Eating a healthy diet is important for lowering heart attack risk, but this obvious statement needs help being translated into daily life, especially if you are trying to avoid future heart attacks after your first. The Texas Heart Institute notes that a shift to a deliberately heart-healthy diet and a focus on nutrition is a key factor in recovering from a heart attack and preserving long-term well-being.
Low-Fat Diets
The Texas Heart Institute and the American Heart Association both advocate low-fat diets in response to a heart attack. This can take the form of a western low-fat diet, which has a prescriptive list of foods that can't be consumed due to their high fat content. Heart attack survivors can also turn to the Mediterranean Diet as a low-fat guide due to its emphasis on eating seafood, olive oils and other unprocessed, natural and healthy monounsaturated fats. Whatever diet is chosen, Medline Plus reports that total fat intake should be no more than 25 to 35 percent of total daily calories, and that saturated fats, such as those in sour cream, butter, red meat and bacon, should be avoided.
Low-Cholesterol Diets
Another diet choice for heart attack survivors is a low-cholesterol diet. According to Medline Plus, a healthy adult eating less than 300 mg of cholesterol daily can lower his risk of heart disease and improve overall heart health. The primary tenet of low-cholesterol diets is eliminating foods high in cholesterol, such as eggs and processed foods. For individuals who already have high cholesterol levels, especially high LDL, or "bad," cholesterol levels, several organizations, including the American Heart Association, recommend consuming less than 200 mg of cholesterol daily.
Diets High in Fruits, Vegetables and Whole Grains
Instead of following a diet defined by foods to avoid, another option is to aggressively pursue a diet full of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. MayoClinic.com cites each of these food groups as winning choices for heart health due to their high levels of dietary fiber and low caloric density. The characteristics of these foods work to fight off feelings of hunger or deprivation as you adjust your diet, and the fullness they generate helps prevent you from relapsing into old unhealthy eating habits. By adding fruit and salads as side dishes to meals, drinking all natural juices or changing the kind of bread you buy, you can easily incorporate more fruits, vegetables and whole grains into your diet.
