Diet for Healthy Heart

As we are all aware that our diet plays an important role in our overall well-being. Diet is the primary cause of weight gain, weight loss, cause of certain diseases, etc. We also know that we can reverse and avoid several conditions by following a healthy diet. Similar is the case with heart diseases. It is essential to have a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle to prevent heart attack and other diseases.

Diet Guidelines

You should note that this diet is to be followed regularly and as long as you can, if you wish to prevent heart diseases. This is not a fad diet and hence, is easy and comfortable to follow. Before taking a look at the actual diet plan, you should go through the following guidelines that will help you understand the diet plan.

• Keeping a watch on your calorie intake is the most important thing that you need to follow. You should get your calorie intake calculated (based on age, gender and activity level) and strictly consume only those many calories every day.
• The total fat intake (inclusive of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats) should be less than 30 percent every day. This means that nearly all the fatty foods should be avoided.
• As sodium is one of the factors leading to heart diseases, it should be avoided as much as possible. The daily intake of sodium should be no more than 3000 milligrams every day. It is necessary to let go for salted foods completely.
• Lastly, cholesterol, another reason for heart diseases, should also be avoided from the diet. Foods like cheese, deep-fried foods, organ meats, egg yolk and most of the processed foods, contain high amounts of cholesterol and hence, should be avoided.

Diet Plan

The following is the list of foods that you can safely consume in the healthy heart diet.

• All vegetables except potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams
• All fruits (preferably fresh and cut)
• Soybeans, soy products, tofu; beans and legumes
• Whole grains, oatmeal, whole wheat
• Fish, oily fish, fish oil, lean fish
• Lean chicken, skinless poultry, egg white
• Fat free dairy products, skimmed milk, yogurt
• Olive oil, canola oil

You can plan your daily meals by choosing any of the aforementioned foods. Most of the unhealthy foods can be substituted with healthy foodstuffs and hence, it will be easy for you to follow the diet. For e.g., take a look at the following list of unhealthy foods which can be substituted for healthy options:

• Cheese pizza ~ vegetable pizza on wheat base
• Fried chicken ~ skinless boiled chicken
• Ice cream ~ frozen, flavored yogurt
• Whole egg omelet with cheese ~ egg white omelet on wheat bread
• Cream based sauces ~ homemade fresh sauce (without salt or preservatives)
• Alcohol, coffee, tea ~ herbal tea, green tea, freshly made frozen fruit drinks

Apart from following the diet, you also need to exercise regularly, reduce stress, reduce intake of alcohol, avoid smoking cigarette, etc. to prevent heart diseases. So, wait no more; but, get going. Take care!