This is Your Heart on Processed Food

The American diet of heavily processed foods is long overdue for an overhaul. A lifetime of eating processed foods that are heavy in salt, sugar, and saturated fat increases your risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer and more.

Just like decades of smoking can cause your lungs to fill with black tar, processed foods over time can fill your arteries that pump blood throughout your body with plaque.

A growing number of Americans are increasingly interested in a healthier diet and lifestyle. However, a lack of clarity remains about how to eat a healthy diet.

Maria Delgado-Lelievre, M.D. and Evelyn Victoria, R.D.N. offer practical advice on how to make small changes to improve your heart health.

What happens when foods are processed

Processed foods are a diet staple because they’re convenient, affordable and tasty. For the food industry, they’re cheaper to make and can be scientifically perfected to make you want to eat more.

“It’s very difficult to back off these foods unless you consciously decide not to eat this anymore because the taste is what drives you, and the taste is affecting your brain,” says Dr. Delgado.

Food processing involves altering food’s natural state to enhance shelf life, flavor or convenience. This can include adding preservatives, artificial flavors, excessive sodium, unhealthy fats and refined sugars.

Processing can also strip foods of essential nutrients, fiber, and beneficial compounds, such as those in white flour or white rice.

Highly processed foods, such as snacks packaged in cellophane and fast food, are rigorously studied by food scientists to make you crave them and want to eat more. This might mean making foods ultra palatable and easier to chew or adding flavors that make the food more addictive.

How processed foods affect your heart

Processed foods, such as packaged snacks, frozen meals, fast food and sugary drinks, typically contain high levels of unhealthy fats, sodium and added sugars. These ingredients have detrimental effects on heart health, linking them to increased risks of heart disease, hypertension and other cardiovascular issues.

“Processed foods eaten over a lifetime can lead to chronic inflammation and plaque buildup that makes your heart work harder and leads to increased risk of a blood clot, stroke, and heart attack,” says Victoria.

• Processed foods are typically loaded with trans fats and refined carbohydrates, which raise bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower good cholesterol (HDL) –– increasing your risk of heart attacks and strokes.
• Many processed foods contain excessive sodium, contributing to high blood pressure. Over time, this can lead to hypertension, which causes a lot of stress on the heart and blood vessels and produces a form of inflammation.
• Refined sugars, salt, and artificial additives in processed foods promote chronic inflammation and weight gain, which can strain the heart and blood vessels over time.
• Chemical additives that extend shelf life or enhance flavor can negatively impact cardiovascular health by disrupting the body’s natural metabolic processes.

For example, fresh bread on your counter for 24 hours is supposed to get hard and eventually moldy. Processed white bread from the grocery will last for days and even a month. “What keeps that food fresh for so long is what damages your cells,” says Dr. Delgado.

7 Simple diet changes to improve heart health

The good news is that small changes to your diet can significantly improve your heart health. “The body is very wise, so if you cut down on processed foods, your body will almost immediately respond to that positive change at any age,” says Dr. Delgado.

Here’s how you can transition toward a heart-friendly lifestyle without feeling overwhelmed:

1. Prioritize whole, unprocessed foods

If you have to choose between two foods, a giant salad with chicken breast or salmon vs. cellophane-wrapped pastries, one will fill you up with healthy nutrients and fibers. The other will leave you hungry, while filing your body with sugar and saturated fats.

Try filling your plate with whole foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains and healthy fats. These fill you with essential nutrients without the harmful additives in processed foods.

2. Cook more at home

Preparing your own meals allows you to control the ingredients. You’ll likely add less salt than a processed food product and use more natural ingredients. Start with simple meals like grilled chicken with roasted vegetables or homemade soups.

Meal planning helps you avoid last-minute processed food choices. Batch-cook meals for the week so you have healthy options readily available.

An Instapot or a crock pot can make cooking at home faster and easier if you’re short on time.

3. Read those nutrition labels carefully

Avoiding packaged foods entirely is hard, but you can find options with fewer ingredients. As more people advocate for healthy foods, the more food brands respond by selling simpler, healthier options.

Remember, the health claims on the front of a package are just for marketing. Check the ingredient lists and avoid products with long lists of artificial additives, hydrogenated oils, and high sodium content. Read the label to check for the food’s saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar levels.

Dr. Delgado recommends an app, Yuka, to all her patients. The app rates any foods with a barcode based on their ingredients. It also explains what makes each product less healthy.

4. Choose healthy snacks

Swap out chips and cookies for heart-healthy alternatives like nuts, seeds, Greek yogurt or fruit. These options provide essential nutrients and keep you full longer. Keeping fresh fruit on the counter when possible makes you and your family more likely to eat it.

5. Reduce sugary beverages

If you drink a lot of soda, replacing that with water or flavored seltzer can make a big difference in your cardiovascular health.

6. Practice portion control

Even with healthier choices, portion control is crucial. Overeating even healthy foods can lead to weight gain, which increases the strain on the heart. Using a smaller plate for meals is a good way to control your portions. Avoiding food after dinner also helps.

7. Gradually decrease processed foods

Eating a healthier diet isn’t all or nothing. Start by gradually reducing consumption, such as replacing one processed meal or snack daily with a whole-food alternative.

Finally, Victoria recommends maintaining a balanced perspective in addition to a balanced diet. “Many people get hyper-fixated on these isolated nutrients, but we have to look at the overall diet and dietary patterns. A highly active person who drinks a protein shake after the gym is consuming a processed food, but we wouldn’t say that that person is unhealthy.”

Looking at the big picture of heart-healthy foods might get easier in the near future. In January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed a required front-of-package nutrition label listing products’ saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars on most packaged foods. “Anything we can do to make it easy for consumers to determine if a food is healthy will help. A lot of other countries have this in place already,” says Victoria.

Small, sustainable changes nationally and among individuals can lead to long-term improvements, helping you maintain a healthier heart and a better quality of life.

Start small, be consistent and watch your heart health improve, one meal at a time.

Dr. Delgado is a hypertension and cardiovascular prevention specialist and director of the Comprehensive Hypertension Center at the University of Miami. Evelyn Victoria is a senior clinical dietitian nutritionist specializing in cardiovascular health at the University of Miami Health System.

Wendy Margolin is a contributor for UHealth’s news service.

Tags: cardiology care in Miami, Dr. Maria Delgado, Evelyn Victoria, food additives, FOOD LABEL, unprocessed or minimally processed foods