Keeping your Heart in Shape – Part 1
A healthy diet and lifestyle are your best defense against cardiovascular disease. It’s easy to become overwhelmed in thinking there’s no way to change the eating habits you’ve grown accustomed to for years. However, there are some simple nutrition tips you can include in your daily life that will benefit your long-term health and your heart.
Eat and drink only what you know you can burn off
- Start by knowing how many calories you should be eating and drinking to maintain your weight. You can talk to your doctor about you daily calorie in take and what you need to do to either maintain or lose weight.
- Increase the amount and intensity of your physical activity to match the number of calories you take in.
- Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days of the week or — best of all — at least 30 minutes every day.
Regular physical activity can help you maintain your weight, keep off weight that you lose and help you reach physical and cardiovascular fitness. If you can’t do at least 30 minutes at one time, you can add up 10-minute sessions throughout the day.
If you need to lower your blood pressure or cholesterol, the American Heart Association recommends 40 minutes of aerobic exercise of moderate to vigorous intensity three to four times a week.
Eat a variety of nutritious foods from all the food groups:
You may be eating plenty of food, but your body may not be getting the nutrients it needs to be healthy. Nutrient-rich foods have vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients but are lower in calories. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables may help you control your weight, cholesterol and your blood pressure.
Get the nutrients you need by eating
- fruits,
- vegetables,
- whole grains,
- low-fat dairy products,
- poultry, fish and nuts,
- and limiting red meat and sugary foods and beverages.
Eat less of the nutrient-poor foods
The right number of calories to eat each day is based on your age and physical activity level and whether you’re trying to gain, lose or maintain your weight. You could use your daily allotment of calories on a few high-calorie foods and beverages, but you probably wouldn’t get the nutrients your body needs to be healthy. Limit foods and beverages high in calories but low in nutrients. Also limit the amount of saturated fat, trans fat and sodium you eat. The Nutrition Facts panel on foods and beverages tells you the amount of healthy and unhealthy nutrients, so read the label and educate yourself so you can monitor your intake.
As you make daily food choices, base your eating pattern on these recommendations:
- Choose lean meats and poultry without skin and prepare them without added saturated and trans fat.
- Eat fish at least twice a week. Recent research shows that eating oily fish containing omega-3 fatty acids (for example, salmon, trout and herring) may help lower your risk of death from coronary artery disease.
- Select fat-free, 1% fat and low-fat dairy products.
- Cut back on foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to reduce trans fat in your diet.
- To lower cholesterol, reduce saturated fat to no more than 5 to 6 percent of total calories. For someone eating 2,000 calories a day, that’s about 13 grams of saturated fat.
- Cut back on beverages and foods with added sugars.
- Choose and prepare foods with little or no salt. To lower blood pressure, aim to eat no more than 2,400 milligrams of sodium per day. Reducing daily intake to 1,500 mg is desirable because it can lower blood pressure even further.
- If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. That means one drink per day if you’re a woman and two drinks per day if you’re a man.
- Follow the American Heart Association recommendations when you eat out, and keep an eye on your portion sizes.
Source: American Heart Association