What is a Heart-Healthy Diet?

A heart healthy diet is an eating plan designed to keep blood cholesterol low and prevent the risk of heart disease. This is usually achieved by eating foods that are low in saturated fat, total fat, cholesterol, and sodium. Now, this may sound boring and not something that you would necessarily want to indulge in.

Granted, it goes without saying that we would all wish to live in a world where donuts and fried chicken are great for your heart and foods like French fries were a diet plan we all stuck to in order to shed a few pounds but unfortunately, the cruel world does not work that way. It is really sad that what keeps us healthy is a plate of broccoli and spinach but then in order to stay healthy we have to make certain sacrifices.

While we want to party and indulge in red meat and alcohol, we put our hearts at risk. Heart disease is one of the most common medical conditions but thank God for small favors. Medical practitioners, science and a heart healthy food diet have helped us come a long way in proving that heart disease is a condition that can be dealt with. Although we must agree, life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled half as good as bacon. Changing your eating habits can certainly be tough especially if you have years of unhealthy eating or you just wanted to try something different. Eating certain foods can put you at the risk of getting heart disease.

A heart healthy food diet plan is all about learning how to control your food portion size. How much you consume is just as important as what you consume. You needn’t eat until you feel stuffed-just eat enough. If it helps, you can use serving portions to measure your food intake. Eating vegetables and fruits is generally just eating healthy, not necessarily as a heart healthy diet. Vegetables are a good source of proteins and minerals  and fiber that generally help you not to eat high fat foods as often as you normally would.

Foods like whole grains are a well known source of fiber and nutrients. They regulate blood pressure and general heart health. The most common way to stay on a healthy diet is to limit unhealthy fats and too much cholesterol intake. Scientifically, it has been proven that a higher blood cholesterol level leads to a plaque buildup in your arteries causing arteriosclerosis which can increase a person’s chances of heart attacks. Mono-unsaturated fats like olive oil and coconut are the best kinds in any diet as they lower your cholesterol level. Heart healthy foods prevent and repair damage to cells.

Everybody is looking for that ‘special kind of food’ or ‘magic pill’. Truth is, a heart healthy diet consists of a variety of nutrients. You know, low carbs, low cholesterol, low sodium, portion-controlled meals that are encompassed into one plate. They contain the right amount of salt, carbs and calories. You have to go all-healthy if you want to cheat heart disease, and consume food in its most natural state (whole-foods). Of course, a heart healthy diet plan goes hand in hand with regular exercise and weight control. All these combined decrease the risk of getting heart diseases by 80%. There is no diet that will do what eating healthy does. It is important to take care of your body as it is the only place you have to live in.