Healthy lifestyle changes are the best therapy for reducing cardiovascular risks, it may also prevent the need for heart and cholesterol medications. When making drastic changes to diet and physical activity level, it is best to start slowing and incorporate small changes as you feel comfortable.
Cardiac Diets
In general, a cardiac diet is a diet that is meant to benefit the heart organ and provide cardiovascular benefits such as decreased hypertension and decreased LDL cholesterol levels. These factors increase risk for heart disease. There are several valid cardiac diet plans. The DASH diet or Dietary Approach to Stopping Hypertension heavily concentrates on sodium intake. The Nation Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in agreement with the American Heart Association developed the Therapeutic Lifestyle Change Pattern or TLC. The TLC diet concentrates on dietary fat and cholesterol intakes to decrease cholesterol levels.
Routine
Making a cardiac diet part of your routine requires lifelong effort and commitment. A positive motivator is to know that cardiac diets prevent the number one cause of death of Americans, heart disease. A recommended starting place is knowing your personal calorie needs, and consuming this amount to maintain a healthy weight. The average person requires 20 calories per kilogram body weight per day. Knowing the calorie and nutrient content of the foods you choose will help to meet you calorie goals. It is almost important to incorporate a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity per day.
Sodium
The DASH diet recommends sodium restriction of less than 2g per day for people with hypertension or a restriction of 2.3g per day for those who wish to prevent hypertension. The average person requires 1.5g of sodium per day to maintain inter-cellular sodium levels. Sodium is most frequently found in processed or pre-prepared foods. Making foods home made will instantly decrease the sodium content. Not putting salt in foods and using salt substitutes will also decrease the sodium content.
Cholesterol and Fat
The TLC diet recommends that total fat be 25-35 percent of total calories. Saturated fat causes an increase in cholesterol levels and should be limited to less than 7 percent of total calorie intake. Monounsaturated fat decreases LDL cholesterol levels and should take up at least 20 percent of total calories. The TLC diet also recommends less than 200 milligrams of cholesterol per day. Cholesterol and saturated fat are most frequently found in animal foods and food products, such as beef, chicken, eggs, butter, high fat or whole milk and cheese.
Grocery Shopping
The first step to food choice is using the nutrition fact labels to know what is in your ingredients before purchasing. Once the food is in your kitchen you are more likely to consume it. Choose fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, limiting high sodium and high calorie sauces. Also chose to use liquid oils in place of solid fats because oils are more likely high in monounsaturated fats, and solids are more likely to contain saturated fats. Certain foods to avoid due to added sugars include sodas, concentrated fruit drinks, pastries and baked goods.
References
- The American Heart Association
- The DASH Diet Eating Plan
- "Krause's Food and Nutrition Therapy"; L Kathleen Mahan & Sylvia Escott Stump; 2008
