Slash your stroke risk with simple additions to your diet

New research has just confirmed one of the best ways to keep your heart healthy and steer clear of a stroke!

It involves some special compounds that you definitely want to include more of in your daily diet.

And despite the fact that we tend to veer more off course in what we consume during the holidays more than at any other time, these foods are so delicious and easy to find that you should have no problem at all getting into the habit of eating them every day!

REGARDS to your heart

We all know the old cliché “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Well, it looks like the results of this new study could give rise to new one: Some berries a day can keep a stroke away!

This research, which followed over 16,000 healthy Americans for six years, found that those who ate more foods containing the compounds anthocyanidin and proanthocyanidin were much less likely to develop heart disease.

Anthocyanidin is actually an unpronounceable scientific name for the pigments that give fruits such as blackberries, blueberries and cranberries their beautiful, rich colors. And proanthocyanidin is another way to talk about flavonoids, a big group of very valuable nutrients that provide us with antioxidants and other health benefits.

The study was called REGARDS, and it couldn’t have been given a more appropriate name. Because if you want to show your regard for your heart, one of the best ways is to start including these colorful fruits and veggies into your meals as much as possible.

For example, you can:

• Buy some extra bags of fresh cranberries now that they’re in season and make some homemade relish or sauce. It’s easy to reduce the sugar by using stevia or adding fresh apple slices to your sauce while it’s cooking.
• Get a frozen berry mix and use some in a smoothie, or let a handful thaw in the fridge overnight and toss them on your morning cereal.
• Look for dried berries (ones without added sugar), such as goji, blueberries and strawberries, which can be used for snacking or added as a topping to oatmeal. It’s a great way to be able to keep eating these fruits when they’re out of season.
• Add a mix of colorful peppers to a salad of red lettuce.

Generally speaking, the more naturally colorful a food is, the more of these beneficial compounds are in them. And as you would guess, the skin contains the lion’s share of flavonoids.

While eating berries is an exceptional way to give your heart these valuable nutrients, other colorful foods can also add some heart-healthiness to your diet.

Don’t forget about ones like cherries, red and yellow peppers, radishes, red cabbage, red lettuce, red onions and apples — which, like dark-colored berries, contain a remarkable flavonoid called quercetin.

Quercetin has been found in studies to help protect your brain from neuron damage and the buildup of plaques that are linked to Alzheimer’s, help relieve swollen sinuses by blocking the release of histamines and act as a powerful anti-inflammatory.

And that’s just the short list!

So if you’re looking to make some holiday goodies that are not only festive and delicious, but extremely healthy, too, next time you go shopping make sure you add plenty of foods with holiday hues of reds and blues in your cart.

And then be sure to have some every day!

“Can eating lots of colorful berries protect your heart?” Terry Graedon, November 10, 2016, The People’s Pharmacy, peoplespharmacy.com