Your heart is like the engine of a car — without it, your body can’t run properly. Your heart beats about 2.5 billion times throughout your lifetime, working tirelessly to pump blood throughout the body and support essential bodily functions, according to Harvard Health Publishing.
Considering the importance of the heart, it makes sense to adopt a heart-healthy lifestyle. This includes exercising regularly, following an overall healthy diet pattern and avoiding tobacco products, per the American Heart Association.
With so much nutrition information out there, trying to figure out how to eat for your heart health may seem challenging. But according to cardiologists, you could reap major benefits by simply adding a handful of pistachios to your daily routine.
One of the first indicators of a healthy heart is your cholesterol levels. There are two types — LDL and HDL. High levels of LDL cholesterol can raise your risk of heart disease, so it’s often referred to as “bad” cholesterol, according to the CDC. Meanwhile, higher levels of HDL cholesterol can lower your risk.
One way to improve cholesterol levels is with the help of a healthy diet, per the National Library of Medicine (NLM). This involves choosing healthy fats, such as nuts, to make up anywhere between 20 and 35 percent of your daily calories.
“Most of the fat in pistachios are unsaturated fats, which are linked to lower cholesterol,” explains Jim Liu, MD, a cardiologist and Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “There are studies specifically linking pistachios to lower LDL cholesterol levels.”
