Heart-Healthy
Cooking Tips
To lower your risk of heart
disease or to manage your existing disease, try these tips in preparing
meals:
Limit Fat, Especially Saturated
and Trans Fat
Select lean cuts of beef and
pork, especially cuts with "loin" or "round" in their name.
Remove all visible fat from
meat before cooking. Take the skin off chicken or turkey before eating it.
Cut back on processed meats high
in saturated fat, such as hot dogs, salami and bacon.
Bake, broil, roast, stew or
stir-fry lean meats, fish or poultry.
Drain the fat off of cooked,
ground meat.
When you make a stew, soup or
gravy, refrigerate leftovers and skim off the fat with a spoon before reheating
and serving.
Eat fish regularly. Try
different ways of cooking like baking, broiling, grilling and poaching to add
variety.
Include plant foods as sources
of protein, including soybeans, pinto beans, lentils and nuts.
Replace higher-fat cheeses with
lower-fat options like reduced-fat feta and part-skim mozzarella.
Thicken sauces with evaporated
fat-free milk instead of whole milk.
Move toward using lower-fat
milk and yogurt. Start with 2 percent products, then move to 1 percent and
finally to fat-free to adjust to the new taste.
Use liquid vegetables oils and
soft margarine instead of stick margarine or shortening.
Limit consumption of cakes,
cookies, crackers, pastries, pies, muffins, doughnuts and French fries. These
foods tend to be high in trans fats. Many food manufacturers have removed trans
fats from their foods. Check ingredient lists on food packages and avoid
products containing partially hydrogenated oils.
Use a small amount of oils such
as canola, olive and soybean in recipes and for sautéing.
Make salad dressings with
olive, walnut or pecan oil.
Eat Foods Containing Omega-3
Fatty Acids
Select oils that provide
omega-3 fatty acids, such as canola, flaxseed or soybean oil.
Add walnuts to cereal, salads
or muffins. Try walnut oil in salad dressings, too.
Eat two 4-ounce portions of
fatty fish each week, like salmon, lake trout, albacore tuna (in water, if
canned), mackerel and sardines.
Some chickens are given feed
that is high in omega-3s so their eggs will contain more as well. When buying
eggs, check the package label. Remember all egg yolks contain cholesterol.
Reduce Salt (Sodium)
Prepare foods at home so you
can control the amount of salt in your meals.
Use as little salt in cooking
as possible. You can cut at least half the salt from most recipes.
Add no additional salt to food
at the table.
Select reduced-sodium or
no-salt-added canned soups and vegetables.
Season foods with herbs,
spices, garlic, onions, peppers and lemon or lime juice to add flavor.
Its all about eating right .................enjoy
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