GO RED - WOMEN’S HEART HEALTH
Schneps Media wears red to show support for Women’s Heart Health
Diet and heart health go hand in
hand. The American Heart Association
notes that a healthy diet and lifestyle
are the best weapons to fi ght cardiovascular
diseases, which the World
Health Organization says kill more
people across the globe each year than
any other disease.
Men and women do not need degrees
in nutrition science to create hearthealthy
diets for themselves and their
families. In fact, the familiar calls to
“eat your fruits and vegetables” many
adults recall from childhood lessons or
nights around the family dinner table
still bear weight today. A diet that is
rich in fruits and vegetables is a hallmark
of a healthy lifestyle. And supplementing
such a diet with other hearthealthy
foods is a great way to reduce
one’s risk for cardiovascular disease.
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
The U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services notes that fruits and
vegetables are healthy whether they’re
fresh, frozen, canned, and/or dried.
The AHA advises eating fruits and vegetables
with every meal and snack, and
that may require a little creativity as
you sneak them into favorite dishes.
For example, the AHA suggests replacing
half the ground meat in recipes
for burgers, meatloaf or meatballs
with cooked chopped mushrooms. The
mushrooms can be fi nely chopped with
a knife or food processor, and then sautéed
in some olive oil until they’re soft.
They can then be mixed in with the lean
meat, and the meal can be cooked as it
normally would. At the breakfast table,
add fruit to a bowl of cereal to make for
a more fl avorful morning meal.
DAIRY PRODUCTS
When purchasing dairy products,
the DHHS recommends sticking to fatfree
or low-fat options. Replace whole
milk with fat-free or 1 percent milk
and buy only fat-free or low-fat cheese.
When snacking, reach for fat-free or
low-fat plain yogurt or cottage cheese.
You can even add fruit or vegetables to
such snacks to make snack time even
more heart-healthy.
PROTEINS
Healthy proteins are another way
people can promote heart health with
their daily diets. When choosing proteins
at the grocery store, the AHA
recommends choosing chicken and
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fi sh over red meats. That’s because red
meats, which include beef and lamb,
have more saturated fat than chicken
and fi sh. Saturated fats increase blood
cholesterol levels and can worsen heart
disease, while the unsaturated fats in
fi sh like salmon can actually reduce
the risk for cardiovascular issues like
heart failure and ischemic stroke.
When preparing poultry, remove the
skin, as most of the saturated fat in
poultry is found just beneath the skin.
GRAINS
When buying grains, the DHHS
recommends reading the ingredients
list on the package before purchasing.
Make sure whole wheat or
another whole grain is the fi rst item
listed in the ingredients list, and
choose only those products that say
100 percent whole grain. Instead of
preparing white rice as a side dish,
serve brown or wild rice, quinoa or
oats.
A heart-healthy diet is easy to
design and just as fl avorful as less
healthy alternatives.
How to incorporate more hearthealthy
foods into your diet