One Bite at a Time
with Registered Dietitian Melodie Yong
Melodie Yong is a Registered Dietitian with the Healthy Heart Program at St. Paul’s Hospital, a program dedicated to reducing cardiovascular disease risks and maintaining and enhancing the health of British Columbians.
In a segment called One Bite at a Time, Melodie appears every second Thursday on Global Morning News to discuss various topics related to healthy eating. To learn more about Melodie, please click here.
What do I Eat for a Happier and Healthier Heart
Feb. 9, 2012
So – your doctor tells you that you have to lose weight because your blood pressure is high…You have a family friend that has had heart surgery…your husband is on cholesterol lowering medications. Your friends are telling you about the latest supplements and diets that will prevent heart disease.
Let’s face it – we are all surrounded by some aspect of heart disease or stroke. Every 7 minutes in Canada, someone dies of heart disease or stroke. Decisions we make everyday ultimately affect our life down the road – what you ate yesterday, what you eat today and what you will eat tomorrow– plays a huge role in your overall cardiac health. Every bite does matter.
Choose More Often
Good choices are monounsaturated fats, which help to lower cholesterol levels. These fats are found in olive, canola and soybean oils, avocado and nuts. When fat in nuts replaces fat from meats and dairy products, the overall saturated fat content of the diet is reduced resulting in lower total and LDL cholesterol levels. Keep nut portions to no more than ¼ cup a day. Nuts need to be eaten instead of, not in addition to, other foods that provide comparable quantities of fat and calories, like cookies, chips, candy. Try nut butters (all natural, non-hydrogenated) such as peanut or almond butter on your crackers instead of cheese.
Polyunsaturated fats also help to lower cholesterol levels. Omega 3 and omega 6 – are very important for your health. Omega 3 fats are found in fish, flax seeds, walnuts and canola oil. Good sources of omega 6 fats are seeds, safflower, sunflower, corn, and soybean oils.
Go Fish
The Harvard Report, a review of hundreds of studies on fish and health, found that eating one or two servings of fish a week (a serving being 4-6 ounces), especially fish high in omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel and some seafood, such as oysters), reduced the risk of heart disease by 36% and may have other health benefits as well. Try having salmon in your sandwich instead of tuna, and go for smoked oysters as an appetizer instead of cheese.
Fibre Containing Foods
Fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains are the “good carbohydrates” – nutritious, filling, and relatively low in calories. There are two kinds of fibre: soluble and insoluble. Research shows that soluble fibre, found in oats, beans, barley and citrus, helps reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol levels. Studies suggest that insoluble fibre—found in whole-wheat breads and cereals and vegetables—also helps protect your heart. Research links diets rich in fruits and vegetables with a lower risk for heart disease. Go for colour and volume.
1 cup of broccoli is only 30 calories!
Fibre also extends the time food stays in your stomach, which may help you feel full for longer on fewer calories. Read food labels and try and aim for 30 grams of dietary fibre/day.
Phytosterols
Phytosterols” are compounds naturally found in plants such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains and vegetable oils. Research has shown that eating foods fortified with phytosterols can help to lower cholesterol up to 15 per cent starting within 3 weeks when combined with the move to a healthy diet. Even if you are taking cholesterol lowering medications (statin drugs) you can see an added cholesterol lowering of 10-15% by taking in the phytosterols.
In order to get the recommended amount of 2 grams of phytosterols a day to see the cholesterol lowering benefits, phytosterols have been added to foods to make it easier for people to get the adequate amount. Only small amounts are found naturally in foods.
Currently the only fortified foods available in Canada are: Becel® pro.activ® calorie reduced margarine and Astro BioBest® Plant Sterol probiotic yogurt.
Limit These Foods
Saturated Fats
Keeping a cap on saturated fats, trans fats and dietary cholesterol helps reduce risk of heart disease primarily by lowering “bad” LDL cholesterol. Limit intake of saturated fats (in butter, full-fat dairy products, fatty meats, tropical oils like palm and coconut oils) to less than 7 percent of daily calories— (16 grams on a 2000 calorie diet).
Avoid the trans fats that are in fast foods and processed snacks, such as crackers and cookies, donuts, Danish pastries, chips. hard margarine, shortening. Do all of this by simply replacing whole-fat dairy with skim or 1% dairy products, low fat cheese (<20% M.F.) and replacing fatty meats with lean meats, skinless poultry, fish and plant-based proteins such as legumes (beans).
Sugary Drinks and Foods
Canadians’ consumption of added sugars (e.g., sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup) has risen about 25 percent in the last four decades. Added sugars (pop, candy, etc.) are “empty” calories — and research links drinking higher amounts of sugary beverages with weight gain.
1 tsp of sugar = 4 grams of sugar = 16 calories. Next time you’re looking at a food label – divide by 4 to calculate how many “sugar cubes” are in that food. It’s shocking!
Keep an Eye on Salt
Limit daily sodium intake to 1500 milligrams (2/3 of a teaspoon). It’s not just about the salt shaker. 77% of the salt we eat comes from packaged and processed foods. Just one bowl of canned soup can give you a whopping 1000 mg of sodium. As salt intake increases, so does blood pressure. Your heart has to work harder to pump the added fluid your body retains from sodium. Reducing sodium intake can prevent hypertension and help reduce blood pressure if you’re taking medication.
Try the DASH way of eating for a clinically proven way to reduce your blood pressure.
http://www.bchealthguide.org/healthfiles/hfile68b.stm
Have questions – ideas for upcoming segments?– please email me at askmelodie@gmail.com
thanks
Previously on One Bite at a Time...