Column: Nutrition Notes
Published 12:00 am Sunday, May 21, 2006
Healthy diet and lifestyle are your best defenses against cardiovascular disease
By Becky Goodell
The American Heart Association has recently issued new guidelines emphasizing healthy lifestyle changes. The 2006 American Heart Association Diet and Lifestyle Guidelines were announced in June. A healthy diet and lifestyle are the best weapons that you have to fight cardiovascular disease. The new guidelines recommend that the following:
1. Balance your calorie intake with your calories burned off by physical activity to maintain a healthy body weight. Aim for a body mass index (BMI) of 18-24, which is considered your ideal body weight range. BMI charts are available at your doctor, dietitian&8217;s or public health nursing office.
2. Know how many calories you need in one day and become aware of the calorie content of the foods you consume. To determine your calorie needs, females multiply your current weight by 10 and males by 11. Multiply this times your activity factor. Very light (sitting, standing or desk job) = 0.2, light (housecleaning, childcare, strolling) = 0.3, moderate (heavy gardening, yard work, brisk walking or tennis) = 0.4 and heavy (manual labor, basketball, soccer or running) = 0.5 example: 145 pounds female x 10 = 1450 Activity factor of 0.4 1450 times 0.4 = 580 calories 1450 plus 580 = 2030 calories. To lose weight subtract 500 calories per day to lose one pound per week. If you burn off 500 calories a day also, you can lose two pounds per week. Purchase a calorie counter and count up your daily caloric intake.
3. Aim for 30 minutes of physical activity daily to help you lose weight, maintain your weight and improve your cardiovascular fitness.
4. Eat a variety of foods from all the food groups; grains, fruits, vegetables, non-fat dairy products, lean meat and meat substitutes such as soy, navy and kidney beans. Use whole grains such as whole wheat bread, brown rice and oatmeal. Consume at least 25 grams of fiber daily.
5. Consume two servings of fish (especially tuna, salmon, trout and herring) which are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids twice weekly. These fish may help lower your risk of death from coronary artery disease.
6. Reduce your intake of saturated fats to less than 7 percent of daily calories and trans fats to below 1 percent of calories. Aim to eat less than 300 mg of cholesterol each day.
7. Adults over age 50 should limit their daily sodium consumption to 1500 milligrams daily and younger adults 2300 milligrams daily.
8. Minimize added sugar intake in beverages and foods.
9. Limit alcohol intake to one drink per day (one drink equals 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, 1.5 ounces of 80-proof or 1 ounce of 100-proof spirits).
10. Don&8217;t smoke.
(Becky Goodell is a registered and licensed dietitian at Albert Lea Medical Center.)