Weight Loss and Healthy Heart Diet – Part 2

There are some red flags if you chose to use a diet ‘plan’. Does the plan promise more than it can deliver? Does the program use physical activity? Are you encouraged to be screened for health risks and given a consultation to set realistic weight loss goals?

To be clear, the plan should set realistic goals, encourage physical activity, encourage you to be screened for health risks that may impede your progress and give you a consultation to assist setting realistic weight goals.

Popular diets are just what they seem. Popularized by books, reports of rapid weight loss or celebrity endorsements, they often lack the research to back up their claims. In the end, if you eat more than you burn, you’ll gain weight. You lose weight by decreasing calorie intake and increasing calorie burn. You can maintain the same amount of food intake and decrease calorie intake by eating more fruits and vegetables and cutting out processed foods and fats.

A healthy heart diet is one that incorporates all of the principles of a balanced diet that is high in fruits and vegetables, moderate amounts of protein through natural sources and low to no alcohol intake.

We literally are what we eat. If our intake is mostly hydrogenated oils and fats we can’t pronounce, that is the food that builds the cells that run our bodies. A living body will function best on living food. That means raw fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Amazingly research is bearing this concept out.

Resources:

American Heart Association: Losing Weight

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/WeightManagement/LosingWeight/Losing-Weight_UCM_307904_Article.jsp

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: Healthy Eating PLan

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/calories.htm

US Department of Health and Human Services: Heart-Healthy Reduced-Calorie Diets Promote Long-term Weight Loss

http://www.nih.gov/news/health/feb2009/nhlbi-25.htm

University of Maryland Medical Center: Heart Healthy Diet

http://www.umm.edu/patiented/articles/what_other_lifestyle_changes_should_accompany_a_heart-healthy_diet_000043_3.htm

University of California SanFrancisco Center for Prevention of Heart and Vascular disease

http://www.healthyheart.ucsf.edu/pdf/GrossmanDiet_4.11.pdf

Family Doctor: Coronary Artery Disease