Food swaps for a healthier heart

One of the biggest factors determining the health of your heart is your food choices.  However, for many people eating healthy is a challenge.  There are several things that tend to get in the way from easy access to cheap, highly processed unhealthy junk foods to conflicting and confusing nutrition advice found on the internet, books, or in the media.

Making changes to your way of eating does not have to be a major overhaul.  It’s the little thing that count – the small but significant tweaks you make to your eating habits will begin to add up to positive lifelong changes leading to a healthier heart.

Two top ranked ways of eating include the DASH Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) and the Mediterranean diet.  Both strongly emphasize eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, beans, and nuts and seeds with moderate amounts of seafood, poultry, eggs, and dairy, and small amounts of sweets and red meat. Following either one of these dietary patterns is a perfect start in reaching the best heart health you can.

Healthier alternative to processed foods

When you practice substituting more healthy food swaps for unhealthy food choices, we are slowly making it more likely for our body to experience better heart health.  For instance, if we have a tendency to snack on highly processed foods such as potato chips, crackers and cookies, or swigging down can after can of a sugary beverage, the enormous amounts of sugar in these foods can lead to insulin resistance and weight gain.  Both which can eventually lead to a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, abnormal blood lipid levels, and heart disease.

The goal should be to make every bite count nutritionally – or at least most of your bites.  When you focus on choosing foods high in nutritional value – foods loaded with vitamin, minerals, antioxidants, or phytochemicals – you’ll be promoting not only heart health but your overall health too.

Here are some easy and achievable ideas for getting started on making that all-important step towards better heart health.  Your goal should be to start off by choosing one of the ideas to work on for a week or so, and then add on another.  In no time, you will go from a steady diet of unhealthy highly processed foods to a steady diet of much healthier food choices – and your heart will love you for it.

·      Instead of eating fast food meals or snacks, aim to eat at least one less fast food meal a week.  Begin by replacing a fast food hamburger meal with a prepared meal or sandwich you make at home.

·      If fruits and/or vegetables are missing in action in your current diet, aim to eat at least one serving of each every day.  Fruits and vegetables can be eaten fresh, frozen, or canned or added to a smoothie.

·      Maybe seafood is rarely an entrée on your dinner plate. Aim to eat a fatty fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids at least once a week.  Replace unhealthy processed meats such as hot dogs or sausage with tuna, salmon, mackerel, herring, or sardines.

·      If your go-to snack food is usually chips or crackers, it’s time to venture out of that unhealthy box or bag.  Aim to replace salty snack foods with a small handful of nuts.  Nuts are high in fiber, healthy unsaturated fats and key minerals such as magnesium and copper.  Plus nuts are very filling keeping you satiated for several hours.

·      If desserts and other sweets are commonly consumed throughout the week, aim to cut out at least one serving a week.  Choose instead a bowl of fresh berries with nuts for a touch of sweetness but without extra calories, sugar and unhealthy fat.

·      Too much butter and fat from meat is not a friend to your heart.  Aim to reduce unhealthy trans and saturated fats opting instead to replace with a light drizzle of olive oil and spices for a tasty flavor enhancer.