Highlights
Heart-Healthy Diet Guidelines
Key recommendations for a heart-healthy diet include:
- Eat a balanced diet with plenty of high-fiber foods, such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and nuts. Reduce consumption of high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods and beverages.
- Eat fish, especially oily fish (such as salmon, trout, and mackerel), at least twice a week. Oily fish is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which help lower the risk of death from heart disease.
- Get at least 5 - 10% of daily calories from omega-6 fatty acids, which are found in vegetable oils such as sunflower, safflower, corn, and soybean as well as nuts and seeds.
- Choose fat-free or low-fat dairy products.
- Limit daily consumption of foods high in saturated fats and cholesterol, such as red meat, shellfish, and egg yolks.
- Limit consumption of trans fatty acids (found in fast foods and commercially baked products) to less than 1% of total daily calories.
- Replace saturated and trans fats with unsaturated fats from plant and fish oils.
- Restrict your salt intake. Try to limit sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams (1 teaspoon) of salt a day. Middle-aged and older people should aim for 1,500 milligrams or fewer of sodium a day, as should people with high blood pressure.
- If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation (1 drink per day for women, 2 drinks per day for men).
- Exercise regularly (at least 30 minutes a day) so that you burn as many calories as you consume to maintain a healthy weight.
