If heart health is a concern for you, it's important that you are giving good consideration to what foods you put into your body each and every day.

What you eat will have a dramatic influence over your cholesterol levels as well as your risk factor for heart disease. Heart-health friendly diets should be rich in lean protein, healthy fats, especially the mono-unsaturated and omega varieties, along with plenty of fibre rich carbohydrates. Sugar and trans fats should be kept out of the picture at all times.

Combine recipes like this plus regular jog outside or on your treadmill and you can rest assured you're taking a large step forward as far as your risk factor is concerned. To help get the process started, we've come up with a great recipe that will utilize these key food ingredients, while also supporting a healthy body weight.

Chicken Vegetable Soup

Want something warm to heat you up on a cool evening? Turn to this chicken vegetable soup. It contains butternut squash, which will provide a lower carb, but higher fiber source of energy and a good dose of garlic. Garlic has been well proven to help fend off heart disease thanks to the phytochemicals it contains, which will also improve your immune system strength. This is one soup you can feel great about eating.

Ingredients

1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove minced garlic
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups cubed peeled butternut squash
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
10 spears, cut asparagus
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 cups spinach leaves
2, 3 oz. chicken breasts, pre-cooked and cut into bite sized pieces

Directions

1.Heat the olive oil in a large pot.
2.Add onion, garlic and mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes.
4.Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
5.Add chicken breasts and spinach leaves and simmer for 1-2 minutes prior to serving.

This healthy recipe is shared by Shannon Clark in collaboration with Shannon Clark. Shannon Clark has a degree in Exercise Science from the University of Alberta, where she specialised in Sports Performance and Psychology. In addition to this, she is an AFLCA certified personal trainer and has been working in the field for over 12 years now.