A healthy diet and lifestyle are your best weapons against heart disease.  Your food choices can make a big difference, even when other risk factors, such as age and family history, are not under your control.

Consider the following guidelines for a heart healthy diet:

Limit fat, especially Saturated fat and Trans fat

• Choose lean meats, especially those with “loin” or “round” in their name
• Remove all skin and fat from meat before cooking
• Limit processed meats such as hot dogs, salami, bacon, and sausage
• Bake, broil, roast, stew, or stir-fry
• Drain fat off of cooked ground meat
• Replace higher fat milk, cheese, and yogurt with low fat or fat-free versions
• Use liquid vegetable oils and soft margarine rather than stick margarine or shortening

Include foods with Omega-3 Fatty Acids

• Choose canola, flaxseed, or soybean oil
• Add walnuts to salads, cereals, or muffins
• Eat 2 servings of fatty fish every week, like salmon, lake trout, albacore tuna (in water, if canned), mackerel, and sardines

Reduce Salt and Sodium

• Prepare foods at home so you can control the amount of added salt
• Use as little salt in cooking as possible. You can cut at least half the salt in most recipes
• Keep the salt shaker off of the table
• Select reduced-sodium or no-salt-added canned foods
• Season foods with herbs, spices, lemon, vinegar, garlic, onions, and peppers to add flavor

For more nutrition tips and advice, register for a nutrition class or contact us today.