An important step in preventing or recovering from heart problems is to eliminate unhealthy ingredients and replace them with safer options.
Whether you're recovering from or trying to prevent a heart attack, a healthy diet is going to be part of the plan. As you start building your healthy-eating strategy, it's important to know which foods to avoid and which foods to target. To help you, we highlight several heart-healthy substitutions and suggest tips on making them taste great. With a few simple swaps, you can keep your ticker in top shape and still enjoy delicious food.
Low-fat and light mayonnaises are obvious choices in heart-healthy diets but is one better? The answer depends on what you’re going to use it for. Mayonnaise tends to get sweeter as fat content goes down, which many people notice on sandwiches. So you may want to stick with light mayo (4.5 fat grams/tablespoon) for that next turkey sandwich. However, most people rarely notice a difference when reduced-fat mayonnaise (2 fat grams/tablespoon) is used in dips, salads, or baked recipes.
Taste Tip: Stirring in chopped chipotle peppers adds a nice kick to potato or pasta salads while reducing the sweetness of reduced-fat mayos.
Low-fat and fat-free cheeses in all flavors have flooded the dairy case, offering great tasting alternatives to the full-fat versions. Although fat-free cheeses may seem like the best choice, you may be very disappointed when you use them in recipes. Most brands tend to be very gummy and don’t melt well. Instead try reduced-fat cheeses, which have the same great flavor and melting qualities as the original but with significantly less fat.
Expert's Tip: Buy blocks of reduced-fat cheese, and grate it yourself. It’s not only cheaper, but it also melts better.
Most doctors recommend a diet containing less than 2,000 mg of sodium per day. That’s less than one teaspoon.
Instead of reaching for the salt shaker, add a splash of vinegar or a squeeze of fresh lemon to your food. Herbs and spices also add a lot of flavor to any dish and are a great way to give a familiar dish and new twist. Try creating your own salt-free spice blends to have on hand when you need a boost of flavor.
Taste Tip: The flavor of fresh herbs fades quickly when cooked, so add them just before serving.
Eggs are an excellent source of protein and essential nutrients but they are also high in cholesterol and often eliminated from many diets.
Instead of cutting eggs out completely, simply remove the yolks, which contain all the cholesterol. In baked goods, such as cakes and breads, use 1/4 cup of commercial egg substitute or two large egg whites for every whole egg.
Expert's Tip: To make your own egg substitute, whisk together six egg whites, 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk, one tablespoon canola oil, and four drops yellow food coloring.
When you’re craving a juicy burger or a thick slice of meatloaf, mix equal parts lean ground turkey and lean ground beef. The ground turkey adds moisture and makes cooked burgers less crumbly. Look for grass-fed beef as it has a more pronounced beef flavor. When recipes like chili, pasta sauce, or casseroles call for ground beef, you can subtitute all beef with ground turkey without noticing much of a difference.
Expert's Tip: Most supermarkets offer a variety of great tasting low-fat sausages made from ground turkey.
Chocolate does have a place in heart-healthy diets, but forego white- and milk-chocolate varieties for the darker option. Eaten in moderate amounts, dark chocolate (70% cocoa or higher) has been found to help reduce blood pressure and LDL (bad cholesterol) levels. For baked goods like cookies and cakes, you can reduce the amount called for by half (without losing out on taste) if you finely chop the dark chocolate.
Taste Tip: Want more chocolate flavor? In appropriate recipes, substitute 1/4 cup cocoa powder for 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour.
Like many other dairy products, sour cream is an ingredient incorporated into a wide variety of recipes. A great way to get the same tangy flavor without all the fat is to puree equal amounts of low-fat cottage cheese and nonfat yogurt in a blender and use it in place of the sour cream. In baking, you can substitute an equal amount of low-fat or nonfat yogurt in many recipes.
Expert's Tip: Try Greek yogurt, which is considerably thicker and creamier than regular yogurt because a lot of the whey has been drained off.
Steak often gets a bad reputation as being unhealthy, when, in fact, there are a number of cuts that meet the USDA’s guidelines for lean meat. Cuts to look for are eye of round, sirloin tip side, top round, and top sirloin. The key is portion size. A 3-ounce serving of these cuts has 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol.
Taste Tip: For a cut of beef with an intense, beefy flavor, ask your local butcher about dry-aged beef.
Diets rich in whole grains have been shown to reduce both high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, as well as reduce the risk of strokes. You can substitute up to 1/2 the amount of all-purpose flour with whole-wheat flour in almost all your favorite baking recipes. For a little added texture, try using 1/4 cup of rolled oats in place of all-purpose flour.
Expert Tip: Don’t like the flavor or texture of whole-wheat? Look for white whole-wheat flour. It’s much more mild in flavor but still has all the nutrition.
New heart-healthy guidelines urge people to consume no more than 100 to 150 calories from added sugars (not naturally occurring in food) a day. You can substitute artificial sweeteners for up to half of the sugar in most baked goods without any difference in texture or flavor. To sweeten sauces and beverages try using 100% natural fruit juices.
Expert's Tip: High quantities of sugar can be found in things like ketchup, salad dressings, and sauces so read the labels carefully.
A healthy diet is only one step on the path to a healthy heart. Check out these helpful articles for other great tips for your ticker.
