Eat Healthy to Help Prevent Heart Disease

Eat Healthy to Help Prevent Heart Disease

You can lower your chances of getting heart disease by eating healthy. For a healthy heart, eat:

Less Fat
Less Sodium
Fewer Calories
More Fiber

Eat less fat

Some fats are more likely to cause heart disease. These fats are usually found in foods from animals, such as meat, milk, cheese, and butter. They also are found in foods with palm and coconut oils. Eat less of these foods.

Eat less sodium

Eating less sodium can help lower some people's blood pressure. This can help reduce the risk of heart disease. Sodium is something we need in our diets, but most of us eat too much of it. Much of the sodium we eat comes from salt we add to our food at the table or that food companies add to their foods. So, avoid adding salt to foods at the table.

Eat fewer calories

When we eat more calories than we need, we gain weight. Being overweight can cause heart disease. When we eat fewer calories than we need, we lose weight.

Eat more fiber

Eating fiber from fruits, vegetables and grains may help lower your chances of getting heart disease. To learn more visit the  fiber  article

Diet Tips for a Healthy Heart

Eat a diet low in fat, especially animal fats and palm and coconut oils. (These foods contain saturated fat and cholesterol. Saturated fat and cholesterol can cause heart disease.)
Choose a diet moderate in salt and sodium.
Maintain or improve your weight.
Eat plenty of grain products, fruits and vegetables.
Choose milk with 1% fat or skim milk instead of whole milk.
Eliminate fried foods and replace them with baked, steamed, boiled, broiled, or microwaved foods.
Cook with oils which are low in fat and saturated fat like corn, safflower, sunflower, soybean, cottonseed, olive,canola, peanut and sesame oils. Stay away from oils and shortenings that are high in fat and saturated fat.
Smoked, cured, salted and canned meat, poultry and fish are high in salt. Eat unsalted fresh or frozen meat, poultry and fish.
Replace fatty cuts of meat with lean cuts of meat or low-fat meat alternatives.
In recipes requiring one whole egg try two egg whites as a lower fat alternative.
Replace sour cream and mayonnaise with plain low-fat yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese, or low-fat sour cream and mayonnaise.
Substitute hard and processed cheeses for low-fat, low-sodium cheeses.
Use herbs and spices as seasoning for vegetables and potatoes instead of salt and butter.
Replace salted crackers with unsalted or low-sodium whole-wheat crackers.
Substitute canned soups,bouillons and dry soup mixes which are high in salt for sodium-reduced soups and bouillons.
Replace white bread, white rice, and cereals made with white flour with whole-wheat bread, long-grain rice, and whole-grain cereals.
Substitute snacks high in salt and fat with low-fat, low salt snacks. Cut-up vegetables and fruits are a quick healthy snack.

Top 5 Tips to Prevent Heart Disease

 Top 5 Tips to Prevent Heart Disease

1) Quit Smoking!

Because cigarette smoking is so prevalent and destructive, it has been identified by the U.S. Surgeon General as the single most preventable cause of disease and premature death in the nation. Smoking increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD}, peripheral vascular disease (PVD), and coronary heart disease (CHD). And, for people with a history of CHD, cigarette smoking is also a risk factor for sudden cardiac death.

2) Watch Your Waistline

The risks to heart health that are associated with obesity include heart attacks, heart failure, CVD and CHD, along with a whole host of other negative health effects. Choose a balanced diet that is low in saturated fat and high in lean protein, fruits and vegetables, healthy oils and whole, unprocessed grains. Be good to your heart by maintaining the proper weight for your age and body type.

3) Keep Moving

As little as a half hour of exercise daily can protect your heart. Aerobic activities such as walking, running and swimming work the heart and help keep it robust. We all have busy schedules and hectic lifestyles, and fitting in a daily workout can be an overwhelming thought. However, it's important to remember that exercise doesn't have to be done all at once to be beneficial. Take a couple of short walks a day and use the stairs whenever possible. We can all fit in 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there to move our bodies if we make it a priority. Embrace the challenge and think of exercise as a gift, not a chore. And in a very real way, that's just what it is, a gift...for your heart.


4)Watch Your Cholesterol

The toxins in tobacco smoke lower a person's high-density lip protein cholesterol (HDL or "good" cholesterol) while raising levels of low-density lip protein cholesterol (LDL or "bad" cholesterol). A high level of LDL in the blood is a significant risk factor for atherosclerosis, also known as hardening of the arteries. Other factors that influence cholesterol are genetics and eating a diet rich in saturated fats and trans fats. If it’s been a year or more since your last cholesterol check, call your doctor and schedule an appointment. If your cholesterol is high, there are steps you can take to control it.


5)Maintain Normal Blood Pressure

 While at the doctor’s office getting your cholesterol checked, have your blood pressure checked also. Maintaining a healthy blood pressure reduces the risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure. High blood pressure is considered to be anything over 140 for systolic blood pressure and 90 for diastolic blood pressure. If yours is high, take it seriously and follow your doctor’s recommendations.

5 Heart-Healthy Tips

5 Heart-Healthy Tips

 

The Super Bowl is almost here -- and I couldn't be any more excited to suit up in black and gold and wave my Terrible Towel for the Pittsburgh Steele rs. (Woot! Woot!) Obviously these guys do everything they can to edge out their competitors -- for this game, the Green Bay Packers.

This includes eating healthy high-octane diets. Leslie Bonni, R.D., the Steele rs' nutritionist, makes sure that the players' diets keep them at their best, on and off the field. Last year, I visited Bonni at the Steele rs' training camp to talk about how she keeps the players' hearts healthy. Her all-star tips will help keep your ticker in tip-top shape too.

Heart-Healthy Habit #1: Get Trim

If you're overweight (as two-thirds of American adults are), losing as little as 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can result in better blood pressure, lower risk for diabetes and improved cholesterol levels, research shows.

Heart-Healthy Habit #2: Cut Back On "Bad" Fats
 When Casey Hampton (a.k.a. "Big Snack") arrived at training camp in July 2008 too heavy to play, Pittsburgh Steele rs nutritionist Leslie Bonni worked with the team's chef to create meals designed to slash Hampton's intake of calories and saturated fats, which can elevate "bad" LDL cholesterol, leading to plaque buildup in arteries. In place of fried chicken wings, Bonni gave Hampton grilled chicken strips with low-fat dipping sauces.

Other ways to reduce saturated fat: replace butter with olive and canola oils, which contain good amounts of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats; choose lean meats, poultry, fish and beans instead of higher-fat meats; select nonfat or low-fat milk and yogurt in place of whole-milk versions; eat full-fat cheeses sparingly. Avoid trans fats, which also increase LDL cholesterol, by skipping foods that contain "hydrogenated oil" or "partially hydrogenated oil" in their ingredient lists. (Big culprits include packaged snacks, crackers, bakery goods and some margarine.)

More from Eating Well:

Heart-Healthy Habit #3: Eat At Least 25 Grams Of Fiber Daily

Studies link a high-fiber diet with a lower risk of heart disease. Unfortunately, the average American only gets about 14 grams per day. Soluble fiber in oats, beans and citrus fruits, such as oranges, helps reduce "bad" LDL cholesterol levels. Opting for whole grains, such as brown rice and whole-wheat pasta, boosts your intake of total fiber (by way of insoluble fiber, which is also good for digestion) and can decrease levels of triglycerides, another "unhealthy" fat in the blood, as a diet rich in refined carbohydrates may stoke the body's production of triglycerides.

Heart-Healthy Habit #4: Have Fish Twice A Week

Doing so may reduce your risk of heart disease by 30 percent, research suggests. Omega-3 fats in fish lower triglycerides and blood pressure; they also can help prevent irregular heart rhythms. Have trouble fitting in fish? Speak with your doctor about fish-oil supplements -- taking them daily helped current Pittsburgh Steele rs to improve their cholesterol profiles, according to a January 2009 study in Sports Health.

Heart-Healthy Habit #5: Exercise For 30 Minutes Nearly Every Day

A 2009 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association credited NFL players' high level of physical activity with helping to mitigate the heart risks associated with being overweight. You don't need to be a professional athlete to benefit from exercise. Moderate exercise (e.g., brisk walking) will help to keep your heart healthy.

Nicci Micco is editor-at-large for Eating Well and co-author of Eating Well 500-Calorie Dinners. She has a master's degree in nutrition and food sciences, with a focus in weight management.

10 Heart Healthy Exercise Tips

Activities as Exercise Can Help Your Heart

According to Jennifer Mieres, M.D., American Heart Association (AHA), "to get heart-healthy benefits, you need to get your heart rate up" there are dozens of activities you can do to help your heart. Whether it is a structured exercise program or just part of your daily routine, all physical activity adds up. It’s easy to follow these exercise tips at home, at work, and at play to increase the amount of physical activity in your life.
Tips to help you start a heart healthy exercise plan.
Aerobic exercises done 30 minutes a day is excellent for increasing your heart rate. Climbing the stairs, a brisk walk, orbital exercise machine or treadmill, anything to get your heart rate up.  Wii has several fun games such as Wii Sports or Wii Fit Step Aerobics – and its great exercise you can do with your kids. Make it a family affair
Any moderate-intensity exercise like swimming, jogging, Pilates and yoga is good. Exercising your heart muscle means exercising your body. You don’t need a gym, just a bit of motivation and a good pair of walking shoes.
If you “don’t have time” then fit shorter but more frequent periods of time, like 5-10 minutes several times a day throughout your day. Take the stairs, park your car further away from the door, and definitely count in those house chores such as mowing the lawn, vacuuming, or a short brisk walk around the block at lunch or for a break. 
If you already do a vigorous aerobic routine or enrolled in an exercise class, then three days a week for 20 minutes a day is good.
For adults that are 65 and older or anyone with chronic conditions or limited mobility, you need the same amount of exercise as younger people – the activity can be less intense. Use good judgment and follow your doctor’s advice. See tip #1 and plan to gradually increase activities.
Strength training is a great complement to aerobic training and helps to prevent age-related bone and muscle-mass losses. Keep in mind that strength training doesn't’t increase heart rate but does increase stamina. Use it to target areas where muscle-tone is needed and don’t forget the other muscle groups.
With any plan, start strength training slowly and build up to heavier weights and repetitions especially if you are new or out of shape. The old adage "no pain, no gain" is more often inappropriate and can be dangerous.
Practice balance exercises to help prevent falls and injuries. Balance techniques are used frequently as exercises in yoga or more simple forms of balancing exercises such as walking heal-to-toe, standing on one foot, or standing up and sitting down without using your hands.
Stretching exercises done twice a week helps keep flexibility, which is very important. Consider 10 minutes of stretching twice a week to improve your flexibility

5 Diet Tips for a Healthy Heart

Read below for 5 tips to include in your diet to help prevent heart disease

1. Limit your intake of unhealthy fats and cholesterol. Limit the amount of saturated and trans fats in your diet such as butter, hydrogenated margarine and shortening, cream sauce, and coconut, palm, cottonseed, and palm-kernel oils.   A few good fats to add to your diet are olive oil, canola oil, and cholesterol lowering margarine.

2. Eat low-fat protein sources. Some high fat protein sources to avoid are bacons, sausages, organ meats, and full-fat dairy products.  Excellent protein sources to add into your diet are skim or low-fat milk, egg whites, fish, legumes, lean ground meats, and skinless poultry. Also, some higher fat protein sources with Omega-3's such as salmon are good for your heart.

3. Eat your fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables contain many vitamins, minerals, and substances that may help prevent cardiovascular disease. Vegetables with creamy sauces, fried or breaded vegetables, and canned fruit in heavy syrup should be avoided.  Fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables are healthy, ideal sources to add to your diet.

4. Reduce the amount of sodium in your food. High amounts of sodium can lead to high blood pressure, which is one of the main risk factors of cardiovascular disease.  Try to avoid adding table salt to your meal and limit the amount of prepared foods, such as frozen dinners.  Choose reduced-sodium soups, prepared meals, and condiments.

5. Choose whole grains. Whole grains are an excellent source of fiber and can also help regulate blood pressure.  The main grain products to avoid are white, refined flour products, doughnuts, cakes, and high-fat snack crackers.  Excellent sources of whole grains include whole-wheat flour, whole-grain pasta, ground flax-seed, and high-fiber cereals.