February is National Heart Health Month, making it the perfect time to highlight some foods that promote heart health, as well as list those that do more harm than good.
While heart disease can be hereditary, its prevention begins with a healthy lifestyle. For starters, this means no smoking, monitoring your blood sugar and blood pressure levels, and incorporating exercise and a healthy, well-balanced diet into your everyday routine. 
Diet alone can play a huge role in heart disease prevention. In general, heart healthy foods are ones that are natural, whole foods that don’t come in a box and instead come straight from nature. Fresh fruits and vegetables are certainly a cornerstone of heart-healthy foods for their high nutrient and vitamin content and their amazing ability to cleanse free radicals from the blood stream.
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Wine lovers may be in for some bad news. Reports are surfacing that one of the top red wine researchers has falsified some of his findings. In particular, the data that pointed to the health benefits of red wine and its anti-aging properties may be false. 
Dr. Dipak K. Das is the director of the cardiovascular research center at the University of Connecticut. An anonymous report dating back to 2008 that Das had falsified his data initiated an investigation that is now coming to light. A 60,000-page report is citing 145 counts of falsified data.
His research includes studies on resveratrol, a compound found in red wine and touted for many benefits. Those benefits have translated to the encouragement of red wine consumption. Studies have suggested that resveratrol may have the ability to stave off the effects of sedentary living, possibly reduce skin cancer risks, lower “bad” cholesterol levels, or even protect the lining of the heart blood vessels.
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Natural grocer Whole Foods recently decided to pull the popular SkinnyGirl cocktail line from their shelves.
Whole Foods claims that the low calorie alcohol beverages contain unnatural ingredients. Lisa DeFazio, MS, RD, and Hollywood Nutrition Expert, said that Whole Foods allegedly removed the popular beverages because they contained caramel coloring, which was not within their definition of “natural.”
According to the Whole Foods blog, natural can be quite a complicated definition.
“‘Natural,’ on the other hand, doesn’t have a strong governmental definition when it comes to food, so my team (the Quality Standards Team) spends quite a lot of time defining which ingredients make up the natural foods we sell in our stores. The basic tenets of our standard require that our products are free of artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners and hydrogenated fats,” Joe Dickson, Global Quality Standards Coordinator for Whole Foods wrote.
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Guest blogger, Vicki L. VanArsdale is a freelance writer, certified personal trainer and nutrition consultant. By adopting a healthy and active lifestyle, she has lost 100 lbs. Her mission is to motivate and inspire people through her actions and words. Get healthy from the inside, out is her motto. Learn more on Vicki’s blog.
Did you know that a glass of wine can be considered part of a healthy lifestyle? For those who live in other parts of the world, a glass of wine is common with meals. Here in the U.S., the problem is binge drinking. But having a glass of wine once in a while is just fine.
Many studies indicate that moderate amounts of red wine lowers the risk of heart disease and may raise high density lipoprotein (HDL), which is known as the “good” cholesterol. Moderate means one glass of wine per day for women and two for men. The American Heart Association says one serving of wine is four ounces, so be vigilant with your serving size. And women who have the breast cancer gene should avoid alcohol because of its potential to increase risk of the disease.
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It’s tough to beat something that you are genetically predisposed to. It’s so sad to see young people who suffer from heart problems, because it runs in the family. But, if you are worried about your heart health because your mom’s or dad’s side of the family has a history of the ailment, there may be hope.
According to a new study, people who eat a Mediterranean diet, even those with a genetic predisposition for heart problems, have better heart function.
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