Eating for a Healthy Heart Over 50
For those of you who remember rotary dials, the Tuesday night lineup of Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley, and the birth of MTV, this post is for you. Along with a few wrinkles and perhaps more weight in the tummy, you may also be noticing changes at the doctor’s office. Perhaps your blood pressure has crept upward, or for the first time your cholesterol is falling into a scary range? For many of us, this is a time of reckoning, where our past habits may be coming to collect. It is a time to take inventory and to decide how we want to feel for the remainder of our lives.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. While some heart conditions are genetic, the vast majority of our heart function is directly related to our lifestyle choices, most importantly what we put on our forks. If you are seeing your numbers tick upward and you are ready to get serious about reducing your likelihood of heart attack and stroke, here are four simple dietary tweaks that will significantly improve your heart function and lower your disease risk.
This plate composition is easy to remember, applicable to any kind of eater (omnivore to vegan), and adaptable to any type of cuisine. Just remember half the plate should be produce, a quarter should be protein (ideally mostly from plant-based sources), and a quarter should be whole grains or products made from whole grains. Your choices within these categories are endless.
Plant color and variety is crucial for broad phytonutrient and antioxidant coverage, for helping to maintain a healthy and diverse microbiome, and for reducing systemic inflammation. Not only will you be helping your heart by focusing on plant variety and color, but nearly all other bodily systems (including your all-important brain) will thank you.
The more we learn, the more we realize not only how detrimental trans-fats and saturated fats can be, but how crucial unsaturated fats are for everything from heart to brain function. The simple swapping of fats, with a particular focus on deliberate inclusion of omega-3 fatty acids daily, will have far-reaching benefits for heart health, brain function, and healthy longevity. The goal is to keep your overall fat percentage fairly low (10 to 35% of daily calories) while optimizing the type of fat consumed.
The most important and often overlooked piece of the heart-health puzzle is FIBER. If you are seeking to lower your cholesterol or to improve your blood pressure, increasing your daily fiber intake is your way forward. The easiest way to do this is by swapping out refined grains for whole grains and consuming some form of beans daily. Beyond a focus on grains and legumes, think about what you can sprinkle on your meal to up the fiber content. Can you add ground flax seeds, hemp hearts, and wheat germ to your breakfast oats? Can you sprinkle your salads with sesame seeds, nuts, or pepitas? Can you toss a handful of lentils into your bolognese sauce? Adding in fiber is easy (and delicious) once you make it a priority.
Each meal we eat is an opportunity
to either raise or lower our heart disease risk.
While we may have genetic risk factors,
these can be either attenuated or exacerbated
depending on our dietary choices.
Adding in color, fiber, and more produce,
and swapping out our fats
are easy ways to ensure that we are eating
for optimal heart health as we age.
Wishing you abundant good health and happy eating.
🌱💕
References:
Canada.ca. (2024). Canada’s Food Guide. Government of Canada. https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/
Greger, M. (2015). The five-to-one fiber rule. Nutrition Facts.Org. https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-five-to-one-fiber-rule/
Iqbal, I., Wilairatana, P., Saqib, F., Nasir, B., Wahid, M., Latif, M. F., Iqbal, A., Naz, R., & Mubarak, M. S. (2023). Plant polyphenols and their potential benefits on cardiovascular health: A review. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 28(17), 6403. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28176403
Quagliani, D., & Felt-Gunderson, P. (2016). Closing America's fiber intake gap: Communication strategies from a food and fiber summit. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 11(1), 80–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827615588079
Sacks, F. M., Lichtenstein, A. H., Wu, J. H. Y., Appel, L. J., Creager, M. A., Kris-Etherton, P. M., Miller, M., Rimm, E. B., Rudel, L. L., Robinson, J. G., Stone, N. J., Van Horn, L. V., & American Heart Association (2017). Dietary fats and cardiovascular disease: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association. Circulation, 136(3), e1–e23. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000510