What should you eat for a healthier heart?

Photo by Jamie Street | Unsplash.com

By Juan Cardenas Rosales, M.D.
Posted on October 23, 2025

Dear Mayo Clinic: We hear a lot about “heart-healthy” diets, but the guidance seems to always change. It’s confusing to me. What foods are important, and what should we avoid?

A: One of the most important factors for a healthy heart is to try to follow a healthy diet. We usually recommend a Mediterranean diet, which is mostly based on trying to eat more white meat, such as fish and chicken, instead of red meat, such as beef or pork. This type of diet also focuses on eating more vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, beans, whole grains and olive oil.

Cutting out trans fats in fried food, frozen pizza and microwave popcorn, and added sugar in soda, sweets and pastries is also important for your heart health. Switching your snacks, especially before or after exercising, from cookies or chocolates to carrots or broccoli, can help you continue to snack but with beneficial ingredients.

Staying hydrated helps your heart pump blood more effectively and benefits your blood vessels and muscles. Drink at least two liters of water each day.

Avoiding tobacco and alcohol can prevent future cardiovascular conditions. It has been shown that after just one year of quitting tobacco use, your risk of having a cardiovascular event drops in half in comparison with patients who smoke tobacco. Alcohol use can trigger difficulty for you to fall asleep, and sleep disorders have been linked to heart disease.

In general, low-sugar, low-salt and low-carb diets are usually helpful for all our patients to stay out of cardiovascular risk.

Start adjusting your lifestyle little by little but consistently, taking baby steps — even if you adjust just one factor per day or per week, whether that’s trying to cut down on the amount of high sugar, high fat or high salt in your diet. Little by little and with time, those changes will remain and will help you prevent any type of long-term medical condition in the future.

Juan Cardenas Rosales, M.D., Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida

Mayo Clinic Q & A is an educational resource and doesn’t replace regular medical care. This Mayo Clinic Q&A represents inquiries this healthcare expert has received from patients. For more information, visit mayoclinic.org.