The quality of your health depends upon many pieces that not only include the health of your bodily systems, but also include a healthy diet, exercise, and spirituality.

Diet. In order to reduce your risk of heart disease, it’s essential to follow general healthy diet guidelines, in addition to making some key adjustments in your relationship with food.

Dietary recommendations for reducing heart disease risk:

Decrease your omega-6 and increase your omega-3. Americans consume 11 to 30 times more omega-6 than omega-3. A heart-healthy diet should have a ratio of 1:1. Americans typically consume too many processed foods containing omega-6 polyunsaturated fats such as corn oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil. On the other hand, many Americans are deficient in omega-3, found primarily in fish, flaxseeds, and nuts. You can increase your intake of omega-3 by consuming ground flax meal, wild-caught salmon, minimal-mercury albacore tuna, fish oil, avocados, and sprouted walnuts.

Increase your folic acid intake. Folic acid (vitamin B-6) and the B vitamins help break down homocysteine, an amino acid suggested in increasing the risk of atherosclerosis. Rich sources of folic acid include minimal-mercury tuna, wild-caught salmon, spinach and other dark green leafy vegetables, and organic beef. Also consider a B-vitamin supplement.

Incorporate healthy saturated fats in your diet, such as extra virgin organic coconut oil. Saturated fats have received a bad rap, but the truth is they are essential for good health. The true culprit in heart disease risk is trans fat, otherwise known as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil. Read more about good fats and bad fats.

Add blueberries to your diet. Blueberries may reduce the build-up of "bad" cholesterol that contributes to cardiovascular disease and stroke, according to scientists at the University of California at Davis. In fact, it has been reported that blueberries contain pterostilbene, a compound which has the potential to lower cholesterol.¹⁴

Add nuts to your diet. Sprouted walnuts have more heart-healthy omega-3 essential fatty acids than any other nut. And one interesting study has demonstrated that eating just a handful of pecans a day can have the same effect as prescription drugs in lowering bad LDL cholesterol levels. Not only do pecans lower bad cholesterol, but they also increase good HDL cholesterol.¹⁵ Sprouted nuts can be incorporated into your diet as a healthy snack in between meals.

Add healthy herbs to your diet, such as cilantro, cinnamon, and garlic. Anecdotal evidence reveals that cilantro has the ability to bind to heavy metals and help the body excrete them. Crushed garlic contains allicin, a potent detoxifier. And cinnamon has been shown to reduce blood sugar levels in diabetics.

Other dietary recommendations:

• Choose high-quality, organic, hormone- and antibiotic-free “grass-fed” meats.
• Add raw, organic vegetables to your diet.
• Add high-quality fiber to your diet, such as ground flax meal.
• Choose organic, cage-free eggs.
• Choose unpasteurized, raw dairy items that have live, active cultures (probiotics) such as yogurt and kefir.
• Drink purified water throughout the day.
• Instead of table salt, use Himalayan salt. It re-mineralizes the body with 84 minerals and trace elements essential to good health.

Foods to AVOID to reduce your risk of heart disease:

• All simple or refined carbohydrates (white flour, white rice, white bread, pasta, cookies, cakes, crackers, processed snack foods, etc.), especially if you have any metabolic disorder that may negatively impact your heart
• All foods containing refined sugar or artificial sweeteners. Choose a natural sweetener like Xylosweet instead.
• Limited alcoholic beverages
• Limited cheese and wine
• Pasteurized, sweetened fruit juices, since these spike blood sugar levels too rapidly
• Carbonated soft drinks that cause blood pH levels to become acidic
• Bottom-crawlers, such as oysters, clams, and lobster that may contain toxic levels of mercury
• Deep-sea fish such as tuna, mackerel, and swordfish that may contain toxic levels of mercury. Choose minimal-mercury albacore tuna instead.
• Farm-raised fish that contain PCBs and not enough omega-3 essential fatty acids, due to their land-based diets. Choose wild-caught salmon instead.
• Nitrites found in processed foods such as hot dogs, lunch meats, and bacon
• Monosodium glutamate (MSG) found in many foods as a flavor enhancer
• Trans fats, also known as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, found in many processed foods, deep-fried foods, fast foods, and junk food. Read more about trans fats.

Exercise. A sedentary lifestyle negatively impacts heart health. Any form of cardiovascular exercise that really makes you sweat and gets your heart pumping has a positive health effect. Good examples of cardiovascular exercise include swimming, aerobics, jogging, brisk walking, or urban rebounding (low-impact aerobic exercises using a mini-trampoline).

Other Tips for Reducing Your Heart Disease Risk

• Keep your weight in a healthy range. By maintaining a healthy weight, you greatly reduce your risk of developing a metabolic disorder that puts your heart at risk. Read more about a healthy weight.
• Get proper sleep, and seek medical help if you can’t sleep properly. Sleep deprivation can take years off your life and increase your risk of heart disease. In particular, untreated sleep apnea can increase your chances of developing hypertension, which is a precursor for heart disease.¹⁶
• Don’t smoke. Cigarettes contain over 4000 chemicals, many of which damage your heart muscle and weaken your arteries and veins, leading to atherosclerosis. Smoking also increases fibrin in the blood, leading to thick blood. Smokers have a 70 percent greater risk of death from heart disease than non-smokers.
• Manage your chronic conditions effectively to protect your heart from damage that can easily be prevented.
• If you have dental amalgams, or “silver” fillings, get an evaluation from a mercury-free dentist who specializes in the safe removal of mercury amalgam fillings. Find a mercury-free dentist in your area now.

Additional Information about Heart Disease

1. Heart Disease Overview
2. Common symptoms of heart disease
3. Common causes of heart disease
4. Natural and alternative treatments for heart disease
5. Conventional or prescription medications used in the treatment of heart disease
6. Cited Sources and Additional Reading for heart disease

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