I Love a Healthy Heart, A Month of Desserts to Love That’ll Love You Back
- Richelle Godwin
- Feb 6
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 11
It’s the month of love and most people like to share a dessert with the one they love…so let’s embrace the two and get some delicious desserts you can try all month long! These desserts are a little bit of ‘good for the soul good for the body,’ not perfectly balanced with good health, but definitely wholesome. As with any good soul food, sometimes that decadent bite is what your soul craves. I’ll be updating this post all month long, but you can also refer to any of my desserts for some yummy options. I’ll be highlighting the recipes in this post that lean towards some heart healthy desserts that offer heart healthy benefits, like dark chocolate which provides some magnesium and studies have shown having adequate levels of magnesium supports a healthy functioning heart.
Heart Healthy Blueberries
Blueberries…even in winter can be enjoyed frozen. You can read more details about the health benefits of blueberries here, but some heart healthy highlights, check below…
“Effects of blueberry in the context of hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome and supplemented with doses between 20 and 50 g of wild blueberry powder, equivalent to 1 to 2 cups of fresh blueberries daily for 6 to 16 wk (1 —see study for further details related to this section)
Cardiovascular
Decrease coronary artery disease (2), fatal and nonfatal myocardial infarction (3)
Hypertension (multiple studies with increase in anthocyanin intake decreased risk of HTN by ~8-10%, (3,4,5), and greatest risk reduction in women aged ≤60 years (6, 7)
Cholesterol
Decreased LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and increased HDL cholesterol with blueberries being consumed twice a day (8)
Heart Healthy Dessert with Blueberries
This is my family's favorite pie and one I make regularly, especially for birthdays as it's my main squeezes' preference vs birthday cake. Now you can try it, too, and also receive some healthy antioxidants. Yum! Click the link or picture above...Blueberry pie.
Heart Healthy Nuts
Nuts are not created equal but they also have some beautiful heart healthy benefits when eaten in the right amount. You can read more about the benefits here, but a few nutrients of what they possess.
Fiber
Protein + Amino Acids
Vitamins + Minerals
Phytochemicals + Antioxidants
Omega 3 fatty acids
Heart Healthy Desserts with Nuts below:
Heart Healthy Chocolate
Chocolate, oh, this may be one of my favorite ingredients (don’t tell the vegetables). I quite simply love chocolate and find ways to soulfully enjoy a treat once a day which usually contains chocolate. So of course, when you want to enjoy this ingredient, it should have some health properties too, right? Granted, most of the chocolate which is studied is the darker chocolate, usually 70% and higher...and the higher you go, the ‘better for you’ it is based on studies.
Overall, dark chocolate has been linked:
Source of antioxidants like flavonoids, polyphenols (processing changes amount and benefit) (9)
Help Improve blood flow by improving dilation in blood vessels (10)
Help lower blood pressure
Nutrition of 70-85% cacoa 100 grams (average 3.5 oz bar size–entire bar, because let’s be real here) (11)
11.9 mg iron
73 mg Calcium
228 mg Magnesium
308 mg Phosphorus
715 mg Potassium
3.31 mg Zinc
1.77 Mg Copper
Heart Healthy Chocolate Desserts:
Need a Health Consult?
If you need help creating your own personal menu, understanding your labs, or needing to hit your health goals, please reach out to me, I'd love to help you along your journey!
References
(1) Kalt W, Cassidy A, Howard LR, Krikorian R, Stull AJ, Tremblay F, Zamora-Ros R. Recent Research on the Health Benefits of Blueberries and Their Anthocyanins. Adv Nutr. 2020 Mar 1;11(2):224-236. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmz065. PMID:
31329250; PMCID: PMC7442370.
(2) Grosso G, Micek A, Godos J, Pajak A, Sciacca S, Galvano F, Giovannucci EL. Dietary Flavonoid and Lignan Intake and Mortality in Prospective Cohort Studies: Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis. Am J Epidemiol. 2017 Jun 15;185(12):1304-1316.
(3) Cassidy A, Bertoia M, Chiuve S, Flint A, Forman J, Rimm EB. Habitual intake of anthocyanins and flavanones and risk of cardiovascular disease in men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016 Sep;104(3):587-94. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.116.133132. Epub 2016 Aug 3. PMID: 27488237; PMCID: PMC4997299.
(4) Bertoia ML, Rimm EB, Mukamal KJ, Hu FB, Willett WC, Cassidy A. Dietary flavonoid intake and weight maintenance: three prospective cohorts of 124,086 US men and women followed for up to 24 years. BMJ. 2016 Jan 28;352:i17. doi: 10.1136/bmj.i17. PMID: 26823518; PMCID: PMC4730111.
(5) Kalt W, Cassidy A, Howard LR, Krikorian R, Stull AJ, Tremblay F, Zamora-Ros R. Recent Research on the Health Benefits of Blueberries and Their Anthocyanins. Adv Nutr. 2020 Mar 1;11(2):224-236. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmz065. PMID:
31329250; PMCID: PMC7442370.
(6) Cassidy A, O'Reilly ÉJ, Kay C, Sampson L, Franz M, Forman JP, Curhan G, Rimm EB. Habitual intake of flavonoid subclasses and incident hypertension in adults. Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Feb;93(2):338-47.
(7) Lajous M, Rossignol E, Fagherazzi G, Perquier F, Scalbert A, Clavel-Chapelon F, Boutron-Ruault MC. Flavonoid intake and incident hypertension in women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016 Apr;103(4):1091-8. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.115.109249. Epub 2016 Mar 2. PMID: 26936332.
(8) Li D, Zhang Y, Liu Y, Sun R, Xia M. Purified anthocyanin supplementation reduces dyslipidemia, enhances antioxidant capacity, and prevents insulin resistance in diabetic patients. J Nutr. 2015 Apr;145(4):742-8. doi: 10.3945/jn.114.205674. Epub 2015 Feb 4. PMID: 25833778.
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