Heart Healthy Recipes

You don’t have to lose flavor to gain health. Heart healthy recipes require no secret ingredients. There are simply lower in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterols, and total fats, high in fiber and good fats such as omega-3s aside from essential vitamins, and minerals, reduced in sodium, plus have fewer calories.

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that saturated fat should make up less than 7 percent of total caloric intake, trans fats less than 1 percent, cholesterol less than 300 mg per day for most people, or less than 200 milligrams a day if you have coronary heart disease or LDL cholesterol level 100 mg/dL or greater, and total fats (mostly from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats of nuts, seeds, fish, and vegetable oils) should be less than 25 to 35 percent.

A raise in the blood cholesterol can lead to atherosclerosis, a type of “hardening of the arteries.” where arteries, including those to the heart, may narrow, and so reducing blood flow. Saturated fat raises blood cholesterol more than anything else in the diet.

Fiber, especially soluble (or viscous) fiber, should be included in heart healthy recipes because it can actually help to lower blood cholesterol. You can find it in foods such as cereal grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes (including beans, peas, and lentils). Plant stanols or plant sterols in food products such as cholesterol-lowering margarines may also lower your blood cholesterol.

Heart healthy recipes should also be low in salt (sodium chloride) and other forms of sodium, because salt can increase the risk of high blood pressure (hypertension). By cutting back on salt, you’ll probably lessen your taste for it over time. Limit your consumption to no more than 6 grams (about 1 teaspoon) of table salt – that equals 2.4 grams of sodium – a day.

Because overweight and obesity increase the risk of hypertension, high blood cholesterol, and diabetes, which in turn increase the risk of heart disease, it is important to keep a healthy weight by calculating the calories in your heart healthy recipes. The amount of calorie you take in through your diet that’s best for you depend largely on your height, weight, activities and whether or not you have to lose pounds. However it should not exceed the amount you expend through body metabolism and physical activities.

To calculate your heart healthy recipes’ calories, it’s important to know that protein and carbohydrate have 4 calories per gram, while fat has 9 calories per gram. So, a recipe containing 500 calories, for example, may consist of about 20 grams of fats and 80 grams of carbohydrates and protein.

In accordance with (AHA) recommendation, heart healthy recipes should:

· consist of all of the food groups, including fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, and fish,

· limit ingredients high in calories but low in nutrients,

· preferably baking, broiling, or grilling lean meats and fish,

· substitute a whole egg with two egg whites

Health Foods for Pregnant Women

During pregnancy a woman needs health foods to provide good nutrition for two individuals. The growing baby gets all its nourishment from its mother through the umbilical cord. If the pregnant women are lacking in any nutrients their babies might lack them too.

However, it doesn’t mean that a pregnant woman should eat for two. Her digestive system changes and becomes more efficient at absorbing certain nutrients. Generally, pregnancy can progress well with only very small increase in protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamins and minerals. While a non-pregnant woman needs health foods with approximately 2100 calories per day, a pregnant woman needs approximately 2500 calories per day, with about 10 percent of energy should come from protein, 35 percent from fat, and 55 percent from carbohydrates. In fact, most of the additional nutrient needs can be met by eating a well-balanced and varied diet.

Health foods for pregnant women should include all of the food groups. The daily intake should include at least five servings of vegetables and fruit for vitamins, minerals and fiber; six servings of grain, pasta, potatoes, breads and cereals, preferably wholegrain for carbohydrates; three servings of milk or dairy products, preferably reduced or low fat for protein and extra calcium; two servings of lean meats, chicken, fish (at least two servings a week, including one of oily fish), eggs, beans, peas and lentils for protein, zinc and iron; and not too many fat-rich foods.

An expecting mother should also drink at least 6-8 glasses of fluids every day and very little or no alcohol. Extra fluid may be needed during hot weather, after activity, or in cases of vomiting or constipated. Water, reduced or low fat milk, diluted fruit juices or fresh coconut juices are the best choices.

Health foods choices for pregnant women should also contain vitamins and minerals essential such as:

Folic acid

Also known as vitamin B9, it is important during pregnancy for the creation of the baby's nervous system, blood cells and new tissue and for the immune system. Health foods containing folate – the natural form of folic acid – are barley beans, fruit, green vegetables, lentils, peas, brown rice, fortified bread and breakfast cereals. A daily intake of 400 microgram folic acid supplement is recommended for two months before conception and three months into pregnancy.

Iron

This mineral is vital for expectant mom and her baby to avoid anemia. Pregnant women need more iron to produce all the blood needed to supply nutrition to the placenta. Apple, carrot, strawberries and peach juices, green vegetables such as broccoli and spinach, and whole meal bread are health foods rich in iron. It is often recommended that all pregnant women take a daily iron supplement from the 20th week of pregnancy.

Zinc and Calcium

These minerals are also needed for the development of the embryo. Extra calcium is needed for the baby's growing bones and teeth, as well as the mothers’.

OBESITY AND WEIGHT LOSS DIET

One of three people in the U.S. is overweight. About 20% of the population is even meets the clinical criteria for obesity. Here is some information about obesity and weight loss diet excerpted from an article in www.mothernature.com.

Because excess body weight enhancing the risk for many disorders, including heart disease, diabetes, several cancers, prostate enlargement, female infertility, uterine fibroids, gallstones, gestational hypertension, and various disorders of pregnancy, maintaining a healthy body weight seems prudent. Weight loss can significantly improve physical function and vitality as well as decreased bodily pain. So, weight loss diet is very important for people with obesity.

Conventional weight loss diet plan to overcome obesity includes dietary changes to limit fat and calories, increased exercise, and changes in eating habits or patterns.

Dietary changes in weight loss diet for obesity include limitation of fat intake. Foods with a high proportion of calories from fat should be limited from the weight loss diet; these include red meat, dark poultry meat, poultry skins, fried foods, dairy products, junk foods, and most processed foods. Vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, and avocados should be consumed in moderation while fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nonfat dairy products (with low-fat fish for non-vegetarians) should be predominated the diet.

Adequate amounts of dietary fiber are believed to be important in weight loss diet to overcome obesity. Fiber contains bulk and tends to produce a sense of fullness, helping people consume fewer calories. Foods containing high amounts of carbohydrate with high Glycemic Index (GI – a numerical value that shows certain food’s ability to raise and sustain blood glucose levels), such as white rice, baked potato, corn flakes, white bread, which promotes a more rapid return of hunger and increases subsequent intake of calories, should be substituted with a lower GI food, such as brown rice, all-bran cereal, oat bran bread, whole grains.

Lifestyle changes in weight loss diet for people with obesity may include shopping from a list, storing foods out of sight, keeping portion sizes under control, and avoiding fast-food restaurants. Attending group sessions aimed at changing eating and exercise patterns, keeping daily records of food intake, and exercising and eating a specific low-calorie diet are much more successful in helping to make this lifestyle changes.

Exercise has been found to enhance the effectiveness of weight loss diets. Studies have shown that exercise alone can promote weight loss in people with obesity. Preliminary research suggests that the most significant contribution by exercise may be in helping to maintain weight loss following a diet.

The most successful weight-loss programs appear to use a combination of moderate caloric restriction, moderate exercise, and behavior modification, including examination and adjustment of eating habits.

Diets that are low in total calories may not contain adequate amounts of various vitamins and minerals. For that reason, taking a multiple vitamin-mineral supplement is advocated by many types of weight loss diet plan for people with obesity.