Healthy Eating for a Happy Heart

When stress hits hard like it has during the pandemic, many of us eat more, and less-than-healthy comfort foods may be the treats we reach for first. But an unhealthy response to stress can be hard on your body, especially your heart. That's why it's smart – at the top of the New Year, or anytime – to try to eat more foods that nourish. It'll make your heart happier, and maybe trim your waistline, too.

Don't know where to start? Let the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) help.

"We have many recipes for healthy and really tasty dishes, plus an award-winning eating plan called Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH for short," said Charlotte Pratt, Ph.D., M.S., R.D., a nutrition expert at NHLBI. For years, the DASH eating plan has ranked among the U.S. News & World Reports' best diets for healthy living and heart health. It's secret, said Pratt: "Eating nutrient-dense foods and meals that are lower in sodium and saturated fat, rich in fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, and legumes."

Some of the recipes NHLBI has developed to support the plan feature healthy versions of comfort foods, such as oven-baked french fries, chicken chile stew, and sweet potato custard. The recipes are easy to make and family-friendly. They include traditional African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Vietnamese, Latino, and Filipino dishes. You can find these recipes, along with tips about safe cooking, what to stock in your kitchen, and food shopping at healthyeating.nhlbi.nih.gov.

"The DASH eating plan is scientifically proven to lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels," said Pratt. And NHLBI research shows that increasing your physical activity and watching your calories while following DASH will also help you lose weight.

DASH requires no special foods, and it helps you set daily and weekly nutritional goals using these simple guides:

• Eat vegetables, fruits and whole grains,
• Include fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts and vegetable oils,
• Limit foods that are high in saturated fat, such as fatty meats, full-fat dairy foods and tropical oils such as coconut, palm kernel and palm oils; and
• Limit sugar sweetened drinks and desserts.

To make it easier to follow DASH for life, these tips can help:

• Change gradually. Add one more serving of vegetables a day. Read nutrition labels to choose the food lowest in saturated fat, sodium or salt and added sugar.
• Vary foods high in proteins. Try a mix of lean cuts of meat. Remove the skin from chicken. Eat fish once or twice a week. Eat two or more meals without meat each week.
• Select healthy, tasty snacks. Have a piece of fruit, a few unsalted snacks such as rice cakes, fat-free or low-fat yogurt or raw vegetables with a low-fat dip.
• Find substitutes. Try whole-wheat bread or brown rice instead of white bread or white rice. Try beans or seeds such as flax or sunflower seeds, if you're allergic to nuts.
• Follow the U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommendations.

Combining healthy eating habits with other self-care activities can help you reduce stress and take care of your heart. Top of the list: move more throughout the day, get 7 to 9 hours of sleep, and try relaxation exercises such as meditation or yoga. If you smoke, try quitting, and develop a strong social support system to help keep you motivated. Learn more about DASH, heart health, and more at www.nhlbi.nih.gov.

Delicious Oven-Baked French Fries

Baking instead of frying these potatoes reduces the fat while keeping them crispy.

Prep time: 10 minutes. Cook time: 35 minutes. Makes 5 servings. Serving size: 1 cup.

Ingredients

4 large potatoes (2 lbs.) (regular or sweet potatoes)

8 C ice water

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp white pepper

¼ tsp allspice

1 tsp hot pepper flakes

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Directions

1. Scrub potatoes and cut them into long ½-inch strips. Place the strips in the ice water, cover and chill for 1 hour or longer.
2. Remove potato strips and dry them thoroughly. Preheat oven to 475°F.
3. Place garlic powder, onion powder, salt, white pepper, allspice and pepper flakes in a plastic bag. Toss the potato strips in the spice mixture.
4. Put the potato strips in a shallow baking pan and brush them with oil.
5. Cover the baking pan with aluminum foil and bake at 475°F for 15 minutes.
6. Remove the foil and continue baking, uncovered, for an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Turn fries occasionally to brown on all sides.

If you have any questions about heart healthy eating, please log into your account and send us your question. We are here to help.

Dr. Anita Bennett MD - Health Tip Content Editor

Celebrate American Heart Month: Join the #OurHearts Movement

February is American Heart Month! Did you know that people who have close relationships at home, work, or in their community tend to be healthier and live longer? One reason, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), is that we're more successful at meeting our health goals when we work on them with others. NHLBI launched the #OurHearts movement to inspire us to protect and strengthen our hearts with the support of others.

Here are some facts, how-to tips, and resources to inspire you to join with others, even if you can't be physically together, to improve your heart health.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Most middle-aged and young adults have one or more risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or being a smoker or overweight. Having multiple risk factors increases your risk for heart disease.

Why Connecting is Good for Your Heart

Feeling connected with others and having positive, close relationships benefit our overall health, including our blood pressure and weight. Having people in our lives who motivate and care for us helps, as do feelings of closeness and companionship.

Follow these heart-healthy lifestyle tips to protect your heart. It will be easier and more successful if you work on them with others, including by texting or phone calls if needed.

• Be more physically active.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Eat a nutritious diet.
• Quit smoking.
• Reduce stress.
• Get 7-9 hours of quality sleep.
• Track your heart health stats.

You don't have to make big changes all at once. Small steps will get you where you want to go.

Move more

Invite family, friends, colleagues, or members of your community to join you in your efforts to be more physically active:

• Ask a colleague to walk "with you" on a regular basis, put the date on both your calendars, and text or call to make sure you both get out for a walk.
• Get a friend or family member to sign up for the same online exercise class, such as a dance class. Make it a regular date!
• Grab your kids, put on music, and do jumping jacks, skip rope, or dance in your living room or yard.

How much is enough? Aim for at least 2½ hours of physical activity each week—that's just 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. In addition, do muscle strengthening exercises 2 days a week. Can't carve out a lot of time in your day? Don't chuck your goal, chunk it! Try doing 10 minutes of physical activity at least three times a day. NHLBI's Move More fact sheet has ideas to get and keep you moving.

Aim for a healthy weight

Find someone in your friend group, at work, or in your family who also wants to reach or maintain a healthy weight. (If you're overweight, even a small weight loss of 5–10 percent helps your health.) Check in with them regularly to stay motivated. Agree to do healthy activities, like walking or cooking a healthy meal, at the same time, even if you can't be together. Share low-calorie, low-sodium recipes. Check out NHLBI's Aim for a Healthy Weight web page.

Eat heart-healthy

We tend to eat like our friends and family, so ask others close to you to join in your effort to eat healthier. Follow NHLBI's Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan. Research shows that, compared to a typical American diet, it lowers high blood pressure and improves cholesterol levels. Find delicious recipes at NHLBI’s Heart-Healthy Eating web page.

Quit smoking

To help you quit, ask others for support or join an online support group. Research shows that people are much more likely to quit if their spouse, friend, or sibling does. Social support online can help you quit. All states have quit lines with trained counselors—call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669). You'll find many free resources to help you quit, such as apps, a motivational text service, and a chat line at BeTobaccoFree.hhs.gov and Smokefree.gov.

If you need extra motivation to quit, consider those around you: Breathing other people's smoke, called secondhand smoke, is dangerous. Many adult nonsmokers die of stroke, heart disease, and lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke.

Manage stress

Managing stress helps your heart health. Set goals with a friend or family member to do a relaxing activity every day, like walking, yoga, or meditation, or participate in an online stress-management program together. Physical activity also helps reduce stress. Talk to a qualified mental health provider or someone else you trust.

Improve sleep

Sleeping 7–9 hours a night helps to improve heart health. De-stressing will help you sleep, as does getting a 30-minute daily dose of sunlight. Take a walk instead of a late afternoon nap! Family members and friends: remind each other to turn off the screen and stick to a regular bedtime. Instead of looking at your phone or the TV before bed, relax by listening to music, reading, or taking a bath.

Track Your Heart Health Stats, Together

Keeping a log of your blood pressure, weight goals, physical activity, and if you have diabetes, your blood sugars, will help you stay on a heart-healthy track. Ask your friends or family to join you in the effort. Check out NHLBI's My Heart Health Tracker.

Visit #OurHearts for inspiration on what others around the country are doing together for their heart health. Then join the #OurHearts movement and let NHLBI know what you're doing to have a healthy heart. Tag #OurHearts to share how you and your family and friends are being heart healthy. For more information about heart health, visit www.heartttruth.gov.

If you have any questions about American Heart Month, please log into your account and send us your question. We are here to help.

Dr. Anita Bennett MD - Health Tip Content Editor

Reduce Stress for a Healthier Heart

Whether it's from everyday deadlines, financial struggles, or the COVID-19 pandemic, stress shows up often in life. And your body reacts to it: your heart rate increases, your blood vessels narrow-and over time, these little blows can add up and do damage to your health, particularly your heart. With chronic stress, you're more likely to have high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and poor sleep. Even other parts of your body - from your lungs to your gut - can take a hit.

But while you can't always limit the amount of stress in your life, you can work on changing how you respond to it. Just like the automatic "fight or flight" response that kicks in when you're scared - your muscles tense, heart rate increases, and brain becomes more alert - your body also has a built-in, healthy relaxation response. When that's triggered, the opposite happens: your breathing and heart rate slow down, and your blood pressure decreases.

Luckily, with practice, you can learn to trigger that response. Try these techniques on your own or find a teacher or class to help you get started. Don't get discouraged if you don't get the hang of it quickly. And if one approach doesn't work for you, try something new. You can learn to de-stress in lots of other ways.

Meditation. One of the most studied approaches for managing stress, this involves developing your ability to stay focused on the present, instead of worrying about the past or future. Find a quiet location with as few distractions as possible. Get comfortable by either sitting, lying or walking. Focus your attention on a specific word or set of words, an object or your breathing. And let distractions, including thoughts, come and go without judgment.

Progressive muscle relaxation. To feel the effect, first tense your muscles for a few seconds, then relax them. Start by tensing and relaxing your toes, then your calves and on up to your face. Do one muscle group at a time.

Deep breathing. Take in a slow, deep breath, let your stomach or chest expand and then exhale slowly. Repeat a few times. Many people don't breathe deeply, but it is relaxing and something you can do anytime, anywhere.

Guided imagery. This involves a series of steps that include relaxing and visualizing the details of a calm, peaceful setting, such as a garden.

Getting your mind and body to a place of calm doesn't always mean being still, however. Other healthy ways to manage stress include taking a yoga or tai chi class, talking to a professional counselor, joining a stress management program or an art class, or meeting up with friends for a brisk walk. Being in nature can be very soothing for some people.

Combining de-stressors like these with other healthy habits can go a long way toward strengthening your heart. Eat more veggies, fruits and whole grains, and less sodium, sugar and saturated fats, for example. Move your body more - like through dancing and walking meetings. Find exercises you actually love and do them regularly. Get enough good, quality sleep. And develop a strong social support system. Then rethink some of the familiar ways you may be coping with stress, such as drinking alcohol frequently, using drugs and other substances, smoking or overeating. They can actually worsen your stress - and your health.

Taking care of your heart health is a lifelong journey, but at a time when the risk of severe illness from COVID-19 remains higher in people with poor cardiovascular health, learning new ways to make your heart strong has become even more important.

Learn how to stress less for a healthier heart and more about heart health from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute by visiting www.nhlbi.nih.gov. If you need help finding additional resources to help you cope with stress, talk to a healthcare provider. Seek urgent care if you can't cope at all or have suicidal thoughts. Resources are also available at nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help.

If you have any questions about reducing stress, please log into your account and send us your question. We are here to help.

Dr. Anita Bennett MD - Health Tip Content Editor

Are You Heart Smart?

February is American Heart Month. It is important for us to understand risk factors for heart disease and how to live a lifestyle that is heart healthy. Let's see if you are heart smart.

What to Know for a Healthier Heart

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. One in five deaths is due to heart disease, even though the disease is largely preventable.

Keeping your heart healthy starts with living a heart-healthy lifestyle. But first, you need to get smart about your heart. Knowing what causes heart disease, what puts you at risk for it, and how you can reduce those risks can help you make informed decisions to protect your heart and keep it strong.

Want to test your knowledge? Take this short Heart Smart Quiz:

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Heart Smart Quiz

1. True or False? High blood pressure is also known as hypertension and occurs when your blood pressure is consistently 130/80 mm Hg or higher.

2. True or False? Your body mass index, or BMI, shows if your weight is in a healthy range for your height and is one measure of your future risk for heart disease.

3. True or False? Cholesterol helps make hormones, vitamin D, and substances to help you digest foods. Your body needs it for good health, but in the right amounts.

4. True or False? Eating lots of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, using fat-free or low-fat dairy products, and limiting foods high in saturated fat or sugar-sweetened beverages are all part of a heart-healthy diet.

5. True or False? Not getting enough sleep or getting poor quality sleep on a regular basis increases the risk of having high blood pressure, heart disease, and other medical conditions.

6. True or False? To strengthen their heart, adults should aim to get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity such as brisk walking each week.

Answer Key: All answers are True.

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How did you do?

Knowing your own risk factors for heart disease can help guide your lifestyle choices, so talk to your healthcare provider to make sure you're clear. Just as important: know your numbers. Your weight, waist size, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels all affect your heart. If they aren't where they should be, make a pledge to begin improving them.

Adding more physical activity to your day, eating a heart-healthy diet, managing stress, getting enough quality sleep, and not smoking can put you on the path to better heart health.

Learn more about heart disease prevention by using these links:

The Heart Truth® | NHLBI, NIH

Heart Disease Facts | cdc.gov

If you have any questions about being heart healthy, please log into your account and send us your question. We are here to help.

Dr. Anita Bennett MD - Health Tip Content Editor