Meatless Monday: Healthy Eating Strategies from the American Heart Association

One Step At a Time...

You Can Go Meatless

For All Three Meals

The Latest Diet Strategies for Heart Health

The American Heart Association after three and a half days presented insight into nutrition relating to heart health. Karen Collins, Environmental Nutrition, will share her insights into the AHA presentation.

Saturated and trans fats: Still targets. Despite questions raised by headlines, limiting saturated fat remains important for heart health, according to Robert Eckel, MD, director of the Lipid Clinic at University of Colorado Hospital. The average American needs to cut saturated fat in half to meet the new American Heart Association recommendation of no more than five to six percent of calories daily, which would reduce LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by up to 11 mg/dL. If you eat about 2,000 calories a day, that’s 11 to 13 grams (g) of saturated fat a day. A regular fast food cheeseburger has 5-12 g of saturated fat, for example. While this goal may be challenging for some, fortunately, it’s not all-or-nothing: any drop in saturated fat reduces risk.

Trans fat, from partially hydrogenated oils in many processed snack and convenience foods, poses the greatest heart risk. Amounts are dropping, but it still warrants checking nutrition labels to avoid trans fat as much as possible.

Evidence no longer supports foods’ cholesterol content as an important influence on blood cholesterol or heart risk, except possibly for people with diabetes or extremely high LDL levels. The biggest implication is that you may not need to limit eggs as much as advised in years past, although unlimited use won’t fit with tight recommendations on saturated fat, either.

How to replace saturated fat? What do you include in your diet in exchange for saturated fat? Here are multiple strategies:

Polyunsaturated fat (found in nuts, seeds, and canola, soybean and other vegetable oils) brings the biggest drop in LDL cholesterol.Action examples: Replace cheese in a salad with almonds or walnuts. Switch one meal a week from red meat to fish; you’ll get more of both omega-6 and the especially heart-healthy omega-3 fats.Monounsaturated fat (found in olives, olive oil, avocado, and peanuts) brings a smaller, but still strong, decrease in LDL.Action example: Replace sour cream with sliced or mashed avocado.

Protein consumption is another way to reduce saturated fat—if added primarily from plant sources, with smaller increases in egg whites and fish.Action example: Modify your usual casseroles, pasta dishes and stews, replacing all or some of the meat with tofu, lentils or beans.

Carbohydrate as a replacement for saturated fat doesn’t lower LDL quite as much as the options above, but choices high in fiber and nutrients can bring multiple benefits. High-carbohydrate foods protect heart health when they supply dietary fiber and health-protective phytochemicals and nutrients.

Action example: Have fruit with breakfast instead of bacon. Eat nutrient- and fiber-rich fruit instead of cookies, sweet rolls, donuts and ice cream (desserts are one of the top contributors to saturated fat in the average American diet). Let whole grains and vegetables star in mixed dishes.

A culture of health. Major studies show that people who eat a healthy diet, don’t smoke, get regular physical activity throughout the week, and maintain a healthy weight and waist size prevent about 80 percent of heart attacks and 93 percent of type 2 diabetes, as well as substantially reducing their risk of stroke and cancer.

Healthy Meatless Recipe:
Kale and Quinoa Minestrone

(Adapted from Cooking Classy)

Ingredients:

• 1 large yellow onion, diced (2 cups)
• 3 medium carrots, diced (1 1/2 cups)
• 2 stalks celery, diced (1 cup)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups diced, fresh zucchini (from about 2 small)
• 2 cups green beans, cut into 1-inch segments
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (32 oz) carton unsalted or low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 3 cups water
• 3 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
• 3/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 3/4 cup dry quinoa
• 1 (15 oz) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz) can chick peas, drained and rinsed (aka garbanzo beans)
• 2 (heaping) cups chopped fresh kale, thick ribs removed
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice

• Shredded parmesan cheese, for garnish (omit or use vegan parmesan if making vegan)

Directions:

1. In a large stockpot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add diced onion, carrots and celery and saute about 5 minutes, until softened. Add in zucchini, green beans, red bell pepper and saute 2 minutes, then add garlic and cook 1 minute longer.
2. Add in vegetable broth, crushed tomatoes, water, parsley, rosemary, thyme, granulated sugar, season with salt and pepper to taste and bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and allow soup to gently boil, uncovered for about 20 minutes.
3. Add in dry quinoa then cover and cook 15 - 20 minutes longer.
4. Add cannellini beans, chick peas, kale and lemon juice and cook, uncovered, until kale has wilted, about 5 minutes. Serve warm garnished with parmesan cheese.

Enjoy and Bon Appetit!

Healthy Weekly Motivator

Remember Green Goes with Everything

Your Baby's Laundry

The message I want to share with you today is pretty simple: babies and children are more vulnerable to all kinds of potentially harmful chemicals... chemicals that are included in many of the most common baby products. But you can change that. You can dramatically reduce your baby's vulnerability by making safe choices. Green Choices.

And the great thing, the wonderful thing, is that you actually do have choices. I'm going to recommend you use Shaklee's Get Clean Fresh Laundry Concentrate Liquid. And the great thing is, you don't have to separate baby's laundry from your own; it all goes into the same wash.

Have a great week and remember a better tomorrow starts with what you eat today!

Do you have a favorite meatless recipe you would like to share with us? Send it my way!

Wishing you health and wellness from the inside out,

Lisa

LQ WELLNESS

Professional Wellness Coach

973-383-0955

lisaquinnwc@embarqmail.com

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