Heart Healthy Diet Guidelines

Create a Healthy Diet Meal Plan That the
Whole Family can Enjoy.

Heart Healthy Diet Guidelines Are Good for Everyone

The heart healthy diet guidelines are not much different from any healthy diet meal plan. Our bodies need calories, protein, carbohydrates and a little fat. If you are one of the many people that hates counting calories or measuring serving sizes, there are some tricks that you can learn to make it easier.

The first trick is to leave the “bad” foods in the grocery store. If your pantry, freezer and cabinets are loaded with junk food and unhealthy snacks, get rid of them and don’t bring them back into the house. It just makes it easier to make healthier choices, when that’s all that you have available.

For the most part, the heart healthy diet guidelines allow you to eat practically all of the fruits and vegetables that you can hold. If you use a standard size dinner plate, about two thirds of it should be filled with fruits and/or vegetables. The other third could be used for a half cup of al dente pasta or brown rice, a serving of beans or lentils or a serving of fish or lean meat.

In a healthy diet meal plan, fats should be polyunsaturated. The best choices for cooking, dipping and salad dressings are olive and canola oils. Nuts like almonds and walnuts are good choices for protein, vitamins and fats. Read the serving size on the package container. In a short period of time, you should be able to remember how many nuts are in a serving.

Omega-3 fatty acids are an important part of any healthy diet meal plan, but they are particularly important if you are following the latest heart healthy diet guidelines. Unlike other dietary fats, omega-3s help to keep the blood flowing freely and the arteries unclogged. They can help lower total blood triglycerides and increase “good” HDL cholesterol levels.

Salmon is one of the best sources of omega-3 fats, but you should choose Alaskan or Wild Pacific salmon, because of contaminant issues in the Atlantic Ocean. Olive and canola oils provide a better balance of omega-3s to omega-6s. Walnuts provide some omega-3s, as well.

The latest studies indicate that mushrooms, particularly the Japanese varieties, are a good choice for a healthy diet meal plan, because they have some natural anti-inflammatory activity. Inflammation plays a major role in the development and progression of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and other types of heart disease.

Men should include three to five servings of tomatoes or tomato sauce every week in order to protect their prostate health. Both men and women should include some cruciferous vegetables, which include broccoli and cauliflower to reduce their risks of various kinds of cancer.

The latest heart healthy diet guidelines specify that no more than 30% of the daily caloric intake should come from fats. So, you may need to read a few labels to find the fat in your diet. But, once you get the hang of it, it’s easy. If you focus on the fruits and veggies, you’re well on your way.

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