Food

Preventing Heart Disease Through Better Nutrition - Advice From Registered Dietitian Keri Glassman

Posted: 2/4/2011

You can treat your heart to better health when you treat yourself to the great taste of pistachios.

(NAPSI) - A nutrient-packed diet and regular exercise are key factors in preventing what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the leading cause of death in America: heart disease. It’s behind more than one in every four deaths in the United States.

Fortunately, antioxidant-rich foods, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains, contain many important nutrients and offer numerous heart-healthy benefits, according to Keri Glassman, MS, RD, New York−based celebrity nutritionist and author of “The O2 Diet: The Cutting Edge Antioxidant-Based Program That Will Make You Healthy, Thin, and Beautiful.”

“What you put into your body affects everything from your weight to your mood to your overall cardiovascular health,” said Glassman. “In general, simple diet changes, such as eating smaller meals throughout the day, will provide more sustained energy, which means less work for your heart.”

Glassman often recommends incorporating foods high in fiber and antioxidants, such as pistachios, into daily meals and snacks.

“A homemade trail mix of dried fruits, such as apricots, and a handful of pistachios stored in individual bags is great to keep on hand to snack on throughout your day,” said Glassman.

Helpful Tips

She offers these healthy eating and lifestyle tips to help you maintain a healthy heart:

• Exercise regularly: Twenty to 30 minutes of moderate activity at least three to four times a week will improve your circulation to help strengthen your heart and cardiovascular system.

• Manage stress: High stress levels can lead to high blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart disease. Research suggests that those who eat pistachios experience a significant reduction of the biological effects of acute stress, such as high blood pressure.

• Prep your meals: Take time after each grocery trip to wash and cut fresh vegetables, pre-portion proteins, including nuts and meats, and do any other possible food preparation in advance to make weekly meals more “quick and easy” yet still healthy.

• Eat healthy fats: Nuts, such as pistachios, are packed with protein and healthy fat and have a variety of antioxidants. There are 49 pistachios per serving, more than any other snack nut.

Proof is in the Research

Research published in The Journal of Nutrition suggests that replacing 20 percent of your daily caloric intake with pistachios may increase serum antioxidant levels, such as lutein and gamma tocopherol, which may contribute to lower levels of oxidized-LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, thus reducing the risk of heart disease.

Learn More

You can learn more from The Green Nut, a nutrition-awareness campaign sponsored by the Western Pistachio Association.

For healthy tips and research information, visit www.thegreennut.org, find it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thegreennut or follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/thegreennut.