The newsletter which curates & delivers the best nutritional advice, fitness hacks & holistic health strategies to your inbox every week.

🌿 HEALTH HACK

‘Heart Health’ (& Simple Ways To Reverse/Prevent Heart Disease, Enhance Physical Health & Improve Your Quality Of Your Life!)

The human heart is deemed the most important organ of the body...

It beats without a pause, day in & day out, ensuring we remain available to experience the full richness of life...

And if your heart stops beating, your body begins systematically shutting down (also known as ‘cardiac arrest’)...

However, we generally don’t appreciate the remarkable work that our heart does for us, tirelessly pumps blood & supplies life-giving oxygen + nutrients to every cell in our bodies…

What do we do instead?

Well, we take our heart (& our ‘heart health’) for granted placing unnecessary burdens on it & doing things that increase our risk of heart disease (also known as ‘cardiovascular disease’)…

For example, we lead highly sedentary lifestyles nowadays, neglecting the physical activity that our hearts crave…

We also subject our hearts to poor diets high in processed foods, refined sugars, saturated fats & more… (as we covered in a number of our previous newsletter & will explore further today.)

And what does this lead to?

Well, research shows that heart disease is the #1 leading cause of death worldwide taking more than 17 million people each year…

Our goal is to help you avoid this…

In this week’s newsletter, we’ll discuss what is heart disease, it’s causes, the connection between nutrition & heart, simple heart-healthy foods to include in your diet (+ other ones that you should avoid at all costs) & other simple strategies to prevent/reverse heart & health problems, now & in the future…

Let’s dive in…

What Is Cardiovascular Disease?

Heart/cardiovascular disease comprises a group of conditions that affect the arteries & veins taking blood to & from the heart…

When your heart doesn’t function normally, your blood vessels get damaged by fatty plaques build up in the arteries which will prevent blood from flowing freely around the body...

If left untreated, heart disease can lead to serious conditions such as heart failure, cardiac arrest, or aneurysm (a bulge in a blood vessel that can burst & cause bleeding)...

Even though cardiovascular disease is life-threatening, it isn’t all bad news because we can prevent & also reverse it with simple yet powerful choices we make every day (keep reading to learn more about this)...

The Causes Of Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular disease can have a variety of causes. These include:

• Non-modifiable/controllable risk factors (ones you can’t control/change) including: age, gender, genes, ethnic origin, or childhood experiences… (there is also evidence that your early development in the womb & during childhood helps set the stage for heart health or heart disease...)
  

• Risk factors that can be changed including: your habits & choices such as your dietary patterns, physical activity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, stress levels & more (other potentially modifiable risk factors include your breathing, air pollution, noise, obesity, infections, etc)

The Connection Between Nutrition & Heart Health

Good nutrition & a healthy heart go hand in hand…

For example, what you eat (as well as how you eat & when you eat as well) can influence many aspects of heart health, including blood pressure, inflammation, cholesterol levels & blood sugar levels…

Making good diet choices therefore can reduce or even eliminate the chances you’ll develop heart disease & certain health issues down the line…

A Heart-Healthy Diet: Foods You Should Eat

A heart-healthy diet is all about embracing a lifestyle that prioritizes nutritious choices that support heart function & overall well-being.

A heart-healthy eating style includes lots of:

• Vegetables: Broccoli, spinach, kale, tomatoes, bell peppers, beets, carrots are just some examples but the list goes on & on...

• Fruits: Berries, apples, oranges, bananas, mangoes, guava, papaya, pomegranates, all citrus fruits & more...

• Nuts: Almonds, pistachios, peanuts, macadamias, walnuts, just to name a few...

• Legumes: Beans, edamame (soybeans), chickpeas, lentils, etc..

• Whole Grains: Quinoa, oats, millets, brown rice & whole-wheat products

• Lean, High Quality Meats: Skinless chicken or turkey, ground beef & pork tenderloin

• Oily Fish: Salmon, mackerel & sardines (also good for Omega 3 fatty acids, as covered in a previous newsletter)

• Healthy Fats: oils (avocado, coconut, olive oil), avocados themselves, nuts or seeds, etc

What Not To Eat

Just as important in life as what you do is what you don't do...

And just as certain foods can benefit your heart health & lower your risk of heart disease, others foods (such as those with saturated fat, added sugars or alcohol) should be avoided to protect heart health…

Poor diet quality is associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease…

• Foods & beverages with added sugars (as we covered in this previous newsletter)

• Highly refined carbohydrates

• Alcohol

• Many dairy products

• Fatty or low quality meats

• Highly processed food overall

• Saturated fat (found in red meat, many dairy products, palm oil, etc)

• Trans fats (found in some fried fast food, chips & more)

Other Tips To Prevent/Reverse Heart Disease

Here are 4 other key lifestyle changes that are proven to prevent your chances of developing cardiovascular risk factors & ultimately reverse heart disease:

1. Exercise & Physical Activity: Alongside a heart-healthy diet, exercise & physical activity play a significant role in the prevention of heart disease. Sit less & move more! 

2. Maintain A Healthy Weight: Being obese or overweight raises the risk of heart disease & also leads to chronic conditions that raise the chances of getting heart disease.

3. Enough + Quality Sleep: Research has shown that sleep is an essential component of cardiovascular health.
   
   The amount & quality of your sleep can influence your eating habits, mood, memory & more.
   
   People who don't get enough sleep have a higher risk of obesity, high blood pressure, heart attack, diabetes & mental health disorders such as anxiety & depression… 

4. Manage Stress: Ongoing stress can play a role in higher blood pressure & other risk factors for heart disease. Some people also cope with stress in unhealthy ways…
   
   For example, they may overeat, drink, or smoke…
   
   (You can boost your health by finding other ways to manage stress. Healthy approaches include physical activity, relaxation exercises, mindfulness, yoga or meditation…)

In summary, adopting a heart-healthy diet (& overall lifestyle) isn't just about making temporary changes; it's about making sustainable choices that will benefit us in the long run 😃 This helps your heart & greatly improves your quality of life.

💭 QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Some may find this hard to believe but it's actually true (& research also proves it.)

Habits, including ones that seem hard to start & build, do have an almost addictive power to them...

Especially if they are ones that you can feel the effects in your body, mind & more, like is the case for those that stick to consistent exercise...

So, even though these words may sound a bit crazy to some, they are true & further motivation for building the habit in the first place!

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🌿 HEALTHY RECIPE

Thai Green Chicken Curry

Here's a great curry recipe that incorporates a lot of the foods, as well as herbs & spices in the previous section, together into a delicious, nutritious meal any curry fan is sure to approve of...

It's also easy to make from scratch which is generally much, much healthier than picking up the phone & ordering a curry takeaway or eating at a restaurant!

That because when cooking at home you know exactly what goes into your food… (rather than hoping your takeaway doesn't contain nasties such as MSG, sodium chloride, refined sugar & PCBs from the container it arrived in...)

In fact, what’s going into this delicious dish is a ton of healthy ingredients starting with garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chillies, lemons & shallots that make a paste that packs a punch!

Lemongrass is another example of a superfood packed full of antioxidants which combat oxidative-stress & lowering risk of almost every disease, including heart disease.

Along with the powerful paste, we have a load of green veggies & coconut milk...

Now, back to the beautiful meal at hand, please enjoy this health inducing, nutrient dense, flavour packed meal (that has somehow become an unhealthy takeaway treat when it should be anything but.)

• Serves: 4 people

• Time: 32-35 minutes 

• Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients: 

Curry Paste:

• 2 shallots

• 6 garlic cloves

• Knob of ginger

• 2 lemongrass stalks

• 2-6 green bird’s eye chillies (depending on heat preference!)

• Juice of 1 lime

• 1 tbsp fish sauce

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp ground coriander (or handful of fresh if you have)

Main Curry:

• 2 chicken breasts

• 400ml coconut milk

• 1 large green bell pepper (or 2 medium)

• 200g oriental mushrooms

• 100g mangetout

• 1 green onion

• 6 kaffir lime leaves

• Handful fresh coriander

• 1 tbsp coconut oil

• 1 organic chicken stock cube

• 200ml filtered water

Side:

• 360g (2 cups) black or wild rice

• 2 wedges of lime to garnish

Method:

1. Add black rice to saucepan of boiling water and cook for 30 minutes, gently stirring occasionally

2. Peel and roughly chop shallots, garlic & ginger

3. Destalk chillies & take hard outer layer off lemongrass - then finely dice both

4. Slice the lime

5. Place shallots, garlic & ginger in blender & blend!

6. Add chillies, lemongrass, lime juice, cumin, coriander & fish sauce to blender & blend until completely smooth.

7. Slice chicken & green pepper into strips

8. Preheat large pan on medium heat & add coconut oil

9. Seal chicken, then cook with green pepper for 4-5 minutes

10. Roughly chop mushrooms, add to pan and cook for a further 4-5 minutes

11. Stir in paste & cook a further 4-5 minutes

12. Add coconut milk, stock cube & kefir lime leaves and gently stir

13. Boil water in kettle & add to pan, let simmer for 10 minutes

14. Chop green onion & trim mangetout, add to pan for final 2 minutes

15. Drain rice & serve in small side dish with wedge of lime

16. Serve curry in a bowl with fresh coriander sprinkled over top

On the topic of delicious, healthy recipes (& how to improve your nutrition without having to sacrifice the foods you love)… check out the full Potencia nutrition course on the topic, called:

’Nutrition Made Simple: How To Eat Better, Make Healthier Food Choices & Improve Your Nutrition’