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How many times have you heard you should take vitamin E, vitamin D, or folic acid to prevent heart disease?

Guess what - new research shows taking these supplements doesn’t decrease your risk of heart disease.

We know that eating a healthy diet that’s primarily fruit, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats (or even better - vegetable protein such as legumes) and healthy types of fat definitely decreases risk of heart disease. But when we try to isolate individual nutrients, such as vitamins or minerals that are the cause of this protective effect we come up short.

The answer lies in eating food, not popping supplements. Do your heart a favor by incorporating these simple changes into your daily lifestyle:
-  eat a piece of fruit with every meal
-  serve a double portion of vegetables at lunch and dinner
-  enjoy legumes as a protein source (vegetarian chili is a great example) instead of meat one or two times per week
-  make sure most of the bread, cereal, and grain products (rice, barley, pasta) you choose are whole grains

Check out this delicious two-bean chili recipe from the Michigan Bean Commission:  http://www.michiganbean.org/recipes/071.html

They also have a wide variety of other recipes that incorporate legumes. Enjoy!