For the first time in six years, the American Heart Association has updated its advice on how to eat right, and, as Sally Squires reports in the Washington Post, the new guidelines look a lot like the old guidelines. They recommend more fruit and vegetables, more whole grains, more beans, more
nonfat and low-fat dairy products. Squires points out that the AHA guidelines are the first to
put a number on how little trans fat one should eat: just 1 percent or
less of total calories. For someone who eats 2,000 calories daily —
considered the "average" intake — that’s about two grams of trans fat per day , or roughly the amount in half a small bag of fast-food fries. Here then, are eight tips from the AHA. Many more can be found here.
- Choose lean meats and poultry without skin and prepare them without added saturated and trans fat.
- Select fat-free, 1 percent fat, and low-fat dairy products.
- Cut back on foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to reduce trans fat in your diet.
- Cut back on foods high in dietary cholesterol. Aim to eat less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol each day.
- Cut back on beverages and foods with added sugars.
- Choose and prepare foods with little or no salt. Aim to eat less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day.
- If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. That means one drink per
day if you’re a woman and two drinks per day if you’re a man. - Follow the American Heart Association recommendations when you eat out, and keep an eye on your portion sizes.