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HomeHealth Topics< Back ToHeart-Healthy LivingChoose Heart-Healthy Foods

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    HomeHealth Topics< Back ToHeart-Healthy LivingChoose Heart-Healthy Foods

  What Is Heart-Healthy Living?
                                                  
                          Understand Your Risk for Heart Disease
                                                  
                          Get Your Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Checked
                                                  
                          Choose Heart-Healthy Foods
                                                  
                          Aim for a Healthy Weight
                                                  
                          Get Regular Physical Activity
                                                  
                          Manage Stress
                                                  
                          Quit Smoking
                                                  
                          Get Enough Good-Quality Sleep
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          Heart-Healthy Living
Heart-Healthy LivingChoose Heart-Healthy Foods

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Heart-healthy eating involves choosing certain foods, such as fruits and vegetables, while limiting others, such as saturated**fats and added sugars.

Your doctor may recommend the heart-healthy Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan because it has been proven to lower high blood pressure and “bad” LDL cholesterol in the blood. See Delicious Heart-Healthy Eating for recipes, cooking tips, and more information.

          
Foods to eat

            These foods are the foundation of a heart-healthy eating plan.

**Vegetables** such as leafy greens (spinach, collard greens, kale, cabbage), broccoli, and carrots
	**Fruits** such as apples, bananas, oranges, pears, grapes, and prunes
	**Whole grains** such as plain oatmeal, brown rice, and whole-grain bread or tortillas
	**Fat-free or low-fat** **dairy** foods such as milk, cheese, or yogurt
	**Protein-rich foods:**
	**Fish** high in omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, tuna, and trout)
		**Lean meats**such as 95% lean ground beef or pork tenderloin or skinless chicken or turkey
		**Eggs**
		**Nuts, seeds,**and**soy products**(tofu)
		**Legumes** such as kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, and lima beans
	**Oils and foods high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats:**
	Canola, corn, olive, safflower, sesame, sunflower, and soybean oils (not coconut or palm oil)
		Nuts such as walnuts, almonds, and pine nuts
		Nut and seed butters
		Salmon and trout
		Seeds (sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, or flax)
		Avocados
		Tofu

          
Foods to limit

            A heart-healthy eating plan limits sodium (salt), saturated fat, added sugars, and alcohol. Understanding nutrition labels can help you choose healthier foods.

Limit sodium

Adults and children over age 14 should eat less than 2,300 milligrams ofsodiuma day. Children younger than age 14 may need to eat even less sodium each day based on their sex and age. If you have high blood pressure, you may need to limit sodium even more. Talk to your healthcare provider about the amount of sodium that is right for you or your child.

Try these shopping and cooking tips to help you choose and prepare foods that are lower in sodium:

**Read food labels** and choose products that have less sodium for the same serving size.
	**Choose low-sodium**, reduced-sodium, or no-salt-added products.
	**Choose fresh, frozen, or no-salt-added foods**instead of pre-seasoned, sauce-marinated, brined, or processed meats, poultry, and vegetables.
	**Eat at home** **more often** so you can cook food from scratch, which will allow you to control the amount of sodium in your meals.
	**Flavor foods with herbs and spice**s instead of salt.
	**When cooking, limit your use of premade sauces, mixes, and instant products** such as rice, noodles, and ready-made pasta.tips to reduce salt and sodium
                                FACT SHEET
      
                    
                    

                                            
            Tips to Reduce Salt and Sodium

Learn about how to cut down the amount of salt you take in each day with the Tips to Reduce Salt and Sodium tip sheet.
      
                                                                                                                            Download the fact sheet
Limit saturated fats

Saturated or “bad” fats come from animal sources such as butter, cheese, and fatty meats. They should make up less than 10% of your daily calories. Unsaturated fats are also known as “good” fats and are found in vegetable oils and nuts.

Read food labels and choose foods that are lower in saturated fats and higher in unsaturated fats.

**Eat leaner, lower-fat, and skinless meats** instead of fatty cuts of meat and chicken with skin.
	**Consume lower-fat dairy products**instead of whole-milk.
	**Use certain vegetable oils**(such as olive and canola oil)****instead****of butter, lard, and coconut and palm oils.Limit added sugars

You should limit the amount of calories you get each day from added sugars. This will help you choose nutrient-rich foods and stay within your daily calorie limit.

Some foods, such as fruit, contain natural sugars. Added sugars do not occur naturally in foods but instead are used to sweeten foods and drinks. They include brown sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, raw sugar, and sucrose.

In the United States, sweetened drinks, snacks, and sweets are the major sources of added sugars.

**Sweetened drinks**include soft drinks or sodas, fruit drinks, sweetened coffee and tea, energy drinks, alcoholic drinks, and favored waters. Sweetened drinks account for about half of all added sugars consumed.
	**Snacks and sweets** include grain-based desserts such as cakes, pies, cookies, brownies, doughnuts; dairy desserts such as ice cream, frozen desserts, and pudding; candies; sugars; jams; syrups; and sweet toppings.Lower how much sugar you eat or drink.

Choose drinks without added sugar****such as water, low-fat or fat-free milk, or 100% vegetable juice.
	Choose unsweetened foods for snacks or dessert.
	Eat sweetened drinks, snacks, and desserts less often and in smaller amounts.Limit alcohol

Talk to your healthcare provider about how much alcohol you drink. They may recommend that you reduce the amount of alcohol you drink or that you stop drinking alcohol. Alcohol can:

Add calories to your daily diet and possibly cause you to gain weight
	Raise your blood pressure and levels oftriglyceridefats in your blood
	Contribute to or worsen heart failure in some people, such as some people who have cardiomyopathy
	Raise your risk of other diseases such as cancerIf you do not drink, you should not start. You should not drink if you are pregnant, are under the age of 21, taking certain medicines, or if you have certain medical conditions, including heart failure.

          
How much should you eat?

            You should eat the right amount of calories for your body, which will vary based on your sex, age, and physical activity level. Remember that some healthy foods, including oils and dairy, can still have a lot of calories. Some fruits can have a lot of natural sugar, especially when they are dried. Develop a personalized food plan at Get Your MyPlate Plan.

You can visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s *2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans* has information about healthy eating and recommendations for healthy eating patterns.
Book traversal links for Choose Heart-Healthy Foods
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