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Essential Diet For A Healthy Heart

Essential Diet For A Healthy Heart

Beyond individual foods or nutrients, heart-healthy dietary patterns can significantly boost our cardiovascular health. What we eat can influence many aspects of heart health, including blood pressure, inflammation, cholesterol levels, and triglycerides. A heart-healthy eating style emphasizes minimally processed vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans. Heart-healthy eating means eating food that can help lower our risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. It focuses on eating more healthy foods and cutting back on foods that aren't so good for us. It is part of a heart-healthy lifestyle that includes regular activity and not smoking. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends the following dietary guidelines for heart health- maintain a healthy body weight by keeping calories from food balanced with calories burned exercising; consume a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, and other high-fiber foods; choose mostly whole grains instead of refined grains; use liquid plant oils such as olive oil rather than tropical oils such as palm oil; eat healthy sources of protein, such as from plants, seafood, or lean meats, beans, nuts, and soy products; minimize added sugars and salt; limit alcohol, choose minimally processed foods; and stay at a healthy weight by balancing the calories we eat with our physical activity.

Incorporating heart-healthy foods into our diet can provide a wide range of benefits for our heart. Making these foods part of a balanced diet that we will stick with, along with other heart-healthy habits such as regular exercise and stress management, is crucial for overall well-being. With so many diets and eating plans to choose from, it can be confusing to know which one to follow. The AHA looked at 10 popular diets or eating patterns to evaluate how each aligns with the AHA's dietary guidance for heart-healthy eating. Their findings: Some diets promote heart health better than others. Two of these diets — the DASH diet and the Mediterranean diet — stand out as the top diets for heart health.

DASH diet

The DASH diet is also called the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension eating plan. Studies have found associations between the DASH diet and better heart health, including a lower risk of heart failure and reduced blood pressure. It is an eating plan that can help lower our blood pressure. The DASH diet is based on eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, and choosing lean proteins, low-fat dairy, beans, nuts, and vegetable oils, while limiting sweets and foods high in saturated fats.

Mediterranean diet

A Mediterranean-style diet is a heart-healthy style of eating, It is a plant-based diet influenced by countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It is a popular diet that is touted for its health benefits, including a lower risk of heart disease. It features foods eaten in countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. This diet emphasizes food rich in fiber and healthy fats. These include fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish, and high-fiber grains. The diet limits meat, cheese, and sweets.

By adopting a heart-healthy diet, individuals can take proactive steps towards a healthier heart and overall well-being. Remember to consult with a healthcare professional or registered dietitian for personalized dietary advice If we follow these heart-healthy diet and recommendations from a health expert, we’ll likely find that heart-healthy eating is something we can do and enjoy. With planning and a few simple food swaps, we can eat with our heart in mind. As an adage, "Healthy eating keeps our heart beating." We should always take the proper and correct heart-healthy diet to make our heart strong and robust as well as to avoid any heart or cardiac diseases. Moreover, we could live our life luxuriantly, healthy and longer.

Neri Torrato Camina Jr., BSN, RN

Florida