Heart Healthy Foods that are Summer Easy

Heart disease is the #1 killer for American women and men. There are many ways to improve your risk for this disease such as eating heart healthy food. You can usually find heart healthy foods that are plentiful in the summer months in the U.S.A. Foods like those rich in vitamin C. Foods rich in vitamin C include: cherries, corn, nectarines, rhubarb, snap beans and tomatoes. Ruby red grapefruits are also heart healthy because eating one a day can reduce your "bad" cholesterol. These summer foods are easy to prepare and are great tasting raw.

Red berry fruits like bilberry, chokeberry and elderberry have been used to cure many diseases. Recently researchers of Indiana School of Medicine in Fort Wayne Indiana discovered that the extracts from these berries have a positive effect on coronary arteries of porcupines. They have similar physiology to humans so this could be good news.

Heart disease is one of those slow-building over a lifetime of bad habit diseases that tends to sneak up on its victims. Heart disease strikes when you least expect it and against people who think it can’t happen to them. Bad habits become part of your lifestyle to the extent that you think little of how your activity level, or smoking habits, even your eating style or what you eat elevates your risk for heart disease.

Take control of your heart health by increasing your fruit and vegetables in your daily diet. Most of us do not have at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, as we should each day. If you are having trouble eating 5 servings, try these tips:

To be heart healthy you should try to eat at least 5 daily servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Here are some tips to achieving this rate:

As you head out the door in the morning to go to work or school, grab a piece of fruit to munch on sometime during the morning (break or as you walk from the car to the building.

Add lettuce or spinach to your sandwich at lunch.

Store fruits and veggies on the top shelf of your refrigerator where you will see them every time you open the fridge.

Instead of bringing donuts to that meeting or as a morning office ritual, think about bringing in a container of fruit instead.

Don't forget the convenience of juice, pack a single serving can or bottle to drink at lunch or at break time.

Make your cereal taste great by putting some berries, sliced bananas or sliced peaches on it.

Make a fruit smoothie or add fruit to your yogurt.

You can add veggies to your casseroles, soups or main dishes.

Nuts are heart healthy but you need to eat them in moderation so you don't increase your weight. They are high in calorie count, so stick to 1 ounce serving sizes.

Some fats are essential to cooking or other food preparations so don't avoid them, understand which are healthier for you. Unsaturated liquid fats like canola, corn, olive, peanut, safflower, or sesame are the best to use instead of solid fats like margarines, butter, or lard. Avoid eating out at fast food restaurants where you are more likely to be served fried fast foods.

If you eat red meat, try substituting fatty fish like salmon and tuna 2 to 3 times per week.

Take charge of your eating and other lifestyle habits, so that you will decrease your risk for heart disease.