5 Ways to Protect Your Arteries From a Fatty Meal
Updated: Aug. 06, 2019
High-fat meals can constrict arteries for hours, reducing blood flow. If you can’t give up grill time, this advice from holistic heart doctor Joel K. Kahn, MD, will help make a splurge meal less toxic to your arteries.
Marinate Your Meat
Cooking meat at high temperatures creates compounds called advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which increase inflammation and the risk of diabetes. To minimize AGE exposure, marinate meat in lemon juice or vinegar, grill it moist at lower temperatures, and pick off charred corners.
Sip Red Wine
Chilean researchers found that adding about eight ounces of red wine a day to a high-fat diet reduced the meals’ negative effects on participants’ arteries. Another study showed similar benefits from grape juice.
Pad Patties With Healthy Grains
In a Yale University study, when people ate bowls of oats or wheat cereal with a high-fat meal, their arteries didn’t constrict as much. These grains may reduce fat absorption into the body. Add oats to hamburger patties, or serve meat on whole wheat buns.
Add Avocado
After people ate hamburgers, UCLA researchers documented a harmful reaction in their arteries within two hours. When the people topped the burgers with a slice of avocado, the harm nearly disappeared. Nutrient-packed produce (even an avocado, with high fat content) seems to neutralize the inflammatory effects of meat.
Take a Quick Walk
Thirty minutes or more of brisk walking after a meal can reduce the rise of fat concentration in your blood by 10 to 25 percent.
