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strawberry image via Shutterstock

Eating heart-shaped foods will keep your ticker in good shape

Strawberries, red peppers, apples – if it looks like a heart, get it into you.

NUTRITION EXPERTS IN the US are advising people to eat more heart-healthy foods, with one simple tip – if it looks like a heart, it’s probably good for it.

Though some dieticians rave about the virtues of red wine and dark chocolate for heart health (and that might sound pretty good to us), Katie Eliot, assistant professor of nutrition and dietetics at Saint Louis University, has a different plan.

“Being red and heart shaped can be a tip off that some foods are good for your heart,” Eliot said. “Many heart shaped fruits and vegetables are great sources of antioxidants. These compounds act like shields, taking the hit from free radicals that otherwise damage the body and cause heart disease and cancer.”

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(Image: Riya V Anandwal)

Strawberries and raspberries are loaded with vitamin C and an antioxidant known as poliyphenol that prevents plaque from forming.

Cherries also contain an antioxidant called athocyanin, which is thought to protect the blood vessels and is high in potassium, which lowers blood pressure.

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(Image: Riya V Anandwal)

Tomatoes and red peppers are rich in lycopene, which is in many red fruits and vegetables and works magic by neutralising free radicals.

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(Image: Riya V Anandwal)

For fiber, turn to acorn squash and apples as these can reduce bad cholesterol that can clog up your arteries to cause hear attacks and stroke.

While the normal recommendation is to eat at least five fruits and vegetables a day, Eliot recommends that for the month of February and with Valentines Day coming up, make two of these a heart-shaped or red choice.

“It’s a happy coincidence that many of these foods actually resemble the organ they help to protect,” she said.

Read: Meet the people beginning a new life in 2014 thanks to organ transplants>

Read: What overeating does to your body>

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13 Comments
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    Mute James St John Smith
    Favourite James St John Smith
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    Jan 31st 2014, 10:04 PM

    Cadburys strawberry milk tray?

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    Mute Spud Jones
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    Jan 31st 2014, 9:35 PM

    Oddly enough your hart looks nothing like a hart shape

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    Mute Stephen
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    Feb 1st 2014, 3:50 AM

    Got dizzy after reading that.

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    Mute Spud Jones
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    Feb 1st 2014, 7:29 AM

    I say your dizzy anyway Stephan

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    Mute Poonam Anil
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    Feb 1st 2014, 5:51 AM

    I’ll be cutting my pizza into a heart shape from now on.

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    Mute Maurice Danaher
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    Jan 31st 2014, 10:15 PM

    Strawberry wine

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    Mute Keith Fealy
    Favourite Keith Fealy
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    Jan 31st 2014, 10:01 PM

    Found a couple of recipes for heart shaped food, they look damn tasty!!

    http://honest-food.net/2012/06/13/grilled-deer-heart-recipe/

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    Mute Paul Cushen
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    Jan 31st 2014, 11:07 PM

    Seriously Keith???

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    Mute Henry Sanner
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    Jan 31st 2014, 11:24 PM
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    Mute Davin Lynch
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    Feb 1st 2014, 2:52 AM

    Don’t smoke,eat healthy,exercise, treat yourself every now and again. Moving on.

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    Mute richardmccarthy
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    Feb 1st 2014, 12:20 PM

    All that lovely healthy food is great but to be really healthy you also need your quota of enjoyable daily exersize,if you do both you will not only give your body a fighting chance, but in the long run will prevent deseases and sickness,thus saving a fortune on costly health treatment which you can put to far better use, ive done this most of my life without any health problems and im nearly seventy.

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    Mute Sheik Yahbouti
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    Feb 1st 2014, 2:04 AM

    Very fond of cucumber and mooli myself. :-)

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    Mute spudsONtoast
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    Feb 1st 2014, 3:20 AM

    I usta work with a man that peddeled to work, ate grass and turnips, whined when we ate chups and smoked fags and this one day, he gat a mazzive heart attack and died . Was never good at comedy shows, but that bight i laughed so hard i peed a wee bit.

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