Healthy Heart Diet

In this age of heightened awareness over ‘homeland security’ there are a few things that many of we ‘big-picture-folk’ look at with some amazement. Heart disease is still the number one cause of death in the United States. Wow. This is especially sad because there is so much you can do for yourself to help to protect yourself from this disease. When paranoia and/or practicality had everyone running into bomb shelters and had children hiding under their desks during WWII, people did it. So why can’t we, in a time of relative war, prosperousness, and good times, do a few little something’s that are a lot more likely to help you in the long run than hiding underneath your desk at school?

A few dietary steps you can significantly reduce your risk of heart disease and get that much closer to striking your name from the list. There are four steps you can take to make yourself a lot less at risk for Heart Disease so that you can share a healthy heart for years to come. These are:

Eat less fat

Eat less sodium

Eat fewer calories

Eat more fiber

That’s it. Not complicated; no mixing drinks or attending meetings; you can even slip and have an ice cream cone now and again; but these are really simple suggestions from the grand suggestion-card box in the sky.

Less fat: There are fats which are more likely to be a player in the heart disease charade. Saturated fate & trans fats; fats which are usually found in foods from animals like milk, cheese, butter, and of course meats. Also saturated fats and trans fats are found in foods with palm and coconut oils

Less sodium: Not only a boon to high blood pressure, eating less sodium can drastically reduce your risk for heart disease. While sodium is necessary in our diets, most of us ear far too much of it. If you just cut back on the salt you sprinkle on your food, you’re doing half the battle; there’s not much you can do about salt added by food companies, but you can cut back on the salt you dip yourself.

Less calories: Calories have always been a problem. As we eat more, we gain weight. Added weight though too many calories and not enough exercise equals heart disease which is not a healthy heart situation for anyone.