The American Heart Association (AHA) is targeting healthy people with advice on how to lower risk for heart disease. It’s all part of the Healthy People 2020 goals, an initiative of the U.S. Health and Human Services that aims to improve Americans’ health in the next decade.
According to Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the approach is “primordial prevention,” since it focuses on helping healthy people avoid risk factors rather than on treating those who already have them.
Vegans are far ahead of the game when it comes to the set of health measures that the AHA has dubbed “Life’s Simple 7.” The measures include attention to healthy eating habits based on plant foods, exercise, and management of blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Statistically, vegans have lower blood pressures and less hypertension than meat-eaters and possibly even compared to vegetarians who eat dairy foods and eggs. And with 100 percent of their calories coming from plant foods, their diets are automatically lower in compounds that raise heart disease risk. Vegans have lower levels of blood cholesterol, too.
Depending on your food choices, though, some vegan diets are more healthy than others. Here are some ways to make sure yours is as heart-healthy as possible.
Avoid trans fats. By law, food labels can state that a food contains zero grams of trans fat as long as actual content is less than 1 gram. But since even small amounts of these fats are unhealthy, it’s a good idea to depend on the ingredient list—avoiding foods that contain “partially hydrogenated fats”—rather than the nutrition information chart.
Choose fats wisely. Use added fats in moderation and choose those that are rich in monounsaturated fat such as olive oil or canola oil.
Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. These foods are packed with antioxidants and other compounds that may help to keep arteries healthy. Be sure to include those that are good sources of potassium, which protects against hypertension. Best options are spinach, Swiss chard, tomato juice, orange juice, and bananas.
Keep an eye on sodium intake. Small amounts of added salt in food preparation and at the table are fine, but eating too many canned or processed foods can push sodium up to unhealthy levels. Veggie meats are often high in sodium.
Make sure you get plenty of vitamin B12. Marginally-low levels—even in those who don’t have B12 deficiency symptoms—may raise risk for heart disease.
Include nuts in your diet. Those watching their weight and fat intake sometimes avoid these foods, but a growing body of research shows them to be valuable for reducing heart disease risk factors.
If you enjoy them, include soyfoods in your meals. Soy protein helps to lower blood cholesterol levels and the isoflavones in soyfoods may improve elasticity of arteries—an important factor in protecting heart health.
Consider adding omega-3 fats to your diet. Supplements of DHA and EPA that are derived from algae are a good choice for vegans, and for anyone who wants to reap the benefits of omega-3 fats without the dangerous toxins associated with fish consumption.
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