What comes to mind once February rolls around?  You usually think Valentine’s Day, right?  While most others are sharing their heart with others this month, why not take the time to share some love with your own heart this year? You only have one heart so why not think about treating it right.

As a dietitian in a renowned Heart Hospital, I often come across people from all walks of life that haven’t made the best dietary choices, which have led them to develop coronary artery disease (CAD).  Often a patient ends up needing either a cardiac catherization and stent(s) or worse, have to undergo surgical procedures such as a coronary artery bypass graft, or CABG, bypassing blocked arteries.  Think about your diet for just a moment, do you eat lots of animal products high in saturated fat and cholesterol, like cold cuts, bacon, red meat, baked goods, whole milk products?  Why not make some dietary modifications to trim down the fats in your diet.  Limit your intake of fat to 25% or less of your total daily calories.  Choose lean meat and avoid high fat meats such as luncheon meats.  Limit high fat choices to twice a week or less.  Trim the visible fat from meat and removed the skin from poultry like chicken or turkey, before cooking.  Bake, broil, grill, or steam foods instead of frying.

Include low-fat or nonfat foods in your diet.  Use fat free or reduced fat cheese and yogurt rather than the regular, full fat versions.  Replace regular salad dressings with a vinaigrette, low-fat or nonfat dressings.  Try putting your salad dressing in a mister bottle and spray on just enough salad dressing to lightly coat your salad without drenching it and taking in all that extra, unnecessary fat and calories.

When cooking, try to use vegetable oils, ¾ cup of liquid oil may be used in place of 1 cup of solid shortening.  Olive oil, Canola oil, and Peanut oil are good examples of vegetable oils, just to name a few.

Try to limit or avoid altogether anything that contains Trans fats.  Trans fats can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.  Trans fats are created by adding hydrogen to vegetable oils during a process called hydrogenation.  Trans fats may be found in commercially baked goods, stick margarine, and vegetable shortening, and they are often used to fry foods.

Unsaturated fats on the other hand, mainly come from plants.  They can be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated.  Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are high in total fat and have as many calories as saturated fat.  However, choosing unsaturated fat is a healthier option than choosing a saturated fat or a trans fat.  Good sources of polyunsaturated fats are corn oil, safflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil & seeds.  Good sources of monounsaturated fats are avocados, canola, olive & peanut oil and most nuts.

Last but not least Omega-3 fatty acids are fats which seem to positively influence a number of factors related to protection from cardiovascular disease.  Good sources of Omega-3 fats are fish oil, flax oil, canola oil, fish such as herring, mackerel, and salmon, walnuts, butternuts, soybeans, and ground flax seed.   If you find it hard to consume a diet rich in Omega-3’s why not try a supplement instead.  By including Omega-3’s you are playing an active role in protecting yourself from CAD.  Try to incorporate more grains, vegetables & nuts into your diet, consume more of a plant-based rather than a meat-based diet.

I hope this is gives you a good start to a heart healthy you!

Dina has been working as a Clinical Dietitian at St. Francis Heart Hospital in Roslyn, NY for the past 10 years.  She is a Certified Dietitian Nutritionist, and a Registered Dietitian. In addition Dina works as a consultant for several doctor’s offices providing nutrition counseling ranging from gastrointestinal ailments to cardiac conditions as well as obesity/weight loss. In this capacity she helps prepare patients for bariatric surgery as well as consulting them post operatively.

Dina received her Masters of Science degree in Medical Nutrition Therapy from Long Island University, CW Post and holds a Bachelor’s in Biology from Adelphi University.

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