After taking care of other people’s hearts all day, cardiologists go home and look after their own. A heart-healthy dinner is a big part of the prescription.
“Most cardiologists do try to practice what they preach,” Dr. Sharonne Hayes, a cardiologist and professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, tells TODAY.com.
“We want to stay healthy.”
What people eat for dinner — and breakfast and snacks and lunch — is the single top determinant of heart health, says Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist, professor of nutrition and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University in Boston.
But dinner is more than just the biggest meal of the day.
“It’s a time for a little bit of peace, rest and contemplation, family time and nourishing yourself both mentally and with the food you’re eating,” Mozaffarian says.
Given what heart doctors know about heart health, what’s for dinner at a cardiologist’s house? Hayes and Mozaffarian share their favorite meals and the principles that guide their food decisions.
Beans and greens
Hayes is a pescatarian — she enjoys fish, but doesn’t cook it at home because her husband, who is also a cardiologist, is a vegetarian and doesn’t eat it.
Much of their diet consists of “beans and greens and tomatoes” prepared in various ways, she says. Since the couple doesn’t eat meat, legumes are a protein-rich staple. Hayes might cook lentils or white beans, then add kale or other greens, tomatoes and a little feta. Her husband likes to bake bread.
“I have a weakness for carbs, so they are usually part of a dinner for me,” Hayes notes. “We do try to make that not the center of our meal and to avoid making it truly simple carbs, meaning just white pasta.”
Another simple dinner might be a gnocchi salad with tomatoes, avocado toast and some greens.
Meals organized around colorful vegetables
Mozaffarian is not a vegetarian, but he and his family plan each dinner around…
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