If you have heart disease or if you are at high risk for acquiring it you have probably been told by your doctor that a healthy diet is important. Lets take a look at some changes you can make to your eating habits in order to improve your health and prevent heart disease from occurring.
Fats
It’s very important to significantly reduce the amount of saturated fats and trans fats that you include in your diet. Reducing these types of fats is perhaps the best action you can take in order to lower your cholesterol level and decrease the chances of acquiring coronary artery disease. If you have too much cholesterol in your blood this can eventually lead to having too much plaque in the arteries which increases the probability of you having a heart attack and a stroke.
Saturated fat should be below seven percent of the total daily calories that you consume. Trans fats should be below one percent of the total calories that you consume each day. If you are an adult who is in good health, your intake of cholesterol should be below three hundred milligrams on a daily basis, while adults who have a high level of bad cholesterol (LDL) should consume less that two hundred milligrams per day of cholesterol.
In order to lower the amount of saturated fats and trans fats in your diet you should significantly decrease the amount of solid fats such as shortening, butter and margarine you consume. It’s a good idea to use low fat items as substitutes for the unhealthy fats such as putting some salsa on a baked potato and substitute low fat yogurt for butter. Some people who are at risk for heart disease avoid putting margarine or butter on their toast and choose to put sugar free fruit spreads instead. When you are cooking use fats such as olive oil and canola oil. Select margarine's that mention trans fat free on the product and you might want to select cholesterol lowering margarine's.
Protein
To reduce the risk of heart disease, choose protein sources that are low in fat such as poultry, fish, eggs as well as low fat types of dairy products. Eat skinless chicken breasts and avoid fried foods, consume skim milk and avoid whole milk. Make sure that legumes such as beans, peas as well as lentils are a part of your diet since they are a great source of protein and are low in fat and do not contain any cholesterol at all. To prevent heart disease it’s a good idea to have a large amount of fruits and vegetables in your diet since they are full of dietary fiber and vitamins and minerals. A diet that includes a large amount of soluble fiber will decrease your cholesterol level and decrease the chances of acquiring heart disease. Whole grains are also good sources of fiber and should be a part of your diet. Eating a healthy diet is important in order to prevent heart disease.
Niacin is the closest thing available to a perfect treatment that corrects most causes of coronary heart disease. Niacin blocks the release of fatty acids from fat cells. Niacin plays a critical role in energy production, gene expression, and hormone synthesis. You cannot live without it. Niacin also tends to shift LDL particle distribution to larger particle size and improve HDL functioning. The intake of 3 grams Niacin for as little as two weeks can reduce serum cholesterol by 26 percent.
Author Resource:-
David Cowley has created numerous articles on heart disease. He has also created a Web Site dedicated to heart disease and how to treat them. Visit http://www.heart-team.com
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