What a coincidence that on the first day of February, which is
American Heart Month, I had my first day of rotations for my Clinical Nutrition class where we are counseling patients on the cardiac floor of a local hospital about the heart healthy diet. In honor of that, here are the five things that you (especially if you're at risk of heart disease) need to keep in mind in order to keep your heart healthy:
- Keep total fats low. You can do this by eating lean protein and watching your consumption of fats like cooking oil and whole milk (for example).
- Keep saturated fats low. You can do this by decreasing the amount of animal products you consume, especially things like red meat, pork, and cheese.
- Keep cholesterol low. You can do this by limiting the amounts of animal products you consume such as egg yolks and certain types of meat and fish.
- Keep sodium levels low. You can do this by eating less processed and prepared foods, cooking at home more, and being aware of sodium content and serving size.
- Keep fiber levels high. You can do this by eating high-fiber cereal, beans, whole grains, and fruits and vegetables.
Want to get involved in heart healthy events? This Friday, February 3rd, is national
wear red day put on by the American Heart Association. So put on your red dress, make heart-healthy choices in your meals and snacks, and celebrate the love.
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| How healthy is your heart? |
(photo
credit:
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1998)
re: keeping sodium low-- Did you see the articles yesterday about how the #1 source of salt in our diet is BREAD?!
ReplyDeleteI did read about that - I'm guessing that the sodium in bread is mostly in order to preserve it from growing mold on grocery store shelves rather than salt used to flavor. This is why we're supposed to eat less processed foods to cut down on sodium, but of course most people probably don't consider bread to be a processed food!
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