8 Superfoods to Improve Your Circulation
Proper circulation is one of the keys to health and longevity. Ensuring that blood can flow freely allows nutrients to travel all throughout the body.
One of the best ways to improve your circulation is through exercise. Simply moving gets your heart rate up and keeps the blood flowing. But circulatory health doesn’t end with exercise. Your diet has a huge impact on your body’s ability to function, and here we’ll discuss some of the best foods you can eat to improve your circulation.
Your diet has a huge impact on your body’s ability to function.
When considering foods to eat that will help with circulation, you should prioritize a few key nutrients:
- Antioxidants
- Omega-3 fatty acids
- Dietary fiber
- Vitamins and minerals
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These nutrients work in conjunction with one another to improve circulation by eliminating waste products from the body, lowering blood pressure, removing cholesterol, and fighting inflammation. By accomplishing all of these things, the circulatory system is allowed to function unhindered.
You’ll want to consume foods that are rich in these select nutrients to improve your circulation. What foods should you eat? Well, I’m glad you asked.
Vegetables are an obvious choice, so we’ll start there.
1. Asparagus – Asparagus is a natural diuretic, which means that it’s great for flushing toxins out of the body. This veggie is also packed with important nutrients like potassium, folate, vitamin C, and fiber. All of these help to improve circulation and fight inflammation throughout the body. Asparagus is also a decent source of protein.
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2. Celery – Celery is rich in vitamin K and acts as a natural diuretic. Vitamin K is essential for proper clotting of the blood, and the diuretic property helps the body to eliminate waste products.
3. Cucumbers – Cucumbers are a great source of water, dietary fiber, vitamin C, and potassium. Together, these nutrients help to fight inflammation throughout the body and get rid of waste products, making cucumbers great for circulatory healthy.
4. Red Bell Peppers – Just one of these spicy vegetables contains a full day’s worth of vitamin C in addition to water, fiber, and antioxidants. Peppers are great fun to cook with too. You can enjoy them raw, or add them to soup, salad, or a stir fry.
Many other vegetables are great at improving blood flow, especially green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale. They contain high amounts of vitamin K and vitamin C, which help to keep the blood and liver healthy.
Other veggies like carrots tomatoes, avocados, and squash are equally beneficial, and can provide a much-needed boost to blood flow. It almost doesn’t matter what vegetables you like, because you really can’t go wrong.
5. Citrus – Citrus fruits are a sweet way to improve your circulation. They don’t contain very much sugar and are loaded with vitamin C. They’re also versatile, meaning you can enjoy citrus’s anti-inflammatory properties almost anyone. You can squeeze a lime into your water, have a grapefruit for breakfast, an orange before or workout, and use a lemon to add some zest to your food.
6. Seeds – You may not think of seeds as a superfood, but seeds like chia, flax, hemp, and pumpkin definitely earn the title “superfood” and contain high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids and other antioxidants. This gives these seeds powerful anti-inflammatory compounds. Additionally, the healthy fats in these seeds can even help lower your cholesterol and thereby promote better circulation.
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7. Nuts – Nuts are also a great source of vitamins and healthy fats. In particular, almonds and walnuts are especially beneficial for someone trying to boost overall circulation.
Almonds contain vitamin E to help fight inflammation in the body; and walnuts are high in omega-3 fatty acids and a proven cancer fighter. Together these two nuts can make for a powerful, heart healthy snack. Though you should always consume them raw to maximize their benefits.
8. Pseudo Grains – Pseudo-grains like quinoa, teff, and amaranth are all deserving of their superfood label. These healthy “grains” can remove cholesterol that slows down circulation, and they are packed with antioxidants. They can also prevent inflammation, which is the root cause of many ailments.
We’d be lacking if we didn’t mention our tried and true superfoods. We love superfoods because their benefits are endless. Foods like the acai and goji berries, cacao, and spirulina are all loaded with nourishing antioxidants, which will quell inflammation, lower blood pressure, and improve circulation. These foods are expensive, but there’s no better bang for your buck.
Exercise should definitely be a part of your life, but what you eat takes priority. Your diet can make or your break your overall health. So while we encourage you to stay active, you should also be mindful of how foods affect your body.
These every day superfoods will provide the nutrients you need to keep your circulatory system running as efficiently as possible. Improving blood circulation will ease the strain on your heart and keep you on your feet for years and decades to come.
This article appeared first at Daily Superfood Love and appears here with permission.Â
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Any statements or claims about the possible health benefits conferred by any foods or supplements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
