A Diet Plan That Can Help Reduce The Risk Of Heart Disease

Now that you know how to modify your eating habits and other lifestyle behaviors in order to better your health, let's talk about a special diet that can help reduce the risk of heart disease. Too few people realize or consider that the food we eat today affects our health in both the long and the short run, today and tomorrow. As you have already learned, many of the components of foods have an impact upon the development of atherosclerosis, the precursor of coronary heart or artery disease. Too much cholesterol, saturated fat and sodium in our diets can increase our chances of developing heart disease. If obesity occurs in conjunction with high cholesterol levels, smoking or hypertension, coronary heart disease risk is significantly increased. Additionally, excessive consumption of alcohol can contribute to hypertension and increase your chances of developing heart disease. A diet that controls the amount of fat, cholesterol, sodium and calories can help reduce the risk of developing coronary heart disease. In order to reduce the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in your diet, decrease the amount of animal products you eat-such as eggs, whole milk, cheese, beef, pork and organ meats-as well as fats and oils. Such changes will also help control calories. However, if you do not need to lose weight; you should increase your intake of complex carbohydrates-such as vegetables, fruits, grains and legumes-to make up for significant decreases in calories. Oftentimes a reduced sodium intake necessitates an increased potassium intake. Potassium, however, occurs in many foods, particularly vegetables, hits, dried· beans, dried peas, lentils and nuts. Getting enough potassium should not be a problem as long as you eat a well-balanced, varied diet. A good diet plan should be based on the following guidelines from the American Heart Association for helping to reduce the risk of heart disease. 1. Reduce total fat calories to less than 30 percent of your total caloric intake, with less than 10 percent from saturated fats, less than 10 percent from polyunsaturated fats and the remainder from monounsaturated fats.  2. Reduce cholesterol intake to less than 100 milligrams per 1,000 calories, not to exceed 300 milligrams per day. 3. Reduce sodium intake to approximately 1,000 milligrams per 1,000 calories, not to exceed 3,000 milligrams (3 grams) per day (roughly equivalent to 1 teaspoon of salt). 4. Achieve or maintain ideal weight via proper caloric intake. 5. Increase the amount of total carbohydrates in the diet to approximately 50 to 55 percent of total calories, with the majority being complex carbohydrates. 6. Although not recommended, if alcoholic beverages are consumed, the caloric intake from this source should be limited to 15 percent of total calories but should not exceed 50 milliliters (about 2 ounces) of alcohol per day. This translates into 8 ounces of wine, two beers or two 1-ounce shots of whisky. Source: Heart Smart