Diet for Heart Disease
Diet is the most important factor contributing to our health or damaging our health. Whether we agree or disagree with such contention, we are often warned by medical advice to alter the diet for getting more benefits of any treatment or reducing the present level of pain and suffering in any kind of disease.
Naturally we often ask question – what should I eat? How much? At what time and so many related questions. The more and more we read the more and more confused we are, as we get to know so many divergent views and expressions on the same topic.
Naturally it become our own responsibility to read it, understand it, relate it to our own case, do some trial of convincing methods suggested and explore whether they really help you to solve your problem.
Based on the diseases, their causes, symptoms, recovery span and many other related aspects, specific diet is prescribed for particular types of patients.
Let us know the appropriate diet for the Heart Disease.
1. Reduce to the maximum extent the saturated fats from your diet so as to lower the blood cholesterol level, which is the major risk factor in this disease.
2. Try to keep the proportion of fat in your diet to less than 30% of the total calories intake.
3. It would be beneficial to avoid tropical oils like palm oil, coconut oil, which are highly saturated.
4. It is advisable to increase the share of monounsaturated fats, which helps to lower cholesterol, thereby reducing the risk of heart attack. Olive oil and canola oil are the best choice for this purpose. Use them in your cooking and in dressings of the salads in order to promote your heart health.
5. You can have more and more Omega-3 fatty acids, derived from plants or marine sources. Fish swimming in cold waters are the best source of omega-3 fatty acids like salmon, bluefish or tuna.
Having more omega-3 fatty acids also help to slower the blood clotting along with improving the immunity of the body. It is also good for the eyes and development of the brain.
6. It is useful to have more soluble fiber in the diet. It can be in the form of oats, apples, legumes, pears, plums and carrots.
7. 400 micrograms of folic acid a day is prescribed for preventing heart disease. You can get it through spinach, orange juice, lentils, or kidney beans.
8. Research has established that soy proteins help to lower the cholesterol. You can substitute soy proteins for animal proteins. You can have it through tofu, or soy milk.
9. Having more anti-oxidants in diet is also beneficial in fighting heart disease. Have more of the vitamin C and vitamin E.
10. Body also needs to have more and more phytochemicals, which are derived from plants and help in preventing critical heart disease along with fighting other serious diseases like Diabetes, cancer and Hypertension.Fruits and vegetables are great source of photochemical.
11. Garlic also helps to reduce blood cholesterol in great way.