Heart-Smart Eating

Overview

There are several strategies for preventing or managing cardiovascular disease. Diet is a vital component of protecting cardiovascular health. Heart-smart eating is all about balance, planning, portion control and variety.

For many people, making significant dietary changes is challenging. To promote cardiovascular health, a person may have to add more nutritious foods or limit heart-damaging foods. With the abundance of refined, processed foods in the Western diet, knowing where to start can be especially difficult.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture published the MyPlate nutrition guide to make it easy to create a heart-smart eating plan. MyPlate outlines recommendations for grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy and protein. In addition to choosing the right foods, it’s important to control portion size and limit unhealthy fats and sodium.