A Diet for a Healthy Heart

Anything worth working for requires strong commitment and persistence to achieve. With anything important, you need to follow a definite plan over time to accomplish your goal.

A healthy heart is no exception. You can't have one without living healthy. And Healthy living can't be achieved without a healthy diet. Here are five basic steps for a healthy diet.

One - avoid bad fat in your diet. The saturated fat and trans fats found largely in red meat, whole milk dairy, coconut and palm oils, almost all processed foods and Crisco are killers. These unhealthy fats lead to high cholesterol, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease by clogging the arteries. As much as you can, eliminate saturated and trans fats from your daily diet. It will significantly lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Two - avoid white flour products. Bread, cereal and pasta made from highly refined white flour are processed in the body just the same as sugar. White rice has a similar reaction. These highly processed foods elevate blood sugar levels putting enormous stress on the pancreas to produce extra insulin. Eventually the pancreas breaks down causing diabetes.

Instead, eat only 100% whole grain foods. They're rich in complex carbohydrates and fiber and will help improve your circulation, prevent diabetes and control your weight.

Three - eat more vegetables and fruits. Experts recommend from five and to nine servings a day. Of all foods, fruit and vegetables offer the most valuable nutrition per calorie. They're high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber and low in fat. They will also support weight control. For insurance, you might also consider taking good quality natural nutritional supplements.

Four - eat more beans, lentils and peas. They have nearly as much protein and fiber as meat, but without the fat and cholesterol. If you're preparing meat, be sure to broil, bake or roast it after trimming outside fat and skin. It's the healthiest way to cook meat.

Five - choose non-fat or low fat dairy. Whole milk dairy products (cheese, yogurt and ice cream) are much too high in saturated fat for a healthy heart diet. Eating no more than four eggs a week is also a good idea.

Follow these five tips and you'll have a much healthier heart. You'll also have the satisfaction of reaching a good goal. So enjoy your success.

But if ignore these tips, you could be setting yourself up for a lot of trouble. Are you aware that in 50% of heart disease the very first symptom is death by heart attack!

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