HUNTINGTON — What a person eats and how healthy their heart is are deeply connected.
“When you have a diagnosis of diabetes, it does increase your risk for heart disease,†said Jessica Meek, a registered dietician with Marshall Health Network.
Diets like the DASH diet, Dean Ornish program and the Mediterranean diet can all help with hypertension, losing weight and overall lowering the risk of heart disease. However, Meek said she recognizes these are very different from the Appalachian and American lifestyles, and that it can be difficult to instantly cut out something like beef entirely for the long term.
“How can we manipulate our meat and potatoes so that it’s a little bit healthier for us? So instead of frying our potatoes with butter and lard, you would saute, fry, cook your potatoes in olive oil or avocado oil, which is a healthier fat source and it fights inflammation,†she said.
Instead she recommends cutting back on ultra-processed foods high in sodium and saturated fat. She said seed oils, very common in ultra-processed snack foods, can increase inflammation. Common examples include canola, corn, sunflower and grapeseed oils.
“And that’s another thing that’s kind of common across all three diets,†she said. “Fruits and vegetables and whole grains are like the basis of the diets, and that’s where our fiber comes from. Fiber is good for lowering our cholesterol, and it’s good for feeding our gut bacteria. Not very many Americans are getting enough fiber.â€
Even if a person isn’t following a diet, finding a way to get more fiber is one of her top tips for overall health that will lead to a healthy heart. Women specifically, as they age, need more fiber.
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“If you are eating too much fiber, it can cause gas and bloating and discomfort. If somebody is not used to eating a high fiber diet, they don’t have gut bacteria built up to process it, per se. So it might take them a while to get used to a higher fiber diet. I’ll tell people to gradually increase their fiber intake,†she said.
Ideally a heart healthy lifestyle includes both exercise and a heart healthy diet, but Meek said that if a person could only choose one, a healthy diet is the best choice.
“I would prioritize diet because activity is definitely important, but if you are going to exercise and you have a very, very, very poor diet, you’re gonna kind of cancel out the positive benefits that the aerobic exercise is doing,†she said.
She also said that exercising might feel better and more doable with a healthy diet.
Her main tips are switching from butter to a healthier fat like olive oil or avocado oil, getting at least 60 grams of protein per day and increasing fiber.
“So even if [olive oil] is a little bit more expensive, you’re gonna get so many more health benefits from that,†she said.
She also says that if nothing else, don’t get overwhelmed by what you shouldn’t have, and instead focus on increasing what you know you need.
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