If you have any type of heart disease, eating right becomes an important part of your treatment. Eating the right foods helps you maintain a healthy weight, which reduces the stress of your heart. Choosing foods wisely can also help lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, as well as reduce fluid retention, all of which can worsen heart disease. Following a diet for cardiac patients also helps if you're trying to prevent heart disease from developing.
Sodium
Restricting sodium to 1,500 mg per day, especially if you're over age 51, if you're African-American or if you have diabetes or kidney disease helps keep your blood pressure under control. High blood pressure, medically known as hypertension, is a major risk factor for heart disease. Sodium restriction also helps if you have congestive heart failure and need to decrease fluid retention. Following the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH eating plan, designed by the National Institutes of Health, makes it easy to lower sodium intake by trimming high-sodium foods from your diet and replacing them with healthy choices. The DASH diet stresses fresh fruits and vegetables as well as whole-grains low-fat protein sources. Skip processed foods, which contain large amounts of sodium.
Fats
Saturated fats found in processed foods and some types of meat can raise your cholesterol levels. High cholesterol can increase atherosclerosis, plaque buildup in the blood vessels that lead to your heart, decreasing blood flow. Keep saturated fat intake to no more than 7 percent of your daily calorie intake and restrict man-made trans fats to just 1 percent of your caloric intake. Choose monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as olive or canola oil, which can reduce your cholesterol levels.
Proteins
Cut your consumption of red meat, particularly cuts that contain large amounts of fat, and substitute fish several times a week. Omega-3 fatty acids in fish can help lower your low-density lipoprotein, the "bad" cholesterol and raise your high-density lipoprotein, the "good" cholesterol. Substitute low-fat dairy products for full-fat dairy and avoid processed meats such as cold cuts, sausages and hot dogs that have high sodium and often high-fat contents.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates make up around 55 percent of the American diet, so pick your carbs carefully. Choose whole-grain breads and pastas and limit refined sugars, which can pile on pounds without adding much in the way of nutrition. Increase your fruit and vegetable intake to four to five servings each per day, a large increase for most Americans. Fruits, vegetables and whole grains are all high in dietary fiber, which can help lower cholesterol as well as blood glucose levels.
