I thought it might be fun, and hopefully educational, to do a short series on heart-healthy plants.

This week, I would like to take a look at nuts, seeds and oils. In the following weeks, we will check out fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains and herbs.

We typically refer to nuts and seeds as being different; however, nuts are seeds. In the culinary world, nuts typically refer to seeds of trees. Peanuts, on the other hand, are the seeds of a legume, which is in a family of plants that also contain beans, lentils and peas.

Foods we refer to as 'seeds' are seeds from plants such as vegetables (pumpkins), flowers (sunflowers) or crops, like flax or hemp.

Nuts and seeds both contain healthy unsaturated fats, fiber and protein. They also include additional nutrients. For example, all nuts have magnesium. Almonds are also loaded with calcium and vitamin E. Walnuts contain a lot of folate. And, peanuts and pecans both contain ample amounts of the B vitamins.

Studies show that people who regularly consume nuts are less likely to have heart disease than those who rarely eat them. This may be partly due to the unsaturated fats that can help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise HDL (good) cholesterol.

In addition, walnuts, flaxseeds and chia seeds contain good amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. These healthy fats may lower triglycerides, reduce the risk of heart arrhythmia, lower blood pressure and slow plaque buildup in arteries. It is recommended to eat one ounce of nuts or seeds daily.

Turning to healthy plant-based oils, last week we checked out olive oil. For me, this oil is the crème de la crème. Olive oil contains healthy fats that may lower heart disease risk. It also has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds.

Other than olive or avocado oil, experts tend to disagree on whether some seed oils, such as sunflower, safflower, corn, canola and soybean oil, are healthy or not. Dr. Andrew Weil shares that most of these oils are high in linoleic acid, which is an omega-6 fatty acid that increases inflammation in the body.

Dr. Weil recommends fruit oils, such as olive or avocado. At my house, we use avocado for sautéing due to its high smoke point. We drizzle extra virgin olive oil on, well, everything. This brings us to coconut oil, which we use sparingly at my house. I may add one-half teaspoon to a morning grain bowl or my turmeric tea.

Coconut oil is highly controversial. It is beloved by some in the medical community and hated by others. The argument against using coconut oil is that due to its high saturated fat content it may increase heart disease. Dr. Mark Hyman, functional medicine practitioner, on the other hand is in favor of using coconut oil.

For more information, check out Dr. Hyman's article on "Fat: What I Got Wrong, What I Got Right."