Heart Healthy Diet

Heart healthy diet mainly consists of low fat, low sodium diet where amount of saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium in a diet is restricted.
According to American heart association Heart disease risk reduction can be achieved by following:

• Consuming an overall healthy diet.
• Aiming for a healthy body weight.
• Aiming for recommended levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides.
• Aiming for a normal blood pressure.
• Aiming for a normal blood glucose level.
• Being physically active.
• Avoiding use of and exposure to tobacco products.

Healthy diet consists of;


Eating variety of nutritious foods from all the food groups.
Vegetables and fruits are high in vitamins, minerals and fiber and they’re low in calories. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables may help control your weight and your blood pressure.
Unrefined whole-grain foods contain fiber that can help lower blood cholesterol and help you feel full, which may help you manage your weight.
Eat fish at least twice a week. Recent research shows that eating oily fish containing omega-3 fatty acids (for example, salmon, trout, and herring) may help lower your risk of death from coronary artery disease.

Eat less of the nutrient-poor foods.

Limit foods and beverages high in calories but low in nutrients, and limit how much saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium.
Reading nutrition labels will tell you how much of those nutrients each food or beverage contains.

Daily food choices recommendations:

• Choose lean meats and poultry without skin and prepare them without added saturated and trans fat. Limit your intake of saturated fat to less than 7% of energy, trans fat to less than1% of energy requirement.
• Select fat-free, 1 percent fat and low-fat dairy products.
• Cut back on foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to reduce trans fat in your diet.
• Cut back on foods high in dietary cholesterol. Aim to eat less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol each day.
• Cut back on beverages and foods with added sugars.
• Choose and prepare foods with little or no salt. Aim to eat less than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day.
• If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. That means one drink per day if you’re a woman and two drinks per day if you’re a man.
  American Heart Association recommendations on portion sizes:
• Fruits and vegetables: At least 4.5 cups a day
• Fish (preferably oily fish): At least two 3.5-ounce servings a week
• Fiber-rich whole grains: At least three 1-ounce-equivalent servings a day.
• Sodium: Less than 1,500 mg a day
• Sugar-sweetened beverages: No more than 450 calories (36 ounces) a week
• Nuts, legumes and seeds: At least 4 servings a week
• Processed meats: No more than 2 servings a week.
• Saturated fat: Less than 7% of total energy intake

Eating wide variety of nutritious foods daily, simple, small changes in eating habits step by step can make a big difference in living a better life.
Practical Tips and Diet Recommendations

Food choices and preparation

• Use the nutrition facts panel and ingredients list when choosing foods to buy.
• Eat fresh, frozen, and canned vegetables and fruits without high-calorie sauces and added salt and sugars.
• Replace high-calorie foods with fruits and vegetables.
• Increase fiber intake by eating beans (legumes), whole-grain products, fruits, and vegetables.
• Use liquid vegetable oils in place of solid fats.
• Limit beverages and foods high in added sugars. Common forms of added sugars are sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, dextrose, corn syrups,
• concentrated fruit juice, and honey.
• Choose foods made with whole grains. Common forms of whole grains are whole wheat, oats/oatmeal, rye, barley, corn, popcorn, brown rice, wild rice,
• buckwheat, triticale, bulgur (cracked wheat), millet, quinoa, and sorghum.
• Cut back on pastries and high-calorie bakery products (e.g., muffins, doughnuts).
• Select milk and dairy products that are either fat free or low fat.
• Reduce salt intake by

1. Comparing the sodium content of similar products (e.g., different brands of tomato Sauce) and choosing products with less salt;
2. Choosing versions of processed foods, including cereals and baked goods, that are reduced in salt; and
3. Limiting condiments (e.g., soy sauce, ketchup).

• Use lean cuts of meat and remove skin from poultry before eating.
• Limit processed meats that are high in saturated fat and sodium.
• Grill, bake, or broil fish, meat, and poultry.
• Incorporate vegetable-based meat substitutes into favorite recipes.
• Encourage the consumption of whole vegetables and fruits in place of juices.

DASH Diet:

It is a Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet recommended by American Heart Association
The DASH eating plan is easy to follow using common foods available in your grocery store. The DASH eating plan includes daily servings from different food groups. The number of servings you should have depends on your daily calorie (energy) needs.

DASH plan Consider your physical activity level as follows:

• Sedentary means that you do only light physical activity as part of your typical daily routine. Moderately active means that you do physical activity equal to walking about 1.5 to 3 miles a day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, plus light physical activity.
• Active means that you do physical activity equal to walking more than 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, plus light physical activity.

Details about DASH eating plan at: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf