Each year, 785,000 people in the United States have a first heart attack, according to 2010 information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and another 470,000 Americans who have already had one heart attack have another. Lowering blood cholesterol reduces your risk for suffering a heart attack. The same diet that reduces cholesterol levels is an effective part of the dietary plan for the prevention and treatment of heart attacks
Post Heart Attack Diet
The Cleveland Clinic lays out a diet for heart attack patients; it incorporates six dietary strategies including measures that also reduce cholesterol. This diet suggests that people who have had a heart attack eat more fruit, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. They should also limit fats and avoid foods containing saturated fat and trans fats. The diet restricts foods containing dietary cholesterol such as meat, egg yolks, whole milk and regular cheese, and recommends choosing low-fat versions of protein-rich foods such skim milk and skinless chicken breasts, as well as foods high in complex carbohydrates like spinach, whole oat cereal and pears over simple carbohydrates like candy or soda pop. It also advises a reduction in sodium to lower blood pressure, which contributes to heart disease.
Mediterranean Diet
A Mediterranean diet is associated with lower blood cholesterol levels. Key components of the Mediterranean diet include getting enough exercise, eating primarily plant-based foods like fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts. This diet restricts red meat to a few times a month and recommends increasing fish to at least twice a week and eating poultry a few days a week. A person trying to lower her cholesterol might follow the Mediterranean diet by replacing butter with olive oil or using herbs and spices instead of salt.
DASH diet
DASH stands for Dietary Approach to Stopping Hypertension. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, increases your risk for heart attacks because the extra force exerted by the blood injures blood vessels. High levels of cholesterol harden into fatty deposits, damaging blood vessels and narrowing and hardening arteries. These arteries grow increasingly unable to deliver oxygen-rich blood to muscles of the heart, resulting in a heart attack. The key goal to the DASH diet is to reduce salt, or sodium. Sodium drastically affects blood pressure. A person who has already had a heart attack should limit his salt intake to 1,500 mg per day, according to MayoClinic.com. The DASH diet also discourages menu items that are high in fat, cholesterol and calories. This diet encourages whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes and healthy oils, like olive and canola oils.
