HEALTHY HEART FOODS

What are the key foods that will best ensure the health of your heart and blood circulation?  A recent major study reported in the British Medical Journal (see the reference in the 'total combined effect' section) found that by eating the following six 'super-foods' on a daily basis you can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease by a staggering 75%!  Considering that cardiovascular diseases are the no.1 cause of death and disability in most Western societies, it is certainly worth paying attention to this research – this is likely to have the greatest positive impact on your health and well-being in the long run (next to taking regular physical exercise and stopping smoking, of course).

All the foods on the list are commonly found in food shops and restaurants, relatively inexpensive, and easy to include in your daily diet.  And as you can see, the fruit and vegetables of the 5-a-day and spectrum sections are already part of this list.

Incidentally, you'll notice that the foods listed here also make up a large part of what is generally referred to as the 'Mediterranean diet', thought to be among the healthiest food regimes anywhere in the world and consequently endorsed by the likes of the American Heart Association.  For example a typical meal consisting of grilled fish served with ratatouille and a side salad (drizzled perhaps with a light dressing of lemon juice, olive oil and crushed garlic) and accompanied by a glass of chilled white or rosé wine, followed by some fresh fruits and almonds/nuts, ticks just about every box on this list in one go, and gives you a whole spectrum of colours too!

The Six Daily Superfoods

Notes:

• The portions shown above are the amounts calculated to achieve the stated effect based on the studies referenced. It is not known whether these are the optimal amounts; consuming more fruits/vegetables and fish could have a greater beneficial effect.  The exception is wine, where exceeding the above daily recommendation may result over time in some of the negative effects associated with excess alcohol consumption, which in turn may effectively cancel out the positive effects stated here.
• Fish is included in generic terms only.  You should try to eat a mixture of both white and oily fish.
• Wine is not specified as either red or white.  Various studies have shown that both can have a positive effect, although their effects may be slightly different.
• Almonds contain over 50% fat (admittedly it’s the ‘good sort’, but fat nevertheless).  This means that the recommended 70 grams contains 35-40 grams of fat.  Together with the protein (25%) and carbohydrate (10%), the daily 70 grams of almonds provides over 400 kcal of energy. In fact, 70 grams of almonds is quite a large amount, around 3/4 of a typical retail pack found in supermarkets, and you might want to consider consuming a smaller amount.  Incidentally, please avoid salted roasted almonds, as the salt content (and in some cases added fat) won’t do you any good.  If you can find unblanched almonds with the brown ‘skin’ on, so much the better.
• Chocolate – even high quality dark chocolate with 70% or more cocoa solids – contains 40-50% by weight of both sugar and fat.  Therefore the recommended daily 100 grams is bound to give you over 500 kcal of energy.  Again, the 100 grams of chocolate shown above is in practice quite a large portion, and you might want to consider reducing it:  half the amount will probably provide you with at least some of the health benefits while significantly reducing your calorie intake.  And if you are going to take in the calories, you might as well go for the best quality dark chocolate you can find, and certainly try to avoid the cheap and nasty stuff that has more sugar than anything else.