Each year hundreds and thousands of people lose their life due to heart disease. This Valentine’s Day focus on your heart and keeping yourself healthy! Here are some food tips that’ll keep both your tummy and heart happy!

1) Berries

Berries such as raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries are filled with heart healthy nutrients and are rich in antioxidants that protect against stress and inflammation leading to the development of heart disease.

Berries serve as a great compliment to whole grain breakfast cereal or a low-calorie dessert. Take advantage of these multi-purpose, healthy sweet treats that are great alone or paired with other dishes!

2) Whole Grains

Whole grains are made up of three important parts that contain an abundance of nutrients: Bran, endosprem and germ. High nutrient grains include oats, whole wheat, quinoa, rye and brown rice.

An analysis of 45 studies showed eating more than three servings of grain a day significantly lowered the risk of heart disease by nearly 22%.

3)  Leafy Greens & Vegetables 

Eating plenty of Kale and Spinach will fill your body with lots of vitamins and antioxidants, they are also known to lower blood pressure with the help of dietary nitrates.

Another vegetable high in antioxidants are tomatoes. Tomatoes lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL) Cholesterol and help get rid of plaque built up in arteries preventing against heart disease and stroke.

4) Fish

Tuna, salmon and sardines are just a few of the fishes that are filled with omega-3 fatty acids which are beneficial to heart-health.

Those that eat fatty fish multiple times a week for an extended period see their blood pressure decrease and their cholesterol levels lower. If you are not one to eat fish, you can take a fish oil supplement which are high in omega-3 fatty acids and will give your body the nutrients it needs.

5) Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate is full of antioxidants such at flavonoids, which boosts heart health. Eating dark chocolate can help lower your risk of coronary heart disease and lower the risk of having calcified plaque in the arteries.

It is important to watch the calories and sugar amount in the chocolate you consume as that can take away from some of the heart healthy benefits.

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