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Tips for healthy menu planning for a healthy heart

Diet Tips, Heart Tips November 26th, 2008

To maintain good health and especially cardio vascular health it is necessary to change ones eating habits and make your diet, heart healthy. Healthy eating will keep heart diseases like hypertension and cholesterol under control and also ensure that heart attacks and strokes do not happen. The main cause of cardio vascular problems is an unhealthy lifestyle with little or no exercise and a diet which has a lot of fatty foods in it. Healthy heart tips give you a lifestyle with habits which will help you to keep healthy. Not only are heart problems avoided but also other diseases like diabetes can be controlled with a healthy lifestyle.

Limit the fat in your food

Tips for staying healthy start with controlling your intake of saturated fats and Trans-fats. The fats in your diet increase the cholesterol levels in the blood which lead to a buildup of plaques in the arteries and these are the prime cause for heart attacks and strokes. The plaque buildup in the arteries is known as atherosclerosis. Tips for staying healthy recommend a saturated fat intake which is less than 7% of the total calories you consume in a day and trans-fats of less than 1%. The best way to do this is to avoid shortening in any type of food, margarine and butter. Instead you can substitute these with low fat foods wherever possible. E.g. instead of having French fires you can have a baked potato, eat yogurt which has a low fat content instead of butter and spreads which have low sugar and fat content on your toast. Try and use only monounsaturated fats while cooking like olive oil and canola oil which are a healthy heart tip.

So basically you should avoid butter, lard, bacon, coconut and coconut oil, cocoa butter and hydrogenated margarine. Instead change to using margarine which is cholesterol lowering, foods that are labeled trans-fat free and olive and canola oil. These healthy heart tips will take you a long way in preventing cardio vascular diseases.

Change your lifestyle for healthy heart tips

Apart from changing your food habits you should maintain your weight within the permitted limits and include some exercises which will build up your cardio vascular health. Tips for staying healthy always include exercise like walking and aerobics which are not too strenuous but which get the circulation going and maintain your blood pressure.

Healthy heart tips: maintain cardio vascular health

Diet Tips, Heart Tips November 21st, 2008

Healthy heart tips: maintain cardio vascular healthWith stress and heart trouble on the increase it is important that one learns about healthy heart tips so that some of the problems created by wrong eating can be corrected and the risk of cardio vascular diseases reduced. Home makers should learn tips for healthy menu planning and ensure good health for the whole family and healthy eating habits for children from an early age too. Healthy heart tips will help improve the fitness of the cardiovascular system or endurance of the cardio respiratory system and reduce risks of heart attacks and strokes and problems like high cholesterol levels in the blood and hypertension.

Healthy tips for living teaches a person how to improve these functions and build up the endurance levels. The endurance of the cardio-respiratory system is the muscular functions of the heart, lungs and the vascular system and the oxygen being provided to the entire body through this system. The best endurance test for this is when a person is physically exerted and the heart rate goes up and pumps more blood. The muscle should be able to maintain this tempo without signs of giving way. The test which is done for this endurance is called the tread mill test or the stress ECG. If the person is in good health there will be no problems in the ECG. Doing regular exercises will strengthen the heart muscles and give the whole system better endurance, improving the oxygen supply to the whole body.

Other healthy heart tips include eating the right kind of food. This is because eating foods which have too much of fat content raises the cholesterol levels in the blood, which creates blockages because of the plaque deposits on the walls of the arteries and narrows them down. This in turn blocks the blood supply and clots form. A clot in the heart brings on a heart attack, while one in the cerebral region a stroke. So with tips for healthy menu planning ensure that your cholesterol levels in the blood are kept within the normal parameters. Avoid eating red meats and fatty meats especially organs, dairy products which have a high fat content, cakes and sweets which are loaded with calories and fried snacks. Instead change your diet to a healthy one which has a lot of fibre like multi grained products, whole wheat bread, unpolished red rice and cereals. Also include green leafy vegetables, fish which is rich in Omega 3 fatty acids which have good cholesterol and fresh fruits.

Along with these healthy heart tips include at least twenty minutes of aerobic exercise or brisk walking which will keep your body fit and your heart in great shape.

Tips for eating healthy: prevent cardiovascular diseases

Diet Tips, Heart Tips November 19th, 2008

Tips for eating healthy: prevent cardiovascular diseasesTo prevent cardio vascular diseases one has to eat healthy so that problems brought on by cholesterol do not rise. Eating fatty foods which cause the levels of cholesterol in the blood to rise cause blockages in the arteries with plaque formation and this brings on high blood pressure and clot formation. Eating healthy is essential to maintain good cardio vascular health. Some healthy lifestyle tips are to refrain from smoking, have a limited quantity of alcohol, do at least a moderate amount of exercise and eat healthy food.

Avoid fatty foods

Healthy tips for living include avoiding fatty food which raises the cholesterol levels in the blood. Changing one’s lifestyle and keeping fit is part of healthy heart tips which are required to maintain good cardio vascular health. The main cause of coronary artery disease is high cholesterol. This leads to building up of plaque and increases the risk of strokes and heart attacks in a person. Fats which solidify like butter, shortening and margarine are the ones which are saturated trans fats. Reducing the intake of these fats completely is the best way to maintain healthy tips for living especially after a certain age. One way of being conscious of healthy lifestyle tips is to read the labels on food packing to ensure that there are a low percentage of fats in it. In cooking food at home use monounsaturated fats like canola oil, olive oil and polyunsaturated fats which are found in oils made from seeds and nuts. Fats are always high calorie foods so it is best to minimize the use of fats in your food.

Eat vegetables and low fat proteins

Some more healthy heart tips and healthy lifestyle tips include eating lean meat and diary products which are made of skimmed milk. Eat only the white of egg as the yolk is high in fat content and avoid chicken which has the skin on it. Fish is a good alternative instead of fatty meats and is rich in omega 3 fatty acids which are good for lowering the triglycerides. Omega 3 fatty acids are found in herring, mackerel and salmons which are cold water fish.

Another good source of proteins is lentils, peas and beans instead of meats. Ensure a good quantity of vegetables in your daily diet as they are a rich source of minerals and vitamins and antioxidants. There is more fibre content in fruits and vegetables which is also good to maintain cardio vascular health.