Want A Heart Friendly Diet? Try Acai Berries

It is known that poor diet promotes heart disease, and is it also known that a health diet can help reduce heart risk,even if you have inherent risk factors such as age, genetics and family history. However it is also known that lifestyle factors can be changed, and a heart friendly diet can be adopted. This not only protects against heart disease, but can also help prevent late-onset diabetes, cancer and obesity.

The most important thing about a heart friendly diet is the adoption of eating lots of fruits and vegetables, replacing saturated fat by unsaturated fats.

Diets rich in fruits and vegetables may help reduce stroke and various disease by up to 25%, many studies and research have shown this. Why is this so?

It is believed that it’s the abundance of antioxidants. One way that antioxidants guard against heart disease is by protecting the LDL, or bad cholesterol from oxidizing - which is what forms plaque in the arteries and hence cause atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.

Acai berries are naturally cholesterol free, due to the fact that cholesterol only comes from animal products. So what is so beneficial about reducing cholesterol? Well it’s linked directly with heart disease. Acai is not just cholesterol-free, but low in heart clogging saturated fat and high in the heart-friendly unsaturated fats ad fibre.

Let’s take a look at the types of fat in Acai. There are three types of fats found in food. Saturated fat, polyunsaturated fay, and monounsaturated fat. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats tend to be liquid at room temperature (vegetable oils, with the exception of coconut and palm which are mainly saturated).

Saturated fats, which acai is low in, tend to increase your cholesterol and clog up your arteries. Acai contains omegas 3, 6, and 9 unsaturated fats which reduce LDL-cholesterol levels (think L = Low so we want them to be low in our blood) when they replace saturated fats in our diet.

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which acai is rich in, maintain the good HDL-cholesterol levels (Think we want them H = High) in our blood. Monounsaturated fats are not as likely to oxidize than polyunsaturated oils, making them the heart friendly choice.

Remember that acai is also a great source of fibre. This helps lower cholesterol and maintain sugar levels in the body. The Acai berry’s synergy of monounsaturated (healthy) fats, dietary fibre, and antioxidants, help promote cardiovascular system and digestive tract health.