potassium of a banana!), spinach, kale, beet greens,
Swiss chard, mushrooms, and, believe it or not,
salmon.
Indulge in nitrate-rich foods. Nitric oxide dilates
blood vessels and expands your arteries while also
improving blood flow. Gram for gram, arugula has
more nitrates than any other vegetable. Close seconds
include beets, butter leaf lettuce, spinach, beet greens,
broccoli, and Swiss chard. A single nitrate-rich meal
may boost cognitive function.^15Can Heart Disease Begin in the Gut?
One last and underappreciated means by which the small,
dense LDL particles may overexpress in the body is through
an unhealthy gut.^16 Within the sanctuary of our intestines
resides an impressive population of bacteria. Most of the
time, these bacteria are friendly and enhance our lives in
invisible ways. But when we neglect to maintain their home
turf, bacterial fragments can “bleed” into our circulation,
causing major problems.
One of these normal bacterial components is
lipopolysaccharide, or LPS, also known as bacterial
endotoxin (meaning “internal toxin”). Under normal
circumstances, this endotoxin is kept safely in your
intestines, much like the highly corrosive hydrochloric acid
that is kept in your stomach. But unlike the stomach, the