American Heart Association Diet
The American Heart Association (AHA) has developed an eating plan to prevent heart attacks and strokes among the American population. Specifically, the plan does this by reducing three risk factors:
- Elevated blood cholesterol levels
- Elevated blood pressure
- Excess body weight
Recommendations of The American Heart Association Diet
Each of the AHA dietary guidelines promotes healthy living with the development of proper eating habits and physical activity. The following is a brief list of the guidelines:
- Eat a variety of vegetables and fruits equaling five servings per day.
- Eat a variety of grains to equal six servings per day.
- Eat fish at least two times each week, preferably fatty fish such as salmon and tuna.
- Choose reduced-fat dairy products, legumes, skinless poultry and lean meats.
- Select fats with no more than two grams of saturated fat per tablespoon such as liquid and tub margarine, canola, corn, safflower and olive oil.
- Balance calories eaten each day with calories burned. To calculate how many calories you use in a day, multiply your current weight by fifteen (if you are moderately active). For sedentary persons, multiply weight by thirteen instead of fifteen.
- Be physically active for at least thirty minutes each day.
- Limit high calorie, low-nutrition foods like soft drinks and candy.
- Limit foods high in saturated fat, trans-fat and cholesterol.
- Maintain sodium intake at or below 2,400 mg or 1 Â teaspoons per day.
- Limit alcoholic beverages to no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks for men.
Advantages of following the American Heart Association Diet guidelines are many. First, since the primary goal is the prevention of heart attacks and strokes, any person, whether seeking to lose weight or maintain current weight, will improve their cardiac health. Secondly, the plan offers a positive approach to eating healthier. Giving up favorite foods is not mandatory. Eating a variety of foods in moderate portions and applying the guidelines to your overall eating regime over a the long term is more important.
Besides lowering risk factors for poor heart health, the plan can reduce your risk of acquiring other health conditions as well. Along with a reduction in body weight other benefits are a decreased risk of diabetes, cancer and osteoporosis. Similarly, many other conditions related to obesity can be improved upon or avoided by following the guidelines.
The AHA has also made it easy for you to look for heart-healthy food items on supermarket shelves. A red heart with a white check mark on it is the symbol to look for. This logo represents foods approved by the AHA for low saturated fats and cholesterol for healthy people over age two. Furthermore, the recommendations can be adapted to satisfy the nutritional requirements of the entire family. (Children under age two have special nutritional needs for fats to ensure proper brain development).
Although the overall AHA plan is medically sound and completely safe, it does require specific planning, shopping and cooking. There are several recommendations within each of the guidelines above, all of which need to be implemented for positive results.
The first step is to obtain the AHA booklet at http://www.americanheart.org. The information within its pages describes foods to eat from each food group, serving sizes, shopping tips, preparation and cooking recommendations. Detailed information regarding vitamins, minerals and other health benefits of certain foods is also given.
The AHA has several cookbooks and educational materials available to assist people with the American Heart Association Diet plan. They also offer literature on healthy eating guidelines for children and teens with kid-tested recipes and simplified guidelines.
- The New American Heart Association Cookbook, 7th Edition
- American Heart Association Quick & Easy Cookbook: More Than 200 Healthful Recipes You Can Make in Minutes
- American Heart Association Low-Salt Cookbook, 3rd Edition]
- American Heart Association Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol Cookbook, 4th edition
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