Monday, July 30, 2012

Food and Heart Disease - Foods That Could Jeopardize Your Health


Heart disease is the greatest cause of fatalities in the United States, and it is thought that currently as many as 37% of all Americans have at least two of the risk factors for heart attack. These would be high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes to name the most common ones, and they are mostly interrelated and mostly attributed to poor diet practices. So these are just five of the foods that you should avoid as much as possible.
1. Soft drinks. This is one of the five we cite here that is difficult to justify, even in moderation. Throw 10 tsp. of sugar into your system every time you drink a regular soda, and then imagine drinking a few every day. A study followed young adults over a 20-year period and found that high consumption of sugary drinks had an association with high ldl cholesterol, hypertension and elevated levels of triglycerides, all known causes of heart disease. Diet soda yields the same nutritional benefits: zero.
2. Fish that is fried. We have written about the health benefits of fish, and it is well-known to reduce the risk of heart disease. But it all depends on how it is prepared if you will truly reap those benefits. Put it in the deep fryer and all those health benefits go by the wayside. When tests were conducted comparing fried fish to baked or broiled, the results showed a 50% greater risk of heart disease with the deep fried fish. So plan to eat fish at least twice a week, and stay away from deep fried and broil, steam, bake or sauté your fish in a small amount of olive oil for the best health results.
3. Any meat that is processed. This is another food that shouldn't be consumed, especially with so many more healthy options available. Even compared to red meats they had a 42% higher heart attack risk than red meat. They foods such as salami, bologna, sausages and other deli meats contain fat, salt, nitrates, cholesterol and preservatives. Better options are turkey, chicken and fish.
4. Donuts and muffins. The culprit here is Tran's fats, and it is thought that this terrible fat is responsible for a minimum 30000 premature deaths in the United States each year. They may be tasty, but from a nutritional standpoint they're a nightmare. Because of the high quantities of sugar and fat, along with refined flour makes them very high in calories, with practically no nutritional value in return. There are many breakfast options that are far superior, and really don't take much more time to prepare than standing in line for that scone.
5. The dressing we put on salad. We construct these amazingly healthy salads, and then bring them down with gobs of bottled salad dressing loaded with sugar, saturated fat, Tran's fat, preservatives and salt. All of these ingredients have been linked with heart disease, hypertension and high levels of cholesterol. Salads are a wonderful part of our diet, but enhance their health benefits with a healthy dressing. Think about making your own, as you can find many great recipes on the internet that offer much better health values than store-bought dressings.

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