Love your heart, here's a healthy food for your heart

To avoid the risk of heart disease, you need to live a healthy lifestyle. A study revealed that by doing healthy habits, such as regular exercise, not smoking, and eating healthy foods, can reduce the risk of heart disease by 82 percent. In addition, other studies have also revealed that people aged 70-90 years who get used to healthy living, can reduce the risk of death from heart disease by 66 percent.

To nourish the heart and help it work strongly, the phytonutrient compounds present in vegetables and fruits can be beneficial. These compounds help to protect plants from germs, fungi, and pests. As for humans, these compounds can help the body work well

1. Beans
   Expand to eat beans like red beans up to three cups a week. In addition to rich in phytonutrients that are good for the heart, nuts are also rich in fiber and water content that makes you satiated quickly. This can prevent you from consuming more calories.

2. Garlic
   Garlic is known not to affect blood pressure, so it can often be consumed. Garlic can also replace salt to add a savory taste to the food. This is good for heart health because the more salt intake, the higher the risk of high blood pressure that can trigger heart disease and stroke.
   The daily salt intake limit is no more than 5-6 grams per day or the equivalent of 2000-2400 mg of sodium per day. As for people who have the risk of heart disease, maximum sodium intake is 1,500 mg.

3. Berries
   Variety of berries such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries can be a healthy snack. Berries rich in fiber and antioxidants are thought to reduce the chances of a heart attack. In addition, the sweetness in berries does not trigger diabetes. Research on the effects of berries in protecting heart health still needs to be studied further.

4. Wine
   Grapes are thought to potentially prevent heart disease and hypertension or high blood pressure. This is because grapes contain fiber and quercetin compounds. Quercetin appears to protect blood vessels from blockage. Although the effects of wine on heart health still need to be examined more thoroughly, you can try to include wine as one of the daily fruit choices.

5. Apple
   According to one study, consuming one to two apples per day may reduce the risk of heart disease. The study found that apples effectively reduce bad cholesterol in the body and help regulate blood sugar. This is because besides containing phytonutrients, apples also contain other compounds that are good for the heart, namely quercetin and pectin.
   Quercetin is a compound capable of preventing inflammation and asthma, and is thought to be able to prevent cancer. While pectin is a soluble fiber that helps lower blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Although still needed further research on the certainty of apple impact on the heart, there is no harm in eating this fruit.

6. Green tea
   Tea is one of the favorite drinks, especially for its benefits. There are a number of studies that found a link between drinking green tea with a reduced risk of heart disease. One of them is research in Japan, those who drank more than five cups of green tea a day had a risk of about 25 percent lower deaths from heart attacks and strokes.
   However, be careful in consuming green tea. Drinking more than five cups of green tea daily may increase your risk of developing kidney stones. Therefore, if you consume lots of green tea, multiply also the consumption of water to avoid dehydration and for the urine system to remain smooth.