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Services

Heart and Vascular Center

Heart-healthy Eating

Healthy food choices are an integral part of decreasing your risk for heart disease. There are several controllable risk factors for heart disease that can in part be managed through dietary modifications. These risk factors include:

• High blood cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• High blood triglyceride
• Diabetes (Type I and Type 2)
• Being overweight

You can make a difference in your health through your food choices. Eat a variety of foods daily to meet nutrient needs. Fat, cholesterol, and sodium are the nutrients most associated with cardiac health. The following is a guideline with suggested amounts of each:

• Total fat: 40-50 grams/day
• Cholesterol: less than 300 mg/day
• Sodium: less than 2,000 mg/day

If you care recovering from surgery, it is not uncommon to have a decreased appetite for the first 4-6 weeks. Adequate nutritional intake is most important to help with recovery and healing. This may need to be accomplished with several small meals throughout the day and/or the addition of nutritional supplements.

Take a moment to learn more about the recommended foods in the following categories:

Fruits

Recommended Foods	Foods To Use Sparingly
All fruits and fruit juices Include at least one vitamin C fruit or fruit juice (citrus, berries, melon) every day	Coconut Avocado

Vegetables

Recommended Foods	Foods To Use Sparingly
Fresh vegetables Frozen vegetables Low salt canned vegetables Low salt vegetable juice Include at least one dark green leafy vegetable each day Include one deep yellow (red, orange, yellow) vegetable each day	Deep fried vegetables Vegetables prepared with added fat such as butter, margarine, cream sauces or high-fat cheeses Vegetable juice canned with salt Olives

Meat, Poultry, Fish & Meat Substitutes

Recommended Foods

Foods To Use Sparingly

Dried beans, peas and lentils Low fat Tofu Baked beans 1-3 servings fish/week Fish (fresh or frozen without breading) Shellfish Canned fish including Tuna Salmon — water packed preferred Turkey (without skin) Fresh ground turkey breast Chicken (without skin) Limit red meats to 2-3 times/week Lean Beef, such as: Round Steak Tenderloin Brisket Extra Lean Ground Beef Flank Lean Pork, such as: Loin, Center Loin Chop Pork Tenderloin Loin Roast Veal Lamb Sliced lean beef, chicken, turkey from deli Unprocessed venison, such as: Ground Chops Roast Rabbit (wild) Squirrel Elk Moose Buffalo Ostrich

Breaded or batterfried fish and shellfish Caviar Breaded or fried chicken and turkey High-fat, commercially packaged ground turkey Higher Fat Beef, such as: Pastrami Corned Beef Ribs Regular Hamburger Rib Eye Steak Prime Rib Higher Fat Pork, such as: Ground Pork Bacon Salt Pork Sausage Ribs Pork Steak Spam Duck, Goose, Pheasant Organ meats such as liver, heart, kidney Processed lunch meats, such as: Bologna Salami Pepperoni Hot Dogs Bratwurst Meats canned or frozen in gravy or sauce Processed venison, such as venison sausage Domestic duck, goose Hot dogs Higher sodium Low Fat Meats Deli Ham Lean Ham Canadian Bacon

Dairy Products

Recommended Foods	Foods To Use Sparingly
Skim or 1% milk, fluid, powder or evaporated Chocolate skim and 1% milk Low fat Buttermilk Low fat yogurt Fat free creamer	Whole, 2%; fluid, powder or evaporated milk High-fat chocolate milk High-fat shakes or malts Yogurt made from whole milk Cream Some non-dairy creamers

Cheese

Note: Most cheese is high in sodium.

Recommended Foods	Foods To Use Sparingly
Low fat cottage cheese, ricotta Cheese made from skim milk, such as: Mozzarella Farmer’s Swiss Lace String Parmesan Fat free cheeses Vegetable cheese	All other cheeses Cheese spreads Cheese foods

Eggs

Recommended Foods	Foods To Use Sparingly
Limit yolks to three per week Unlimited amounts of: Low cholesterol egg products Egg whites	Excess of three yolks per week

Soups and Sauces

Recommended Foods	Foods To Use Sparingly
Fat-free, low sodium broth or bouillon Homemade soups from fat-free broth and/or skim milk Low fat/low sodium canned soups Gravies made from fat-free, low-salt broth Cream sauce made with allowed ingredients	Soups or sauces prepared with butter, cream, whole milk, 2% milk or other fats not allowed Regular canned soups Gravies made from prepared mixes or fatty meat drippings

Fats and Oils

Note: All fats and oils should be used in moderation.

Recommended Foods

Foods To Use Sparingly

Tub or squeeze margarine listing liquid vegetable oil as first ingredient Spray/Pump Margarines Liquid oils including: Canola Olive Peanut Corn Sunflower Safflower Cottonseed Soybean Salad dressings prepared with above oils Old-fashioned peanut butter Low fat cream substitutes Low fat sour cream Low fat whipped toppings Low fat sandwich spreads Unsalted nuts (limit to 1 oz./day) Cooking sprays Fat-free salad dressings Fat-free sour cream Low salt, fat-free gravy Fat-free sandwich spreads Fat-free margarine

Butter Stick margarine Hydrogenated shortenings Lard High-fat gravies Regular sour cream Whipping cream Hydrogenated peanut butter Excess of 1 ounce nuts per day Coconut, palm or palm kernel oils Cocoa butter

Desserts and Sweets

Allowed/Recommended Foods	Foods To Eat Sparingly
Puddings and custards made with skim or 1% milk and egg whites Low fat frozen yogurt Low fat ice milk Sherbet Gelatin Angel food cake Popsicles, fudgesicles, fruit ices, fruit sorbets Fat-free cookies Hershey’s chocolate syrup Fat-free fudge toppings Sugar, honey, jelly, jam, marmalade, syrups Gum drops, jelly beans, hard candy, gums, breath mints Cocoa powder, carob powder	Homemade or commercially prepared desserts made with high-fat ingredients (lard, shortening, chocolate, coconut) Chocolate chips Ice Cream High fat toppings Chocolate candy

Condiments/Seasonings/Miscellaneous

Recommended Foods	Foods To Avoid/Eat Sparingly
Sodium-free or reduced sodium: Spices Herbs Flavorings Salt substitutes if okay with MD Low-sodium catsup Prepared mustard Vinegar Cocoa powder Fat-free butter flavoring Powder based seasoning such as: Garlic powder Onion powder	Salt based seasonings such as: Garlic salt Onion salt Celery salt Seasoned salt Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) Meat tenderizers Packaged meat sauces Kitchen Bouquet Soy sauce Pickles/pickle relish Regular catsup Alkalizers containing sodium