Eating right for a healthier heart
Eating fewer high-fat, high-cholesterol foods and watching calories are important steps to a healthier diet and a healthier heart.
Guidelines for a healthy diet
With your doctor, determine the number of calories you need each day to achieve or maintain a desirable weight. Eat less high-fat food (especially those high in saturated fat). Replace part of the saturated fat in your diet with unsaturated fat.
Less than 30% of your total daily calories should come from fat (less than 10% of your calories should come from saturated fat; no more than 10% of your calories should come from polyunsaturated fat; 10% to 15% of your calories should come from monounsaturated fat). Saturated fat is fat from animal and whole milk dariy products, as well as from some oils (for example, red meat, butter, cream, cheese, and palm oil). Unsaturated fat is a type of fat that is usually a liquid and is not as bad for you as saturated fat. Monosaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat are two kinds of unsaturated fat. Monosaturated fat is a slightly unsaturated fat found in foods from plants, including olive and canola (rapeseed) oils. Polyunsaturated fat is a highly unsaturated fat found in foods from plants, including safflower, sunflower, corn, and soybean oils.
Control your daily cholesterol intake - eat less than 300mg a day. Choose foods high in complex carbohydrates (starch and fiber). If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation.
Read the labels to find the fat
Ask yourself these questions to help choose products that are low in fat, especially products that are low in saturated fat.
1. Is fat a major ingredient?
On the label, all ingredients are listed by weight. The ingredient in the greatest amount is listed first. The ingredient in the least amount is listed last. To avoid too much fat and cholesterol, go easy on products that list any ingredient high in saturated fat or cholesterol first.
2. Is there more than one type of fat in the product?
When you see several high-fat ingredients on a label (such as lard, hydrogenated vegetable oil, and beef), the product probably has too much fat.
3. Is the serving size appropriate?
When you are figuring out how much fat there is in something, make sure to use a serving size that is close to what you would really eat.
Eating out
Be just as careful when you dine out as you are when you make your own meals! When dining out use light corn oil and vinegar dressings on salads. Use margarine instead of butter on your bread. Eat broiled or grilled chicken; remove its skin before eating. Ask the chef to trim off any excess fat before cooking. On hamburgers, avoid cheese or mayonnaise toppings - add tomato or lettuce instead. Select broiled or poached fish fillets. Choose marinara, clam, or tomato sauce without meat or sausage (avoid cream sauce) on your pasta. Choose vegetable toppings instead of cheese or meat toppings on your pizza. Avoid toppings such as butter or sour cream, on a baked potato. Eat plenty of vegetables, but without any heavy sauces. Sherbet and fresh fruit are excellent dessert choices. Use skim milk or nondairy, nonfat creamers in coffee and tea.
Choose your low-cholesterol, heart-healthy diet
To get the nutrients you need, you have to eat a variety of foods. One way to do this is to choose foods from the different food groups. After determining your dietary goals with your doctor, adjust the number and size of portions to reach and stay at your desired weight.
For meat, poultry, fish, and shellfish (up to 6 ounces/day) choose lean cuts of meat with fat trimmed; chicken and turkey without skin, fish, and shellfish. Avoid "prime" grade fatty cuts of meat; goose, duck, liver, kidneys, sausage, bacon, regular luncheon meats, hot dogs.
You should consume 2 servings from the dairy group per day (3 servings for pregnant or breastfeeding women). Choose skim milk, 1% milk, low-fat buttermilk, low-fat evaporated or nonfat milk, low-fat yogurt, cottage cheese, or cheeses labeled "no more than 2 to 6 grams of fat per ounce". Go easy on 2% milk, yogurt, part-skim ricotta, part-skim or imitation hard cheeses (like part-skim mozzarella), "lite" cream cheese, and "lite" sour cream. Avoid whole milk, cream, half and half, imitation milk products, whipped cream, custard-style yogurt, whole-milk ricotta, hard cheeses (like Swiss, American, cheddar, muenster), cream cheese and sour cream.
When eating eggs choose egg whites or cholesterol-free egg substitutes. Go easy on egg yolks (no more than 3 per week).
Try to limit fats and oils to 6 - 8 teaspoons per day. Choose corn, olive, peanut, canola (rapeseed), safflower, sesame, and soybean oils, and use tub (not stick) margarine. Go easy on nuts, seeds, avocados and olives. Avoid butter, lard, bacon fat, coconut and palm kernel oils.
It is recommended that you consume 6 - 11 servings of breads, cereals, pasta, rice, dried peas, and/or beans every day. Most breads, bagels, English muffins, rice cakes, low-fat crackers (like matzo, bread sticks, rye krisps, saltines); hot and cold cereals; spaghetti, macaroni, noodles, and any grain rice; dried peas and beans make healthy food choices. Go easy on store-bought pancakes, waffles, biscuits, muffins, and cornbread. Try to avoid croissants, sweet rolls, danish, doughnuts, crackers made with saturated oils, granola-type cereals made with saturated oil, and egg noodles, pasta, and rice prepared with cream, butter, or cheese sauces.
You should consume 2 to 4 servings of fruit and 3 to 5 servings of vegetables every day. Fresh, frozen, canned, or dried fruits and vegetables make good choices. Try to avoid vegetables prepared in butter, cream or sauce.
If you feel like a snack avoid too many sweets. Try sherbet, sorbet, Italian ice, frozen yogurt, popsicles, angel food cake, fig bars, gingersnaps, low-fat jelly beans and hard candy, plain popcorn, pretzels, fruit juices, tea and coffee.
Go easy on ice milk, fruit crisps and cobblers, homemade cakes, cookies, and pies prepared with unsaturated oils. Avoid ice cream, frozen tofu, candy, chocolate, potato chips, buttered popcorn, milkshakes, frappes, floats, eggnog, store-bought pies, most store-bought frosted and pound cakes.
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