1. WEIGHT – Yes, your weight plays a major role in your heart health. If your BMI is over 25 kg/m2 (that is the

photo: eatingright.org

overweight/obesity range) and/or if you have extra love around your midsection, you are at a higher risk for heart disease, including heart attack and stroke.  The good news is that you can improve your heart health by losing weight.   To achieve weight loss, try to focus on exercise, food selections, and portion sizes.

2. FAT – Of course fat plays another major role in heart health! Be alarmed if your diet is loaded with higher fat foods, specifically foods high in saturated fat from animals including beef, pork, poultry fat and whole or 2% dairy.

Guidelines: Saturated fat should be limited to 7% of your total calories, due to its contribution to increasing your blood cholesterol. Following the American Heart Association’s guidelines, a heart healthy 2,000 calorie diet should be limited to 65 grams of total fat and 15 grams of saturated fat.

3.  SODIUM– Our bodies need a little bit of sodium (a.k.a. salt), though too much sodium can raise your blood pressure – not in the heart throbbing, good loving type of way – and increase your risk of heart disease including, heart attack and stroke.

Guidelines: The average American takes in 3,800 mg of sodium per day, which is nearly 2 times the recommended intake of ~2,000 mg per day for a heart healthy diet.

Helpful Tips: To lower your sodium intake, be sure to read the labels of any food in a package, jar, or can.  These processed foods have a lot of sodium to help preserve them to sit on the shelf.  Look for foods with reduced sodium label claims, such as “Sodium-free”, “Very Low Sodium”, or “Low Sodium”.  Another route is to go for the foods without packaging, especially the lovely colorful fresh fruits and vegetables!

4. CHOLESTEROL – Increased circulating cholesterol in your bloodstream can slowly make its home on the walls of your blood vessels, narrowing those important passage ways from your heart to your brain, lungs and other important parts of your body.  Our bodies naturally make cholesterol; therefore, it is important to limit the cholesterol in our foods to keep our blood flown properly!

Helpful Tips: One of the most important foods to be aware of when limiting your cholesterol is eggs!  One egg has 213 mg Cholesterol which is enough for your entire day!  Try to substitute those eggs with a cholesterol free egg substitute, just as it claims 0 mg of cholesterol and no fat!  Double heart loving bonus!

 5. FIBER – Fabulous, functional fiber can also help keep that lovable fiber heart of yours healthy.  Specifically soluble fiber, which binds with cholesterol and then takes a lovely ride out of the body, in turn reducing your blood LDL cholesterol (that’s the “bad” one).

Helpful Tips: To maximize the benefits of soluble fiber, include fruits, such as apples, bananas, pears, plums, peaches and citrus fruits, vegetables, such as carrots, brussel sprouts, broccoli, and chick peas, whole grains, such as barley, oats, psylium, and beans in your diet.

Renew your love for your heart and commit to making these heart healthy changes!

Have questions? Please don’t hesitate to contact us, we’re here to help!

By Emily Barr, MS, RD, CNSC

What if I told you, you can choose between sugar plum fairies or a lump of coal?  Seems like an obvious answer, but somehow, the decision is not that easy.  Let me explain my thinking.

By Star 5112

So…day in and day out, as a health care provider, I have the challenge of helping adults that have previously struggled with weight loss finally lose those pesky pounds to improve their health.

 In my efforts to help each person with an increased Body Mass Index  (BMI) and other health risk factors to lose weight, I pull out all of the “scary” words in hopes that each individual will have the ah-ha moment and commit to changing their ways.

 These “scary” words are the coal in your stocking.   It’s not what you want for Christmas, but what you may be getting… whether you like it or not.  These “lumps of coal” are heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, and cancer to name a few.  I tell each person about these life threatening problems, the ones that may kill you, but somehow, these warnings don’t translate to better health.  So this holiday season, I am taking a whole new refreshing approach…sugar plum fairies. 

The “sugar plum fairies” are those amazingly wonderful things that you love and live for.  Moments with your family and friends, reminiscing about old times with your favorite people, exotic vacations or traveling abroad, great laughs, and all of your happy thoughts.

 Making a list of reasons you want to lose weight is always one of my favorite requests I ask of our clients during counseling sessions.

 This list may contain some things that make you feel good on the outside – of course- like how you look in your jeans or swimsuit.  It should also contain the things that make you feel good on the inside – those happy thoughts.

 Some of my favorite reasons for weight loss is to be able to keep up with your kids, meeting your grandkids, being able to travel without feeling tired, and on and on.

 My hope for our entire Skinny Gene family is that as the New Year approaches, we can all take time to reflect on our goals for better health.

The choice is yours, lumps of coal or sugar plum fairies?  It might be time to make some changes – I’m sure you’ll find the sugar plum fairies are worth it!

By Emily Barr, MS, RD, CNSC

Want More?? Check out these posts from Emily…

Meet Emily

How Did You Do It?

Sweets & Sabotages

Sugar Aliases

Halloween Temptations

High Five to Healthy Lunches

Vitamin D: Sunshine Vitamin, or not?

Summertime Drinks that Won’t Bust Your Diet or Your Waistline

Best Defense Against Cellulite

Water Filled Summer

Value Menu-Eat now, Pay later

Different ages, different requirements to be healthy

Kids Really Do Like Fruits and Vegetables

Spring into Green

1. Trim the fat- Cut off the “white stuff”
2. Choose the leanest cuts of meat you can find (try ground chicken or ground turkey)
3. Reduce fat when cooking and bake, broil, grill and steam food
4. Use low-fat dairy products, which can also slim your waistline
5. Exercise your heart-try doing moderate intensity exercise for 30 minutes a day, five days a week
6. Increase foods that are high in soluble fiber, which will helps to specifically lower cholesterol
7. Find the fiber, read labels and look for foods with 2 or more grams of fiber per serving
8. Eat at least three 1-ounce-equivalent of fiber-rich whole grains a day
9. Get your 32 grams of fiber- it could shave off 10 pounds of yearly weight gain
10. Reach for Fruits and Vegetables. You need at least 4.5 cups a day
11. Go Fish, the American Heart Association  recommends 2 servings of fish (3.5 oz each) a week (Not fried, of course)
12. Reach for foods with Omega-3 fatty acids. They can decrease risk of abnormal heartbeats), decrease triglyceride levels, and lower blood pressure (slightly)
13. Try fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, herring, lake trout, sardines and albacore tuna, which are high in omega-3 fatty acids
14. Pass on the added salt. High-sodium diets are linked to an increase in blood pressure and a higher risk for heart disease and stroke
15. Uncover the hidden salt-  Major sources of sodium include: Tomato sauce, Soups,Condiments, Canned foods , and Prepared mixes
16. Aim to eat less than 1,500 mg of sodium per day
17. Am. Heart Assoc recommends that you stock up on heart-healthy cookbooks
18. Make recipes or egg dishes with egg whites, instead of egg yolks.  Substitute two egg whites for each egg yolk. Egg yolks are high in cholesterol and fat
19. Use reduced-fat, low-fat, light or no-fat salad dressings (if you need to limit your calories) on salads, for dips or as marinades
20. Avoid using prepackaged seasoning mixes because they often contain a lot of salt.  Use fresh herbs whenever possible.  Grind herbs with a mortar and pestle for the freshest and fullest flavor
21. Use liquid vegetable oils or non fat cooking sprays whenever possible
22. Use the oils that are lowest in saturated fats, trans fats and cholesterol – such as canola oil, corn oil, olive oil, safflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil
23. Stay away from coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil.  Even though they are vegetable oils and have no cholesterol, they are high in saturated fats
24. When stir frying, cook food in vegetable stock,wine or a small amount of oil.Avoid excessive use of high-sodium seasonings like teriyaki and soy sauce
25. Use a rack when roasting, grilling, or broiling so the fat drips away from the food (and does not sit in it). Consider change your basting style.  Instead of basting with pan drippings, use fat-free liquids like wine, tomato juice or lemon juice
26. Consider a different way to make grave. When making gravy from the drippings, chill first then use a gravy strainer or skim ladle to remove the fat
27. Use a non stick vegetable spray to brown or saute foods. You can also use a small amount of broth or wine, or a tiny bit of vegetable oil rubbed onto the pan with a paper towel
28. Steam vegetables in a basket over simmering water.  They will retain more flavors and will not need any salt

Your heart is important to us. A recent study indicates that prediabetes more than doubles the risk of death due to heart attack. Please take these 28 steps to improve the health of your heart.