February is Heart Month, and what better way to keep your heart happy then to keep it healthy. One of the main ways to do that is to eat a heart-healthy diet.
The American Heart Association recently released new dietary guidance for the first time since 2006. This guidance shifts the focus from specific and scientific guidelines to a more balanced approach that may be easier to follow and fit into our busy lives.
The AHA recommends 10 patterns that can be incorporated into our daily choices that will help improve our heart health:
- Work with your health-care provider to establish and get to a healthy body weight.
- Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables which will provide the best source of vitamins and minerals that your heart and your body need.
- Choose whole grain foods instead of refined grains. Incorporating whole grains in your diet can also help your digestive system. Check product labels and look for the words “100% whole grain” on bread, pasta, cereal, flour and rice packaging.
- Choose healthy sources of protein, which include protein from plants (legumes and nuts), fish and seafood, low-fat or fat-free dairy products, and lean meat and poultry. The guidance stresses that eating red meat is associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular diseases, especially processed meat such as hot dogs, bacon and deli meats.
- When you use oil, choose liquid plant oils rather than tropical oils, animal fats such as butter, or partially hydrogenated and trans fats.
- Work to eat minimally processed foods instead of very processed foods.
- Choose beverages and foods without added sugars or alternative sweeteners.
- When cooking, use little or no added salt. Choosing minimally processed foods will also help decrease sodium intake.
- Limit or avoid alcohol. The guidance notes that if you don’t drink alcohol, don’t start, and if you choose to drink alcohol, do so in moderation.
- Finally, follow these guidelines wherever you are eating.
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The AHA notes that there are challenges to making these changes for everyone. Years of habits not in line with the guidance is a significant barrier for many people to be able to make these changes.
The AHA highlights returning nutritional and dietary education into our schools to counter misinformation. The easiest way is to establish healthy eating early in childhood so that it naturally becomes a way of life.
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Though making all these changes at once can seem like an impossible task, starting with small steps can be a way of making this manageable and help you succeed.
Small steps can be eating one more fruit or vegetable each day or drinking water instead of soda pop at one meal. It is OK to take it slow and work at your own pace. Your heart will thank you for it.
Mohammad Karim, M.D., is a cardiologist with UPMC Hamot Heart & Vascular Institute.
