Your lifestyle affects your health significantly, and what you prefer to eat can affect your blood pressure, heart performance, triglyceride levels and cholesterol, either worsening or reducing your heart's risk severity.

That is why many people are looking for a heart-friendly diet amid a lot of diets and various tips. The American Heart Association recently came up with a standardized list of diets that can significantly reduce many heart-related risks. The findings were published in the journal Circulation.

According to an official statement from the scientific society, "the number of different and popular dietary patterns has spread and increased in recent years, and the volume of misinformation about them on social media has reached critical levels," which has further confused people and many healthcare professionals, and then the researchers analyzed common eating patterns, and found that "some actually promote heart health better than others."


Why is your dietary style important for heart health?

Heart health has long been a concern worldwide, and according to the World Health Organization, heart-related diseases are the leading cause of death globally; heart disease claims "an estimated 17.9 million lives each year," according to a report published on the organization's website.

However, experts say that with proper care and a healthy lifestyle this situation can be changed and the risk to the heart can be reduced; this means that food plays a key role in heart health.

There are certain foods that affect blood pressure in the body, triglycerides and cholesterol levels that either aggravate or reduce heart risk, hence it is important to know the ingredients of food well before following a particular diet.


4 diets recommended by doctors

Here are 4 types of diets recommended by doctors to enjoy a healthy heart:

1- Dash Diet

"DASH" means dietary methods to stop high blood pressure. It stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, a diet specifically designed to monitor blood pressure levels.

The typical DASH diet is low in salt and rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products and protein.

Those who follow the semi-vegetarian "Piscatarian" diet also eat fish and do not eat meat or chicken (Pixaby)

2- Pscatarian diet

The Pescatarian Diet shares many ingredients with a vegetarian diet, and is rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains and dairy products, and does not contain meat and poultry.

The only and important addition to this diet is seafood. In other words, those who follow this semi-vegetarian diet also eat fish and do not eat meat or chicken.


3- Mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean Diet was selected as the best overall and healthiest diet in the 2023 U.S. News & World Report.

Plant-based foods — such as whole grains, vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices — are the basis of this diet.

One can also include yogurt, cheese and poultry in the diet, but in moderation.


4- Vegetarian "lacto-ovo" diet

Simply put, this vegetarian Lacto-Ovo diet includes all possible plant-based foods, along with dairy products and eggs.

This vegetarian diet – which contains eggs and milk – does not include meat, whether red or white, or fish.

As always, it's always a good idea to consult with your doctor about what kind of diets and diets you want to follow.