoy your grains, Love your soy, and gulp down that Canola Oil. It is so good for you. Ommmmmm.

[elcerritan]

07:23 PM on 01/04/2011

Heh. I'm afraid you're probably talking to a bunch of brick walls.

[onionboy]

07:50 PM on 01/04/2011

That's funny. Our real problem is that food is plentiful and people still feel the need to eat everything they can find or that's given to them. As the late Richard Jeni joked (yes, this is dated); the best weight loss tape isn't a cassette tape or a video tape, it's scotch tape. Close up that mouth and stop eating everything you see. Eat a little of this, a little of that. Eat in moderation. Do it regularly and you'll be able to splurge occasionally and still not get obese.

Yes, I know this idea sucks. It has no capital letters and I'll make no money off of it. How could it ever work?

[HighPeaks]

06:31 PM on 01/04/2011

My favorite breakfast:

1/3 cup raw Old Fashioned Quaker Oats (do not cook!)
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 heaping tablespoon each of ground flax seed and wheat germ
Small handful each of chopped walnuts and chopped almonds
2 tablespoons of chopped dates for sweetening (or other chopped fruit of your choice, bananas, grapes, etc.)
Almond milk (I like sweetend vanilla flavor, but all types are good)

You wouldn't think uncooked oatmeal would be good, but this tastes great, and has plenty of good fats and fiber in it.

[Contact1972]

11:04 AM on 01/05/2011

Sounds interesting....I shall give it a go.

[Retrofuturistic]

05:53 PM on 01/04/2011

I don't see how soy can be on the list. It's genetically engineered and gives me a severe allergy fit every time I eat it. I know other people who eat it and get canker sores and/or IBS symptoms.

[DevonTexas]

05:59 PM on 01/04/2011

just in case you didn't read what it said about soy...

"Soy may lower cholesterol, and since it is low in saturated fat, it's still a great source of lean protein in a heart-healthy diet. 


Look for natural sources of soy, like edamame, tempeh, or organic silken tofu. And soy milk is a great addition to a bowl of oatmeal or whole-grain cereal. But watch the amount of salt in your soy: some processed varieties like soy dogs can contain added sodium, which boosts blood pressure."

[purenergy]

07:28 AM on 01/05/2011

just in case you didn't know...http://westonaprice.org/soy-alert.html
All processed soy is toxic since they process it by dipping the beans in hexane, a petroleum by-product that is highly carcinogenic to the body and the environment. True that whole edemame do not contain traces of hexane since they do not require processing though they are very difficult to digest. The high levels of sodium in processed soy products is likely from all the MSG they use to flavor the flavorless substance that has been extracted by toxic chemicals, then deodorized, and re-flavored to take like chicken/beef whatever. How can that be healthy?

[elcerritan]

07:03 PM on 01/04/2011

Allergy to soy is one of the commonest food allergies.

[Yoannah]

05:45 PM on 01/04/2011

I was so amazed that they were having so many things I agree with it! And then they came up with legumes and SOY. When will people wake up?

and not all nuts are that good. Macadamias are great, almonds in small amounts also, but other nuts are full of omega-6, which is already too common in our food.

And of course they forgot about other fantastic, heart-healthy foods: grass-fed beef, bison and organic poultry, butter, coconut oil, organic/free range eggs and also other fish, not just salmon. Sardines are great (very reach in calcium), and really under-appreciated.

[cpalmertx]

05:22 PM on 01/04/2011

Whenever I see soy on a list of "healthy foods", that list immediately loses all credibility with me.

[purenergy]

07:30 AM on 01/05/2011

amen

[oxygen]

04:50 PM on 01/04/2011

Protein is the other major component (33%), second only to soy (35%), but more easily digestible because it's primarily globular proteins, 33% albumin and 65% edestin (a Greek word meaning edible). Its amino acid profile is close to "complete" when compared to more common sources of proteins such as meat, milk, eggs and soy.[22] The proportions of linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid in one tablespoon (15 ml) per day of hemp oil easily provides human daily requirements for EFAs. Unlike flaxseed oil, hemp oil can be used continuously without developing a deficiency or other imbalance of EFAs.[23] This has been demonstrated in a clinical study, where the daily ingestion of flaxseed oil decreased the endogenous production of GLA.[23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp_seed

[blueshift]

04:47 PM on 01/04/2011

God, here we go again. Oat bran. Antioxidants. It's an interminable list of media-fueled snake-oil sales. Look up John Ionnedes, whose work demonstrates that zero % of these claims have any validity at all. Zero. Nada. None.

[onionboy]

08:25 PM on 01/04/2011

He shows how the studies around many of the nutritional claims are significantly flawed. He doesn't "demonstrate" that they have no validity. That would be just as outrageous as the claims he debunks. He simply correctly points out that most nutritional advice is based on theory. Antioxidants are a good case in point. We really only know the basic chemical action of the molecules. You'd have have to do a 50 to 100-year longitudinal study to actually find out some of the purported claims. I doubt anyone will ever do that, so only theory will remain.

It's like body-fat. I try to pay more attention to my body-fat than to pure weight (ie, BMI). There is data on lower BMI. But BMI can be high if you have significant muscle mass. There's no good large long term study that low body-fat is healthy, just BMI. Technically, the data says that I'm "healthier" if I let myself get a little softer, down to a lower BMI. With no evidence whatsoever, I choose otherwise. It's a guessing game. I guess, do what make you feel better on a consistent basis...as opposed to just for a couple of hours. If for you that's high anti-oxidant foods...cool. Some people do raw, vegan, whatever. I eat a little of everything. For some people it might even be cigarettes and whiskey. It's a crap shoot.