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What is a Good Heart Healthy Diet?

November 28th, 2009 Johanna No comments

Making sure your heart is healthy may add years to your life. The importance of the healthy heart diet is to give up certain types of foods that may cause heart complications. People who are interested should be willing to give up greasy and fattening foods. To some this may mean that you must be willing to give up the foods that taste really good.

Recent studies have suggested that eating a heart-healthy diet can cut the risk of developing heart disease or stroke by 80%. Considering that heart disease is still the number one killer of both men and women in the United States, this is news worth considering!

Weight control and exercise are the primary steps to a healthy heart, but there are additional ways to boost the body’s immunity to heart disease. Take a closer look at how specific food choices impact our capacity to help manage or prevent heart disease and high blood pressure— two of the biggest health challenges we face today.

1. Limit your intake of saturated fats – Replace red meat with beans, nuts, poultry, and fish whenever possible, and switch from whole milk and other full-fat dairy foods to lower fat versions.

2. Use liquid vegetable oils rich in (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats) in place of butter in cooking and at the table.

3. Aim to eat one or more good sources of omega-3 fats daily—fish, walnuts, canola or soybean oil, ground flax seeds or flaxseed oil.

In order to have a healthy heart, you need to minimize the amount of cholesterol in your body. Cholesterol comes from the foods you eat and from your body itself. However, your body alone creates the appropriate amount of cholesterol for you, so it doesn’t need any additional cholesterol from your food intake. In order to reduce the amount of cholesterol in your diet, you should limit the amount of red meat that you eat. Instead of red meat, you can eat fish and poultry. Use egg whites or substitutes instead of the whole egg. As a rule of thumb, if it’s greasy, you probably shouldn’t eat it.

Being successful at this diet can prevent a heart attack and a stroke. All in all, it should lead to a more healthy existence and give you more energy.

American Heart Association Diet Plan Online

November 24th, 2009 Johanna No comments

The American Heart Association (AHA) is the nation’s most trusted authority on heart-healthy living. AHA diet plan helps you create a personalized plan to lose weight in a healthful way. After a simple assessment of your current habits, you choose the eating and exercise strategies that best fit your needs. You’ll learn how to set practical goals, eat well to lose extra pounds safely, and add physical activity to keep the weight off for good.

The American Heart Association is an organization in the United States. Their goals are to promote and foster cardiac care and awareness. One of its primary goals is to reduce disability and death rate caused by cardiovascular diseases and stroke and help people cope. It is a non-profit organization.

The American Heart Association Diet Plan advises clients to become aware that labels on food can also be misleading if not read carefully. Most consumers overlook the fact that most snack foods and beverages contain more than one serving per package. While a small pack of chips might read 150 calories, the package may actually contain two servings. For most people, once that bag of chips is open, it is very difficult to close it up after eating one serving. The same thing goes for high caloric beverages, including flavored coffees, juices, and sodas. Most commercial epicure coffee beverages, such as lattes, contain several hundred calories. Comparatively, a cup of black coffee contains no calories! Always remember to keep an eye on food portions, especially when eating out. Whether consuming healthy food, or occasionally indulging in junk food, eating in moderation is the key to maintaining a healthy body, as well as monitoring daily caloric intake for a heart healthy diet.

AHA provided a healthy guideline for people who want to live longer and lose weight.  The eating plan is based on these AHA dietary guidelines:

* Total fat intake should be less than 30 percent of calories.

* Saturated fatty acid intake should be less than 10 percent of calories.

* Polyunsaturated fatty acid intake should be no more than 10 percent of calories,

* Monounsaturated fatty acids make up the rest of total fat intake, about 10 to 15 percent of total calories.

* Cholesterol intake should be no more than 300 milligrams per day.

* Sodium intake should be no more than 3000 milligrams (3 grams) per day.