Want to Improve your Heart Health? Switch Fats! I love to simplify healthy eating for a healthy heart.
As this is Heart Month, I decided to share some easy “tweaks” to your diet that you can make to help protect your heart.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in America. What better time to learn how to alter your fat intake to improve your Heart Health.
But first, here’s a mini lesson on cholesterol in your body.
Cholesterol is manufactured in your liver. You also get it in animal foods such as meat, poultry and shellfish; as well as full-fat dairy products like cheese, butter, and milk.
The amount of cholesterol absorbed from food, along with the type that circulates in the body, determines your cardiovascular health.
When you get your blood checked, your healthcare provider will look at:
- Total cholesterol, as well as:
- HDL cholesterol– healthy or “good” cholesterol which acts as a broom to sweep out artery clogging cholesterol; and
- LDL cholesterol– “Low Down Lousy” the “bad” cholesterol that can build up and clog arteries.Too much of this type leads to high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke.
You can’t control how much cholesterol your liver makes but you can choose foods to help lower your cholesterol. This is especially important in attempting to lower your LDL cholesterol.
So now let’s switch gears and talk about steps you can take to lower your cholesterol and risk for cardiovascular disease.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are updated every 5 years. Nutrition is a science and guidelines are changed as more evidence is uncovered. There used to be a recommendation to limit dietary cholesterol to less than 300mg per day, but now that limit has been removed. You may remember when you were advised to limit your egg intake.Then, better research indicated that limiting eggs was unnecessary.The current science indicates that there is no evidence that dietary cholesterol is linked to cardiovascular disease.
To improve your heart health the focus is now on eliminating trans fat and reducing saturated fat, added sugars and sodium.
Here’s what you need to know about dietary fats.
There are 2 main types of fat, saturated and unsaturated.
- Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature.
- Unsaturated fats are usually liquid.
By the way, all fats have saturated, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated fatty acids. They vary though. For instance canola oil is high in monounsaturated fat and low in saturated fat, while coconut oil is the opposite.
In case you are curious—their names are based on their chemical structure. The carbon atoms have as many hydrogen molecules as possible (saturated) on the molecular chain of Saturated Fat. Hydrogen atoms are missing in Unsaturated Fat.
These characteristics determine their functions.
Both saturated and trans fat can raise the LDL-cholesterol in your blood.
Trans fat is unsaturated but the chemical make-up makes it act more like saturated fat. No amount of trans fat is healthy.
The type of fat makes a big difference in your health. Choose foods high in unsaturated fat and cut back on those with saturated. All fat is high in calories so pay close attention to portion sizes. Instead of eating more fat, switch from saturated to unsaturated when you can.
One way to do this is to have avocado on your toast with eggs and leave off the sausage or bacon.
To make your diet more heart healthy:
Eliminate Trans Fat— Trans fat comes primarily from partially hydrogenated oils in processed foods. Look at Nutrition Facts label and choose food with 0 grams of Trans Fat. You can also look at the ingredient list for partially hydrogenated oils.
Reduce Saturated Fat—Saturated fat comes from animal foods and tropical oils (palm, palm kernel, and coconut). Limit fat that come from animal foods:
- Choose lean meat (loin, round, or sirloin in the name), skinless poultry, low fat or fat-free milk, cheese, and yogurt. Also cut off visible fat before cooking. Portion size matters too. Aim for the size of the palm of your hand.
- Choose lower fat cheese, and use it sparingly.
- Switch to 1% or fat-free milk and yogurt. You can do this gradually. Mix the milk you have now with a lower-fat version (for instance whole and 2%) for a few weeks and then use the lower fat version (2% in this example).
- Choose a Better Butter or light margarine without trans fat.
- Choose fish and shellfish more often. While shellfish does have cholesterol, it is low in saturated fat, which makes it a heart-healthy choice.· Some fish contain Omega-3 fatty acids which have additional healthy benefits. Examples include salmon, anchovies, sardines, herring, mackerel, black cod, blue fin tuna, whitefish, striped bass and cobia.
- Choose plant-based proteins—beans, peas, lentils, nuts, peanuts, soybeans. These contain no saturated fat and have fiber.
Remember to include plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains to get a balanced diet. Ideally ¾ of your plate will be these plant-based foods which are nutrient-rich and will also protect your heart and health.
So to recap, to improve your heart health, eliminate trans fat and decrease saturated fat. You don’t need to go low-fat or fat-free, but choose foods with unsaturated fats more often than those with saturated fats. All fats are high in calories so portion size still matters. Be sure to make room on your plate for plenty of fruits, vegetables and grains, which are all low in fat and full of healthy nutrients.
In addition to switching fats, reducing added sugars and sodium helps improve heart health.
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