Eating Healthy – What’s Not to Love?

St. Valentine’s Day brings to mind hearts and flowers, candy and romance. But when you think about it, there are better ways to keep your beloved’s heart healthy than plying them with sugary treats.

Hearts are associated with St. Valentine’s Day, the February holiday dedicated to love in all its  romantic and platonic forms. But let’s think about that for a second: those hearts aren’t just drawn on greeting cards (or worn on our sleeves) – they’re also used as a popular shape for unhealthy seasonal treats. Everywhere you turn, there are heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, heart-shaped cakes, cookies, sweets, even heart-shaped pizza. But just as you’ll never see a Conversation Heart candy emblazoned with “Heart Attack” or “I [heart] Diabetes,” popular culture ignores the real danger that these sugary treats pose to our health.

We all know that eating a steady diet of unhealthy food, high in sugar, salt, oil, animal products and processed food destroys our health – it leads to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune disease and a host of other ailments. But it’s important to note that even one heavy, low-nutrient holiday meal can have devastating consequences – which I discuss in my blog post, Don’t Succumb to “Holiday Heart” and in my book, The End of Heart Disease.

When low-fiber, refined carbohydrates such as candy are digested, they are absorbed as simple sugar. This creates acute hyperglycemia (short-term elevated blood glucose) which has been shown to impair endothelial function, promote blood clotting (which increases heart attack risk), induce oxidative stress, deplete circulating antioxidants, increase blood pressure, increase circulating adhesion molecules, negatively affect brain function, impair the body’s ability to fight infection, and decrease blood flow to the heart.^1-8712-17

So this year, let’s look at some strategies to celebrate our tender feelings, with gifts and gestures that will help keep our loving hearts beating for a long time to come.

Healthy sweets for the sweet – This year, forget the box of sugar, oil, artificial colors and preservatives (otherwise known as “candy”) and opt for a more elegant and nutritionally sound treat. Some great choices include an organic fruit basket, an assortment of beautiful berries, a box of raw, unsalted nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews, pepitas); some organic dark chocolate bars (at least 85 percent cacao), or a collection of pure, no-salt seasonings and spices. Fruit-and-nut nutrition combos (like my G-BOMBS bars and Pop’ems) are also a fun and practical gift that provide healthy nourishment on the go.

Dinner Preservations – If you are planning on a romantic meal in a restaurant, a little advance planning will help ensure that your loving vibe isn’t squashed by, well, a lack of squash (or whatever veggies you enjoy).  If you must eat in restaurants, only pick those with excellent salad and vegetable options, such as salad bars and vegetable plates.  Crowd out the desire for unhealthy food by filling up with salad, vegetables and fruits.  Better yet, cook a gourmet Nutritarian dinner, including a delicious healthy dessert that you can share with your loved ones. 

Amp Up Your Flower Power – Who wants to blow a bundle on an expensive flower arrangement that’s a) not edible and b) headed for the compost heap in a few days? Instead of roses, why not give a beautiful pot of growing herbs? Not only are they useful (for cooking) and fragrant, the symbolism of herbs looms large in our cultural history. Shakespeare’s Ophelia talks about “rosemary, for remembrance.” Thyme takes its name from the Greek for “courage,” while basil (originally a symbol of hatred for the ancient Greeks and Romans), now symbolizes “love” in Italy. Imagine presenting your sweetie with a kitchen herb garden that (botanically) expresses remembrance, courage and love.

How do you plan to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day? Share your ideas in the comments.

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