1,200 Calories – Cleveland Clinic

Have diabetes or hypertension raised your risk of heart disease, or do you simply want to eat in a more heart-healthy way? A three-day meal plan can help. This 1,200 calorie-a-day plan can help most women lose weight, says Julia Zumpano, RD, LD. (Discover the six benefits of seeing a heart dietitian below.)

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Day 1

Breakfast:
2 large eggs, 2
slices whole grain bread, 1 Tbsp. olive oil spread.

Lunch: 2 slices whole grain bread, 3 oz. tuna (canned in water), 1 slice low-fat mozzarella cheese, 1 Tbsp. olive oil mayo.

Dinner: 4 oz. grilled chicken, 1 medium Idaho baked potato, 1-1/2 cups green beans.

Snacks: 1 cup skim milk, 1 medium apple.

Day 2

Breakfast: 1 cup oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries, 1
Tbsp. peanut butter.

Lunch: 2 slices whole grain bread, 2 oz. low-sodium turkey, 1 slice Swiss cheese, 1 tsp. mustard; 1 cup skim milk.

Dinner: 4 oz. salmon, ½ cup brown rice, 1-1/2 cups broccoli, 2 tsp. olive oil, 1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese.

Snacks: 6 oz. non-fat plain Greek yogurt, ½
cup strawberries.

Day 3

Breakfast: 1 cup fat-free cottage cheese, ½ cup
fresh pineapple.

Lunch: 3 oz. grilled chicken, ¼ cup bell pepper, ¼ avocado, 2 Tbsp. salsa, ¼ cup shredded lettuce, 1 low-carb wrap; 1 medium peach.

Dinner: 3 turkey meatballs, ½ cup whole wheat pasta, 1/3 cup marinara sauce, 1 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese; 2 cups spring lettuce mix, 1 Tsp. olive oil, 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar.

Snacks: ¼ cup mixed nuts, 2 Tbsp. dried
cranberries.

6 ways a heart dietitian will help you

When you have high blood pressure,
diabetes or excess weight, your doctor may refer you to a heart dietitian.

“Our goal is to reduce your cardiac
risk,” explains Ms. Zumpano. “We try to get you started and educate you so
that you’re empowered to make ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ food choices.”

When you see a heart dietitian, you
will learn how to:

1.Distinguish
nutrient-dense foods from empty-calorie foods.

• The Mediterranean diet is loaded with nutrient-dense foods, packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber and/or healthy fat: fresh produce; nuts, seeds and olive oil; beans and whole grains; and lean proteins.
• The typical American diet contains too many high-calorie foods devoid of nutrients: soda, chips, crackers, cookies and candy bars. They add to your weight, and raise your blood sugar and bad LDL cholesterol levels.

2. Choose healthy
versus unhealthy fats.

• Healthy (unsaturated) fats don’t turn solid at room temperature, and include plant oils, nuts, olives, avocado and fatty fish. 
• Saturated fats turn solid at room temperature. “While there’s room for some saturated fat in our diets, we want to limit meat and keep solid animal fat, like chicken skin, marbled cuts and bacon, to a minimum,” she says.
• Start replacing red meat with poultry or fish, and full-fat dairy with plant-based options like olive oil and nuts. Try making one meatless meal per week using beans or legumes. 
• Manmade fats (trans fat/partially hydrogenated oils), also solid at room temperature, have been banned by the FDA. “They increase bad cholesterol and usually cause weight gain and inflammation,” she notes.

3. Tell healthy carbs
from unhealthy carbs.

• High-fiber carbs (like whole grains and legumes) are always better than simple carbs, like sweets, snack foods, chips, and white bread, pasta or rice.
• Every meal should include lots of veggies, and some fruit or whole grain. “Watch your grain portions,” cautions Ms. Zumpano. “I recommend three 15-gram servings of carbs per day — for example, ½ cup oatmeal, 1 slice of bread and ½ cup of brown rice.”
• If you have diabetes and need to lose weight, limit your carbs to 2 to 3 grams per meal (for women) and 3 to 4 grams of carbs (for men). This will also keep your blood sugars stable.

4. Eat at home more often.

• Restaurant meals are often high in salt and saturated fat. If you’re eating out five days a week, “we’ll troubleshoot why you’re doing this so often and try to find some quick, easy options that you can make at home instead,” says Ms. Zumpano.
• Can’t give up eating at restaurants? Work on doing so four, or three, days a week instead. Avoid dishes that are fried, creamed, buttered or tempura, and opt for baked, boiled or broiled foods instead.

5. Get a handle on
your snacking.

• Snacks should have no more than 15 or 20 grams of carbohydrate. (One carb serving is 15 carbs, two is 30, etc.). 
• Include a protein and complex carb in each snack.
• Choose healthy snacks that suit your taste buds (e.g., replace sweets with fruit and nuts, and salty chips with whole grain crackers and cheese). 

6. Reduce the salt in
your diet.

• Always read food labels for sodium content, and if you have hypertension or prehypertension, limit yourself to 1,500 milligrams (about 2/3 teaspoon) of salt per day.
• When eating out, avoid the American Heart Association’s “salty six” (foods that increase blood pressure): pizza, poultry, deli meats, canned soups, breads and sandwiches.

“We can show you how to make changes in
the way you eat so that you can follow a heart-healthy diet and not even
have to think about it,” says Ms. Zumpano. 

The American Heart Association Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations

A healthy diet and lifestyle are your best weapons to fight cardiovascular disease. It’s not as hard as you may think!  Remember, it’s the overall pattern of your choices that counts. Make the simple steps below part of your life for long-term benefits to your health and your heart.

Use up at least as many calories as you take in.

• Start by knowing how many calories you should be eating and drinking to maintain your weight. Nutrition and calorie information on food labels is typically based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. You may need fewer or more calories depending on several factors including age, gender, and level of physical activity.
• If you are trying not to gain weight, don’t eat more calories than you know you can burn up every day.
• Increase the amount and intensity of your physical activity to burn more calories.
• Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity (or an equal combination of both) each week.

Regular physical activity can help you maintain your weight, keep off weight that you lose and help you reach physical and cardiovascular fitness. If it’s hard to schedule regular exercise sessions, look for ways to build short bursts of activity into your daily routine, like parking farther away and taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Ideally, your activity should be spread throughout the week.

Eat a variety of nutritious foods from all the food groups.

You may be eating plenty of food, but your body may not be getting the nutrients it needs to be healthy. Nutrient-rich foods have minerals, protein, whole grains and other nutrients but are lower in calories. They may help you control your weight, cholesterol and blood pressure.

Eat an overall healthy dietary pattern that emphasizes:

Limit saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, red meat, sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages. If you choose to eat red meat, compare labels and select the leanest cuts available.

One of the diets that fits this pattern is the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan. Most healthy eating patterns can be adapted based on calorie requirements and personal and cultural food preferences.

Eat less of the nutrient-poor foods.

The right number of calories to eat each day is based on your age and physical activity level and whether you’re trying to gain, lose or maintain your weight. You could use your daily allotment of calories on a few high-calorie foods and beverages, but you probably wouldn’t get the nutrients your body needs to be healthy. Limit foods and beverages high in calories but low in nutrients. Also limit the amount of saturated fat, trans fat and sodium you eat. Read Nutrition Facts labels carefully — the Nutrition Facts panel tells you the amount of healthy and unhealthy nutrients in a food or beverage.

As you make daily food choices, base your eating pattern on these recommendations:

• Eat a variety of fresh, frozen and canned vegetables and fruits without high-calorie sauces or added salt and sugars. Replace high-calorie foods with fruits and vegetables.
   
• Choose fiber-rich whole grains for most grain servings.
   
• Choose poultry and fish without skin and prepare them in healthy ways without added saturated and trans fat. If you choose to eat meat, look for the leanest cuts available and prepare them in healthy and delicious ways.
   
• Eat a variety of fish at least twice a week, especially fish containing omega-3 fatty acids (for example, salmon, trout and herring).
   
• Select fat-free (skim) and low-fat (1%) dairy products.
   
• Avoid foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to reduce trans fat in your diet.
   
• Limit saturated fat and trans fat and replace them with the better fats, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. If you need to lower your blood cholesterol, reduce saturated fat to no more than 5 to 6 percent of total calories. For someone eating 2,000 calories a day, that’s about 13 grams of saturated fat.
   
• Cut back on beverages and foods with added sugars.
   
• Choose foods with less sodium and prepare foods with little or no salt. To lower blood pressure, aim to eat no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. Reducing daily intake to 1,500 mg is desirable because it can lower blood pressure even further. If you can’t meet these goals right now, even reducing sodium intake by 1,000 mg per day can benefit blood pressure.
   
• If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. That means no more than one drink per day if you’re a woman and no more than two drinks per day if you’re a man.
   
• Follow the American Heart Association recommendations when you eat out, and keep an eye on your portion sizes.

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These are the best diets for heart health, according to dietitians

Even if your ticker is in top shape, health experts still want you to eat more heart-healthy foods. Really. “Eating for a healthy heart is one of the best tools to fight heart disease, which is the number one cause of death in the U.S.,” Chris Rosenbloom, a registered dietitian based outside of Atlanta and author of “Food and Fitness After 50: Eat Well, Move Well, Be Well.” “That’s especially important because heart disease doesn’t just happen when you turn 66 or after a heart attack, it begins as early as childhood and progresses over a lifetime.”

How does a heart-healthy diet work?

A diet that supports your heart isn’t really a diet, per se. It’s a flexible roadmap that encourages eating more food that’s good for the heart, yet fewer foods linked to cardiovascular disease. Why? “Although heart disease has many factors, inflammation is at the core of the disease for most people,” Sonya Angelone, a registered dietitian in San Francisco and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told TODAY. “A diet of overly processed foods, low-fiber refined grains, processed seed oils and few fruits and vegetables will contribute to inflammation and heart disease over time. But if you have a heart-healthy, anti-inflammatory diet, you will lower your risk.”

While eating for better heart health doesn’t require counting calories, it does emphasize portion control and maintaining a healthy body weight. That’s because a high body mass index, or BMI, can increase several risk factors for heart disease, such as:

Related

What does the research say about heart-healthy diets?

If you’re wondering what does eating healthy do to your heart, the answer is lots of good things! According to the American Heart Association, a heart-focused diet that’s low in saturated fat can lower harmful LDL cholesterol by as much as 10 to 15%. Why is that important? Research reveals that people who have LDL cholesterol levels below 100 mg/dL are less likely to suffer from heart disease. Because a diet for heart health is also low in sodium (found in salt), it can additionally reduce blood pressure, another heart disease risk factor. In fact, a low-sodium diet is so effective that research suggests halving the amount of salt you consume can significantly decrease blood pressure in just 4 weeks.

Is a heart-healthy diet good for you?

Eating lots of heart-healthy diet foods doesn’t just prevent heart disease. It may also:

What you’ll eat on a heart-healthy diet

“Basically a heart-healthy diet is based on eating plenty of produce and minimally processed foods every day,” said Angelone. When planning your heart-healthy foods list, follow the lead of American Heart Association. Its heart-healthy diet definition favors a wide variety of these minimally-processed, whole foods:

• Fruits and vegetables
• Whole grains
• Beans and legumes
• Nuts and seeds
• Low-fat dairy products
• Fish
• Skinless poultry
• Olive, canola and avocado oils

Because foods rich in saturated fat, refined sugars and sodium may contribute to heart disease the American Heart Association also recommends:

Related

To cut down on saturated fat, refined sugars and sodium, you’ll want to reduce or avoid these foods:

• Beef, pork and lamb
• Deli meat and cold cuts
• Poultry with skin
• Pizza, burritos and tacos
• Bread, bagels and rolls
• Canned soup
• Butter, cheese and cream
• Whole and 2% milk
• Coconut and palm oils
• Sweetened drinks such as soda, sweet tea and lattes
• Candy
• Desserts like cakes, cookies, doughnuts and ice cream

What does a day of heart-healthy meals look like?

This sample menu gives you an idea of what is considered a healthy heart diet. Here is what you might eat on a one-day heart-healthy meal plan:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal with a diced pear and chopped nuts
• Lunch: Quinoa bowl with chickpeas and grilled vegetables
• Snack: Unsweetened plain, non-fat Greek yogurt with berries
• Dinner: Grilled salmon or tuna, sauteed spinach and a baked potato

Examples of heart-healthy diets

You might be surprised to learn there’s no one best heart-healthy diet. There are several plans that have strong track records, especially:

Related

What are the pros and cons of a diet for heart health?

“Healthwise, I can’t think of a single con,” said Rosenbloom. “Eating a diet for heart health is also good for the brain, for keeping weight in a healthy range and for preventing high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes.”

However, if you don’t eat many fruits, vegetables or whole grains, or can’t imagine life without meat as your main course, this diet may seem a little overwhelming at first. “It may be helpful to know that this way of eating doesn’t require expensive foods or even giving up all of your favorites,” said Rosenbloom. “Just make small changes like eating more fruits and vegetables, reducing portion sizes of meat and higher fat foods and eating more fiber-rich foods.” Not sure where to begin? Start slowly by preparing a couple of heart-healthy recipes once or twice a week.

Is a heart-healthy diet effective over the long term?

This style of eating does more than just protect you from developing heart disease. It can also help people who already have heart troubles. For example, when people who’ve had coronary bypass surgery or have stents to open the heart arteries eat this way, they are less likely to have their arteries close up again, according to Rosenbloom.

The bottom line

Experts agree that a heart-supporting diet is one of the best ways to improve heart health. “But it’s only one piece of the puzzle,” said Rosenbloom. “In the end, smart food choices, aerobic exercise, not smoking and taking medications as prescribed all work together to keep a heart healthy!”

Karen Ansel, M. S., R.D.N.

How to Eat Right and Exercise With Heart Disease

When you find out you have heart disease, it often puts diet and exercise in a whole new light. They become top priorities along with taking your medicine and keeping up with your doctor appointments.

Some research shows they may even work as well as medicine to manage your condition.

Use these tips to get started today.

Worried About Taste? Relax!

The right mix of foods can yield big health rewards including weight loss, lower cholesterol, and better blood pressure levels. For many people, it’s a big change. But surprise! It can be delicious. 

Chart a new path at the grocery store. Stop by the produce aisle. Fruits and vegetables are high in nutrients and low in fat and calories. Aim for at least 4 1/2 servings a day. To boost nutrition, mix colors — such as green from broccoli and Brussels sprouts, yellow from squash and bananas, and red from peppers and tomatoes.

Get grainy. You can eat whole grains like brown rice, oatmeal, or barley. Or look for products that are made with them. You’ll get great taste and fiber, which helps lower cholesterol.

Feast on fish. Fatty fish like salmon and trout are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These healthy fats help prevent an irregular heart rhythm, lower levels of blood fats called triglycerides, and slow the plaque buildup that clogs arteries and can cause a heart attack. Reel them in from the seafood counter (or from a can) at least twice a week.

Swap your seasonings. Too much salt may raise blood pressure, which forces your heart to work harder. The American Heart Association suggests you cut back to no more than 1,500 mg daily — about a half-teaspoon. Use basil, lemon, or garlic to flavor foods instead.

Use plant power. Go for canola, flaxseed, or olive oils. Been there, done that? Try walnut or grapeseed oils. They’re high in unsaturated fatty acids, which help lower “bad” (LDL) cholesterol levels.

Best Diets for Heart Disease

Create your own food plan using the advice above. Or follow one of these diets, which are good fits for people with heart disease.

The Mediterranean diet is a great way to go. It’s high in fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish and low in red meat and sugar. You can even have small amounts of red wine if your doctor says it’s OK for you. 

This diet gets high marks for heart disease because studies show it improves heart risks like high triglycerides and inflammation. People who stick with this type of plan are less likely to have a heart attack or stroke or die from heart disease.

The DASH diet, likethe Mediterranean plan, is big on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and nuts. It’s also low in red meat and refined sugar. Studies show it can bring down high blood pressure, which could lower your risk for a heart attack or stroke. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.

Exercise for Your Heart

Heart disease doesn’t mean you’re out of the game. It’s actually a cue to move more.

When you make it a habit, it pays off in your blood pressure and cholesterol and keeps your heart pumping strong. It’s also great for your mood and stress level.  

First, ask your doctor if there are any limits on what you can do.

Then aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week. There are so many options. You can ride a bike, take a brisk walk, or go swimming.

Add in two days of strength training weekly. Lift light weights or work out with resistance bands.

If you are short on time, break up exercise into 15-minute mini-workouts. You’ll get the same benefits. Do something you love so you’ll stick with it. Walk the dog. Take a dance class. Or play tennis with a friend.

Fitness Heart Smarts

A physical therapist or trainer can help you custom-design an exercise program. Or your doctor might recommend a cardiac rehab program to teach you how to exercise safely.

Start slowly. A gentle 10-minute walk may be all you can do at first. Slowly work up to longer and more intense workouts when you feel ready.

When the temperature soars or plunges, take your routine indoors. Heart disease can affect your body’s ability to control cold and heat.

Don’t lift heavy weights or do exercises that make you hold your breath. Breath holding makes your heart work harder.

Take your pulse often while you work out. Ask your doctor for your target pulse rate. If it jumps too high, stop exercising or slow down.

If you get dizzy or short of breath, stop exercising. But chances are, as you get healthier, you will be able to do more than you expect.

Heart-Healthy Diet Tips – HelpGuide.org

healthy eating

Looking to prevent heart disease and improve your cardiovascular health? Learn which foods are healthiest for your heart.

What is a heart-healthy diet?

Heart disease is the leading killer of men and women—and claims more lives than all forms of cancer combined. Being diagnosed with cardiovascular disease can also take an emotional toll, affecting your mood, outlook, and quality of life. While weight control and regular exercise are critical for keeping your heart in shape, the food you eat can matter just as much. In fact, along with other healthy lifestyle choices, a heart-healthy diet may reduce your risk of heart disease or stroke by 80%.

No single food can make you magically healthy, so your overall dietary pattern is more important than specific foods. Instead of fried, processed food, packaged meals, and sugary snacks, a heart-healthy diet is built around “real,” natural food—fresh from the ground, ocean, or farm.

Whether you’re looking to improve your cardiovascular health, have already been diagnosed with heart disease, or have high cholesterol or high blood pressure, these heart-healthy diet tips can help you better manage these conditions and lower your risk of a heart attack.

Switching to a heart-healthy diet
Eat more:	Eat less:
Healthy fats, such as raw nuts, olive oil, fish oils, flaxseeds, and avocados	Trans fats from partially hydrogenated or deep-fried foods; saturated fats from fried food, fast food, and snack foods.
Colorful fruits and vegetables—fresh or frozen	Packaged foods, especially those high in sodium and sugar
High-fiber cereals, breads, and pasta made from whole grains or legumes	White or egg breads, sugary cereals, refined pastas or rice
High-quality protein, such as fish and poultry	Processed meat such as bacon, sausage, and salami, and fried chicken
Organic dairy such as eggs, skim milk, or unsweetened yogurt	Yogurt with added sugar; processed cheese

Three keys to a heart-healthy diet

1. Be smart about fats

If you are concerned about your heart health, rather than avoiding fat in your diet, try replacing unhealthy fats with good fats. Some of the most important improvements you can make to your diet are to:

Cut out artificial trans fats. As well as raising your LDL, or “bad” cholesterol level, which can increase your risk for heart attack and stroke, artificial trans fat also lowers your levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol, which can put you at increased cardiovascular risk. Many countries have effectively outlawed the use of artificial trans-fats in commercially prepared food, but it’s worth checking labels and avoiding anything with “partially hydrogenated” oil in the ingredients, even if it claims to be “trans fat-free.”

Limit saturated fats. Saturated fats are mainly found in tropical oils, dairy, and red meat and should be limited to no more than 10% of your daily calorie intake. Enjoy dairy in moderation and vary the protein sources in your diet, opting for fish, skinless chicken, eggs, and vegetarian sources of protein where you can.

Eat more healthy fats. Eating foods rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat can improve blood cholesterol levels and lower your risk of heart disease. Eat omega 3 fatty acids every day, from fatty fish such as salmon, trout, or herring, or from flaxseed, kale, spinach, or walnuts. Other sources of healthy fats include olive oil, avocados, nuts, and nut butters.

2.

Don’t replace fat with sugar or refined carbs

When cutting back on heart-risky foods, such unhealthy fats, it’s important to replace them with healthy alternatives. Replacing processed meats with fish or chicken, for example, can make a positive difference to your health. But switching animal fats for refined carbohydrates, though—such as replacing your breakfast bacon with a donut or sugary cereal—won’t do anything to lower your risk for cardiovascular disease.

Your body doesn’t need any added sugar—it gets all it needs from the sugar that naturally occurs in food. Sugary food and refined carbs just add up to a lot of empty calories that are as bad for your heart as they are for your waistline.

Instead of sugary soft drinks, white bread, pasta and processed foods like pizza, opt for unrefined whole grains like whole wheat or multigrain bread, brown rice, barley, quinoa, bran cereal, oatmeal, and non-starchy vegetables.

3. Focus on high-fiber food

A diet high in fiber can lower “bad” cholesterol and provide nutrients that help protect against heart disease. As an added bonus, it may also help you to lose weight. Since fiber stays in the stomach longer than other foods, the feeling of fullness will stay with you much longer, helping you to eat less. Fiber also moves fat through your digestive system quicker so less of it is absorbed. And when you fill up on fiber, you’ll also have more energy for exercising.

Insoluble fiber is found in whole grains, wheat cereals, and vegetables such as carrots, celery, and tomatoes.

Soluble fiber sources include barley, oatmeal, beans, nuts, and fruits such as apples, berries, citrus fruits, and pears.

Steer clear of salt and processed foods

Eating a lot of salt can contribute to high blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The American Heart Association recommends no more than a teaspoon of salt a day for an adult. That may sound alarmingly small, but there are actually many painless—even delicious—ways to reduce your sodium intake.

Reduce canned or processed foods. Much of the salt you eat comes from canned or processed foods like soups or frozen dinners—even poultry or other meats often have salt added during processing. Eating fresh foods, looking for unsalted meats, and making your own soups or stews can dramatically reduce your sodium intake.

Use spices for flavor. Cooking for yourself enables you to have more control over your salt intake. Make use of the many delicious alternatives to salt. Try fresh herbs like basil, thyme, or chives. In the dried spices aisle, you can find alternatives such as allspice, bay leaves, or cumin to flavor your meal without sodium.

Substitute reduced sodium versions, or salt substitutes. Choose your condiments and packaged foods carefully, looking for foods labeled sodium free, low sodium, or unsalted. Better yet, use fresh ingredients and cook without salt.

The DASH diet for lowering blood pressure

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH diet, is a specially designed eating plan to help you lower your blood pressure, which is a major cause of hypertension and stroke. When combined with a reduction in salt, the DASH diet can be more effective at lowering blood pressure than medication.

Rekindle home cooking

It’s very difficult to eat a heart-healthy diet when you’re eating out a lot, ordering in, or eating microwave dinners and other processed foods. The portions are usually too large and the meals contain too much salt, sugar, and unhealthy fat. Cooking at home will give you better control over the nutritional content of your meals and can also help you to save money and lose weight. Making heart-healthy meals is easier and less time-consuming than you may think—and you don’t have to be an experienced cook to master some quick and wholesome meals.

Get the whole family involved. Trade off shopping and cleanup duties with your spouse or get the kids to help shop for groceries and prepare dinner. Kids find it fun to eat what they’ve helped to make and cooking together is a great way to expand the pallets of picky eaters.

Make cooking fun. If you hate the idea of spending time in the kitchen, you need to embrace your fun side. Try singing along to your favorite music as you cook, sip a glass of wine, or listen to the radio or an audiobook.

Make foods ready-to-eat. You’re more likely to stay heart-healthy during your busy week if you make healthy foods easily accessible. When you come home from grocery shopping, cut up vegetables and fruit and store them in the fridge, ready for the next meal or when you are looking for a quick snack.

Use heart healthy cooking methods. Just as important as choosing healthy ingredients is preparing them in healthy ways. You can bake, broil, roast, steam, poach, lightly stir fry, or sauté ingredients—using a small amount of olive oil, reduced sodium broth, and spices instead of salt.

Cook just once or twice a week and make meals for the whole week. Cook a large batch of heart healthy food and reheat leftovers the rest of the week. Or freeze meals in individual portions for those days when you don’t have time to cook.

Control portion size—and your weight

Carrying excess weight means that your heart must work harder, and this often leads to high blood pressure—a major cause of heart disease. As well as eating less sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats, reducing portion sizes is a crucial step toward losing or maintaining a healthy weight.

Understand serving sizes. A serving size is a specific amount of food, defined by common measurements such as cups, ounces, or pieces—and a healthy serving size may be a lot smaller than you’re used to. The recommended serving size for pasta is ½ cup, while a serving of meat, fish, or chicken is 2 to 3 ounces (57-85 grams). Judging serving size is a learned skill, so you may initially need to use measuring cups, spoons, and a food scale to help.

Eyeball it. Once you have a better idea of what a serving should be, you can estimate your portion. You can use common objects for reference; for example, a serving of pasta should be about the size of a baseball (slightly smaller than a cricket ball), while a serving of meat, fish, or chicken is about the size of a deck of cards.

If you’re still hungry at the end of a meal fill up on extra servings of vegetables or fruit.

Beware of restaurant portions. They’re often more than anyone needs. Order an appetizer instead of an entrée, split an entrée with your dining companion, or take half your meal home for tomorrow’s lunch.

Look at labels

In the U.S., look for foods displaying the American Heart Association’s heart-check mark to spot heart-healthy foods that meet the American Heart Association’s criteria for fat and cholesterol.

Authors: Lawrence Robinson, Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., and Melinda Smith, M.A.

Diet and Exercise for a Healthy Heart

Your heart is the center of your cardiovascular system. It is involved in many of the daily functions that bring your body to life. So having a healthy heart is vital to your overall health. Two of the simplest yet most important ways to help your heart health are through diet and exercise.

Path to improved health

Improving your heart health is not difficult when you know how to eat and how to exercise. Follow these tips to get the most out of your diet and exercise plan.

Diet

The foods you eat can affect your weight, your hormones, and the health of your organs, including your heart. Eating a healthy diet can help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

• Choose healthy fats. Despite what you may have heard, some fats are actually good for you. When you use fats for cooking, choose monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil or canola oil. Avocados are also a good source of monounsaturated fat. Polyunsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids are also healthy choices. Polyunsaturated fats are found in nuts and seeds. Omega-3 fats are found in fish, such as tuna and salmon. In general, you should try to avoid trans fats. Trans fats are usually found in processed foods and snacks such as crackers or snack cakes. To see whether a food contains trans fats, look for the words “partially hydrogenated” in the ingredient label.
• Go whole-grain. Whole-grain breads or pastas are higher in fiber and complex carbohydrates. Choose them instead of white breads or regular pastas for sandwiches and meals.
• Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. They contain fiber, vitamins, and minerals that are good for your body. They also add flavor and variety to your diet.
• Prepare meat healthfully. Baking, broiling, and roasting are the healthiest ways to prepare meat and poultry. Trim any outside fat or skin before cooking. Lean cuts can be pan-broiled or stir-fried.
• Don’t forget beans. Dry beans, peas, and lentils offer protein and fiber. Once in a while, try substituting beans for meat in a favorite recipe, such as lasagna or chili.
• Choose low-fat dairy. Go for fat-free or low-fat versions of milk, yogurt, and cheese products.
• Pack in protein. Eat protein–rich foods, including fish, lean meats, skinless poultry, eggs, nuts and seeds, and beans.
• Try a diet. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan is a heart-healthy approach that lowers blood pressure and bad cholesterol in your blood. Or try the Mediterranean Diet for another healthy approach to eating.

What should I NOT eat?

A heart-healthy diet limits some nutrients. These include:

Sodium. Flavor foods with spices or no-salt seasonings instead of salt. Watch out for prepackaged foods, sauces, canned foods, and processed foods. They can all contain a high amount of sodium.

Saturated and trans fats. Saturated fats are found in fatty meats, poultry skin, whole-milk dairy, butter, lard, and coconut and palm oils. Trans fats are found in some desserts, microwave popcorn, frozen pizza, stick margarines, and coffee creamers. Look for the words partially hydrogenated oil on the food label.

Added sugar. Sweetened drinks, snacks, and sweet treats are the main source of added sugars in the United States. These include sodas, sweetened coffee and tea, energy drinks, cakes, pies, ice cream, candy, syrups, and jellies. Limit these types of foods and drinks.

Alcohol. Limit your intake of alcohol. Men should have no more than 2 drinks a day. Women should have no more than 1 drink per day. Too much alcohol can raise your blood pressure and cause you to gain weight. It can also contribute to or worsen heart failure in some people.

How much should I weigh?

Talk to your family doctor about your ideal weight, because every person is different. If you’re overweight, the extra pounds put extra stress on your heart. Losing weight can help your heart stay healthy. Remember that losing just 10% of your body weight will reduce your risks for diabetes and heart disease.

Exercise

Exercise makes your heart stronger. This helps it pump more blood with each heartbeat. This delivers more oxygen to your body. With more oxygen, your body functions more efficiently.

Exercise can also lower blood pressure. It reduces your risk of heart disease and reduces levels of LDL (“bad” cholesterol). Bad cholesterol can clog the arteries and can cause a heart attack. At the same time, exercise can raise levels of HDL (“good” cholesterol). HDL helps protect against a heart attack by carrying fatty deposits out of the arteries.

When combined with a healthy diet, exercise can speed up weight loss. Regular exercise builds lean muscle, which burns more calories than fat. This helps you burn calories faster, even when you’re sitting still.

What’s the best type of exercise for my heart?

Aerobic exercise causes you to breathe more deeply. It makes your heart work harder to pump blood. Aerobic exercise also raises your heart rate (which burns calories). Examples of aerobic exercise include walking, jogging, running, dancing, swimming, and bicycling.

How much exercise do I need?

If you haven’t been exercising, try to work up to 30 minutes 4 to 6 times a week. Your doctor may recommend a different exercise regimen based on your health. Alternate exercise days with rest days or days you do a very different type of exercise. This will help prevent injuries.

How will I fit exercise into my busy schedule?

There are lots of ways to raise your heart rate during your regular day. Some examples include:

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Walk during a coffee break or lunch.
• Walk to work, or park at the end of the parking lot so you have to walk farther.
• Walk more briskly.
• Do housework at a quicker pace and more often (for example, vacuuming every day).
• Rake leaves, mow your lawn, or do other yard work.

Things to consider

Diet and exercise are an important part of your heart health. If you don’t eat a good diet and you don’t exercise, you are at increased risk of developing health problems. These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. These increase your risk of heart attack and stroke.

Questions to ask your doctor

• Should I eat a special diet to keep my heart healthy?
• I am overweight. How can I lose weight to make my heart healthier?
• Am I healthy enough to begin exercising?
• How much should I exercise?
• I already heave heart disease. Can diet and exercise make me better?

Resources

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: Heart-Healthy Lifestyle Changes

Copyright © American Academy of Family Physicians

This information provides a general overview and may not apply to everyone. Talk to your family doctor to find out if this information applies to you and to get more information on this subject.

Heart-Healthy Foods: Shopping list – MyHealthfinder

When it comes to your heart, what you eat matters. Follow these tips for heart-healthy eating:

1. Eat less saturated fats. Cut back on fatty meats and high-fat dairy products. Limit food like pizza, burgers, and creamy sauces or gravy.
2. Cut down on sodium (salt). Read the Nutrition Facts label and choose foods that are lower in sodium. Look for the low-sodium or “no salt added” types of canned soups, vegetables, packaged meals, snack foods, and lunch meats.
3. Get more fiber. Eat vegetables, fruits, beans, and whole grains to add fiber to your diet.

Take this list with you the next time you go food shopping.

Vegetables and Fruits

Eat a variety of vegetables and fruits. Buy vegetables and fruits that are fresh, frozen, canned, or dried.

• Fresh vegetables like tomatoes, cabbage, and carrots
• Leafy greens for salads, like Romaine lettuce, spinach, and kale
• Canned vegetables that are low in sodium
• Frozen vegetables without added butter or sauces, like broccoli or cauliflower
• Fresh fruits such as apples, oranges, bananas, pears, and peaches
• Canned, frozen, or dried fruit without added sugars

Farmers markets are great places to buy vegetables and fruits that are in season. Search for a market near you.

Dairy

Look for fat-free or low-fat options.

• Fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk
• Fat-free or low-fat plain yogurt
• Fat-free or low-fat cheese
• Fat-free or low-fat cottage cheese
• Soymilk with added calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin D

Breads, Cereals, and Other Grains

For products with more than 1 ingredient, make sure whole wheat or another whole grain is listed first in the ingredient list. Look for products that say 100% whole grain.

• Whole-grain bread, bagels, English muffins, and tortillas
• Whole-grain hot or cold breakfast cereals with no added sugar, like oatmeal or shredded wheat
• Whole grains, like brown or wild rice, quinoa, or oats
• Whole-wheat or whole-grain pasta and couscous

Protein Foods

Choose a variety of foods with protein.

• Seafood: fish and shellfish
• Poultry: chicken or turkey breast without skin, lean ground chicken or turkey (at least 93% lean)
• Pork: leg, shoulder, or tenderloin
• Beef: round, sirloin, tenderloin, or lean ground beef (at least 93% lean)
• Beans and peas, like kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, lima beans, black-eyed peas, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), split peas, and lentils
• Eggs
• Unsalted nuts and seeds
• Nut butters, like almond or peanut butter
• Tofu

Fats and Oils

Cut back on saturated fat and look for products with no trans fats. Choose foods with unsaturated fats like seafood, nuts, seeds, avocados, and oils.

• Margarine and spreads (soft, tub, or liquid) with no trans fats and less saturated fats than butter
• Vegetable oil (canola, corn, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean, or sunflower)
• Non-stick cooking spray
• Lower-calorie mayonnaise
• Salad dressings that are oil based

Avoid coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils, which are all high in saturated fat.

90,000 Feed your heart right. Rational nutrition with cardio

Today, heart ailments have become a real disaster. But to prevent and even cure angina pectoris, ischemia, arrhythmia, hypertension, heart attack and stroke can be prevented with the help of proper nutrition. Rational nutrition is nutrition that fully satisfies the physiological needs of the body for nutrients and energy, which in turn contributes to the preservation and strengthening of health, and the prevention of diseases.

Nutrition for cardiovascular diseases is based on the following principles: food should be varied, energy consumption should be optimal to maintain an ideal weight; the diet should contain a certain amount of nutrients in an optimal ratio (proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, macro- and microelements), taking into account age, gender, climatic and other characteristics; the total fat content in the diet should not exceed 30% of the total energy composition, and the saturated fat content should not exceed one third of all fats consumed; the amount of cholesterol consumed with food is less than 300 mg / day; the ratio between saturated, mono – and polyunsaturated fats should be 1: 1: 1; preventive orientation of the diet; adherence to the diet.

What misconceptions about healthy and unhealthy nutrition we most often face.

Most often, people with cardiovascular diseases believe that a diet that is good for blood vessels, such as the Mediterranean diet, is very expensive, especially now, during the protracted economic crisis. In fact, it is possible to find products that are good for the heart and blood vessels and are not burdensome for the wallet, even with limited funds. Because the main thing is to exclude salt and animal fat, switch from expensive lamb, pork, beef, cheese to cheaper and lean chicken, dairy products – kefir, cottage cheese.It is not necessary to buy fish expensive. Vegetables – cabbage, potatoes, zucchini and dried fruits are also no more expensive than harmful sausages, sausages, baked goods, butter and other products that bring irreparable harm to the entire cardiovascular system.

What restrictions on nutrition and use of healthy foods can be taken to prevent heart disease?

In a number of cases, we have to enrich the diet with biologically active food supplements that make up for the lack of consumption of certain essential nutrients.Most often these are sources of polyunsaturated acids of the omega-3 family, a number of trace elements such as selenium, vitamin and mineral complexes. This is necessary for all those who cannot afford to eat sea fish at least twice a week or who eat mostly poorly and of the same type, since it is these people who have the highest risk of developing a deficiency in the content of much-needed nutrients and related diseases. In addition, the vast majority of cardiac patients require increased amounts of heart-protecting micronutrients.It is important to remember that for prevention, you need to take, for example, at least 200-400 mg of omega-3 PUFAs per day.

How does the diet depend on the age and gender of the patients?

The older a person gets, the less calories he spends. Firstly, metabolism slows down with age, and secondly, physical activity decreases. Often people do not notice that muscle mass has been partially replaced by fat mass, because the arrow on the scales has remained in place. To do this, you need to conduct special studies that will show the ratio of bone, muscle and adipose tissue in the body, and based on the results, adjust the diet. As a rule, after 50 years, you need to reduce the total calorie content. Less high-calorie meals are recommended for women, since the energy consumption of men is initially higher.

How should cardiac patients eat in summer, in the heat?

Even among cardiologists, there is an opinion that it is necessary to restrict fluid, since excess fluid causes swelling and provokes an increase in pressure. This is partly true, but there is a mistake. It is important to limit salt, which retains fluid in the body, not water.Excessive restriction of fluid intake can lead to blood clots. The number of these diseases doubles on hot days precisely because patients drink little liquid. People with diseases of the cardiovascular system need to drink one and a half liters of water every day, and in the heat – two or two and a half liters. Sometimes sensations can be deceiving, many people mistake thirst for food, overeat, and never get water. Therefore, you need to monitor how much you drink. The water must be still.It is worth limiting mineral water to 0.5 liters per day, as it contains a lot of salts that retain water in the body. But you should not completely abandon it, since it contains trace elements necessary for the heart.

What is the role of fermented milk products, in particular those enriched with bifidobacteria and lactobacilli?

Microbiocenosis, that is, the totality of all beneficial intestinal bacteria, is of tremendous importance for the proper functioning of not only the intestines, but also the heart.In the human body, metabolic processes occur daily, striking in their scale. For example, daily in the human body is normally broken down to amino acids and about 400 g of protein is synthesized again – mainly muscle and blood plasma protein. Many people do not know that there is the so-called muscle-intestinal circulation of amino acids, in which amino acids formed during the natural breakdown of protein enter the intestinal cavity, and then are absorbed again and go to build new muscle proteins. I would like to remind you that the heart is also a muscular organ in which the same processes of protein self-renewal take place. Therefore, it becomes clear how much the state of the heart depends on the ability of the intestines to fully do their job, and not least on the state of the intestinal microflora. If the breakdown of protein for a long time prevails over its resynthesis, that is, restoration, then gradually this can lead to dysfunction of the muscular system and heart failure. This is especially dangerous if a person has already suffered a myocardial infarction.Intestinal dysbiosis is also dangerous because it is a factor that provokes angina attacks. The accumulated gases cause discomfort and pain, which can reflexively cause coronary spasm and an attack of angina pectoris. In addition, the absorption of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients depends on the state of the microflora. Therefore, it is imperative to introduce fermented milk products into your diet, preferably additionally enriched with beneficial bacteria.
Rational balanced nutrition allows effective prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, and also multiplies the therapeutic effect of drugs.The diet of patients with diseases of the heart and blood vessels should contain a minimum amount of sodium chloride, limited in the content of dietary cholesterol and animal fat, with normal or low calorie content. At the same time, the diet of patients should contain a sufficient amount of foods rich in dietary fiber, potassium and magnesium, polyunsaturated fatty acids of the omega-3 and omega-6 families. Such nutrition will slow down the development of atherosclerosis, normalize blood pressure, reduce swelling, shortness of breath, and also reduce the risk of developing such formidable complications as myocardial infarction and stroke.The effectiveness of diet therapy has been proven by international and Russian national studies. Some of the studies have class 1A evidence, that is, they are highly conclusive. These are studies concerning the effectiveness of the consumption of fish oil, as well as the impact on the human body of the so-called Mediterranean diet, which contains a large amount of seafood, fish, vegetables and fruits. These recommendations are endorsed by the American Heart Association, the European Society of Cardiology, which indicates a high level of evidence.

Rational nutrition is a balanced, regular (at least 4 times a day) food with limited salt intake. Research by scientists has shown that limiting salt intake can reduce the risk of myocardial infarction and other heart catastrophes by 25%. It is very useful to increase the consumption of foods containing potassium and magnesium (seaweed, raisins, beets, apricots, zucchini, pumpkin, buckwheat). All individuals should receive professional advice on food choices and diets that are associated with the lowest risk of CVD.

General recommendations (determined according to cultural traditions):

• food should be varied, energy intake should be optimal to maintain ideal weight;
• Consumption of the following foods should be encouraged: fruits and vegetables, whole grains and breads, low-fat dairy products, lean meat, fish;
• to eat foods containing fish oil and w-omega, which have special protective properties;

90,049 the total fat content should not exceed 30% of the total energy composition, and the saturated fat content should not exceed one third of all fats consumed; the amount of cholesterol consumed should be less than 300 mg / day;

• with an isocaloric diet, saturated fats should be replaced partly by carbohydrates, partly by monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats from vegetables and marine animals.

Basic Principles of Nutrition for Cardiovascular Diseases:

Diet number 10 – can and not

Can	Not allowed
Diet-free bread, toast, white bread croutons	Fresh bread, pancake, pancakes, muffins
Vegetable soups with cereals, milk soups	Broths from meat, poultry, fish, mushrooms.Bean soups
Lean beef, veal, rabbit, chicken, turkey. Boiled or baked without fat	Fatty meat, geese, ducks, offal, sausages, smoked meats, lard and corned beef, canned meat
Lean fish and seafood – boiled or steamed	Fatty fish, salted, smoked fish, caviar, canned fish
Milk, low-fat cottage cheese, yogurt, kefir	Salted and fatty cheese, sour cream, cream
Soft-boiled eggs, omelets. No more than 1 egg per day	Fried eggs, hard boiled eggs
Dishes from cereals, pasta from durum flour	Legumes
Boiled and baked vegetables. Raw vegetables rarely and carefully	Pickled, salted vegetables. Radish, onion, garlic, mushrooms, radish, green peas, cabbage
Fresh ripe fruits and berries, honey, jam, dried fruits	Fruit with coarse fiber, chocolate, cakes
Weak tea, fruit and vegetable juices	Natural coffee, cocoa, strong tea, alcohol
Vegetable oils, occasionally unsalted butter	Cooking fats and margarines, lard

Head.1 therapeutic department Dedovets E.S.

90,000 Meat is part of a healthy diet. If this is not a sausage

August 29, 2018

Photo by PRESS ASSOCIATION

A study by Canadian scientists refutes claims about the dangers of meat to human health – if we are not talking about sausage and other processed meat products. According to Canadian nutritionists, a balanced diet should exclude sugar and bread, but not meat.

218 thousand people from 50 countries of the world took part in the study of McMaster University.People were divided into five groups depending on the diet, the quality of which was assessed on a point system. Thus, a healthy diet received 18 points, and the most harmful – 11. The quality of the diet was then compared with the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and the risk of premature death.

As a result, scientists have found that the most healthy diet for the heart and the whole body should include red meat, fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, cheese, yogurt and milk every day. Then the risk of premature death can be reduced by a quarter, and the risk of stroke by 22 percent.

White meat was not included in the study. But scientists argue that the benefits of both types of meat are the same.

The results of this study conflict with many of the previously accepted healthy eating guidelines. So in 2015, the World Health Organization concluded that meat products can be a group 1 carcinogen and cause cancer. It, however, was then about processed meat. Canadian scientists emphasize that a healthy diet should contain meat that has not been processed through technology.That is, it should not be sausage and similar meat products.

According to scientists at McMaster University, refined carbohydrates do the real harm to the body. It is an artificially obtained sugar and starch that can be found in bread, chips, cookies, white rice and other foods. Carbohydrates account for 50 percent of the calories in McMaster University’s healthiest diet. Other diets are typically two-thirds carbohydrate.

Photo caption,

According to Canadian scientists, bread should be excluded from a healthy diet

Scientists also stressed that eating a varied diet of unprocessed foods will be a much more effective way to protect health than obsession with certain nutritious ingredients and low-calorie foods.Previous research by scientists has shown that diets low in fat only harm the body.

Beyond meat, the medical community is debating the health benefits of milk. The diet of Canadian scientists contains twice the amount of dairy products than is usually recommended by nutritionists.

The medical community in the UK reacted differently to the results of the research, writes The Times.

So Jeremy Pearson, deputy medical director at the British Heart Foundation, refrained from harsh assessments, saying that meat and dairy products can contribute to a healthy, balanced diet, but only in moderation.

Louis Levy, Head of Nutrition at Public Health England, expressed concern about the amount of dairy products: “We agree that dairy products should be included in the diet. salt in the body and increase the risk of heart disease. ”

WHAT PRODUCTS THE HEART LOVES – American Hospital Cardiovascular Surgery Center

And if you approach the choice of products correctly, you can not only improve your mood and well-being, but also strengthen your heart.

What to limit

“First of all, it is necessary to limit the consumption of fatty foods. Fatty foods have a detrimental effect on the blood vessels – they lose their elasticity and form on the walls

The Whole Truth About Cholesterol

cholesterol plaques. Modified vegetable fat is very harmful to the heart. It is one of the main causes of cardiovascular failure. Also, people who care about their health need to exclude sweets, cakes, cookies and baked goods containing trans fats that are dangerous for the heart from their diet, “says Anatoly Voloshin.

Useful products

For good heart function, a comprehensive

Vegetable complementary foods: jars or fresh vegetables?

a set of trace elements, especially potassium. There are many of them in fruits – bananas, fresh apricots, dried apricots, raisins, dates, figs.

Almost all fresh fruits are good for the heart. Therefore, in the summer you need to eat as many apples, pears, plums and all kinds of berries as possible. By the way, all dark-colored berries (blueberries, blackberries, currants) not only replenish the body’s vitamin reserve and nourish the heart muscle, but also increase the level of hemoglobin in the blood.Good for the heart and pomegranate juice. But only freshly squeezed.

The usefulness of pomegranate juice is not inferior to the usual one

8 recipes for the perfect summer breakfast

oatmeal and nuts. Nuts contain fats necessary for the human body, and oat

porridge is rich in fiber, essential for the heart. Olive oil has a unique ability to dissolve cholesterol plaques.

Regular consumption of olive oil is a good prevention of strokes and heart attacks.Olive oil helps to strengthen blood vessels and makes them more elastic. But milk and heavy foods inhibit the digestive process, which leads to constipation and the release of toxins into the blood.

Don’t forget about fish. For example, super-rich in omega-3 fatty acids, salmon can effectively lower blood pressure. And if you use it constantly 2 times a week, it reduces the risk of a heart attack by a third. Other types of fatty fish are good for the heart: mackerel, tuna, herring, sardines.

Enable them in menu

Ginger – stimulates blood circulation even in capillaries, relieves spasms in case of hypertension and headaches.

Garlic – becomes good for the heart when crushed. The secret is that the traumatic effect on the cells of garlic triggers the formation of allicin in them. This substance has a powerful stimulating effect on the blood vessels and thins the blood.

Sorrel – oxalic acid stimulates vascular tone and thins the blood.

Tomatoes – tomato juice reduces arterial and intracranial pressure, therefore it is recommended to drink it in case of hypertension and glaucoma (vascular disease of the eyes).

Young potatoes – they contain a lot of potassium, therefore they have a stimulating effect on the heart and improve the conductivity of the heart muscle.

Avocado – helps to lower blood cholesterol, a source of beta-carotene and lycopene, which have a positive effect on heart function.

Spinach – contains lutein, folic acid, potassium. Reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by about 25%.

Soy – lowers cholesterol, a natural source of proteins.

Dark Chocolate – Improves overall heart health, lowers bad cholesterol and blood pressure, and increases blood flow to the brain. The more cocoa in chocolate, the healthier it is.

Apples – reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases.Apples are rich in soluble fiber, pectin, which helps lower cholesterol levels, and are also a source of vitamin C and other antioxidants.

Pumpkin – helps

Self-massage is a guarantee of the health of an office worker

to lower blood pressure, is a source of fiber, beta-carotene, vitamin C and potassium. Read more here: https://tsn.ua/ru/lady/zdorovye/zdorovyi-obraz-zhizni/kakie-produkty-lyubit-serdce.html

90,000 How to lose weight fast: 4 most modern diets

“Newspaper.Ru ”carefully studied the diets on which it is now accepted to sit, and chose the most popular and effective ones.

American nutritionist Bradley S. Johnston conducted a large-scale comparative study of the most popular modern diets and found that they are all effective in weight loss. Moreover, the difference between how many kilograms it was possible to lose on a particular diet is so insignificant that it turned out to be all the same which diet to sit on. But there is a big difference in weight between those who are on diets and those who are not (otherwise we did not know).The main problem of any diet, according to a nutritionist and every woman on this planet, is not the diet itself, but the fact that as soon as you break loose, all the lost pounds come back. That is why Johnston recommends experimenting and finding the diet that is not particularly difficult for you to sit on. Stop fighting food as the enemy. She is your friend, and – what can you say to yourself – is actually quite pleasant.

And since all diets are equally effective, then you need to choose the one on which you can hold out longer.

The second advice from the doctor – do not get carried away, sometimes it is good to deviate from any diet. Whatever it is, it limits the intake of certain elements into the body that are needed in small quantities. Therefore, if you broke loose and ate something forbidden by your diet, you need not harass yourself, but rejoice. If you want to be thin and healthy, stop feeling guilty every time you see something edible.

So, the pros and cons of the most popular diets.

Gluten Free Diet

Gluten (gluten) – the protein of the grain shell – is the most fashionable enemy of humanity. He is now accused of almost all chronic diseases. The most fashionable American diet is to completely eliminate gluten-containing foods. And, funny, a survey of people already on this diet showed that 70% of them can’t even explain what gluten is.

Most people believe that it is enough to stop eating pasta. This is not so: the modern food industry adds gluten to so many products, and its danger for most people is not fully proven (it is believed that only 1% of the population really has gluten intolerance).However, there is ample evidence of how people on a gluten-free diet have been able to not only lose weight, but also cure chronic diseases.

Over
1. The diet allows you to eat a variety of very healthy whole foods.

2. Since gluten is added even to candies (and many other industrially produced types of products), excluding it from the diet leads to the fact that you stop eating “harmful” at all, that is, at the same time, you reduce the amount of sugar and unhealthy fats, which usually also contained in such products.

Against
1. In Russia, it is almost impossible to follow this diet. There is a whole gluten-free industry in the West, and there are gluten-free food in restaurants.

2. People who follow this diet are so confident in their righteousness that they begin to think that there can be no harm from gluten-free food at all, forgetting that large portions of even such “healthy” foods lead to obesity. Many dieters lose control of portions and gain weight (and on this diet you want to eat more often, because it is gluten that gives a feeling of fullness).

Fasting and gluttony

The modern diet is based on the fact that evolutionarily the human body is not accustomed to be full all the time. A man was full only when he managed to catch and eat someone, and this happened to him infrequently. Therefore, the diet suggests a time for revelry and a time for fasting.

On this diet five days a week, you are encouraged to eat anything in any quantity and two days a week “fast”, consuming no more than 500 calories of healthy raw food (fruits, vegetables, nuts).

For
1. In fact, it turns out that you can eat anything – you do not limit yourself to anything.

2. Those on this diet are strongly encouraged to exercise every day.

Versus
1. Despite its popularity, there is no scientific evidence that the diet is effective.

2. Two days of fasting can lead to chronic headaches and a sharp drop in energy levels and mental performance.

3. Since you are allowed to eat anything on hearty days, you both received harmful substances and get them, so the diet is unhealthy.

Caveman Diet

Another trendy modern diet based on what the ancient people used to eat. The main point is that they ate everything raw, since they had not yet invented fire.

For
1. The diet contains a lot of fresh vegetables, fruits, cereals, nuts – and all this is very useful.

2. Prohibited transgenic fats and products containing sugar.

3. You cannot eat salty, fatty foods.

4. Be sure to go in for sports in parallel.

Versus
1. Those who follow this diet experience a sharp drop in sodium levels, which leads to various diseases.

2. Scientists believe that for 10 thousand years the human body has been transformed along with our eating habits, and we can no longer efficiently exist on raw foods alone.

3. Whole food groups are prohibited for use (for example, nothing dairy is allowed), which leads to the fact that the body very quickly begins to feel a lack of vital elements, which there is nowhere to replenish.

4. It is impossible to follow a diet in our climate. In winter, you won’t last long without something hot.

Carbohydrate-free diet

The most popular diet of our time with you and, perhaps, the most effective. The fact is that relatively recently, scientists admitted that when they forbade us to eat fatty foods for decades, they were wrong. Fats are now offered to return and not be afraid of them, and carbohydrates, on the contrary, to exclude.

For
1. On this diet you lose weight very quickly.

2. It is relatively easy to observe it, since there is no constant feeling of hunger.

3. The diet virtually eliminates the consumption of sugar, which leads to the fact that you not only lose weight, but also stop suffering from heart disease and diabetes.

Against
1. Despite the fact that the diet already has hundreds of thousands of adherents who have lost weight, it is relatively new and not a lot of scientific research has been done about it, although all the carried out prove its effectiveness. Remember that 20 years ago, scientists said exactly the same thing about fats.

2. Carbohydrates are a group of foods that have a particularly strong effect on our mood, and their complete removal from the diet often leads to the fact that a person loses a sense of joy.

Diet advocates argue that this is not a feeling of joy, but a drug addiction to sugar, but scientists differ on this. In any case, you need to understand: there are people who sit on this diet all the time and at the same time will not be able to feel good. So nutritionists recommend not to completely eliminate carbohydrates, but first try to drastically reduce their amount.

3. The diet is very hostile even to fruits – because they contain a lot of sugar. At the same time, all studies show that fruits for humans are not only useful, but also vital, because they contain substances that cannot be obtained from other sources. So strict adherence to this diet leads to not the healthiest diet.

90,000 What our heart does not like – doctors’ advice / Poltava region

In our scientific and progressive age, it turns out that we justify the statements: “In youth we spend health to earn money, and in old age we work to buy medicines”

To refute this statement, you must first of all follow some rules in your lifestyle. The main causes of heart and vascular disease are:

1. Systematic lack of sleep

Healthy sleep is 7.5-9 hours a day. This is the number of hours a person needs to sleep in order for the heart system to be healthy and the nerves to be strong. As a result of lack of sleep, we fill the lack of energy by eating more and more, but still not coping with tasks at work, which, in turn, leads to stressful situations.

2. Constant stress

Considering the desire to reach career heights, many notice an eternal haste, the desire to have time to do everything before the deadline, and, as a result, our hearts begin to tingle.Stressful situations at home, during school, at work, when a lot of things are piling up, and a ferocious boss reproachfully remarks that you are not coping – such situations lead to a dangerous disease – emotional burnout. No wonder our grandmothers said that “all diseases are from the nerves.” Stressful situations are a direct road to cardiovascular disease.

3. Laxity

It occurs as a result of sedentary work and lack of movement. In the modern rhythm of life, movement is becoming less and less, and the technology that blocks us from it is more and more.The movement of most people in cars, switching the TV using the remote control, going to the store not on foot, but on an escalator or elevator. This list can be continued for a long time. That is, the 21st century is, in fact, a century when we pay to move less. And what do we get in return? Diseases of the heart, blood vessels, arrhythmia, even in young people.

4. Frequent consumption of drinks with a high caffeine content

This addiction is the basis for heart problems.In pursuit of a promotion and a successful career, we also do not notice how, from the cheerful and healthy, we turn into people who have a cup of coffee in one hand and a pack of heart pills in the other. Not quite a harmonious balance, you must agree. It is recommended to replace coffee and tea that you drink during the day with water with lemon and decoctions of herbs rich in trace elements and vitamins. It is also recommended to completely eliminate the use of currently fashionable energy drinks, which are not sources of energy, but rust, which slowly eats away at the heart and blood vessels.

5. Inability to delegate responsibility among women

A woman carries a great burden of responsibility: work-children, cooking in the kitchen. Emancipation leads to the fact that in the desire for universal love and the desire to do everything – our heart begins to play naughty. It is recommended to begin to correctly distribute work around the house, at work, try to adhere to a normal work schedule so that there is time, health and strength for our favorite hobby, which helps us find harmony in ourselves, calm down, put our thoughts and the heart system in order.

6. Dramatic weight loss

Rapid weight loss contributes to the depletion of the body and a sharp decrease in the optimal percentage of adipose tissue, without which the normal functioning of the cardiovascular system is impossible. During an illiterate weight loss, you usually deprive yourself of your daily intake of vitamins. Preference for low-calorie foods leads to depletion of the heart muscle. It is also recommended to avoid losing weight due to a sharp temperature drop, which usually happens when visiting a bath and sitting in a steam room until the pressure rises sharply.

7. Inattention when taking medications

Always in the instructions for any drug, a description of side effects is given, with an emphasis on which drugs are best not to be combined with each other, so as not to harm the work of the heart. It is recommended to follow these rules to avoid illness.

Love yourself. Loving yourself means sleeping well, eating tasty and healthy food, finding time to play sports with your children, and being able to stop to take a break from stressful situations.And your heart will reciprocate for this.

Press Center of the Healthcare Department of the Poltava Regional State Administration

90,000 Named 6 coffee habits that help you lose weight

Daily cups of coffee can provide health benefits when consumed in moderation.

Portal Eat This! Nor that! named certain coffee habits that help you lose weight. Medical advice experts Laura Burak and Lauren Manaker commented on good habits.

1. Give up sugar

Avoiding sugar in coffee is one of the easiest ways to help you reach your weight loss goals, Manaker said. Recommendations for how much sugar you should eat per day differ depending on the number of calories you eat, but the average recommended sugar intake is no more than 50 grams per day on a 2,000 calorie diet.

With this in mind, adding just one tablespoon of sugar to coffee will give you about 12.5 grams of sugar, which is a pretty large fraction of your daily recommended levels in just one cup of coffee.

Eating too much added sugar over time can not only lead to weight gain, but it can also increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease. So if you don’t want sugar but still want something sweet, “try exploring some options for non-nutritive sweeteners like allulose or monk fruit,” Manaker says.

2. Drink black coffee

Adding a ton of sugar to coffee can negatively impact your weight loss goals, but adding too much coffee cream can also, which is why both experts recommend drinking black coffee.

“Adding too much cream and even whole milk can add significant amounts of calories and fat to coffee,” says Manaker.

Burak agrees, saying that “black coffee contains less than 5 calories per cup, but be careful with additives that can add significant amounts of unnecessary calories and saturated fat to your diet, especially after a few cups a day.”

3. Add a spoonful of collagen peptides.

One of the main factors in weight gain is overeating.The key to weight loss is to feel full by eating healthy foods and drinks with enough protein and nutrients to keep you happy and not tempted to overeat unhealthy foods.

“Adding collagen peptides is a great coffee habit for weight loss because it gives you a protein boost that can help keep you feeling full in the morning without affecting the taste of your coffee,” says Manaker.

Not only do studies support this, one of our experienced authors tried drinking collagen with his coffee for two weeks in a row and reported feeling full from breakfast to lunch every day.

4. Do not use coffee instead of food

Coffee can be a natural appetite suppressant, but Burak warns that it should never be used as a meal replacement.

“Coffee itself is not a food or snack, but I often find clients who still use a 3pm cup of coffee to skip meals and save calories because it temporarily suppresses appetite,” says Burak.

Unfortunately, skipping meals like this is not only bad for your metabolism, but it can also lead to overeating during the day.

It’s a delicate balance because, according to Burak, drinking coffee with meals can help you feel full, which can also help prevent overeating.

“It’s also a liquid that, like water, helps keep your reservoir feeling full and therefore can help you eat more appropriate amounts of food if you want to lose weight,” says Burak, “but the bottom line is, don’t skip meals and eat when hungry! ”

5. Choose decaffeinated coffee in the afternoon

It may be tempting to reach for a cup of coffee around 3 or 4 pm when you start to lose energy at work, but Manaker says this may not be the best for your health.

“Caffeine can interfere with a person’s sleep, and drinking it before bed can cause a person to miss important rest,” says Manaker. “Lack of restful sleep is associated with weight gain, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle by cutting off coffee in the afternoon or a decaf can help you achieve your weight loss goals.”

6. Get enough sleep

If you want coffee to help you achieve your weight loss goals, you can first make sure that you naturally get enough sleep.

According to Burak, the energy you get from coffee can hide the fact that you are not getting enough sleep. Without enough sleep, you may be more prone to overeating, which can lead to weight gain.

“The caffeine in coffee acts as a stimulant that can give you a temporary boost of energy and boost your metabolism throughout the day,” says Burak. “The key is to make sure you still focus on quality sleep and don’t use coffee all the time for artificial energy.”

What threatens bulimia and how to get rid of it

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Bulimia nervosa is one of the most common eating disorders. Together with anorexia, it kills 90,523 more people every year than any other type of mental disorder.Every 62 minutes, at least one person dies from the effects of an eating disorder.

In order not to miss the development of bulimia nervosa, it is important to know it in person.

What is bulimia

The term bulimia comes from two Greek words that translate as “bull” and “hunger”. “Bull hunger” is something indomitable, a desperate craving for food, a desire to quickly fill the stomach with all the food that is just around. This is ^{the essence of bulimia nervosa.}

A person with this disorder regularly loses control over their appetite and overeats monstrously. Realizing this, he seeks to get rid of swallowed food: artificially induced vomiting, enemas, the use of laxatives and diuretics, attempts to go on an excessively strict diet for a while are used. However, bouts of binge eating recur over and over again.

The consequences can be ^{different, up to the most severe:}

1. Accelerated destruction of tooth enamel due to the fact that stomach acid regularly gets into the mouth.
2. Caries and tooth loss.
3. Swelling and soreness of the salivary glands due to repeated vomiting.
4. Stomach ulcer.
5. Ruptures of the stomach and esophagus.
6. Problems with defecation. The body gets used to enemas and cannot cope with the removal of waste products on its own.
7. Dehydration with all its consequences.
8. Arrhythmia.
9. Increased risk of heart attacks.
10. Decreased libido (sexual desire).
11. Loss of interest in life, suicidal tendencies.

How to recognize bulimia

This is not as easy as in the case of anorexia. While the anorexic tends to appear overly emaciated, bulimic victims are generally of normal weight.

It is often possible to assume bulimia nervosa only by indirect symptoms:

1. Excessive concern with own weight and appearance.
2. A distinct disregard for fat people. For a person with bulimia, being overweight seems to be a shame, a sign of low social status, something unpleasant and infectious.
3. Repetitive gluttony. Sometimes the bulimia victim eats unthinkable amounts of food.
4. In between – trying to go on a diet, avoiding certain foods, vigorous exercise in the gym.
5. Love for laxatives, diuretic drinks, slimming products.
6. Desire to go to the bathroom or toilet immediately after eating.
7. Red eyes. When vomiting is artificially induced, the vessels are overstrained, the capillaries burst.
8. Teeth problems: they hurt, decay and fall out.
9. Complaints of sore throat: the result of the same vomiting.
10. Heartburn, indigestion, bloating.
11. Irregular periods.
12. Mood swings.

Each of these signs individually is not a reason to worry. But if you count at least 5-6 of them, this is a dangerous signal.

How to treat bulimia

As soon as possible. The sooner you see a psychotherapist, the easier it will be to overcome the disorder.

A psychotherapist will help to correct eating behavior.And if necessary, she will prescribe antidepressants or other drugs that will facilitate control over hunger.

You may need to consult a nutritionist. He will teach you how to count calories and choose healthy food. And this will relieve the patient of the fear of gaining extra pounds.

Unfortunately, bulimia is a difficult condition to say goodbye to. It often happens that, even after being cured, people from time to time return to their old habits. And only thanks to willpower they begin to eat right again.

What are the causes of bulimia and how to prevent it

Why this disorder develops, scientists do not yet know.