Eating Heart Healthy Foods

Eating has a big impact on your heart health. In fact, eating healthier can improve several of your heart risks at once. For instance, it helps you manage weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes. Here are ideas to help you make heart-healthy changes without giving up all the foods and flavors you love.

Getting Started

• Talk with your health care provider about eating plans. You may also be referred to a dietitian.
• Change a few things at a time. Give yourself time to get used to a few eating changes before adding more.
• Work to create a tasty, healthy eating plan that you can stick to for the rest of your life.

Goals For Healthy Eating

• Limit saturated fats and trans fats.
• Reduce your sodium (salt) intake.
• Manage calories by keeping a diary to record what food you eat.

Choose The Right Foods
Aim to make these  foods staples of your diet. If you have diabetes, you may have different recommendations than what is listed here:

• Fruits and vegetable provide plenty of nutrients without a lot of calories. At meals, fill half your plate with these foods. Split the other half of your plate between whole grains and lean protein.
• Whole grains are high in fiber and rich in vitamins and nutrients. Good choices include whole-wheat bread, pasta, and brown rice.
• Lean proteins give you nutrition with less fat. Good choices include fish, skinless chicken, and beans.
• Low-fat or nonfat dairy provides nutrients without a lot of fat.
• Healthy fats can be good for you in small amounts. These are unsaturated fats, such as olive oil, nuts, and fish. Fish such as salmon, contain omega-3 faty acids, which are good for your heart.

To make an appointment with a Jackson phsyician, please call 305-585-4564

For more heart health articles during our Heart Month series, click here.

To read our Hearts of Jackson patient stories, click here.