Obesity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are all risk factors for cardiovascular disease; this combination of disorders is referred to as metabolic syndrome. And lack of exercise and poor diet increases your likelihood of developing any of these conditions.
But writing in the journal Diabetes Care, researchers say healthy eating can reverse metabolic syndrome.
For the study, scientists followed 339 people with metabolic syndrome for five years, finding participants who followed the nutritional guidelines of the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), were nearly twice as likely to have reversed their metabolic syndrome.
Developed by the Harvard School of Public Health in 2002, the AHEI diet recommends eating whole grains over refined grains, white meat instead of red meat, and a lot of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and soy.
Data also showed individuals with the largest waist circumferences – more than 40 inches for men and more than 35 inches for women – who adhered to the healthiest diet were three times more likely to recover from metabolic syndrome.
So the researchers encourage people to improve the quality of their diets by adding more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
According to the World Health Organization, over 1 billion adults are overweight worldwide, with at least 300 million of them are obese.
Image credit: frangrit
Red meat doesn’t have a good reputation when it comes to heart health. Foods like beef and steak are high in cholesterol, a 
Fish is a staple in many parts of the world, especially countries near the ocean, like Japan, the Philippines, and Mediterranean nations, such as Italy and Greece.
Eggs are a pariah. They’re very high in cholesterol, and we all know that high cholesterol is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
Just say the word chocolate and most people start salivating like a grizzly Rottweiler staring down a mailman.
Arguably, a bowl of nuts goes best with a pint of beer in a dimly lit bar. But nuts – despite their “nuts are fattening” stigma – are incredibly healthy foods.
Not exactly a good start for the future of a country.
It’s hard to resist back-to-back episodes of Sanford and Son, but too many marathons of TV watching may shorten your life, especially if you endlessly channel surf every day.
It sounds obvious. Eating fatty foods, raises cholesterol, clogs arteries, and then WHAM you have a heart attack.
