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The weight-reducing, heart-guarding food you’re not eating
![The weight-reducing, heart-guarding food you’re not eating](https://ehonami.blob.core.windows.net/media/2017/10/weight-reducing-heart-guarding-food-youre-not-eating1.jpg)
I get that all the information coming at you about what to eat and what not to eat can be a little overwhelming.
In the digital age, we have more access to health information and research than people living during any other time in history. Yet we are growing fatter every day and developing disease at record pace.
Is it information overload? Maybe.
So, what if I told you that doing something as simple as eating differently just two nights a week could be the catalyst you need to begin losing the weight you’ve wanted to… while simultaneously taking care of your cholesterol numbers?
Nothing complicated — just switching your typical entrée for one food that researchers have demonstrated, beyond a shadow of a doubt, can significantly reduce plasma triglycerides levels and increase your HDL levels.
It’s filling, it’s delicious, it’s not a plant… and it just might save your life.
Painless change can break the deadly link
No doubt, there is a strong link between weight and cholesterol. But before I get too deep in this, let me say this…
I’m not a fan of blindly lowering cholesterol with medication. That’s because cholesterol is in fact an important hormone your body needs. Cholesterol-lowering medications rob it indiscriminately from places it’s needed, like your brain (click here to learn what happens), instead of bringing it into balance.
But if you can’t get the weight off, you’re likely going to suffer the health consequences of high cholesterol. It’s not entirely you’re fault. Nothing about modern life makes eating the right foods easy.
That’s why the majority of calories in American come from sugars and grains. Even the idea of health food is an illusion when you read the labels. So, what can you do?
You’ve heard of Meatless Monday, right?
Well, what about Salmon Sunday, Tuna Tuesday or Fatty Fish Friday?
Seriously, when was the last time you sat down to a fish dinner — any day of the week?
Eat more fatty fish
According to the American Heart Association, you should be eating two fish meals a week for a total of at least 8 ounces of fish. More won’t hurt you (they recommend that pregnant or nursing women eat 12 oz.) and it just might help…
Why? Well, because for quite a while now, eating fish — especially nutrient-rich fatty fish — has been shown to lower your body weight and reduce the risk of dying from heart disease.
And, a very recent analysis of 14 different trial studies confirmed those heart health benefits by concluding, “There is evidence indicating that consuming oily fish led to significant improvements in two important biomarkers of cardiovascular risk, such as triglycerides and HDL levels. These results strongly support the important role for oily fish as part of a healthy diet.”
What’s so special about fatty fish? According to Tom Brenna, a professor of nutrition and chemistry at Cornell University, “Fish are a package of nutrients that really don’t exist anywhere else anymore.”
Those nutrients include protein, selenium (a cancer-crushing mineral), vitamin D, vitamin B-12 and — perhaps most important — omega-3 fats, which boost heart and brain health and just might help you live longer. Sure you can get omega-3 fats from other sources, like walnuts and vegetable oils, but if you want them at their most powerful, they’ve got to come from fatty fish.
But what about the mercury, you ask?
If the mercury argument is the reason you’re avoiding fish, but you’re not as concerned about the growth hormones and antibiotics fed to the Franken-chicken that begrudgingly donated your last gargantuan chicken breast — or the toxic run-off of bacterial waste that your beef and pork were raised in, we need to talk…
As long as you avoid tilefish from the Gulf of Mexico, shark, swordfish and king mackerel, you have very little to be concerned about from mercury.
Lean towards American-caught seafood. I prefer wild-caught salmon, but the industry claims fish farms provide a much better environment than they did in years past, and claim some farmed fish have more omega-3s.
If your excuse for not enjoying fish for dinner is because you don’t know how to cook it, let me tell you… fish is incredibly quick and easy to prepare. Even if your fish is frozen, just a minute or two under warm water can defrost it. Lightly coat a roasting pan with olive oil, sprinkle on your favorite seasoning and cook for about 10 minutes per inch of thickness in a 400 degree oven. Your heart — and soon your waistline — will thank you.
Editor’s note: While you’re doing all the right things to protect your brain as you age, make sure you don’t make the mistake 38 million Americans do every day — by taking a drug that robs them of an essential brain nutrient! Click here to discover the truth about the Cholesterol Super-Brain!
Sources:
- Consumption of fish and vascular risk factors: A systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies — Atherosclerosis November 2017 Volume 266, Pages 87–94
- Americans are eating more fish, but still not enough — USA Today