Heart Healthy Diet

Did you know? In the United States, heart disease is a leading cause of death for both men and women. Luckily, there are several steps you can take to protect your heart and stay healthy!

One of the simplest ways to support your heart health is by eating a heart-healthy diet. By eating more fruits and vegetables and limiting saturated fats and added sugars, you can be on your way toward heart-healthy living.

Many doctors recommend the heart-healthy Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan, as it has been proven to lower high blood pressure and “bad” LDL cholesterol in the blood. There are also a variety of recipes, cooking tips, and more to help you improve your health.

These foods are the foundation of a heart-healthy eating plan:

• Vegetables: leafy greens (spinach, collard greens, kale, cabbage), broccoli, and carrots
• Fruits: apples, bananas, oranges, pears, grapes, and prunes
• Whole grains: plain oatmeal, brown rice, and whole-grain bread or tortillas
• Fat-free or low-fat dairy: milk, cheese, or yogurt
• Protein-rich foods:
  • Fish high in omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, tuna, and trout)
  • Lean meats such as 95% lean ground beef or pork tenderloin skinless chicken or turkey
  • Eggs
  • Nuts, seeds, and soy products (tofu)
  • Legumes such as kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, and lima beans
• Oils and foods high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats:
  • Canola, corn, olive, safflower, sesame, sunflower, and soybean oils (not coconut or palm oil)
  • Nuts such as walnuts, almonds, and pine nuts
  • Nut and seed butters
  • Salmon and trout
  • Seeds (sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, or flax)
  • Avocados
  • Tofu

A heart-healthy eating plan limits sodium (salt), saturated fat, added sugars, and alcohol. Understanding nutrition labels can help you choose healthier foods. Here are some foods to limit:

• Sodium: Adults and children over 14 should eat less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium daily. Children younger than 14 may need to eat even less sodium each day based on sex and age. You may need to limit sodium even more if you have high blood pressure. Talk to your healthcare provider about the right amount of sodium for you or your child.

Here are some steps you can take to limit your sodium intake:
1. Read food labels and choose products that have less sodium for the same serving size
2. Choose low-sodium, reduced-sodium, or no-salt-added products
3. Choose fresh, frozen, or no-salt-added foods instead of pre-seasoned, sauce-marinated, brined, or processed meats, poultry, and vegetables
4. Eat at home more often so you can cook food from scratch, which will allow you to control the amount of sodium in your meals
5. Flavor foods with herbs and spices instead of salt
6. When cooking, limit using premade sauces, mixes, and instant products such as rice, noodles, and ready-made pasta

• Saturated Fats: Saturated fats come from animal sources such as butter, cheese, and fatty meats. They should make up less than 10% of your daily calories. To help reduce saturated fats in your diet:
  1. Eat leaner, lower-fat, and skinless meats instead of fatty cuts of beef and chicken with skin
  2. Consume lower-fat dairy products instead of whole-milk
  3. Use certain vegetable oils (such as olive and canola oil) instead of butter, lard, and coconut and palm oils.
• Added Sugars: Limiting the amount of calories you get each day from added sugars and opting for nutrient-rich foods can help you stay within your daily calorie limit. Fruit is healthy, as it contains natural sugars; added sugars do not occur naturally in foods but are used to sweeten foods and drinks. They include brown sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, raw sugar, and sucrose.
• Alcohol: Limit your alcohol intake as it not only adds calories to your daily diet but also raises your blood pressure and levels of triglyceride fats in your blood. Alcohol has also been shown to contribute to or worsen heart failure in some people, such as some people who have cardiomyopathy, and raise your risk of other diseases such as cancer.