Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, but eating a nutritious diet can help reduce the risk.
Professor Sarah Berry, a nutrition scientist who specializes in cardiovascular disease, told Business Insider that nailing the basics, for example eating plenty of whole foods and avoiding refined sugar, is most important.
“What I’ve learned in my 25 years of nutrition research is that you shouldn’t sweat the small stuff. And that if you get the basics right, you are 95% of the way there,” Berry, who is a professor at King’s College London, said.
One 2008 meta-analysis published in the British Medical Journal found that following a Mediterranean-style diet, filled with high-fiber fruit and veggies, healthy fats, lean proteins, and beans, could lower the risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 9%, as well as decreasing the risk of several other chronic diseases including cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
That being said, it’s also important to acknowledge that food is social, and it’s difficult to change the way we eat. “It’s part of our culture, it’s part of the environment we live in,” Berry said. That’s why she recommends starting with some simple swaps that’ll boost the nutrition profile of your meals without changing much else.
Swap white carbs for wholewheat versions
If a person has too much LDL cholesterol in their blood, it can form a sticky plaque in their arteries, putting them at greater risk of heart disease. Fiber can help keep “bad” cholesterol at bay.
Swapping refined carbs for their wholewheat counterparts is an easy way to eat more fiber, Berry said. For example, you could buy rye bread instead of white, use brown or wild rice instead of jasmine, or whole wheat spaghetti instead of regular.
If switching entirely feels intimidating, you can start by replacing half of your portion of white rice with a wholewheat version for example, she said.
“The main thing is just enjoy your food,” she said.
Swap peeled potatoes for skin-on
Eating potatoes with the skin on is an easy way to increase the fiber content of your meal without changing the taste, Berry said.
A medium potato contains about two to three grams of fiber, 7 to 10% of the daily recommended amount, but most of it comes from the skin, according to the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health’s The Nutrition Score.
Swap meat for legumes
Berry suggested adding some legumes, such as lentils or beans, to meat-based dishes. “You take some of the meat out and you add pulses or beans so that you’re still getting the meat that you want, but you are also adding some healthy fiber,” she said.
Eating red and processed meat regularly is consistently linked to a greater risk of heart disease, while plant-based diets, which are higher in fiber, have been found to boost heart health.
In a 2023 study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, 22 pairs of identical twins were assigned either a vegan or an omnivorous diet for eight weeks. By the end of the study, the vegan twins had lower LDL cholesterol and insulin levels, and had lost more weight, another risk factor for cardiovascular disease, according to the study.
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