Eating to Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease & Stroke
You can eat out and eat healthy too. Many restaurants offer delicious meals that are low in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol. And eating a diet low in these items reduces your risk of heart disease and stroke. Click the + signs for ideas on dining out with heart health in mind.
Many foods fit into a heart-healthy diet if prepared with low-fat ingredients and less salt.
- Ask for sauces on the side so you can control the amount you eat or skip them completely.
- Request that your meal be prepared with vegetable oil instead of butter. Learn about good fats vs. bad fats
- Ask for margarine for your bread. Learn more about cutting fat with healthy recipe substitutions
- Try using hot pepper sauce or black pepper to add flavor without salt. Learn more about reducing your salt intake
- Substitute fruits and vegetables for higher-calories foods such as French fries and potato chips. Learn more about adding more veggies to your diet
- Increase the amount of your daily fiber intake to lower cholesterol. Learn more about lowering the amount of cholesterol in your blood
Here are some ways you can eat heart healthy at your favorite restaurant:
Instead of: Try: Cream soups Broth soups with vegetables Buffalo wings Peel-and-eat shrimp Chicken fried steak Grilled chicken with sauce on the side Creamy coleslaw Sautéed vegetables or tossed salad Hot fudge sundae Frozen yogurt, sherbet or fruit ice Flour tortillas Corn tortillas Sour cream and cheese Salsa, pico de gallo, cilantro, jalapeno peppersQuesadilla Chicken fajitas with corn tortilla Danish Small bagel Cheeseburger
Grilled chicken sandwich or small hamburger
French fries Baked potato with margarine and pepper
Information provided by the American Heart Association.