The nightcap secret to a healthier heart
As soon as I start talking about healthy eating habits with my patients, I see that familiar glaze come over their eyes.
And I know exactly what they’re thinking – this is going to taste terrible.
It’s a shame that we’ve been conditioned to believe that the foods and drinks we love can’t be healthy for us, too.
Case in point? That evening glass of wine.
For years mainstream docs have told seniors to stay away from alcohol if they want to stay healthy. But just like with coffee, dark chocolate and eggs – which all turned out to be good for you – these docs have been wrong about booze, too.
In fact, tossing back that occasional glass of alcohol could slash your risk of serious heart disease by a third or more!
Researchers from Norway tracked data from over 60,000 people for 13 years. And they found that those who consumed three to five alcoholic beverages a week reduced their heart failure risk by an impressive 33 percent.
But that’s not even the best news. Those same drinkers had the LOWEST heart attack risk of anyone in the study!
After 13 years had passed, less than 3 percent of these folks had developed heart failure and only about 5 percent of them had a heart attack.
For those of us who have been paying attention, this new study doesn’t come as a complete surprise. We’ve known that some alcoholic beverages, like red wine, are loaded with antioxidants like resveratrol that are great for your heart and may even stop the spread of cancer.
Now, this doesn’t mean you can trade in your dumbbells for a corkscrew. Substituting a glass of wine for moderate exercise or a healthy meal just won’t have the same effect.
Of course, neither will drinking five glasses of wine in one sitting. There are still risks to heavy drinking, like liver disease and high blood pressure -- and you’ve got to watch any of those fancy cocktails made with sugary mixers and syrups.
But if you’ve been swearing off alcohol completely, it might be OK to put it back on the menu. Remember, not everything you enjoy has to be bad for you.