What's a heart healthy diet?
The first step in a heart-healthier lifestyle is a heart-healthy diet. Here are some guidelines to help you plan and personalize your diet:
1. Calories count.
Being overweight is one of the primary risk factors for heart disease, so be sure your calorie intake is appropriate to achieve and/or maintain a healthy weight. See also: How many calories do I need?
2. Eat plenty of fiber.
A high fiber diet will help you control your weight (by controlling your appetite) and also can help you maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Twenty-five grams of fiber per day is the recommended minimum. Ideally, aim for 35-40 grams of fiber per day.
3. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables contain fiber (see #2) but also are rich in antioxidant nutrients that help protect your heart. Eat at least five servings of colorful vegetables (such as carrots, berries, peppers, and broccoli) to get a minimum of 100% of the daily recommended amounts of vitamin A, C, K.
4. Folate fuels a healthy heart
Folate is a vitamin found in dark leafy green vegetables that promotes a healthy heart by clearing excess homocysteine from the blood. The recommended intake is at least 400mcg per day; 800mcg is considered ideal.
5. Emphasize healthy fats.
A heart-healthy diet doesn't necessarily need to be a low-fat diet. A diet rich in monounsaturated fats can help lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and other risk factors. Monounsaturated fats are olive oil, avocadoes, and nuts such as almonds. Use these as your primary sources of fat.
6. Watch your sodium
A diet high in sodium can lead to high blood pressure. The USDA recommends limiting your sodium intake to 2300mg per day--but most Americans eat about twice that much. Those with high blood pressure are advised to reduce sodium to 1500mg a day. See also: Tips for reducing sodium.
7. Limit your intake of sweets and refined carbohydrates
Foods that are high in sugar and refined carbohydrates (which includes many low-fat foods!) can create sharp spikes in blood sugar and ultimately increase your risk of both heart disease and diabetes. Choose whole grain foods whenever possible and consume sweets occasionally or not at all. For a naturally sweet treat, enjoy fresh fruit. (See #3.)
Next Step: Search for foods by nutrient
Related Content: How can I personalize Nutrition Data for my goals?
 older posts |
home | newer posts  |
| Heart Healthy Targets | | The Heart Health Blog | | Five ways to cut back on salt |
Posted by: Sally Wise | Feb 5, 2009 2:00:58 PM
This is a good list, but it should be added that to have a healthy heart, one should also watch cholesterol intake. Here is a link to some facts known about cholesterol, its origins, and its effects on the body: http://www.pcrm.org/health/PDFs/chol_heartdisease.pdf
Posted by: Fredrik Gyllensten | Feb 8, 2009 12:18:43 PM
Very good list!
But Sally, blood cholesterol is very little affected by what you eat, if at all.
And cholesterol is not always a bad thing, you have both 'bad' and 'good' cholesterol.
Eggs for example, is very healthy.
Posted by: Alyssa | Feb 20, 2009 8:02:11 PM
Frederik... Blood cholesterol is definitely affected by what you eat. That is like saying that blood sugar isn't affected by what you eat. Cholesterol is absorbed into the blood stream when you eat it. So... And about the eggs thing. You can overeat eggs. Infact they might be the best source of of cholesterol... but they are on the very bottom of a very long list of heart healthy foods.
Posted by: sawinder bhasin | Feb 24, 2009 7:36:28 AM
It is all very confusing about eatin or not eggs in regard to collesterol. what is your considered opinion about it
Posted by: JLee | Mar 13, 2009 1:49:13 PM
Hi Fredrik and Alyssa,
You are both right to an extent. Diet does have an impact on body cholesterol. That said, the cholesterol that you eat isn't directly translated into higher levels of cholesterol in the body for most people. There is a much stronger relationship between diets high in saturated fat and elevated body cholesterol levels. So even though you might want to pay attention to the amount of cholesterol you eat, you should really focus on keeping your saturated fat intake low (less than 10% of total calories).
Also, usually the bad press about eggs is based on some cross-sectional studies that saw that people that ate eggs more frequently had higher blood cholesterol. Coincidentally those people where more likely to eat other breakfast foods like sausage and bacon, both containing high levels of saturated fat. It is probable that the saturated fat is more to blame for the raised blood levels than the cholesterol in eggs. If consumed, they should still be eaten in moderation though.
Posted by: Catalina | Mar 19, 2009 1:44:38 PM
Hi! well I have a question, I'm 20years old, I have arrhythmia, and I'm 16pounds underweight and I don't have any cholesterol problem, ¿because of my type of heart problem and weight does it make my diet different, or should I take the same diet?
Posted by: jo | May 22, 2009 4:50:27 PM
My cardiologist says eggs are ok. However, he does restrict carbs and fruits. He recommends 80% of the time to eat lean meats, veggies (no corn, carrots, 'taters or peas,) wild rice and nuts. The other 20% of the time (Friday p.m until Sunday a.m.) anything is ok but stick to 1800 calories.
Posted by: Matt | Jun 1, 2009 4:18:19 PM
Jo, your cardiologist "gets" it! Dietary cholesterol has minimal impact on blood cholesterol. What impacts your heart health is your triglycerides (which hate wheat) and your HDL/LDL ratio.
Posted by: ED | Jun 9, 2009 1:19:34 AM
Some very interesting and upsetting data at http://www.heartattackproof.com/
Posted by: Fazila | Jun 12, 2009 2:07:27 AM
High fiber foods such as oatmeal, lower LDL and Triglycerides while are risk factors, while foods high in antioxidants such as fruits and vegetables promote a healthy heart.
For more information on risk factors, and foods which directly affect them, visit http://www.secretsofhealthyeating.com/heart-healthy-foods.html
Posted by: Kelly | Jun 15, 2009 11:31:37 AM
#5 says eat healthy fats but I think the author needs to go a step further and remind people to avoid trans and saturated fat. These both increase one's "bad" LDL cholesterol. Polyunsaturated fats are also okay. This is from the American Heart Association.
Posted by: Antony | Aug 26, 2009 11:14:34 PM
I enjoy "high" cholesterol. That means I have good memory, a well functioning brain, good mood and more. As a post graduate physicist (who had a mild heart attack) I got involved in reading studies on the effectiveness of reducing cholesterol and frankly there is really hardly a shred of evidence which would justify the use of drugs to reduce cholesterol - unless you are sales commission motivated!
Posted by: Robert Ennaco | Oct 9, 2009 12:52:35 AM
My heart has a weird beat sometimes that scares me into thinking it's stopped :o, it feels like my heart tries to jump out of my chest from time to time, please give feedback :) thank you very much :D<3
Posted by: Steve Parker, M.D. | Oct 9, 2009 2:34:26 AM
Robert-
I'm sorry you're having palpitations. Better check in with your personal physician as soon as possible. It's not necessarily serious, but you never know unless you get checked out by a doctor.
-Steve
