Did you know that 1 in 4 Americans will die from heart disease this year? But the good news is–we can prevent and even reverse it. In our Diabetes UnDone classes, we’ve been discovering that perfect health depends upon perfect circulation. So what can we do to optimize better blood flow? Plant foods can actually help. In fact, there’s some super foods that can do that for us.

Garlic. One of them is garlic. This vegetable is well known for its impact on our circulation. Studies show how it lowers blood pressure by relaxing our blood vessels. We all like to feel relaxed, don’t we? When this happens in our blood vessels, it’s called vasodilation.  Here’s a good illustration of what it looks like. On the top and bottom, we see a bottleneck, similar to what happens in traffic. This is how it happens in an artery.  At both ends of this diagram, a multitude of red blood cells are easily flowing because the vessel is wide open. This happens when the smooth muscles that line our arteries and veins are relaxed. But in the middle, the muscles are constricting or being squeezed so there’s not as much room for the cells to go through. And that’s how pressure builds up and we can get hypertension or high blood pressure.  But foods like garlic keep our blood vessels wide open.

Leafy Greens. Foods like kale, spinach and even broccoli can also increase better blood flow. That’s because these foods are high in nitrates. Your body takes in those nitrates and transforms it into nitric oxide, a very important gas for your arteries and veins. In fact, it’s vital for preventing plaque build up and the development of atherosclerosis. If we want to prevent the very beginnings of heart disease, we need an ample supply of nitric oxide.

Here’s another picture of inside an artery. Along the edges, it resembles a wall but it’s actually a thin layer of cells known as the endotherlium. This is where nitric oxide is produced.

Dr. Caldwell Essenstyn has conducted considerable research on nitric oxide. He is the leading heart surgeon at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Dr. Esselstyn has also helped thousands of people reverse heart disease. He has conducted global research in order to find a possible cure. In his research, he rarely found evidence of cardiovascular problems in areas of the world where people were eating plenty of beans, vegetables, whole grains and fruit. He also discovered that foods like meat, dairy products and refined oils deplete our bodies of nitric oxide and damage the endothelium.

Esselstyn concluded, “We have to have a safe and adequate amount of nitric oxide because it protects the walls of the arteries. It protects us from developing high blood pressure as well as blockages and plaque.”

One of the foods that Dr. Esselstyn recommends for his patients is leafy greens. When a patient has heart disease, he has them eat a fist full of greens every day–in fact at every meal. If you don’t have high blood pressure, you wouldn’t need to eat it that frequently, but a daily dose of greens can protect your heart and keep heart attacks far away.

Leafy greens include any member of the cabbage family, such as Napa, red or green cabbage, as well as bok choy, broccoli, collards, spinach and kale. Beet greens are also another great source for producing nitric oxide. Leafy herbs like cilantro and parsley can do the same.

Tomatoes. Did you know your heart loves tomatoes? They help reduce the activity of an enzymce called angiotensin-converting enzyme or ACE for short. ACE is a problem because it constricts or narrows our blood vessels, which often leads to high blood pressure. But research is showing that tomatoes do exactly the opposite. They work like an ACE-inhibiting drug to open your blood vessels and improve blood flow.

Tomatoes are also a great source of vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that reduces inflammation in the body. We are seeing that inflammation is a major cause of heart attacks in this country. But vitamin C can reduce that inflammation which translates to reduced blood pressure and stiffness in the arteries while improving blood flow and nitric oxide production. So let’s eat up those oranges and grapefruit and veggies like tomatoes and bell peppers. They are loaded with vitamin C, the vitamin our hearts really love.

Other Foods. There are other foods that are just as powerful. One of my favorites is berries. I often enjoy mixed berries with my oatmeal. And quite often, I make a berry sauce to put over pancakes and waffles. Eating berries can lower blood pressure, reduce inflammation, improve heart rate, and also open up those blood vessels for optimum blood flow.

Improving blood flow is my #1 goal for 2019–by eating more plant foods and going for walks every day. Because everything we do depends on a healthy heart.  I think that’s why King Solomon once said, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”