A cardiac diet is any diet used to control blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of heart disease. Many medical professionals recommend making lifestyle changes before ever taking medications to treat any one of these conditions. This is largely due to the fact that dietary choices can often influence both blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which have a direct impact on the health of your arteries and the development of heart disease.
Step 1
Talk to your primary health care provider. Doctors can better recommend dietary changes based on your specific blood pressure, cholesterol levels and risk factors of developing heart disease as well as overall health, fitness and weight.
Step 2
Consult a dietitian to help you establish a heart-healthy diet. These medical professionals can teach you how to select and prepare foods low in sodium, saturated fat, trans-fatty acid and dietary cholesterol, which are all known to increase blood pressure, blood cholesterol or both.
Step 3
Pick up a cookbook that follows the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH. DASH was established by the National Institutes of Health to help lower blood pressure through diet and subsequently reduce the risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke.
Step 4
Check the internet for recipes that follow DASH. If you can't get to the library or bookstore, a number of sites, including Mayoclinic.com, have recipes available that are proven to reduce blood pressure, and thereby lower the risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke.
Tips and Warnings
- According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, your diet will most likely restrict sodium intake to no more than either 1,500 mg or 2,300 mg a day based on your blood pressure levels. The Mayo Clinic recommends keeping your saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent of your daily calories and your trans-fatty acid intake to less than 1 percent. Most heart-healthy diets limit dietary cholesterol to no more than 200 mg a day. Eating more fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains with moderate amounts of meat and dairy are often recommended on a heart-healthy diet as well.
