What You Need To Know About Heart Healthy Diet

By James Spann


Many people in the present generation are suffering from preventable diseases that mainly emanate from their way of life. This is particularly the case for those who are less sensitive to what they eat. Exercise has also become old fashion. To stay healthy and free from heart conditions and diseases, it is necessary to maintain a heart healthy diet.

Start controlling the health of your heart by first controlling your portion size. It is worth knowing that the much you eat is as vital as what you eat. To enhance control of your portion, keep track of how many servings you eat. Also, be sure to use adequate serving sizes. Controlling food portion is the surest way of enhancing a low proportion of fat and cholesterol. Practice eating more low-calorie foods that are rich in nutrients, such as vegetables and fruits and less of refined and processed foods. Such Refined and fast foods have high calorie and sodium.

Fruits and vegetables are vital sources of vitamins and minerals. They have high dietary fiber content with low calories. They also have substances that are particularly found in plants and which can help avoid cardiovascular disease. Eating vegetables and fruits more often may keep one of such fatty foods as snacks, meat and cheese which are dreadful to your heart.

It can be easy to feature vegetables and fruits in a diet. Maintain a stock of fresh vegetables in a refrigerator for snacks. The vegetables should be washed and cut for quick snacks. For fruits, keep them in a bowl and in a place such as a kitchen where they are readily available and remembered for eating. Also learn to opt for recipes that include such vitamins as their main ingredient. This includes vegetable stir-fry and fresh fruit salads.

As a word of caution, always remember that not all fruits and vegetables are ideal. Choose fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. When it comes to canned products, opt for low-sodium vegetables. For fruits, go for the ones packed in juice. Avoid coconut and vegetables having creamy sauces. Fried and breaded vegetables are not good. You should also shy away from canned fruit in heavy syrup and frozen fruits having sugar as additives.

Enhance your diet by adding whole grains. They are rich in dietary fiber among other nutrients that are vital in controlling blood pressure and enhancing heart healthy. The amount of whole grains can be enhanced in a diet by substituting refined grain products. You can also adventure in such whole grains as quinoa, whole-grain couscous and barley.

Whole grains can also be incorporated in terms of ground flaxseeds. These are the small brown seeds with high content of omega 3 fatty acids and fiber. They immensely lower blood cholesterol. The seeds are often grounded and used in yoghurt and hot cereal.

To sum it all, in healthy eating, remember to ensure that the total fat intake is less than 30% of aggregate calories daily. Saturated fatty acids should be below 10%, while polyunsaturated fatty acids maintained at 10% or less of total daily calories. Cholesterol and sodium intake must be observed at no more than 3000 milligrams per day. Reduce salt intake and be active. Exercise makes heart muscles strong.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment