Heart Healthy Diet

Are you aware that a healthy diet can prevent the risk of heart disease and strokes by 80%! According to Carol Dombrow, a registered dietitian with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, “A healthy balanced diet is no. 1 nutrition recommendation for people who are at risk of heart disease or already have heart disease”. By knowing which food groups are good for your heart, you can easily prevent or manage the cholesterol level and high blood pressure of your body.

Selecting food to take care of your heart is very easy. It just requires a little bit of meal planning and efforts to prepare the food. You just need to focus on minimally processed diet, including whole grains, fruits & vegetable, lean meat and low fat dairy products. Carol Dombrow, has shared a specially designed eating plan to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

For breakfast, she has recommended fresh chopped fruits like apple, orange or papaya along with muesli and yogurt. It helps in providing a lot of protein, fat and fibre to our body. As per Carol, vegetables with creamy sauces, frozen fruit with sugar added, canned fruit juices and fried or breaded vegetables, should be avoided.

Lunch should be full of nourishing ingredients, which includes a lot of protein and fat. Having cheese, whole grain crackers and a plate of veggies and fruit would be very simple, but adds a lot of nutrition.

She has also suggested consuming low calorie cheese including, vitamin A, D & B12, riboflavin and calcium. In addition, she recommended limiting sodium as excess of it can lead to high blood pressure.

According to The Food and Drug Administration, people with heart disease and high blood pressure should cut down salt consumption to 1500 mg from 2300 mg on per day basis.

In the evening, having snacks like roasted almonds and fruits is advised as they provide calcium, vitamin C and protein to our body. As per Carol, “having nuts for about four times a week can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 37%”.

For dinner, a home-cooked meal is recommended. We should include, green salad, baked chicken thighs, mixed grains and snap beans in our dinner. Moreover, Mussels, which are the best source of Vitamin B12, Iron and Omega 3, must be included.

These were some simple and important food recommendations to prevent heart disease and strokes from a Canadian Dietician. Developing these food habits will, surely, make you stay fit, healthy and live longer.

You can learn more about maintaining good health by joining Shaw Academy’s online Nutrition program. To know more about the Shaw Academy reviews, watch their YouTube channel.