The American Heart Association recently unveiled new dietary
guidelines to prevent heart disease and stroke. These guidelines focus
less on fat, calories and cholesterol in a person’s diet. Instead,
they emphasize what foods people should eat.
The four main goals of the new guidelines are: 1) to help Americans
achieve an overall healthy eating pattern; 2) achieve and maintain an
appropriate body weight; 3) achieve and maintain a desirable cholesterol
profile; and, 4) maintain a desirable blood pressure level. The new
dietary guidelines include these recommendations:
- Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Choose 5 or more servings
per day.
- Eat a variety of grain products, including whole grains. Choose 6
or more servings per day.
- Include fat-free and low-fat milk products, fish at least 2 times
per week, legumes (beans), skinless poultry and lean meats.
- Choose fats with 2 grams or less saturated fat per serving, such
as liquid and tub margarine, canola oil and olive oil.
- Balance the number of calories you eat with the number you use
each day.
- Maintain a level of physical activity that keeps you fit and
matches the number of calories you eat.
Americans still need to limit saturated fats and cholesterol, but if
they follow the new dietary guidelines, they will be consuming a
balanced diet rich in nutrients, and may not need to calculate
percentages or amounts of specific dietary fat and calories. Although
these guidelines were developed to reduce or delay heart disease and
stroke, Americans who follow them could reap many other benefits.
Research indicates these nutritional steps could also decrease the risk
of developing cancer and osteoporosis.
