When you're diagnosed with heart disease, you are often advised to decrease fat, sodium, and total calories in your diet. In addition to cutting back on calories by limiting high-fat, high-sugar sweets and trimming fat from meats, be aware of the calories in sauces used to flavor many foods. Replacing high-fat, high-sugar, and high-sodium sauces with lighter alternatives is an easy way to start improving your diet and making it more heart-healthy.
Identification
A heart-healthy diet, as defined by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, contains about 10 percent or less total calories from saturated fat, 30 percent or less of total calories from fat, less than 300 mg of dietary cholesterol and less than 2400 mg of sodium daily. Heart-healthy sauces are those that are not only low in fat but also low in sodium and total calories.
Vegetable Sauces
Vegetable-based sauces such as salsa make a healthy topping to dishes such as baked potatoes or eggs. At around 4.5 calories, 0 grams of fat and 54 mg of sodium per tbsp., salsa is a heart-healthy sauce full of fiber-rich vegetables and fresh flavor. Other low-fat, low-sodium, vegetable-based sauces include canned tomato sauce, ketchup and hot pepper sauce, the latter of which contains negligible calories and fat and only around 330 mg of sodium per 3 tsp. Herb-based sauces such as pesto, which consists of basil, olive oil and pine nuts, contains only 80 calories and 105 mg of sodium per tbsp. Although 1 tbsp. of pesto contains 7.51 g of fat, it is mostly due to the healthy unsaturated fats from the olive oil base of the sauce. A small amount of pesto on pasta or chicken can make a flavorful, heart-healthy addition.
Fruit Sauces
Fruit-based sauces can make a subtly sweet addition to any dish, especially over meat, fish, vegetables or rice. Canned, sweetened cranberry sauce contains only 19 calories per tbsp., with negligible fat and sodium. Apricot and vinegar duck sauce, commonly used as a condiment for Chinese food, is a healthy sauce for rice or chicken dishes at only 42 calories, 2.4 g of fat and 0 g of sodium per tbsp. Plum sauce, similar to sweet-and-sour sauce, at 35 calories, .2 g of fat, and about 100 mg of sodium, is a great sauce to flavor poultry, duck and pork dishes as well for dipping egg rolls and spring rolls. Fruit salsa, made from pureed and diced fruits such as mango, peaches, plums, kiwi, or apples, combined with spices such as cinnamon or cilantro, is also a great topping for meat dishes as well as a dip for chips.
Creamy Sauces
Creamy sauces, such as alfredo sauce, hollandaise sauce and cheese sauce, can often be the primary source of fat, calories and sodium in dishes such as pasta alfredo, eggs benedict or macaroni and cheese. However, by simply substituting the whole milk or cream in such sauces with a low-fat milk, soy milk, or rice milk, the total calories and fat can be greatly decreased. In addition, using low-fat cheeses such as part-skim mozzarella, farmer's cheese or goat cheese, or low-fat forms of cheeses such as cheddar or swiss instead of high-fat cheeses like whole-milk mozzarella, brie or ricotta, can greatly reduce the fat content of creamy sauces. In the case of hollandaise sauce, reducing the amount of butter you use as well as replacing some of the egg yolks with low-fat milk and a bit of cornstarch can provide a similar creamy, rich texture and taste without the unnecessary fat and calories.
Other Sauces
Other sauces that can be considered heart-healthy include peanut sauce, honey mustard sauce and horseradish sauce. Peanut sauce, used in dishes such as pad thai and commonly eaten with chicken, can be a heart-healthy sauce when prepared with reduced-fat peanut butter, low-sodium broth, reduced-fat coconut milk, low-sodium soy sauce, rice vinegar and Tabasco sauce, as in a recipe by DrGourmet.com. This particular peanut sauce contains only 45 calories and 93 mg of sodium per tbsp., and although one serving contains 3 g of fat, most of the fat is unsaturated, healthy fat derived from the peanut butter. Mustard sauce, commonly used in meat or seafood dishes, contains only 24 calories, less than 1 g of fat and 113 mg of sodium per tbsp. Other heart-healthy sauces, such as Worcestershire sauce, taco sauce and barbecue sauce, typically contain less than 15 calories, little to no fat and less than 200 mg of sodium per tbsp. They can add a little tangy, spicy flavor to beef, poultry, seafood and bean dishes.
References
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: Introduction to the heart healthy diet
- Centers for Disease Control: Cutting Calories
- United States Department of Agriculture: National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference
- Ohio State University Medical Center: Heart Healthy Diet: Low Fat, Low
- American Dietetic Association: Eat Right Nutrition Tips: 20 ways to enjoy more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy
- Dr. Gourmet: Thai Peanut Sauce
