The Best Heart Health Diets

The leading cause of death in the world is heart disease.

Diet is a great way to protect your heart, along with lifestyle factors such as regular exercise and quitting smoking. This is because what you eat can affect inflammation, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels, as well as other risk factors for heart disease.

Diets rich in antioxidants, fiber, and healthy fats can help to support heart health. However, high sugar intake and processed meats increase the risk of heart disease.

Many diets claim that they support heart health. It’s important to pick one that is backed up by scientific evidence and also easy to maintain over the long term.

The Mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean Diet is based upon the traditional eating habits of Greeks and Southern Italians in the 1960s.

The diet is based on whole foods that are minimally processed, such as whole grains, nuts and seeds, fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The diet also includes moderate quantities of poultry, eggs, and low-fat dairy products, as well as red wine.

It also limits or eliminates refined carbohydrates, red and processed meats, processed snacks, and highly processed foods.

Numerous studies have linked the Mediterranean diet to a lower risk of heart disease and heart disease risk factors such as high cholesterol, high triglycerides, obesity, type-2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.

A review of 11 studies concluded that following a Mediterranean diet plan decreased the overall risk of heart disease mortality and incidence by 40%.

This diet has heart-health benefits largely because it emphasizes whole, minimally processed foods from plants and healthy fats.

Extra virgin olive oil, for example, is high in monounsaturated fatty acids and compounds that have powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

A review of 32 studies found that a higher intake, but not of other monounsaturated fatty acids, was associated with a reduced risk for all-cause death, heart disease, and stroke.

Exercise and eating less sugar may also have a positive effect on the diet.

The DASH Diet

DASH is an acronym for Dietary Approaches To Stop Hypertension. It was created to prevent and treat high blood pressure. It reduces the risk of heart disease.

The DASH diet is similar to the Mediterranean diet in that it does not mandate a rigid food list.

It recommends specific amounts of foods based on calorie requirements, with a focus on whole grains and fruits and vegetables. Low-fat dairy products and lean meats are also recommended, while red meat, refined grains, and sugars are limited.

It also recommends that sodium intake be limited to no more than one teaspoon (2300 mg) of salt per day. A version with less salt encourages you to limit it to no more than 3/4 teaspoon (1500 mg) of salt per day.

Reducing salt intake can significantly lower blood pressure in individuals with high blood tension, especially when combined with a DASH diet.

Research suggests this effect is not as significant in people with normal blood pressure levels.

Vegan and vegetarian diets

Vegetarian and vegan diets eliminate all animal products, including red meat, poultry, and fish.

Vegans, on the other hand, strictly avoid any animal-derived products such as dairy, eggs, honey, bee pollen, and gelatin.

These diets instead emphasize fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. They also include beans, lentils, and soy products.

Vegan and vegetarian diets have many health benefits due to their high plant-based content. These diets often contain high levels of fiber, anti-inflammatory compounds, and antioxidants.

The Flexitarian Diet

Dawn Jackson Blatner created the Flexitarian Diet. It is a diet that emphasizes plant foods but allows for moderate amounts of dairy, meat, fish, and other animal products. The Flexitarian Diet encourages people to obtain most of their protein from plant-based foods.

It’s up to you how often or how much you eat animal products.

It is recommended that you eat a lot of whole foods, with minimal processing, and avoid or limit added sugars, refined grains, processed meats, and other highly processed foods.

Although the variations allowed in this diet make it difficult to study, observational research links a higher adherence to plant-based diets with a lower heart disease risk.

The TLC Diet

The National Institutes of Health developed the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes diet (TLC) to reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease.

This includes dietary and lifestyle suggestions to promote optimal cholesterol and a healthy body weight, for example.

• Get at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise every day
• Aim to get between 25-35% calories per day from fat
• Limiting saturated fats to no more than 7% of daily calories
• Limiting dietary cholesterol intake to 200 mg or less per day
• Eat 10-25 grams of soluble fiber daily
• Eat at least 2 grams per day of plant sterols and stanols
• Only consuming enough calories to maintain a healthy body weight