Edamame (green soybeans) deliver a taste of health.
Holidays are for indulging. But to be heart smart, don’t fall into the trap of feeling that just because you overdid it once, you might as well throw caution to the winds. Here’s a full day of delicious meals that are both festive and good for your heart.
Breakfast: Start the day with omega-3s, fiber, and antioxidants from a steaming bowl of oatmeal sprinkled with blueberries and walnuts.
Lunch: Get energized with healthy fats and vitamins from canned or grilled salmon (the wild variety has less contaminants than its farmed counterpart) and an avocado salad topped with extra virgin olive oil.
Dinner: Savor an edamame appetizer (with soy to lower cholesterol). For the main event, take your choice of grilled chicken or scallops (low in saturated fat) set off with non-fat, plain Greek yogurt (twice the protein of ordinary yogurt) on a baked sweet potato (high in vitamin C and potassium), and a spinach salad (for vitamin A, calcium, and iron) sprinkled with almond bits (for B vitamins, zinc, and selenium). Chase with red wine and finish with a piece of dark chocolate for a generous dose of plant chemicals for better blood pressure and circulation.
Douglas P. Zipes, M.D., an internationally acclaimed cardiologist, professor, author, and inventor, is an authority on pacing and electrophysiology (rhythms of the heart).
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