Heart Health is front and center in our Good Foods for Good Health in-store program. Running through December (yes, the height of the holiday season) you can find hundreds of mouthwatering, delectable foods in our stores that have good things in them to support a healthy heart.

Getting on that bandwagon right now (yes, during the height of the holiday season) is well worth it. Your heart is at the heart of establishing and enjoying a healthy life.

Control Center

Think of your heart as the epicenter of your body. It is the point from which everything flows (literally). It pumps blood to each part of your body: your brain, the muscles in your legs and arms, your stomach, your skin and more. Having a healthy heart means better blood flow. Better blood flow means every part of your body—your brain, your muscles and skin—is better nourished and better for it. Everything you do to strengthen your heart strengthens your whole body.

Why do something sooner rather than later?

While not wanting to dwell on the negative, understanding the magnitude and consequences of poor heart health may provide the nudge necessary to make changes that can truly change your life. Every move has an immediate impact. Every positive step you take can have lasting benefits. That said:

• According to the American Heart Association, heart disease affects one in three adults and potentially as many children.
• Each day the average heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood through a web of arteries and vessels. This blood carries oxygen and nutrients from head to toe and picks up waste products along the way. Better blood flow means better integrity and health for every cell.
• Heart disease reduces blood flow. Atherosclerosis (a component of heart disease) is the deposit of fatty substances, cholesterol, cell-generated waste products and other substances inside the lining of an artery. The buildup is called plaque. Scientists believe it begins when there is an injury to the lining of an artery.
• High blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, inflammation and smoking can damage or injure the inside of arteries.
• Children, as young as age 2, can have the beginnings of atherosclerosis. A growing number of children and adolescents have cholesterol levels greater than 200, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recently suggested some of these children should begin using prescription cholesterol-lowering drugs.
• About one-half of all heart attacks occur in people with a normal cholesterol level.

What To Eat

There are shopping carts full of possibilities! The goal is to have a diet that tastes wonderful and squelches the potential for plaque buildup and inflammation. The well-known Mediterranean style of eating provides the big picture. The pillars of that diet include lots of fruits and vegetables; whole grains such as brown rice, oats, bulgur, barley and quinoa; beans; nuts and smaller portions of fish and lean meats. Olive oil and some seed and nut oils are the main sources of fat.

To put a finer point on how the Mediterranean eating style helps, consider this:

1. Many of the foods listed above are rich in antioxidants which slow or stall the damage low-density (LDL) cholesterol can cause. LDLs carry about 70 percent of all the cholesterol in the blood that travels through your arteries. Too high a level of LDLs is considered the main contributing factor to plaque buildup inside arteries. The more defenses you can put up against LDL-action the better for your heart. Antioxidants and phytonutrients found in fruits, vegetables, grains and beans are a strong defense.
2. The fiber found in beans and whole grains (soluble fiber) acts like a sponge, sopping up cholesterol and other substances in the blood that can increase cholesterol levels.
3. Fish that are rich in omega-3 fats can prevent irregular heartbeats and blood clots. They keep arteries flexible and elastic, regulate blood pressure and blood sugar and help calm inflammation in the body.
4. Nuts contain high levels of vitamin E, which is an antioxidant. Vitamin E can help protect cells from being damaged. Damaged cells trigger plaque buildup. Nuts contain magnesium and copper—two heart-helping minerals—and they contain the amino acid arginine. Arginine helps form a substance in the body (nitric oxide) that relaxes arteries which in turn can lower blood pressure. It may also keep blood from clotting and sticking to the inside of artery walls.
5. Olive oil and oils from nuts and seeds are rich in monounsaturated fat. When used in place of saturated fats (found primarily in meats and high-fat dairy foods), they can help improve cholesterol levels by lowering LDL cholesterol and raising HDLs (high-density lipoproteins)—cholesterol carriers that shuttle excess cholesterol out of arteries.

What Not To Eat

(or at least eat in limited amounts)

Saturated fat found in high-fat dairy foods and “marbly” meats such as prime rib and porterhouse steaks doesn’t help your heart. Eating more of these types of foods than the foods recommended earlier stirs up inflammation and plaque buildup. So, too, do trans fats found in many highly processed foods, fried foods, fast foods and some bakery items.

Highly processed flours, grains and foods with lots of added sugars are no friend to your heart either. Certainly, any of them can find their way into a heart healthy eating plan, but the secret for success is that these foods make up a small proportion of what you eat. Eating crisp, juicy produce, hearty grains and beans, light flaky fish and lean savory cuts of beef, pork and poultry make it easy to pass up less healthful foods. Eating well helps you feel well.

When you are grocery shopping, why not grab what's good and what will make you strong? Eating and enjoying "heart-y" foods is a great way to make a positive difference in your life.