Heart-Healthy Nuts

Cashew nuts nuts are packed with heart-healthy monounsaturated fats and are a great source of magnesium. Also it Reduces the total level of cholesterol. Decreases your LDL level of "bad" cholesterol and Improve your total good cholesterol which is important for heart and bone health, even if you eat just a handful. They are incredibly rich in protein and fiber, which makes a filling snack

 

Nuts are a choice filling and satisfying snack.They are a perfect all-natural choice when you travel. Choose unsalted raw nuts and when available.

Risk of cardiovascular disease

This post was originally published as Cut Belly Fat w/ Tart Cherries by Laurel on Health Food.

Natural News posted a new cherry study from the University of Michigan. Researchers found that adding tart cherries to your diet may help reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. The study fed mice one of two diets: a high fat, moderate carbs diet (45% calories from fat, 40% calories from carbs) OR a low fat, high carbs diet (10% calories from fat, 75% calories from carbs).

Mice that were given added cherry powder to either diet had an 11% reduction in cholesterol after three months. In addition, the mice who had cherry powder had 54% body fat compared to 63% body fat in the mice that did not eat cherry powder. Most of the fat reduction was around the belly area of the mice.

The mice that ate cherry also had a 40% reduction in the TNF-alpha inflammation marker and 31% reduction in the IL-6 inflammation marker. The researchers found that “the activity of the genes producing these two compounds was reduced in the mice, suggesting that tart cherries may reduce inflammation at a systemic level.” (Natural News)

If you’re interested in learning more about tart cherries, check out this great informational page on About.com’s alternative medicine site: What are Tart Cherries and Tart Cherry Juice?

You can probably find tart cherries at your local health food store. I also searched online and found them on Amazon. You can get dried tart cherries, tart cherry juice, etc. I also wasn’t surprised to find tart cherries in a pill form.

Update: This article was featured on the Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival 98.

Top 10 Healthy Foods

This post was originally published as 10 Foods You Should Really Try by Laurel on Health Food blog. 

Men’s Health Magazine produced a list of “The Ten Best Foods You Aren’t Eating“. Here are their choices for the superfoods that rarely make it into our shopping carts-but should. The article also contains helpful information about how you can include each of these foods in your diet.

1. Beets – contain lots of folate and betaine, reduce risk of heart disease, may fight cancer

2. Cabbage – contains sulforaphane to reduce free radicals and cancer risk

3. Guava – high in lycopene to fight prostate cancer, also high in potassium and fiber

4. Swiss Chard – carotenoids protect your eyes from damages of aging

5. Cinnamon – reduces blood sugar and LDL cholesterol

6. Purslane – highest amount of omega-3s in any plant source, and melatonin inhibits cancer growth

7. Pomegranate Juice - lowers systolic blood pressure and improves blood flow, high in vitamin C

8. Goji Berries – potent in antioxidants, reduces insulin resistance

9. Dried Plums – antioxidants fight free radicals that cause cancer

10.  Pumpkin Seeds – high magnesium, linked with living a longer life

Top 14 Foods that Lower Cholesterol

This post was originally published as  14 Foods that Lower Cholesterol by Laurel on Health Food blog.

After reviewing my research on healthy foods and cholesterol from this year I came up with the top 14 Foods that Lower Cholesterol.

• 1. Whole grains and oats – a five-year Insulin Resistance Athersclerosis Study showed that people whose diets contain the most whole grains “had the thinnest carotid artery walls and showed the slowest progression in artery wall thickness.”
Shop for Whole Grains
• 2. Blueberries – a compound in blueberries (pterostilbene) may help lower cholesterol as effectively as commercial drugs with fewer side effects.
  Shop for Blueberries
• 3. Pistachios, 4. Walnuts, and 5. Almonds – a Penn State study showed that eating pistachios significantly lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. Research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology showed eating walnuts after a high-fat meal might protect your heart. Omega-3 fats and antioxidants in nuts work to reverse the arterial damage caused by saturated fats.

• 6. Avocados, 7. Olives, and 8. Olive oil – 26 of the 30 grams of fat in an avocado are heart-healthy, unsaturated fats that can increase your levels of HDL cholesterol. The good fats in avocados, olives, and olive oil protect against heart disease and diabetes. Check out the Mediterranean Diet.
• 9. Flaxseed oil – flaxseed oil can lower blood pressure in men with high cholesterol. In a three-month study of 59 middle-aged men, those who took daily flaxseed oil supplements (with eight grams of the omega-3 fats, alpha-linoleic acid) experienced significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
• 10. 100% cranberry-grape juice – antioxidants in grape juice slow down LDL cholesterol oxidation, and cranberry juice raises HDL or “good” cholesterol.

• 11. Fish and Fish oil – a study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology found that people with type 2 diabetes who consumed high doses of fish oil over nine weeks lowered the size and concentration of several lipoprotein subclasses (cholesterol) in their bodies.
• 12. Black soybeans – a study from the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture shows that black soybeans may help prevent obesity, lower LDL cholesterol, and reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes.
• 13. Pomegranate juice – a National Academy of Sciences study showed that pomegranate juice reduces cholesterol plaque buildup and increases nitric oxide production (nitric oxide helps reduce arterial plaque).
• 14. Yogurt with live active cultures (probiotics) – Vicki Koenig, MS, RD, CDN said “several studies have shown that the probiotics Lactobacillus Acidophilus and Lactobacillus Reuteri actually help lower cholesterol. They work by preventing the reabsorption of cholesterol back in to the blood stream.”

You might be a person who is predisposed to high cholesterol, or maybe your diet could use a shape-up. Here are a few key points on cholesterol that I try to focus on:

• LDL or “bad” cholesterol deposits itself on the walls of your arteries, forming plaques that make them hard and narrow. HDL or “good” cholesterol removes excess LDL in your blood and brings it to your liver for disposal. The more HDL you consume, the less LDL you’ll have in your blood.
• You may need medication to help reduce your cholesterol, but eating a heart-healthy diet and getting exercise are very important.
• Everyone should have their cholesterol checked-it doesn’t matter if you are young/old, female/male, or thin/overweight.

Fish Oil More Effective than Drug

This post was originally published as Fish Oil More Effective than Drugs by Laurel on Health Food blog.

New research from Europe found that fish oil supplements are more effective than a popular cholesterol medication at helping people with chronic heart failure. When someone has chronic heart failure, their heart becomes enlarged and fails to fill with blood to pump it through the body. In the study, almost 3,500 patients were given an prescription formula omega-3 pill on a daily basis. About the same number of patients took a placebo. The patients were followed for about four years. A parallel study gave one group the cholesterol drug Crestor and placebo pills to the other group.

When comparing the results from both studies, researchers found that taking fish oil (omega-3) supplements are slightly more effective than the drug. Dr. Richard Bonow, Chief of Cardiology at Northwestern University Hospital in Chicago and former president of the American Heart Association, says that “it’s a small benefit, but we should always be emphasizing to patients what they can do in terms of diet that might help.”

Dr. Jose Gonzalez Juanatey from the European Society of Cardiology says these new findings may give patients a new treatment and offer a change of dietary recommendations for people with chronic heart failure. Juanatey said, “this reinforces the idea that treating patients with heart failure takes more than just drugs.”