Discover expert dietitian tips for eating for a healthy heart, including practical nutrition advice, heart-healthy foods, and simple recipes to support cardiac wellness.
Supporting your heart starts with what’s on your plate. In this expert-backed guide, you’ll discover top dietitian tips for eating for a healthy heart, including practical ways to reduce risk factors like high blood pressure and cholesterol through food. From heart-healthy ingredients to simple plant-based recipes and day-to-day eating strategies, this post offers everything you need to build a more heart-conscious lifestyle. Whether you’re managing a condition or just being proactive about your health, these nutrition tips and recipes will help you eat smarter for long-term wellness.
Heart disease is the number one killer in the U.S. And diet is one of the most powerful tools you have in your arsenal to help keep your heart going strong for years to come. The foods you put on your plate can help reduce your “bad” LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and help keep your blood pressure and blood glucose under control—or they can do the opposite by making those levels rise, thus putting you at risk for heart disease. Your best bet is to eat a primarily plant-based diet filled with a variety of whole plant foods. Read on for these great, easy, practical tips from nutrition experts on how you can protect your heart with your fork today.
Top 10 Dietitian Tips for a Healthy Heart
1. Load Up on Beans
Eating more pulses, including beans, lentils and peas, is a key strategy for heart health. In fact, the latest Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report recommends at least 2 1/2 cups per week in a heart-healthy eating style. You can add beans to so many dishes, from salads to wraps to soups to casseroles. Discover more on pulses here. “Include 1/2 cup of beans or lentils in your diet at least a few times per week for soluble fiber and plant-based protein,” says Lisa Cicciarello Andrews, RDN from Sound Bites Nutrition.
2. Eat More Meals at Home
When you prepare meals at home for the whole family, it’s easier to include more healthy foods linked with a better ticker, including pulses, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats. This eating style helps encourage a healthy heart through reduced cholesterol levels, body fat, and blood pressure. “Encourage family meals that include fresh fruit and vegetables. Research shows that children who eat family meals eat more fruits and vegetables and have lower rates of obesity,” says Amy Reed, RDN.
3. Add More Healthy Fats
Plant-based omega-3s, found in soy foods, walnuts, chia seeds, and hemp, as well as unsaturated oils found in avocados, olives, and nuts, are the heart-healthy ones you should be focusing on in your kitchen, from cooking to ingredients in your favorite dishes. Learn more about healthy fats here. “Include good sources of fats, such as omega-3 fatty acids in walnuts, and unsaturated fats in avocado, and olive oil,” says Stacy Lewis, MS, RDN, LD.
4. Snack Well
Your snack choices add up! Instead of low-nutrient, highly processed foods, such as candy, chips, and cookies, include more heart-healthy fare, such as hummus with whole grain crackers, trail mix, edamame, or apple slices with nut butter. Get my healthy snacking tips here. “Replace salty crunchy chips and crackers at snack time with a mixture of nuts and seeds that includes walnuts,” says Wendy Wesley, RDN.
5. Ramp Up Your Fiber Intake
Boosting fiber can help lower cholesterol levels, as well as increase satiety for a healthier weight. Fiber-rich foods include whole grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables. Learn more about high fiber foods to include in your diet here. “Really work to meet your fiber goal, which is 25 grams daily for women and 38 gram daily for men under 50 years. This includes not just hitting the target number of grams but to really work at seeking out a variety of fiber types. There are many more types of fiber than most people are aware, and I don’t mean just soluble and insoluble. Various fibers have various functions in the body, including tamping down high cholesterol and helping to reduce insulin resistance. Both of these problems are related to heart health. I recommend including fruits and or vegetables with every meal and snack and whole grains or pulses in most meals to meet fiber goals, and lots of other nutrient and health goals too. For cholesterol and blood sugar benefits, I specifically like to see barley, cooked oats, uncooked oats, lentils, beans, chickpeas, and berries,” says Jill Weisenberger, MS, RDN, CDE, CHWC, FAND.
6. Make Green Leafy Veggies Your BFF
If there’s on veggie to include in your diet every day, it’s green leafy vegetables, which are a powerhouse of important nutrients for your heart. Learn more about leafy greens here. “Include dark leafy greens most days. Dark leafy greens are low in calories and provide antioxidants and fiber to help prevent heart disease. Plus they’re so easy to incorporate! Add baby spinach to smoothies in the morning, enjoy a salad for lunch, or stir baby greens into a soup or pasta sauce just before serving,” says Jessica Cox Ivey, registered dietitian and chef.
7. Power Up on Produce
If there’s one thing you do, include more fruits and vegetables in your daily diet! You’ll be rewarded with a bounty of fiber and micronutrients, as well as phytochemicals that reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in your body, a root factor for heart disease. “Eat at least one serving of fruit or vegetable with every snack and meal. It’s a great habit to start,” says Rachel Begun, MS, RDN.
8. Don’t Fear Fats
Today, there is more misinformation than every on fats in the diet. The bottom line is that moderate intake of healthy fats—unsaturated fats from nuts, olives, seeds, and avocados—can actually help protect your heart. “There is so much misinformation, confusion, and fear about fats in general, so I think it’s really important to understand about different types of fats, and to eat more healthy fats in everyday life, especially omega-3 fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids in the form of nuts and olive oil is really important for heart health,” says Dixya Bhattarai, MS, RD, LD of Food, Pleasure and Health.
9. Pair Protein with Fruit at Snack Time
Nature’s perfect heart-healthy snack is a serving of antioxidant-rich fruit + a healthy protein source, such as nuts and seeds. “Challenge yourself to eat a piece of fruit every day at work as a snack. Set it on your desk and keep it in sight. Even if you aren’t craving it, you’ll eat it just because it’s there. And if you can pair it with a protein food—such as peanut butter, nuts, roasted chickpeas, hummus, or plant-based yogurt—it will make it easier not to be tempted by the typical less-healthy office snacks. Every snack you eat should include a high-protein food and a fruit or vegetable: an orange and nuts, pears with almond butter, or apples with peanut butter, to name a few. Try this, and not only will you feel better, but you’ll concentrate better, too,” says Judith Scharman Draughon, author of Lean Body, Smart Life.
10. Make EVOO Number One in the Kitchen
Turn to a bottle of extra virgin olive oil as your go-to cooking oil in the kitchen, for everything from salads and marinades to sautéing, roasting, and grilling. “Use extra virgin olive oil rich in monounsaturated fats and polyphenols an antioxidant with anti-inflammatory benefits. Drizzle on vegetables before roasting, and salads. You could use it as a base for marinades with your favorite vinegar and seasonings,” says Janet Brancato, MS, RDN of My Nutopia.
Top 16 Heart Healthy Recipes
Discover more of my best heart-healthy recipes!
Rainbow Peanut Slaw with Mandarin Dressing
Chickpea Tabbouleh
Easy Vegan Tofu Scramble Wrap with Vegetables and Dill
Provencal Bean Salad
Vegan Bolognese with Lentils and Walnuts
Vegan Three Sisters Chili
Quinoa Apple Waldorf Salad
Butternut Squash Lasagna with Sage Walnut Sauce
Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower with Hemp Seeds
Swiss Chard Salad with Oranges and Citrus Vinaigrette
Smoky Tempeh Vegan Bacon
Avocado Papaya Salad with Lime Ginger Dressing
Easy Oven Baked Falafel
Creamy Vegan Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Black Beans and Rice Vegan Bowl
Healthy Trail Mix Homemade Oatmeal
Main image: Red Quinoa Berry Breakfast Bowl
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