The mission statement of the American Heart Association is "Building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke." Their goals, as stated on the AHA website, include eliminating the increased incidence of obesity and diabetes, as well as reduce the death rate from stroke and coronary heart disease by 25 percent. The diets prescribed by the AHA align with these priorities.
No-Fad Diet
The No-Fad Diet for weight loss from the American Heart Association is based on making good food choices. It asks dieters to make small life changes to bring steady weight loss results and health benefits over the course of your lifetime. To follow this diet, eat meal plans containing nutrient-rich foods. The total calories of your daily meals must add up to a number that is less than the total calories you burn daily if you want to lose wieght. Part of the No-Fad Diet involves adding exercise to your weekly routine to avoid rebound weight gain. Rebound weight gain is gaining back all the weight you lost, and sometimes more, while dieting. For the final component of the No-Fad Diet become a role model and share your knowledge of healthy eating, exercise and weight loss with your friends and family.
Heart-Healthy Diet
The American Heart Association recommends a heart-healthy diet to help reduce your risk of coronary disease and lower your LDL cholesterol level. The heart-healthy diet requires gradually limiting your intake of fat calories to between 25 percent and 35 percent of your daily caloric intake. It recommends keeping the saturated fat content of your diet to less than 7 percent of your daily calories and the trans fat content to less than 1 percent. Additionally, dieters should do not consume more than 1,500 mg of sodium per day. Reduce your intake of cholesterol to less than 300 mg per day for healthy people and less than 200 mg per day for those on cholesterol medication. The AHA also recommends eating a minimum of 25 to 30 g of dietary fiber daily from sources including whole grains and vegetables.
TLC Diet
The American Heart Association recommends the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes diet for people with a high risk of, or patients with known cardiovascular disease. This diet is the "next generation" diet to replace the Step I and Step II diets formerly endorsed by the AHA and aims to reduce cholesterol levels. The TLC diet recommends limiting saturated fats to less than 7 percent of your daily calories, consuming less than 200 mg per day of dietary cholesterol, adjusting caloric intake to support proper body weight and enough exercise to expend 200 kcal daily.
