Heart Healthy
Diets
If
you're reading this, you're one of a growing number of adults who are
taking steps to improve their health and fitness through better nutrition
and exercise.
So many of you either are trying to lower their cholesterol, or have
several risk factors that have been identified that put you at greater
risk for heart disease.
Because
of this, this article will summarize the risk factors and review the
positive diet changes actions you can make to reduce your chances of
developing heart disease or having a heart attack.
 First the Numbers
The 3rd Report of the National Cholesterol Education
Program Expert Panel provides a classification of blood cholesterol
levels in adults as follows:
LDL
Cholesterol
<100
Optimal
100-129
Near optimal/above Optimal
130-159
Borderline High
160-189
High
> or equal to190 Very High
Total Cholesterol
<200
Desirable
200-239
Borderline High
> or equal to 240 High
HDL Cholesterol
<40
Low
> or equal to 60 High
(The
entire report can be viewed at this site: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines
/cholesterol/atp3xsum.pdf
)
These blood values apply to adults of all ages, male or female, regardless
of body size or physical condition. Do you know your numbers?
Some Factors to Consider
Beside the blood values, and whether a person has existing coronary
heart disease or atherosclerosis, there are some other major risk factors
that help determine the importance of lowering blood cholesterol levels.
These include:
-cigarette
smoking
-high blood pressure
-family history of early heart disease
-age (men older than 44 years, women older than 54 years)
On
top of these major risk factors, some additional life-habit risk factors
and "emerging" risk factors have been identified. They include
obesity and physical inactivity. Anyone who has high blood cholesterol
levels needs to find out why as there are other causes (such as diabetes,
hypothyroidism, liver disease, medications, etc.)
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Heart Smart Diets
If
you have several risk factors and your LDL level is 130 mg/dl or more,
it's a good idea to get serious about following a more therapeutic diet
for good heart health. Those of you who have high cholesterol or heart
disease are given a nutrition plan that meets the diet goals for a cholesterol
lowering diet (more aggressive dietary cholesterol, total fat, and saturated
fat goals). Others are given a *heart healthy diet (to help prevent
high blood cholesterol levels and heart disease - still low in fat,
salt, sugar, etc.).
"Please
cancel my account. Thanks for the help I have lost 20lbs and lowered
my cholesterol" JJ READ
MORE
All of the diets are planned to provide the right amount of vitamins,
minerals, and other nutrients needed for good health, no matter what
calorie level you are given. To keep all of this in good balance, I
really have to emphasize that all aspects of your diet plan are important.
Choosing the right type of carbohydrate foods and the right amounts
can help regulate blood sugar levels and provide fiber, and important
B vitamins. Choosing the right type of fats by following your eating
guidelines will help give your diet the right amount of monounsaturated,
polyunsaturated, and saturated fats. This is an integral part of the
plan, so do take the "limit" category seriously!
*Personal
Dietitian's Director of Nutrition & Chief Dietitian, designs
the Personal
Dietitian Heart Healthy Diets
FREE
DIET ANALYSIS
Weight
Gain and Heart Healthy?
If you're on a lower calorie diet for weight loss, getting high
quality protein is important to preserve your muscle mass and help you
lose fat instead. But for heart health, your protein foods need to be
those foods that are low in saturated fat. Choosing lean protein foods
is really important for this reason. That's why your plan emphasizes
very low fat animal foods (or low fat non-animal protein foods for vegetarian
diets).
On
the other hand, those who are trying to gain weight and muscle mass
who are following a strenuous fitness plan do need more protein per
pound of body weight than the average adult. The trick is not to have
too much animal protein and therefore too much cholesterol to be heart
healthy, and still meet your protein requirement. Your nutrition plan
considers your increased needs and balances this with a heart healthy
plan. Whether your goal is to lose weight or gain muscle, the heart
healthy rules apply.... it can be done!
Access one of our
health care professionals and get a heart diet healthy today...
See how a dietitian can help you with a FREE Diet Analysis
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