Heart diseases have become quite common these days due to changing lifestyles, unhealthy habits like smoking and drinking, and excessive stress. Common indications of these include symptoms like chest discomfort, nausea, sweating, snoring, feeling dizzy, fatigue. Poor diet and over-indulgence in junk food and sugary drinks are another major reason for individuals to develop heart diseases. Red meats like beef, pork, and lamb have a high amount of saturated fat. This trans or bad fat can raise your blood cholesterol level and make your heart worse. Hence, knowing about the top foods to prevent heart disease and those that can be healthy alternatives to red meat can help.

6 top foods to prevent heart disease

• Green leafy vegetables
  Spinach and kale are some green leafy vegetables that are rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. They are also a great source of vitamin K and help protect your arteries and promote proper blood clotting. They are rich in nitrates too that can help to reduce blood pressure and improve arterial function.
• Poultry
  It is suggested that if you are suffering from heart disease then you should eat more heart-healthy food items like tofu and soy protein. You should limit fatty cuts of meat and have more of top foods to prevent heart disease include turkey and chicken as well. Skinless and white poultry is a good source of low-fat protein. Duck and goose are higher in fat though, so be careful with your selection. Make sure to choose baked, grilled or boiled variations of poultry over deep-fried options to keep your heart healthy.
• Fish and fish oil
  Fatty fish like mackerel, herring, trout, sardines, and salmon are loaded with omega-3 fatty acids that are said to have great health benefits. Fish can not only keep a check on the cholesterol levels but also help maintain blood pressure. You can consume fish supplements if you can’t consume fish in its natural form.
• Seafood
  Seafood is a good low-carnitine meat choice for hearth health. Additionally, shellfish is a great source of protein that has low saturated fat when compared to any other animal protein. Prawns, mussels, clams, and calamari are some good options when baked or steamed rather than fried.
• Eggs
  Top foods to prevent heart disease also include eggs because they are a great source of protein. They are rich in vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin D, and folic acid. Consume more of egg whites than yolk as the former has less cholesterol.
• Dark chocolates
  They are healthy and delicious options to keep your heart healthy and smooth functioning. Dark chocolates are rich in antioxidants like flavonoids and can regulate blood sugar level too. Here, you must be sure that the chocolate you are consuming should contain at least 70% of cocoa and less sugar.

Certain seeds, almonds, olive oil, soybean, and green tea are among the other top foods to prevent heart disease. Including heart-healthy food items in your diet can work wonders for you along with a decent amount of exercise.