Heart Healthy Cooking Tips: Basic Steps for Beginners

Heart healthy cooking is a concern for many people, whether or not they suffer from a cardiac condition, have a family history of heart disease, or are simply cautious about the future. The American Heart Association (AHA) website has a huge volume of resources for anyone wanting advice on meal plans, exercises and risk factors. The recipe search feature on the site allows the most inexperienced chefs to find quick, tasty, heart healthy meals in seconds. The following 5 heart healthy cooking tips are offered to help provide a spring-board for making the jump into more nutritional meals. For a more detailed list of heart healthy cooking considerations, check the AHA list of healthy food choices.

Heart Healthy Cooking Tip: Emphasize Healthy Fats - Not all fats are created equal, and nutritional experts agree that "healthy" fats-monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats-are healthier than trans-fat alternatives. Soybean, corn and sunflower oils are all high in these healthy fats, though the AHA stresses limited amounts of all fats.

Heart Healthy Cooking Tip : Eat Whole Grains - Instead of filling the pantry with white breads, make sure to buy only whole grains, enriched wheat or multigrain bread. Many experts recommend at least 2-4 grams of fiber per slice; some brands offer 6+ grams.

Heart Healthy Cooking Tip: Increase Your Fruits and Vegetables - Most people don't include nearly enough servings of fruits and vegetables into their daily diet plan. While nutritionists argue over how much "enough" is, most people could double their daily intake without overwhelming their diet. Many experts argue you can never eat too many of either, unless it upsets your digestion.

Heart Healthy Cooking Tip: Limit High-Cholesterol Foods - Although everyone would benefit from a low-cholesterol diet, anyone concerned about heart healthy cooking should be sure to plan meals around with low cholesterol. Wheat pastas, sweet potatoes, and whole-grain breads are a good starting point.

Heart Healthy Cooking Tip: Don't Skip Meals - Skipping meals is an almost guaranteed way to trigger binge or unhealthy eating, and it conflicts with a healthy metabolism. Part of planning a heart healthy cooking regimen should include regular meal times.

As always, consult your physician before beginning any heart healthy meal plan or exercise regimen. Anyone with one or more of the AHA's risk factors for coronary heart disease should consider altering their eating habits to enable a heart healthy lifestyle. While some major risk factors cannot be avoided, such as increasing age, heredity, and race, there are many options for living a heart healthy lifestyle.

Sources,

American Heart Association, "Risk Factors and Coronary Heart Disease" and "Make Healthy Food Choices"