A cardiologist shares her favorite heart-healthy breakfasts, lunches, and snacks

• Dr. Elizabeth Klodas said she follows a "plant-foward" diet.
• Klodas said the foundation of our diets should be fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and seeds.

A cardiologist has shared her favorite breakfasts, lunches, and snacks that help to keep her heart healthy.

Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, who has been a cardiologist for 27 years and founded a company that makes cholesterol-lowering foods, told Insider that she eats a whole food "plant-forward" diet. That means she mostly eats vegan food, with some fish and dairy, and meat very occasionally.

The more she researched nutrition and cardiovascular disease the more she became convinced a whole food plant-based diet is the key to a healthy heart, she said, adding that leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, grains in their most whole and unprocessed forms, nuts, and seeds should be the foundation of our diets.

Klodas told Insider how these foods fit into her daily diet.

Breakfast: A bowl of fruit and Greek yogurt

"My typical breakfast will be a bowl of fruit," she said.

Klodas will change up the fruit depending on the season but it is often berries: raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, or strawberries, she said.

The fruit is piled in a bowl with a dollop of fat-free or very low-fat unsweetened Greek yogurt and topped with raw ground granola, which is a combination of flax, chia seeds, walnuts, almonds, and oats.

She adds some dried fruit and it's good to go.

"That's my breakfast that I have almost every single day."

The breakfast includes protein, antioxidants, and plenty of fiber that keeps her full until lunch, she said.

Incorporating fiber, antioxidants, and healthy fats into your diet is important for maintaining a healthy gut microbiome, Klodas said, which is important for fighting inflammation.

Fiber, found in fruit and oatmeal, in particular is important for your heart, according to Mayo Clinic, as it reduces the amount of cholesterol that is absorbed into the bloodstream.

Lunch: Vegetable soup, salads, and fruit

Klodas said what she has for lunch depends on her day. If she's at work, her lunch tends to be on the go so she'll opt for some nuts and dried fruit — her homemade raw trail mix — and some fruit such as two whole apples, she said.

When it comes to making a quick lunch at home, soups can be easy and healthy, she said. Klodas's favorites are mushroom and barley or celery soup.

"Just throw a bunch of veggies into a pot, add some stock and you're done," she said.

Salads are also quick to make, she said. She'll include lots of greens with a simple dressing of olive oil and vinegar, topped with an egg or smoked salmon.

Klodas told Insider she loves salmon in all different forms, and it has great health benefits too. The American Heart Association said fatty fish like salmon are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for the heart.

It recommends eating two servings of fish, particularly fatty fish, per week.

Snacks: Vegetables with dips

For snacks, Klodas will have vegetables with guacamole or hummus — a staple she keeps in her fridge.

She also likes to eat nuts and will leave them out as an appetizer at parties. This doesn't, however, mean all nuts are good for you. If you roast, salt, and add barbecue flavoring to an almond, you're really far away from the original presentation of that food, she said.

"You wanna be as close to the original form as possible."

Research suggests that eating tree nuts, such as almonds and walnuts is good for decreasing LDL cholesterol, the bad kind of cholesterol which can lead to heart disease.