Heart healthy recipes to show your heart some love

Heart healthy recipes can help you serve delicious meals that focus on nutrient-dense foods to keep your cardiovascular system running smoothly. Shifting your eating pattern to the Mediterranean diet, which includes mainly vegetables, fruit, whole grains, olive oil and other healthy fats, and fatty fish, has been shown to improve heart health, according to the American Heart Association.

The Mediterranean diet adopts the typical eating patterns of people who live around the Mediterranean Sea. U.S. News & World Report chooses this style of eating as one of its “Best Diets” year after year for its health benefits, variety of foods and general ease of incorporating it into your daily life, among other reasons.

Following the Mediterranean diet can lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels and keep your cholesterol in healthy ranges by helping you avoid processed foods. These foods are often high in sodium, added sugar and unhealthy saturated fat. The foods in the Mediterranean diet are also considered anti-inflammatory, which is a bonus considering that inflammation is thought to play a role in plaque buildup in the arteries.

Shop for top foods for heart health

Using primarily olive oil for cooking and in heart healthy recipes can help keep your arteries open by lowering cholesterol. To follow a heart healthy diet, stick mostly to these types of foods.

• Vegetables: leafy greens—cabbage, collard greens, kale and spinach—broccoli, sweet potatoes and carrots
• Fruit: apples, bananas, grapes, oranges, pears and prunes
• Whole grains: brown rice, oatmeal, and whole-grain bread, pasta and tortillas
• Protein sources: fatty fish high in omega-3s—salmon, sardines, trout and tuna; skinless chicken or turkey, pork tenderloin, and 95% lean ground beef; eggs; beans, peas and lentils; nuts and seeds
• Healthy fats: olive oil, avocados, nut and seed butters, walnuts, pine nuts, almonds

Cooking tips for heart health

Preparing meals at home can help you control the sodium content of your meals. Limiting the use of prepackaged foods, frozen meals and prepared sauces will help, too.

Lean on your spice cabinet to up the oomph of homemade dishes without adding too much salt. Choose lower-sodium versions of pantry staples, such as beans and broth, and choose frozen vegetables and cuts of meat without sauces or marinades.

Heart healthy recipe: Black bean chili with sweet potatoes

Get a hot helping of heart healthy black beans and sweet potatoes with this quick vegetarian chili. Sweet potatoes are grown in Louisiana year-round and are high-fiber sources of iron, vitamins B and C, and calcium. Top each bowl with sliced avocado dusted with Cajun seasoning for heart healthy fat serving with a kick!

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 4 teaspoons ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ cups water (or low-sodium vegetable/chicken broth)
• 2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 14-ounce can no-salt-added diced tomatoes with chilis
• 4 teaspoons lime juice

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot with a lid over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic and sweet potato, sautéing until onion softens (3 to 5 minutes).

2. Add chili powder, cumin and salt. Stir spices and sweet potato mixture constantly for about 30 seconds.

3. Add water (or broth) and bring to a simmer.

4. Cover pot with lid and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook until sweet potatoes are tender (about 10–12 minutes).

5. Increase the heat to high and add beans, tomatoes and lime juice, stirring often for 3 minutes.

6. Lower the heat to a simmer again and continue to cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Nutrition information (per serving)

Servings: 6

Calories: 120

Total fat: 1g

Saturated fat: 0.1g

Cholesterol: 0mg

Sodium: 242mg

Total carbohydrate: 21.9g

Dietary fiber: 8.1g

Total sugar: 4g

Protein: 7.1g

If you or a loved one needs heart and vascular care, trust the experts at West Jefferson Medical Center.