What Happens to Your Heart When You Eat Healthier
Filling the plate with a lot of fruits and vegetables is a practice of healthy eating, and it helps one achieve improved heart health.
Healthy eating is not a simple task that will give you a positive result overnight. However, it will make the practice easier if you constantly remind yourself of what's considered as "obsolete" food pyramid, or the "healthy plate" you've known since you were a kid.
More so, you just have to fill your plate too, with a lot of fruits and vegetables to ensure you're practicing healthy eating all the time.
And, as experts always say, "tweak your everyday diet" to concentrate on the healthy foods mentioned, and you are guaranteed to reap great results.
There are lots of benefits when you eat healthier. Among these advantages include improvement in heart health, healthier gut, smoother skin, weight loss, and boosted mood.
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Reduced Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
In an estimate by the World Health Organization or WHO, more than one-third of the mortality rate globally is caused by cardiovascular disease or CVD.
Relatively, the majority of these deaths could have been prevented if modifications in lifestyle, including diet, were applied. Health and nutrition experts claim that unhealthy diet results in the risk factors that can put an individual at risk for CVD like type 2 diabetes and obesity, to name two.
CVD is not an illness that sneaks up on the human body. It takes a lot of time for this heart condition to develop, and one just needs to pay attention to the common signs and symptoms.
Among the first signs of CVD is blood pressure that is slowly creeping up. According to the American Heart Association, an individual has a healthy blood pressure if it is below 120/80.
Low-Salt Diet
Nutritionists and dietitians claim that "a healthy diet is certainly low in salt." They added that the majority of sodium in unhealthy foods comes from processed foods such as hot dogs, chicken nuggets and French fries, among others.
For five years, a 2019 study indicates, researchers discovered that people who have higher ultra-processed food intake "had a higher risk of developing heart ailment."
When a person eats healthier meals, the risk factors mentioned naturally reduce. For instance, experts explain, adding more vegetables and fruits to everyday diet naturally provides extra potassium.
Potassium is a great contributor to the pulling out of sodium from the body, which also contributes to the lowering of blood pressure.
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Saturated Fats
There are more ways to achieve improved heart health by eating healthy. It may have been known that science cannot guarantee "the danger of saturated fats." It is known though, that too much of it is definitely not a good thing.
Nonetheless, saturated fats need to be still seen with carefulness. Meaning, one needs to limit his intake of saturated fats to 10 percent or below, of his total calorie intake every day, which is equivalent to 22 grams for every 2,000 calories.
For instance, a 10-year study result presented that saturated fat from meats is associated with a higher risk for a heart ailment.
However, multiple two-decade studies did not find any connection "between dairy and an increased risk for CVD."
And, in terms of fat, one thing is certain-get rid of trans fats. In fact, according to reports, they are banned in the United States, although, it does not mean that trans fats are not found in foods eaten every day.
It is important to note that anything that specifies "hydrogenated," or "partially hydrogenated" in a food label's list of ingredients means it contains a considerably small amount of trans fat. More so, as long as the number is listed lower than 0.5 a serving, such a label can have it listed as "zero."
Furthermore, even though two percent of the diet, Harvard Health Publishing said, "Is made up from trans fat," the risk for heart disease can increase by more than 20 percent.
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Aug 04, 2020 11:01 AM EDT
