Healthy Eating, Healthy YouIn this new edition of the American Heart Association’s cornerstone cookbook, you’ll find more than 800 recipes, with heart-healthy dishes covering every meal, plus snacks, beverages, and desserts, designed to provide you with a variety of delicious options each and every day. More than 100 of the recipes are new and 100 of them have been refreshed from the previous edition, offering you current and updated choices among many of the classics from previous editions. In many of the headnotes throughout, you’ll find suggestions for complementary recipes to help you easily plan a meal. For some recipes, we suggest pairing entrées with side dishes or desserts that bake at the same temperature or that both use the grill, so that putting together a meal can be convenient and timesaving. Also new to this edition are recipes that use popular cooking devices, including the pressure cooker and air fryer.
As you plan your meals at home—and when you make food choices away from home—what matters most is establishing an overall healthy eating pattern that:
Emphasizes
• A wide variety of fruits and vegetables
• Whole grains and products made up mostly of whole grains
• Healthy sources of protein:
• Mostly from plant sources, such as legumes and nuts
• Fish and seafood
• Lean skinless poultry
• Lean meat
• Fat-free and low-fat dairy products
• Liquid nontropical vegetable oils
• Minimally processed foods
Minimizes
• Beverages and foods high in added sugars
• Foods high in sodium
• Ultra-processed foods
• Processed meats
• Tropical oils
• Alcohol intake (if any)
A heart-healthy eating plan includes balancing what you eat with the energy that you burn. The AHA recommendations that follow are based on a 2,000-calorie daily eating plan.
Fruits and Vegetables Fruits and vegetables are beneficial sources of potassium, magnesium, and fiber.
• Make fruits and vegetables your go-to snack and dessert choices.
• Choose entrées that include fruits and/or vegetables.
• Try fresh, frozen, and canned vegetables. If buying canned, choose the no-salt-added or reduced-sodium varieties. Rinse them to further reduce the sodium you consume.
• Enjoy fresh, frozen, canned, and dried fruits. If buying canned or dried, choose the no-sugar-added options.
The AHA recommends this daily amount: 2 cups of fruits and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables.
Whole Grains
Grains are a major source of energy and fiber. Any food made of wheat, rice, oats, corn, or other cereal is a grain product. There are two main types of grains: whole and refined. A whole grain is a healthier choice than a refined grain because a whole grain contains the bran, germ, and endosperm—where many of the grain’s nutrients are stored.
• Eat whole-grain products for at least half of the grains you eat.
• Get your day started with a healthy breakfast that includes whole grains.
• Choose side dishes that include a whole grain, such as brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, wild rice, barley, bulgur, farro, couscous, grits, and corn.
The AHA recommends this daily amount: 6 ounces of grains (at least half of the servings from whole grains).
Protein: Legumes, Nuts, and SeedsLegumes, nuts, and seeds are beneficial sources of energy, magnesium, protein, and fiber. They are excellent alternatives to animal sources of protein that contain saturated fat.
• Create meatless meals that include dried and no-salt-added canned legumes. Enjoy green peas, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, split peas, kidney beans, navy beans, black beans, edamame, and lentils, among others.
• Include unsalted varieties of nuts and seeds in your eating plan. Try almonds, pecans, walnuts, peanuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and low-sodium peanut butter.
• Enjoy a small handful as a snack or yogurt topping as well as in side dishes, breads, and desserts.
The AHA recommends this weekly amount: 5 ounces of unsalted nuts, legumes, and seeds. A healthy serving size is a small handful or 1 1/2 ounces of whole nuts, or 2 tablespoons of nut butter.
Protein: Fish and SeafoodFish and seafood are good sources of protein, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s have positive cardiovascular benefits, so they’re important to include in your diet.
• Choose fish rich in omega-3s, such as salmon, lake trout, herring, sardines, mackerel, and albacore tuna.
• Eat seafood and fish that’s been prepared with a healthy cooking technique, such as air fried, grilled, or broiled, rather than battered and fried.
• When buying the frozen or canned varieties, read the Nutrition Facts panel and choose lower-sodium options.
The AHA recommends this daily amount: 5 1/2 ounces of healthy sources of protein, which may include fish and seafood. An entrée serving size is 3 ounces cooked (4 ounces raw), which is about equal to the size of a deck of playing cards. Eat fish (particularly fatty, or oily) at least twice a week.
Protein: Lean Skinless PoultryLean skinless poultry is a source of essential protein, which helps you feel full and satisfied until your next meal.
• Read the front packaging labels and choose poultry that hasn’t been injected with broth, salt, or seasonings.
• Trim away any visible fat before cooking.
• Remove the skin before eating.
The AHA recommends this daily amount: 5 1/2 ounces of healthy sources of protein, which may include lean skinless poultry. An entrée serving size is 3 ounces cooked (4 ounces raw), which is about equal to the size of a deck of playing cards.
Protein: Lean MeatLean meat can be part of a heart-healthy diet if eaten in moderation.
• Choose lean and extra-lean meats, such as sirloin, top sirloin, round steak, eye-of-round, extra-lean ground beef, flank steak, pork loin chops, pork tenderloin, and the lowest sodium available center-cut uncured ham. Buy “choice” or “select” grades of beef rather than “prime.”
• Trim away any visible fat before cooking.
• Limit processed meats that include bacon, hot dogs, bologna, salami, and sausage, which contain sodium, nitrates, and other food additives. Look for “nitrate-free” choices.
AHA recommends this daily amount: 5 1/2 ounces of healthy sources of protein, which may include lean meats. An entrée serving size is 3 ounces cooked (4 ounces raw), which is about equal to the size of a deck of playing cards.
Protein: Fat-free and Low-fat Dairy ProductsDairy foods are an important part of a healthy diet, providing calcium, protein, potassium, and vitamin D in fortified products. You can easily avoid the high levels of saturated fat found in whole milk and whole-milk products by choosing fat-free and low-fat dairy options.
• Transition from full-fat dairy products to the fat-free or low-fat versions if needed.
• Enjoy fat-free and low-fat plain yogurt or no-sugar-added fruit-flavored yogurt for breakfast or an afternoon snack.
The AHA recommends this daily amount: 3 cups of fat-free or low-fat dairy products if you include dairy in your diet. Also consider unsweetened milk alternatives, such as soy, almond, and rice milk, which have added calcium and vitamins A and D.
Liquid Nontropical OilsFats are divided into two types: saturated and trans (“bad”), and unsaturated (“good”). Saturated fats are found in animal products and some tropical oils, including coconut oil. Trans fats are found primarily in commercial products created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid. Saturated and trans fats raise blood cholesterol. High levels of blood cholesterol are a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. The good fats, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated, are found in healthy unsaturated vegetable oils as well as nuts and fatty fish.
• Cook with liquid nontropical vegetable oils, which include canola, corn, olive, safflower, sesame, soybean, and sunflower.
• Choose trans-fat-free, soft, light tub margarines and trans-fat-free stick margarines.
• Read ingredient labels and choose products whose first ingredient is unsaturated liquid vegetable oil rather than hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil.
The AHA recommends this daily amount: 3 tablespoons.
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