Heart Disease and Eating Choices

Everyone wants to stay healthy right? So if eating healthy and making the right choices on the foods we consume can contribute to staying healthy, then why not make the change NOW? The FDA provides the following tips for healthy eating:

• Choose lean meats and poultry. Bake it, broil it, or grill it.
• In a restaurant, opt for steamed, grilled, or broiled dishes instead of those that are fried or sautéed.
• Look for foods low in saturated fats, trans fats, and cholesterol. Most of the fats you eat should come from polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, such as those found in fish, nuts, and vegetable oils.
• Look for foods high in potassium (unless your health care professional has told you to restrict the amount of potassium you eat). Potassium counteracts some of the effects of salt on blood pressure.
• Choose foods and beverages low in added sugars. Read the ingredient list to make sure that added sugars are not one of the first few ingredients. (Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. Those in the largest amounts are listed first.) Some names for added sugars include sucrose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, maple syrup, and fructose.
• Pick foods that provide dietary fiber, like fruits, beans, vegetables, and whole grains.

This article appears on FDA's Consumer Updates2 page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.