Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the U.S., and understanding it isn’t simple. Family history, diet, and lifestyle all play a role in how it develops and shows up in each person. With statin medications so widely prescribed, I think it’s worth understanding how we can avoid or reduce them, given their side effects — and what natural approaches can actually lower your risk of heart disease in the first place.
Diet Is Central
There’s no question that diet plays a central role in preventing and treating heart disease. Being thoughtful about how much fat and sugar you’re consuming is key.
Fats and fatty acids. Fats and oils are made up of fatty acids, and not all fatty acids are created equal. Omega-3 fatty acids promote health and help prevent degenerative disease, but most Americans don’t get nearly enough of them — while eating far too much saturated fat from other animal sources. Those saturated fats are implicated in heart attacks, strokes, and cancer.
Foods high in omega-3s to add to your diet:
- Salmon, trout, mackerel, and sardines
- Oils of cold-water fish
- Flaxseed oil
Omega-6 fatty acids are also beneficial, though too much may promote cancer. In descending order of omega-6 content:
- Safflower oil, sunflower oil, pumpkin seed oil, soybean oil, walnut oil, wheat germ oil, sesame seed oil, rice bran oil
- Supplements: evening primrose oil, borage oil, black currant seed oil
Foods high in monounsaturated fats are also worth increasing:
- Olive oil, canola oil, almond oil
And foods high in saturated fat should be avoided or cut back:
- Beef, mutton (lamb), pork, poultry, lard
- Butter
- Coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil
- Cocoa butter, shea nut oil
- Eggs, cheese (except non-fat), milk (except skim), ice cream
- Processed foods
A few practical ways to cut saturated fat. Reduce red meats, eggs, and full-fat dairy, and cut back on processed foods. Choose fish and legumes (dried peas and beans) as your protein sources more often. When you do eat meat, choose lean cuts and trim the fat, including poultry skin. Use a fat separator when making gravies or soup stock. Swap in skim milk or fat-free yogurt and cheese for the regular versions. Add more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, which naturally crowd out fat in your diet. And favor broiling, baking, boiling, or water-sautéing over frying.
To water-sauté instead of stir-frying in oil: add ½ to 1 cup of water or stock to a wok or skillet, bring it to a rapid boil, then add your vegetables and stir constantly over high heat until done.
Sugar, Inflammation, and Your Arteries
Sugar’s role in driving inflammation has gotten a lot of attention from conventional cardiologists lately, and for good reason — inflammation is linked to most chronic disease. The simple carbohydrates in refined wheat products promote inflammation, and the more refined food and sugar you eat, the higher your systemic inflammation runs. When blood vessels become inflamed, they lay down plaque to protect themselves, and arteries clogged with plaque are what cause heart disease. Cholesterol only becomes a problem for your heart once it’s part of that plaque — so if your cholesterol is already high, bringing down inflammation becomes especially important.
A few simple ways to lower blood sugar and calm inflammation:
- Eat small, frequent meals built around fat, fiber, and protein
- Avoid simple sugars, including refined wheat
- Increase fiber to slow down spikes in blood sugar — legumes, oat bran, nuts, seeds, psyllium husks, pears, apples, and most vegetables are all good sources
Exercise and Stress
Diet isn’t the whole picture. Exercise and stress management matter just as much for reducing your risk of heart disease. The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise — thirty minutes a day, five days a week is an easy target to keep in mind. The heart is a muscle, and like any muscle, it needs to be worked to function at its best.
If I had to pick the single most important piece of heart health, I’d say it’s stress management. We often can’t control the external stressors in our lives, but we can support how our bodies respond to them. Exercise, meditation, prayer, sleep, and social support are all meaningful ways to reduce stress.
Supplements Worth Discussing
A number of supplements have research behind them for supporting cardiovascular function, including magnesium, CoQ10, fish oil, acetyl-L-carnitine, hawthorn and other herbs, and plant sterols. With so many options out there, it’s worth talking with your natural health care provider to build a plan tailored to your own needs and goals. Schedule an appointment and let’s get started.
— Dr. Faith Christensen