With more awareness of the risks of obesity and cardiovascular disease than ever, it’s a good time to find information on living your life in a healthier way – and it’s always a good time to start taking care of yourself.
Eating a heart-healthy diet is one of the best ways to prevent heart disease. A healthy, safe diet plan which takes your cardiovascular function into account along with regular exercise can go a long way towards good heart health.
The most important part of a great diet plan for your heart is fresh vegetables and fruits. Eat plenty of different ones to provide your entire body with the nutrition it needs for good health. Though everyone knows that they should eat their vegetables and fruits, it’s very important to have variety in your diet.
When you eat a varying spectrum of fruits and vegetables, you are consuming different types of vitamins and minerals your heart needs for healthy and supportive function throughout your body. Try to eat as many different colors of fruits and vegetables daily with 80 percent of your produce intake coming from vegetables.
Fresh produce is also a great source of dietary fiber – another important part of a safe diet plan. Fiber helps improve digestive function, lowers your risk for heart disease and imparts other important health benefits. You’ll be making a step towards a great diet plan by including plenty of high fiber foods in your diet.
Other than vegetables, you can get the fiber you need from whole grains, beans and some fruits. Berries are a good source of fiber and also contain other nutrients which reduce the risk of developing heart disease.
Whenever you can, use fresh produce instead of canned or frozen fruits and vegetables. They contain more nutrients and are free of the preservatives and added sugar and salt found in many of these foods. You can use frozen vegetables and fruits when fresh is not an option, but canned produce should be avoided in general since they tend to contain so little in the way of nutrients.
Sodium can raise your blood pressure, forcing your heart to work harder to circulate blood. Excessive sugar can quickly add to excess fat in your body that often leads to a weaker heart.
Choose lean proteins such as poultry, fish and lean cuts of beef and pork. Beans are also a good source of protein, as are eggs; however, egg yolks are high in cholesterol, so egg whites are a healthier choice.
Work fish into your safe diet plan at least twice a week. Not only are fish a good source of protein, they are also rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, which help protect heart health. You can also get Omega-3s from peanuts, tree nuts and flax seed.
Dairy such as low-fat cheese, milk and yogurt can provide a good source of protein as well as healthy fats. Obtain your other healthy fats from monounsaturated sources such as vegetable-based oils, nuts and fish. These can help provide you with good fats that are essential inside your body and also help you avoid unhealthy saturated and trans-fats.
Water and Exercise. Drinking plenty of water as part of your heart healthy diet plan. Water makes up more than 70 percent of your body mass and is essential for healthy heart and blood function.
Although it may not be your favorite thing, aerobic exercise still has to be a major part of any heart-safe diet plan. Thirty minutes of continuous aerobic activity should be practiced at least two to three times weekly for you to experience heart health benefits. Exercise should also be used as a major tool to control your weight at a healthy balance for your height. This can increase heart strength and health.
Don’t waste your time and money. If you really want to lose weight, we have reviewed several successful diet plans for quick weight loss. You can also watch my videos about healthy diet plans to lose weight quickly.
