Heart Healthy Food and Drink

Wine is healthy for you. However, a big misconception about red wine is that it is loaded with antioxidants. Are there super-foods that lower cholesterol? Physicians and nutritionists seem to be on the same page in some of these areas.

Red wine may delay the aging process, however research states that moderate alcohol use has heart health and benefits. It is the ethanol component that provides these benefits: lowered LDL cholesterol and raised HDL cholesterol. Higher HDL (the good cholesterol) is linked with a lower risk of heart disease. It is stated that moderate intake of alcohol, one serving daily for women and two servings for men, can increase the HDL level by twenty per cent.

Brain power is linked to moderate alcohol intake. Twelve thousand women were tested for mental function. The ages ranged from seventy to eighty-one. Moderate drinkers scored better on the tests. It is estimated that a drink a day can lower the risk of mental decline by twenty-three percent.

One drink is equal to the following:

5 Oz Wine
12 Oz Beer
1.5 Oz of 80 proof distilled spirits

Super-foods are, in essence, those foods that are ‘real’ foods and not processed foods. They include, Beans, Blueberries, Broccoli, Oats, Pumpkin, Salmon, Soy, Spinach, Tea, Tomatoes, Turkey, Walnuts, Yogurt and dark chocolate. All of these are heart healthy foods that help fight disease, maintain weight and give you a longer life.

Avoid fad diets for a healthy lifestyle. Dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants and can also lower blood pressure.

In addition to a healthy diet a physician may prescribe statins to reduce high level of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. A healthy diet and exercise must be maintained along with the statin drugs to reduce cholesterol and triglycerides. Once the LDL cholesterol has been lowered to acceptable levels, the physician will determine if you need to continue the statin drugs.