Healthy Fats for the Heart

What exactly are heart-healthy fats?

Fats that may lower risk for heart disease when you incorporate them into your daily eating regime instead of the unhealthy fats. It can be as easy as swapping one fat for a healthier fat!

Here’s three healthy heart fats that you can include in your daily regime:

1. Omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fishes like salmon, sardines, herring and trout. If you do not like consuming any fish that’s okay because other good sources of Omega-3 fats are flaxseed, walnuts and seeds. An added benefit of Omega-3 is that it can lower triglycerides which is a bad fat that clogs arteries.

2. Monounsaturated fats are found in olive oil, canola, olives, avocados, nuts and nut butters. These fats can help lower LDL cholesterol which is the bad stuff and raise the HDL cholesterol which is the good stuff.

3. Polyunsaturated fats are found in several oils but the healthiest of the bunch are safflower, sunflower, and sesame. These fats can help lower LDL cholesterol.

So how can you add these healthy fats into your eating regime? Sprinkle flaxseeds in your meals, smoothies, soups and ground up walnuts and add to your salads. Eating fish at least once a week along with avocados and seeds are just a few ways to enhance your healthy fats consumption.

Tags: cholesterol, healthy fats, heart