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Heart Healthy Eating

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• About Heart Healthy Eating
• Additional Resources

About Heart Healthy Eating

What you eat affects your risk for having heart disease and poor blood circulation, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke. Heart disease is the #1 killer and stroke is the #3 killer of American women and men.

To help you prevent heart disease and stroke, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has developed three heart healthy eating plans:

• Heart Healthy Diet is for people who do not have heart disease and want to keep their blood cholesterol levels at healthy levels. Unhealthy cholesterol levels can, in time, lead to heart disease.
• Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) Diet is for people with unhealthy blood cholesterol levels.
• Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan is for people with high blood pressure, or hypertension. Hypertension can raise your risk of heart disease and stroke.

For more information on these eating plans, see Frequently Asked Questions about Heart Healthy Eating.

Additional Resources

Publications

1.     Be Heart Smart! Eat Foods Lower in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol - This booklet offers specific information on lowering the fat in your diet and identifies steps to promote healthy lifestyles among African Americans.

   http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/other/chdblack/smart.pdf

2.   Frequently Asked Questions - Heart Healthy Eating - This publication contains information on eating a healthy diet to keep your heart healthy. It includes information on how to start planning a heart healthy diet, diets to help maintain and lower cholesterol, diets to maintain a healthy blood pressure, and other ways to keep your heart healthy besides diet.

   http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/healtheat.htm

3.     When Delicious Meets Nutritious: Recipes for Heart Health - Here's some terrific news: What's good for your heart is great for your taste buds. The recipes in this fact sheet show you don't have to lose flavor to gain health. Heart-healthy cooking simply means making dishes that are low in saturated fat, total fat, cholesterol, and sodium. As an added bonus, these dishes have fewer calories than those higher in fat. Includes "Classic Macaroni and Cheese" and "1-2-3 Peach Cobbler."

   http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/material/factsheet_recipes.pdf

Organizations

1.   Food and Nutrition Information Center, NAL, USDA
2.   National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH, HHS
3.   Nutrition.Gov
4. American Dietetic Association
5. International Food Information Council
6. Women's Heart Foundation

= Indicates Federal Resources

Content last updated June 17, 2008.