Healthy Heart Foods

I was really pleased to review this article today on Health.com via CNN to see that 9/10 of the listed "heart healthy" foods are both vegetarian and vegan. Oh, and in my opinion, 8 of these are really yummy! (I can't speak for flax seed, because I have yet to incorporate it into my diet.)

But these foods, for me, are really easy to eat often in the following ways:

Oatmeal...is great for weekend breakfasts, which are more like extended brunches in our household. I add fruit, jam, or peanut butter, or if I am feeling super ascetic, just have a warm plain bowl of this stuff with black coffee. This is for those mornings when I would feel sick eating a "big" breakfast, but know I should eat something.

Avocado...I pretty much exclusively eat on my burrito bols at Chipotle, as guacamole. It is so fresh there! I have yet to find a guacamole that tastes as healthy and wholesome as Chipotle's at my grocery, but not for lack of trying. As a side note, when I ate meat, I really enjoyed fresh avocado with steak. I would recommend this to folks who are eating the steak anyway.

Olive oil...I use for any chopped vegetable and generally in dishes that would resemble a stir fry (I am not sophisticated enough as a chef to actually make a real stir fry, or at least I think not. My creations are more like pan-of-leftovers-medley-I-am-trying-not-to-burn-or-ruin).

Nuts...are my go-to travel food. I prefer raw or smoked almonds. I buy a big tin and they always last me more than the entire trip. With these, I know that if I had to order a side salad as a meal, wait forever in an airport, or skip breakfast while running late for a work meeting while away, I will be completely satiated.

Berries...are usually a little expensive for me, but I prefer to eat them fresh and plain. Enter "juice bar" night, ha ha, and I will add them to smoothies. Enter extended brunch with oatmeal, and there you go!

Legumes...are so often my main course. My favorites are fresh green beans, black beans and rice, kidney bean and chick pea salads, lentils in soups, and mixed beans with whole grain pasta and spinach. Beans are also fantastic in chili of course, but my culinary prowess usually limits me to using them as part of a very simple meal.

Spinach...is good in salads, but mostly, I eat it out of a can, just like Popeye, which explains why I find so many people checking out my buldging arm muscles. Once or twice, I have been very decadent though, and boiled fresh spinach, then added oil and sea salt. I am pretty sure in either case, the added salts will decrease the heart healthiness of my spinach intake. I could tell you that my blood pressure's always been low, but it would be more helpful, I think, to say that I am constantly figuring out how to be healthy and sometimes, folks, I add too much salt.

Soy...yea, soy! Let me count the ways that I love you. Fried tofu, soy milk, tempeh, soy cheese, and when I get crazy, those little fake buffalo wings made out of soy meal. Ah. Next step, actually eating a soy bean, as nature intended.

So my heart healthy plan, from all of this, would be - keep eating oatmeal for breakfast, keep going to Chipotle, and lay off the salt!! Let me know if you have any favorite heart healthy foods too!