Sunday 2 June 2013

Eat the Right Fats for a Heart Healthy Diet

If you are concerned about your weight or heart health, rather than minimizing fat in your diet, replace saturated fats and trans fats with good healthier fats that our body wants. Replace some of the meat
you eat with beans and grains, or using olive oil rather than butter and cooking oil.

  • Check food labels for trans fats before you buy. Avoiding commercially-baked goods goes a long way. Also limit fast food especially for heart health patients.
  • Cut back on red meat and full-fat dairy foods-  switching your diet from whole milk and other full-fat dairy foods to low fat diet.
  • Eat omega-3 fats and vitamins

Good supply for heart health includes fish, walnuts, ground flax seeds, canola oil, soybean oil and many more.
How much fat is allowed for a heart health patient?
Excess fat depends on your lifestyle, your weight, your age and most importantly the state of your heart health patients. Research by USDA recommends that the average individual must:

  • Keep total fat intake maximum up to to 20-35% of calories
  • Limit saturated fats to less than 10% of your calories
  • Limit trans fats to 1% of calories- A trans fat is a normal fat molecule that has been twisted and deformed during a process called hydrogenation Nutrients( quoted)

Nix the Trans Fats and Saturated Fats
These are the two types of fat to avoid. Saturated fats come from animal sources like meat and dairy. Trans fats are partially hydrogenated fats that, like saturated fats, are really more solid at room temperature, Young says. “They act more like saturated fat.” Trans fats, typically found in processed foods, increase your LDL cholesterol without offering you anything in return.

“Trans fats tend to be worse than saturated fat because they’re usually in foods with no nutritional value. Saturated fats are in milk or meat, so at least you get protein, iron, and calcium. Of course, to get these benefits of meat and dairy without the fat, choose the leanest cuts of beef and fat-free milk and yogurt.

Heart-Healthy Diet: Other HDL Cholesterol Boosters
Alcohol in moderation can keep your HDL elevated, but Young cautions not to let yourself get carried away by that welcome news: “Nobody ever got heart disease from a deprivation of alcohol.

Another booster is exercise. One study found that 120 minutes of exercise per week was enough to increase levels of HDL cholesterol, and that each additional 10 minutes increased levels further.

Dark chocolate was also found to have positive effects on HDL cholesterol levels, but again, moderation is key.

Heart-Healthy Diet: The Butter or Margarine Debate
Butter is high in saturated fat while many brands of margarine are full of trans fat. Both will increase the harmful LDL cholesterol. Young says peanut butter is a better idea. But if that doesn’t appeal to you, she suggests picking “whichever you like better, but try to eat less of it. At the end of the day, it’s a quantity issue.”

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