A healthy diet to for people with
heart disease should include:
- Control calories:
- Eat just enough calories to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
- Eat quality fats:
- Use virgin olive oil and other unsaturated, low-cholesterol fats.
- Eat the right amount of fats, carbohydrates and protein:
- Limit your fat intake to 20 or 30 percent, but don't substitute simple carbohydrates for fat.
- Less than 7% of the day's total calories from saturated fat.
- Up to 10% of the day's total calories from polyunsaturated fat.
- Up to 20% of the day's total calories from monounsaturated fat
- Avoid fad diets:
- Eat a well-rounded diet instead.
- Eat small, frequent meals.
- Avoid large and heavy meals.
- Limit cholesterol in diet:
- To less than 200 milligrams a day.
- Limit iron intake:
- Eat enough dietary fiber:
- Eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables
- Eat more soy
- Reduce salt in your diet
- Optimal: no more than 2 grams per day.
- Check with your doctor about supplementing your diet with B vitamins:
Tips on how to reduce your salt consumption:
- Avoid cooking with salt.
- Avoid fast food.
- Avoid salty foods, such as pickles, cured meats, salty snacks, and canned soup.
- Avoid seasonings that contain sodium, such as soy sauce, steak sauce, garlic and onion salt, and monosodium glutamate.
- Do not add salt to your food after it is prepared.
- Read food labels and buy foods that are low in salt.
- When eating out, ask that your food be prepared without salt.
