American Heart Association Diet
Everyone knows that foods high in cholesterol and trans fat can lead many health problems such as heart attack and high blood pressure. Therefore, a healthy diet has been recommended by the American Heart Association to serve as a guideline for optimal health. It is not a strict diet, nor does it list specific foods. The goal is very simple; to promote low cholesterol and low fat diet choices in hopes of preventing heart attacks, strokes and many other diet related diseases.

What can you expect from the American Heart Association Diet recommendations? My friends, there are many benefits of following a diet such as this one. Not only will you improve your cardiac health, you will lose weight; decrease your risk of adult onset diabetes, cancer and even osteoporosis. The AHA diet was created to be easy to follow and free of the strict food limiting structure of many other diet plans. Here is an overview of the standards you can expect to follow on the American Heart Associate diet plan.

• Probably the most obvious food choice recommended with this diet is the good old fruit and veggies, 5 servings per day. This is a foundational part of any good diet. If your diet is missing its fruits and veggies, it is a crock.
• You are also advised to eat 6 servings of whole grains per day.
• It is also highly recommended that you eat low fat dairy products, skinless chicken and lean meats. You should also eat 2 servings of a good fatty fish each week, tuna and salmon are very good choices for omega 3 fatty acids.
• Stick with fats and oils that have no more than 2 grams of saturated fat. However, these days it is relatively easy to get alternative oils and margarines with no saturated fat and definitely with no trans fat. This means choose oils and spreads that have no hydrogenated oils.
• Make sure you are taking the time to get at least 30 minutes of exercise each day. It is also important to keep a diary to keep track of how many calories you are taking in versus expending.
• Limit your snack foods, sodas and other non-nutritious food items.
• The AHA also recommends that you pay attention to your sodium intake and limit it to 2400mg per day. That is roughly a teaspoon and a quarter.
• Limit all alcohol intake, or better yet, eliminate it.