5 Unexpected Healthy Superfoods for Your Heart

Heart health is a huge topic in the nutrition world today, and the experts are always trumpeting the latest pill, exercise, or superfood that’s guaranteed to lower our blood pressure and keep our heart pumping at full strength. Many of these suggestions can indeed be helpful, but sometimes the experts have a narrow focus when it comes to nourishing the human heart and miss the big picture. In this insightful new podcast episode, Emily Rosen, Director of the Institute for the psychology of Eating, shares 5 truly innovative strategies to support your heart. Each of these “superfoods” is a unique and powerful way to give your heart a boost. Try one today, and you just might find that your happiness levels show a dramatic increase.

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Here is a transcript of this week’s video:

Did you know that heart disease claims the lives of more men and women than any other disease, and is even more deadly than all forms of cancer combined?

The simple truth is that our hearts need some help. And that’s why you’ll hear many of the leading natural healing experts recommend preventive remedies for heart disease, such as: garlic, omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin D, magnesium, hawthorne berry, C0-Enzyme Q10, fiber and many more. But, in the bigger picture, our approach to stopping heart disease, before it ever starts, isn’t working very well. It’s time for some new healthy superfoods just for the heart! These suggestions may be a bit unexpected, but if you give them a try, my heartfelt belief is that you’ll notice a big difference.

Healthy SuperFoods #1 – Openness

We’ve all heard at some point that an open heart is a good thing. The heart loves spaciousness. Openness allows it to expand, to receive, to give, to exchange, and to circulate in an ease-filled way. For sure, we know that our coronary arteries can be blocked or clogged, so let’s give our biochemistry some help. The more we truly open to life, to truth, to love, to what’s real – the more our physiology will benefit. Do you know the places where your heart could be more open? And are you ready and willing to go there?

Healthy SuperFoods #2 – Heartbreak

Heartbreak may be one of the most poignant and difficult experiences we might ever have. People literally die from heartbreak, or spend years recovering from it. So why is heartbreak a super food? Well, it can make us stronger. It can also make us more human, more compassionate, and more wise. Pain is here to crack open the shell of our soul and expose us to the deepest and truest parts of our being. Some superfoods taste great and go down easy. Others make us work a little. Do the work. It’s worth it.

Healthy SuperFoods #3 – Risk

Life can be a gamble. And the heart just might be the biggest gambler of them all. You’ve likely had times when you were being called to take risks in the name of love. Maybe you jumped into a relationship that had some dangers – but love insisted you dive in anyways. Maybe you loved someone who didn’t love you back in the same way, or chose to forgive someone who could still turn around and hurt you again. The heart asks a lot of us. To risk in love might be one of the greatest risks of all. And as you’ve likely heard, with great risk comes great reward. How is your heart asking you to risk more in love? And how lucky are you feeling today?

Healthy SuperFoods #4 – Awe

One of the great superfoods for the heart that seems to nourish it to the core is awe. This fascinating emotion isn’t well understood by traditional psychology, but this much we know – the feeling of awe enlivens us like no other. Awe is something we need to allow ourselves to experience. When was the last time you were awed by a sunset, the clouds, a rainbow, a flower, a smiling infant, a song, a beautiful smile? Awe reminds us that the heart can feel alive and healthy every day. All we need do is notice the world. So what’s stopping you?

Healthy SuperFoods #5 – The Little Things

So much of the time, our health strategies focus on the big sweeping changes we plan to make – like radical shifts in diet and exercise – that we’ll stick to like never before. Humans have a fascination with big things. We like dinosaurs, big lottery payouts, and big presents. Big is good, but small just might be the next big thing. The heart loves simple gestures of love, kindness, words of support, a simple gift, an unexpected compliment, and so much more.The heart enjoys its big moments, but on a day to day basis, it’s the little ways we feed our own hearts – and the hearts of others – that make a big nutritional difference. Yes, think big. But first, think small. What little things can you do that will delight the heart?

When it comes to heart health, diet and exercise are definitely important, but they’re only part of the story. The fields of Mind Body Nutrition and Dynamic Eating Psychology remind us that we need to invite our whole selves to the table, including our hearts, souls, thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams. When we open to all of who we are, we find that our body has lots of wisdom for us and can guide us to the practices that will help us thrive.

I hope this was helpful.