The American Heart Association Diet Plan has made it easy for you by including logos on the food packages you buy at the store. The logo is a red heart with a white check mark on it. Choose the foods with that logo on it.
Here are the basic principles of this diet plan;
Eat A Variety Of Foods
Your body needs a variety of nutrients. No single food has all the nutrients you need. Even if you find a super healthy foods don't go to the extremes by only eating or primarily eating that food.
Eat More Of The Nutrient Rich Foods
Fruits and vegetables are the healthiest foods you can eat. There is no unhealthy vegetable. Some vegetables are packed with more nutrients than others. Spinach is one of those super power greens.
Eat unrefined whole grain foods. This is the brown kind that has all the fiber still intact. Lots of fiber will help you lower your cholesterol. This is complex carbohydrates.
Avoid the white bread and white rice and pasta. These are simple carbohydrates and lead to diabetes.
This plan recommends you eat fish twice per week. Fish is loaded with Omega 3. Salmon is one of your best fish choices. You don't want farm raised Salmon because the farmers do not feed them the right food. You want wild caught Salmon. Note that some doctors do not recommend Salmon at all because of the mercury found in them.
Eat Less Of The Nutrient Poor Foods
The nutrient poor foods are the empty calorie foods such as soda and candy. Limit the amount of saturated and trans fat you eat. Also limit the salt intake and cholesterol. All processed foods have salt. Salt is required to maintain the food freshness and shelf life. To mitigate this when you cook on your own don't use salt or very little of it. Also read the food labels.
Burn As Much Calories As You Consume
This is basic weight loss secret 101. In reality burning as many calories as you consume may help you lose a little weight at best or it will help you maintain your current weight. To lose a lot of weight burn more calories than you consume. The more you burn in relation to your consumption the more weight you lose.
Additional Principles
Limit your sugars. You will be surprised how many foods are loaded with sugar. Read the food labels. A good example is the 100 percent fruit juices. Make sure you check the labels of the 100% fruit juice drinks. They load those drinks up with extra sugar. You may think you are getting a healthy drink because it is 100% fruit juice.
If you eat dairy make sure it is the low fat kind, normally the 1% fat free kind. Note: Some doctors think any kind of dairy, fat or fat free is not meant for human consumption.
Limit foods high in dietary cholesterol. All meat has cholesterol. One of the best ways to kill your heart is to eat at the fast food hamburger restaurants. Hamburger will load your heart full of cholesterol.
Eat lean meats without the skin.
Drink alcohol in moderation. That is if you drink any alcohol. Some doctors say a little whine helps the heart but not everyone supports this idea. The heart association diet plan does not support or reject this idea.
Avoid smoking tobacco like the plague. Smoking is a major cause of heart disease. Smoking is a main preventable cause of death. If you smoke do whatever it takes to quit. Also avoid second hand smoke.
Conclusion: The American Heart Association Diet Plan is a pretty good yardstick to go by. Not all the details are supported by every doctor or expert but that will never happen when it comes to diet and health.
Author Resource:-
Bret Bradshaw owns two websites, one is fit-in-exercise.com and offers virtual celebrity personal training at a fraction of the cost.
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