Persistent high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and high cholesterol are risk factors that can lead to cardiovascular disease or heart failure. Your dietary choices, along with daily activity level and management of medical conditions, contribute to the development of the risk factors. Diets that protect your healthy or already damaged heart focus on limiting the amount of fat, cholesterol and sodium in your diet so you can have optimal longevity of life.
Sodium and Your Heart
Sodium is an important mineral and electrolyte required by your body for normal functions, but too much in your bloodstream increases the risk of high blood pressure. Excess sodium causes water retention and swelling, which forces your heart to work harder to pump blood through your arteries. High blood pressure is the constant increased force of blood pressing against the walls of the arteries. This can result in artery scarring or hardening, blood clot formation and enlargement of your heart. A healthy diet for your heart requires reduced sodium intake to manage your blood pressure in addition to consumption of heart-protective foods.
DASH Diet
The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH, diet is a heart-healthy nutrition plan aimed at increasing your intake of nutritious foods that can lower your blood pressure while also limiting your sodium consumption. Heart protective foods on the DASH include six to eight daily servings of whole grains and four to five servings of fruits and vegetables. Lean meats in the form of poultry, fish or lean cuts of red meat are acceptable on this diet as well as five weekly servings of nuts, seeds and beans. Produce and grains are the main energy source for your diet because they supply you with fiber for healthy digestion, which also helps keep your blood pressure and cholesterol levels low. Daily sodium intake on DASH is 2,300 mg or less but 1,500 mg or less has the best result for lowering blood pressure.
2 Gram Sodium Diet
The 2 g Sodium Diet emphasizes less daily sodium intake for heart health and maintenance of your blood pressure. According to the American Dietetic Association, this diet advises you avoid adding table salt to your foods because as little as 1/4 tsp. of salt has 600 mg of sodium. Use of seasonings without salt like garlic, paprika or basil can flavor your foods without increasing your blood pressure or heart disease risk. Avoid high-sodium foods, including pork, lunch meat, processed cheeses and condiments not marked as low sodium. By limiting your sodium consumption from high-sodium containing foods you also avoid many of the higher-fat foods that can cause arterial blockages. Grains and produce are emphasized on this diet because they contain virtually no sodium, unless you choose canned or frozen varieties. Limit meat to plain, non-fried varieties like fish or poultry and choose lower-fat versions of dairy.
General Heart-healthy Nutrition
Basic guidelines for heart-healthy nutrition involve you making informed decisions about the foods you eat. Limiting your sodium intake is one part of the equation, but educate yourself about saturated and trans fats, which increase your cholesterol levels when consumed regularly. Red meat like prime rib or marbled meats with visible fat are high in saturated fats. Many butter and margarine brands are made with trans fats. Fried foods and whole dairy are high in saturated fats as well. Limit consumption of these fats to less than 10 percent of your total daily calories to protect your heart. Choose fish, baked poultry and low-fat dairy. Eat five to eight servings of fresh fruits, vegetables and grains to minimize sodium intake and help protect your heart. Read nutrition labels to understand the sodium, fat and cholesterol content in each serving.
References
- American Heart Association; Sodium (Salt or Sodium Chloride); February 2011
- National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute: DASH Eating Plan
- PLoS Medicine; Effects on Coronary Heart Disease of Increasing Polyunsaturated Fat in Place of Saturated Fat; Dariush Mozzafarian et al; March 2010
- National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute: Reduce Salt and Sodium in Your Diet
- University of California San Francisco; Diet and Congestive Heart Failure; February 2011
- American Dietetic Association: 2 Gram (2,000 mg) Sodium Diet
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