We know a proper diet is the best way to be healthy but do we all really follow a proper diet? Trying to eat healthy and really eating healthy not always the route everyone goes. Of course, when I see some of the things, I eat on the healthy list you know I get excited. Avocados go with everything salads, sandwich, guacamole, you can always find something to add avocado to. Now imagine it’s good for your heart win- win people! Check out this article from http://www.marthastewart.com and below is another article on cranberries also healthy for your heart:

Avocados are delicious just about any time of day (for breakfast, lunch, and yes, even in ice cream). As you’ve heard, they pack plenty of healthy fats and nutrients and now, according to a new study, there’s even more reason to eat avocado for your good health. In fact, researchers have concluded that consuming just two servings of the fruit each week (one whole avocado or one cup diced avocado) could decrease your risk of having a heart attack by 21 percent (compared to those who don’t eat the fruit), reports the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers found that having a couple of servings of this healthy fat (equal to 80 grams) limits heart attack risks in women and men also when eaten in place of butter, cheese, and processed meats. To conduct their study, researchers followed more than 68,000 women and 41,000 men over a 30-year period for the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. None of the participants had experienced cancer, coronary heart disease, or stroke at the start of the study; and, as a way for researchers to track participants’ health overtime, each participant filled out dietary questionnaires every four years over the course of the three decades.

Related: Beyond Smashing: Our Absolute Favorite Avocado Recipes for Every Meal

The team noted that eating half a serving of avocado (¼ cup) each day instead of the same serving of eggs, yogurt, cheese, margarine, butter, or processed meats, like bacon, limited the risk of heart attacks by 16 to 22 percent.

There are replacements for avocado if it isn’t readily available in your area, says Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine and nutrition. He recommends trading high fat and processed foods for inexpensive alternatives such as beans, chickpeas, and lentils.

To prevent heart disease overall, the National Library of Medicine shares that reducing your sugar intake, as well as avoiding processed foods and saturated fats, is helpful. The American Heart Association adds that everyone’s body needs fat to increase energy, keep organs healthy, and more. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are known to protect the heart the most. Olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, safflower oil, and sesame oil, avocados, and peanut butter are all examples of monounsaturated fats.

Eating Cranberries Every Day Could Benefit Your Heart, New Study Reveals

Do you have a favorite fruit? While apples, oranges, and bananas are common picks, you don’t want to overlook other delicious and nutritious options you can grab from your local market. Take cranberries, for example: You could reap benefits far beyond a satisfying snack just by incorporating the sweet-tart fruit into your daily diet. A recent study published in the journal Food & Function found that the natural substances in cranberries could boost the health of your blood vessels in addition to decreasing your risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

“The increases in polyphenols and metabolites in the bloodstream and the related improvements in flow-mediated dilation after cranberry consumption emphasize the important role cranberries may play in cardiovascular disease prevention,” Ana Rodriguez-Mateos, a co-author of the study, said. “Furthermore, the fact that these improvements in cardiovascular health were seen with an amount of cranberries that can be reasonably consumed daily makes cranberry an important fruit in the prevention of cardiovascular disease for the general public.”

Related: 10 Fresh Cranberry Recipes That Aren’t Sauce

The team came to their findings after their clinical trial that studied how freeze-dried whole cranberry powder, instead of juice, could benefit people’s hearts. (They noted that 9 grams of cranberry powder would be the same as consuming 100 grams of cranberries.) To conduct their study, researchers rounded up 45 men and they gave half of the group 4.5 grams of freeze-dried cranberry powder to drink twice every day and provided a placebo powder similar to the cranberry option for the other group for one month.

As a result, the researchers discovered that the volunteers’ who consumed the cranberry powder had improvements in their vascular function, even after the first day, based on flow-mediated dilation (FMD), meaning, participants got boosts in blood flow to their arteries from consuming the fruit. After the month period, the team also noted that the FMD increases linked to the increase in polyphenol metabolites, which prevents oxidative stress that often causes heart disease.

“Our findings provide solid evidence that cranberries can significantly affect vascular health even in people with low cardiovascular risk,” Christian Heiss, a co-author of the study out of the University of Surrey, added. “This study further indicates that specific metabolites present in the blood after cranberry consumption are related to the beneficial effects.”