Health Matters – “Diet and Your Heart: Can What You Eat Improve Your Numbers?”

Date: February 25, 2026
Host: Courtney Allison
Guest: Dr. Shawn Mendez, Cardiologist, NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital

Episode Overview

This episode focuses on the crucial relationship between diet and heart health, answering the key question: “Can what you eat improve your numbers?” Dr. Shawn Mendez breaks down what those important health metrics mean—cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar—and how dietary choices can influence them. He shares practical advice on effective heart-healthy diets (like DASH and Mediterranean), explains food swaps, and offers tips for making lasting lifestyle improvements.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Understanding Heart Health Numbers

(01:22 - 03:27)

• Overview of Markers: Dr. Mendez clarifies that blood pressure, cholesterol (especially LDL), triglycerides, and newer markers such as apolipoprotein B (apoB) are both indicators and potential risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
  • Cholesterol: LDL (“bad” cholesterol) is the biggest concern for heart disease; triglycerides are a secondary marker.
  • Blood Pressure: Ideal is “about 120 over 70”; above 130/80 is considered hypertensive.
  • ApoB: A newer marker that counts all atherogenic (plaque-forming) particles, offering better risk precision.

“All of those mentioned, whether it’s your blood pressure, your cholesterol, specifically your LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, are all markers of either various disease states… also markers that you can be of increased risk for that.”
— Dr. Mendez (01:44)

2. How Diet Can Affect Heart Health

(03:27 – 04:34)

• Magnitude of Improvement: Diet alone can lower systolic blood pressure by about 5-7 points, diastolic by about 3, and LDL by 3-15%.
• Dietary Mechanisms:
  • Salt Sensitivity: Some are more affected by salt than others.
  • Saturated Fats: Strong evidence they raise LDL; processed foods and sugars also play a role.
  • Lifestyle Synergy: Diet interacts with other lifestyle factors like exercise and stress.

“Certainly the foods that we eat impact in very multifactorial ways, meaning that some foods can raise your blood pressure.… There's good evidence that saturated fats elevate the LDL cholesterol.”
— Dr. Mendez (03:31)

3. How Fast Can You See Results?

(04:34 – 05:15)

• Time Frame: Most changes in cholesterol and blood pressure are evident in 1–3 months; gradual changes may take up to a year to see full effect.
• Other Factors: The more dramatic the change, the quicker the response; includes non-diet factors like exercise and quitting smoking.

“It's usually recommended if we either put you on a medication for cholesterol or you're making lifestyle changes to… check that in that same time frame [1–3 months].”
— Dr. Mendez (04:45)

4. Foods that Lower LDL and Blood Pressure

(05:29 – 06:46)

• Soluble Fiber: Oats, barley, psyllium, and similar fibers help lower LDL by binding cholesterol in the gut.
• Healthy Fats:
  • Monounsaturated: Olive oil, mixed nuts, avocados.
  • Polyunsaturated: Walnuts (omega-6), oily fish (omega-3, e.g., salmon).
• Replacing Saturated Fats: Swapping saturated fats for these healthier fats reduces risk.
• No Age Limit: Lifestyle changes are beneficial at any age.

“Oats, barley, psyllium. Those are fibers known to lower LDL cholesterol.… The monounsaturated fats are like olive oil, mixed nuts, avocados. And the polyunsaturated fats, omega-6 is things that are seen in like walnuts or omega-3s, which are the seafood related fats.”
— Dr. Mendez (05:38)

5. The DASH and Mediterranean Diets

DASH Diet

(06:46 – 07:51)

• Developed to lower blood pressure (hypertension).
• Focuses on:
  • High fruits/veggies
  • Low-fat dairy
  • Avoiding red meats
  • Low sodium
  • Emphasizes potassium, calcium, magnesium
• Benefits include lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, and some weight loss.

“The DASH diet has been best studied in the context of high blood pressure.… And a big part of that is both sodium restriction and an increase in foods that contain potassium, calcium, magnesium.”
— Dr. Mendez (06:49)

Mediterranean Diet

(07:54 – 08:36)

• Focuses on:
  • Vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, olive oil, oily fish
  • Limited dairy, poultry, eggs, and very low processed foods
• Biggest evidence for lowering overall cardiovascular risk.

“The Mediterranean diet… is really focused on high consumption of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, olive oil with an emphasis on that oily fish... The differences are the DASH diet’s the best one studied for hypertension. And… Mediterranean diet… reduced overall cardiovascular risk.”
— Dr. Mendez (07:54)

• Lifestyle Element: Mediterranean considered more flexible but requires mindful adaptation to avoid pitfalls (pastries, processed foods).

6. Starting and Sticking With Heart-Healthy Changes

(09:08 – 10:45)

• Define Your Diet: Honestly assess your current eating patterns (suggests keeping a food diary for a week).
• Identify Risk & Goals: Are you looking to prevent disease or treat existing factors?
• Small Steps, Not Perfection: Start with easy snack swaps and reducing sugary beverages.
• Track Progress: Keeping a log helps build insight and can motivate continued improvements.

“Often having patients, like write down what they ate for a week and often that's enough to just look back and say, 'Oh, when I wrote it down, that kind of puts out what I actually ate versus what I think I eat.'”
— Dr. Mendez (09:16)

7. Common Misunderstandings

(10:45 – 11:20)

• Heart-healthy Eating Is for Everyone: Not just those at risk or with heart disease—prevention is for all ages.
• Lifestyle Matters Even With Medication: Diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management remain key even when numbers look good on medication.

“No matter what medications you're on. Even if your blood pressure's perfect because we have you on medication, all of these factors still matter and are still associated with decreasing your overall risk.”
— Dr. Mendez (10:48)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It's really like compounding interest. Eating better, healthier lifestyle really adds up over time. But there's no age that's too late to change.”
  — Dr. Mendez (06:27)

• “If you're like, I'm gonna eat pastries all the time… certainly you're probably not getting the benefits of that.”
  — Dr. Mendez, on the Mediterranean diet misinterpretation (08:40)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:22 — Introduction to heart health numbers
• 02:15 — Ideal ranges for blood pressure and cholesterol
• 03:31 — How diet impacts heart health metrics
• 04:45 — Timeline for seeing changes from diet
• 05:38 — Foods to lower LDL and blood pressure
• 06:46 — DASH diet explanations and benefits
• 07:54 — Mediterranean diet: foods, benefits, flexibility
• 09:16 — How to begin dietary changes
• 10:20 — Food swaps and snacking tips
• 10:45 — Misunderstandings about heart-healthy eating

Summary Takeaways

• Diet has a significant, measurable impact on heart health numbers, but changes take time, typically 1–3 months to reflect in lab results.
• Key heart-healthy diet strategies: Increase soluble fiber, substitute healthy fats for saturated fats, limit processed and high-sugar foods, and consider adopting a DASH or Mediterranean-style diet for comprehensive risk reduction.
• Tracking what you eat and making small, sustained swaps (especially with snacks and drinks) is an effective way to start.
• Preventative diet and lifestyle changes are beneficial at any age and are important whether or not you’re on medication.

Useful for anyone seeking practical, evidence-based guidance on using diet to improve and protect heart health, complete with actionable tips and a focus on realistic, sustainable change.