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The holiday season is synonymous with indulgent meals, sweet treats, and festive gatherings. While it’s important to enjoy these moments, if you have high blood pressure or high blood cholesterol it’s also an opportunity to maintain healthy eating habits that support long-term well-being. If you’re looking for ways to incorporate heart healthy eating into your Christmas festivities without sacrificing flavor or tradition, the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) offers a great framework for making nutritious choices while helping to control blood pressure and blood cholesterol.
Heart Healthy Diets
Heart healthy diets such as DASH promote heart health by reducing blood pressure, improving cholesterol levels, and supporting overall cardiovascular health. Heart healthy diets focus on foods that are rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, fiber, and protein, while limiting sodium, saturated fat, and added sugars. Potassium, calcium, and magnesium are essential minerals in the body that play a major role in regulating heart function and regulating blood pressure.
Key components of a heart healthy diet for the holidays include the following:
- Fruits and vegetables. Choose fruits and vegetables packed with essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Bananas, avocados, tomatoes, spinach, potatoes, and carrots are some examples of foods high in potassium that you can incorporate into your favorite meals to help regulate your blood pressure. Generally, recommendations for this food group include three to five servings of fruits and vegetables for women and four to six servings of fruits and vegetables for men each day.
- Whole grains. Whole wheat bread and pasta, brown rice, and quinoa are all whole grains packed with vitamins and fiber which helps manage blood sugar levels and support digestive health. When shopping, look at your groceries for a certified whole grain label or ingredients including whole grains and whole oats. A good rule of thumb for intake from this group is five to seven servings for women per day and six to eight servings for men each day.
- Lean proteins. Choose lean proteins such as poultry, fish, and plant-based sources like legumes and nuts. For lean proteins, it is recommended that women have four to five servings per day and men have five to six servings.
- Low-fat dairy. Consuming dairy provides calcium and vitamin D, important for bone health. Low-fat dairy in the diet is recommended to be two to three servings per day for both men and women.
- Healthy fats. Focus on unsaturated fats from sources like olive oil, avocado, and nuts. Daily recommendations for healthy fats are two to three servings per day for both men and women.
Small Change, Big Difference
Incorporating these elements into your holiday cooking can not only help you stay on track with your blood pressure and heart health goals but can also bring new and vibrant flavors to your holiday spread. Even small changes can make a difference. Adding in a salad, swapping white rice for brown rice, or cooking your favorite dish with olive oil are some simple ways that you can incorporate some of these principles into your upcoming holiday cooking.
Lowering your sodium intake is one of the most important ways to help lower your blood pressure. Generally, heart healthy levels of sodium intake are 1,500 to 2,300 milligrams per day. More processed and salty foods are high in sodium, which you can easily check to see the sodium content in your favorite groceries by looking at the nutrition facts panel on the food label. Using the label to select lower sodium options is key to helping track the amount of sodium in your diet. Another easy way to reduce sodium intake is by replacing salt in your cooking with herbs and spices such as garlic powder or paprika.
This Christmas season, you don’t have to choose between traditions and your heart health. By incorporating some of these principles from the heart healthy diets such as DASH into your holiday feast, it can offer both delicious and nourishing dishes to enjoy with family and friends. Not only will these principles be helpful to keep in mind this holiday season, but these are just general ways that you can incorporate a heart healthy diet into your everyday life!
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