If you want to have a healthy heart, you have to learn how to eat a healthy heart diet. All of the food you eat affects the health of your heart. Learn which foods are heart smart and try to include them as a regular part of your diet. Consult your doctor for an eating plan that best suits your dietary needs. If you are of average health, you can probably follow the Food Pyramid eating plan.

The following are the guidelines of a healthy heart diet:
Total fat intake should be less than 30 percent of total calories daily.
Saturated fatty acid intake should be less than 10 percent of total calories daily.
Polyunsaturated fatty acid intake should be no more that 10 percent of total calories daily.
Monounsaturated fatty acids make up the rest of total fat intake, about 10 to 15 percent of total calories daily.
Cholesterol intake should be no more than 300 milligrams per day.
Sodium intake should be no more than 3000 milligrams per day.
Beware of chemicals in your food like caffeine, MSG, and other food additives.
Don't forget that you can enjoy the taste of eating right. A healthy heart diet can also be delicious!

Cholesterol: Good or Bad?

Cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance found among the fats in your body. Your body needs it because it's used to form cell membranes, some hormones, among other functions. But a high level of cholesterol in the blood is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease.

Cholesterol and other fats can't dissolve in the blood. They have to be transported to and from the cells by special carriers called lipoproteins. There are several kinds, but the ones to focus on are low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL).

LDL is the major cholesterol carrier in the blood. If too much LDL cholesterol circulates in the blood, it can slowly build up in the walls of the arteries feeding the heart and brain. Together with other substances it can form plaque, a thick, hard deposit that can clog those arteries.

A healthy heart diet needs HDL. Medical experts think HDL tends to carry cholesterol away from the arteries and back to the liver, where it's passed from the body. Some experts believe HDL removes excess cholesterol from plaques and thus slows their growth. HDL cholesterol is known as "good" cholesterol because a high HDL level seems to protect against heart attack.

People get cholesterol in two ways. The body — mainly the liver — produces varying amounts, usually about 1,000 milligrams a day. Foods also can contain cholesterol. Foods from animals (e.g., egg yolks, meat, poultry, fish, and seafood and whole-milk dairy products) contain it. Foods from plants (fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds) don't contain cholesterol.

Typically the body makes all the cholesterol it needs, so people don't need to consume it. Saturated fatty acids are the main culprit in raising blood cholesterol, which increases your risk of heart disease. Trans fats also raise blood cholesterol. But dietary cholesterol also plays a part. The average American man consumes about 337 milligrams of cholesterol a day; the average woman, 217 milligrams.

Some of the excess dietary cholesterol is removed from the body through the liver. The American Heart Association recommends that a healthy heart diet is one that limits the average daily cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams.

People with severe high blood cholesterol levels may need an even greater reduction. Since cholesterol is in all foods from animal sources, care must be taken to eat no more than six ounces of lean meat, fish and poultry per day and to use fat-free and low-fat dairy products. It’s also a good idea to substitute animal sources of protein with high-quality proteins from vegetable sources such as beans.

All these, in a nutshell are the building blocks of a healthy heart diet!

Healthy Heart Diet

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Information on this site is provided for informational purposes and is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or dietitian. Information and statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

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