TOP HEALTHY FOODS

I want to start with three basic steps so we focus on a mediterranean-style diet of eating for optimum heart health the mediterranean diet is abundant in fruits and vegetables grains.

fish extra virgin olive oil nuts and seeds so starting off with eating more meatless meals will definitely get you closer to heart health incorporating beans legumes any kind of nuts and seeds and meatless products like tofu tempeh if you want to get adventurous into your diet a little more regularly I generally say start with one meatless meal a week replacing a meal of meat ideally red meat with a meatless meal my second goal or second way to kick start your new year of 2021 would be to include more fruits and vegetables in your diet eventually we want to get to a goal of a fruit and a vegetable with every meal that may seem unattainable so we just start with what we're what we're doing now and maybe double the amount of fruits and vegetables you're having so if you're having fruits and vegetables only two to three times a week shoot for one fruit or vegetable every day so just try to work on formulating meals around fruits and vegetables as opposed to formulating around meat and starch and my third goal would be to eat more fish so fish is a great source of protein and has abundant amount of omega-3 fatty acids if you're choosing oily cold water fish omega-3 fatty acids help in regards to heart health they keep your arteries more smooth help decrease inflammation decrease blood triglyceride values which are fats found in our blood so the euler fish have the omega-3but the non-oily white fish or shellfish are much lower if don't have it may not have any omega-3 at all but are still excellent protein choices especially when compared to red meat, so overall increasing your fish intake will get you closer to a better heart and better health in the new year commonly I get asked. If a vegetarian completely vegetarian diet is essential for heart health and I would say the answer is no you do not need to be completely vegan or vegetarian which is when you avoid animal products completely.

I think a safe there is a safe amount of some animal product you can have in your diet the mediterranean diet does include some of those animal products it's just in moderation if you choose to be vegan or vegetarian for other reasons other than heart health there's certainly many ways you can do that and be as healthy as you possibly can meeting with a dietitian can help you make sure you meet all your essential nutrient needs if you choose to be vegan or vegetarian but it's not essential for heart health. another common question I get asked is about fats and oils should be they should be completely avoided oils and fats provide you essential fatty acids which are essential for our health even our heart health. it's the type of oil and fat you're using that's really important.

So choosing mono and poly unsaturated fat which are mainly plant-based fats not all plants fats are good so we want to avoid plant fats that are more saturated at room temperature like a palm oil coconut oil we want to choose more liquid plant fats such as extra virgin olive oil nut oil seed oils nuts olives avocados those provide essential fats essential fatty acids and are not detrimental to our heart health during this time of covid we've definitely seen some dietary changes occur across the board which have led to maybe some weight gain and unhealthy health outcomes so we want to focus, on making one big change that will impact your heart health and overall health that that you've been noticing covet has brought about so such as snacking if you're noticing that you're stacking more maybe make a goal of trying to include more healthy snacks into your diet so healthy snacks would include things like fruits and vegetables nuts and seeds and grains so starting with replacing one outfit unhealthy snack with a healthy snack a day if it's meal timing that has been thrown off to the due to the pandemic trying to look at better structure of your meals so maybe setting times for your meals and trying to limit snacking in between or even set times aside for snacks and third might be portions so you might be eating larger portions than you normally are because you're cooking more or ordering in more whatever the case might be take a look at how much you are eating and make a conscious effort to make a slight reduction usually by 10 to 25 of your normal intake so looking at just using a smaller plate a smaller bowl.

if you're not eating plates or bowls or maybe eating just right out of a container of the the meal that you may have had delivered trying to put it in a smaller plate or bowl to be able to have a better understanding of how much you're actually eating.

I wish everybody a healthy and happy and heart-friendly 2021 please keep in mind that any change can make a big impact to focus on small changes and add as you go and those will make the best long-term outcomes. "BE HAPPAY"