How Can Eating Healthier Prevent A Heart Attack?

If you've ever wondered "How can eating healthier prevent a heart attack?" you're not alone. Many people don't clearly understand the connection between their dietary habits and their heart health. Furthermore, the amount of conflicting information available on different eating styles and diets adds to the confusion for those aiming for healthy eating habits. Luckily, healthy eating is not actually a complicated matter; follow some simple guidelines and make a few changes in your current diet and you will soon see how eating healthier can prevent a heart attack.

Effects of Healthy Eating

According to the American Heart Association, a healthy eating plan helps reduce high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure and excess body weight, all of which are factors for heart attacks, strokes and other heart disease. The American Heart Association suggests that a healthy diet, followed regularly and long-term, will lower your risk of heart disease or keep your risk at low levels. Specific goals of healthy eating include consuming a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grain and low-fat products and healthy fats. Protein should come from lean meats, beans and legumes, and sodium levels should be monitored.

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables provide ample vitamins, minerals, fiber and more, all in a low-calorie form that will fill you up instead of out. Including fruits and vegetables in your diet helps maintain weight and control blood pressure. To realize the greatest possible benefit from these foods, include a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet, planning for many different types in meals throughout the week.

Protein

Protein is important as the building block of muscle, but most people don't need to worry about getting too little of this nutrient. Instead, focus on adding protein to your diet from healthy foods including lean meats such as chicken and turkey. Include fish in your meals at least twice a week. This not only serves as a healthy source of protein, but cold-water, fatty fish contain high levels of omega-3, an essential fatty acid that improves heart health when consumed regularly.  You can also get protein from non-meat sources as well.

Fat

Certain types of fat clog the arteries and increase the risk of heart attack and other heart disease. You can easily lower the fat in your diet by staying away from greasy, fried foods, including most of the food found at fast food restaurants. Choose low-fat or fat-free varieties of your favorite dairy products and choose unsaturated or monounsaturated fat over saturated or trans fat. Cut back on red meat to reduce the amount of saturated fat in your diet. Finally, keep cholesterol consumption down to 300 milligrams per day for optimal health.

Eating healthy affects the functioning of everything in your body, including your heart. By making wise food choices, you can lower your risk of heart attack and enjoy a longer, healthier life. Make small changes and they will add up over time to make a significant difference in your health. Ultimately, aim for the majority of your food to be healthy, low-fat, natural food; keep fatty, high-sugar and highly processed foods to a minimum. Eating healthier can prevent a heart attack both by avoiding issues such as arteriosclerosis and by actively improving heart health, as omega-3 fatty acids are known to do. Follow a regular pattern of healthy eating to prevent a heart attack and see long-term benefits.

References

Heart Health Factors