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So too often the foods that
we love are not sharing that
love with our hearts. So being
heart healthy starts with what
we eat, of course. And joining
me to discuss that is Doctor.
>> John Higgins, a cardiologist
for UT Health. Houston. So tell
me, you know, summarize what is
a heart healthy diet, OK, a
heart healthy diet. Haley is
something that is going to
improve.
>> Now, blood vessels and also
help our heart to pump better.
So the the foundations of a
heart healthy diet going to be
fresh fruit, vegetables, lean
protein, low salt and using
those oils that we know a
healthy, the plant-based oils
like Olive oil,
avocado oil, as well as some
legumes and not. And that is
the that that is the basis of a
heart healthy diet because that
alloa your blood pressure,
lower your cholesterol and also
help you exercise, which is
important for heart health.
I’m hearing that you like the
Mediterranean diet. Yeah, to be
a heart healthy diet, right?
So that the main diets that
are considered to be heart
healthy by most of heart
foundations throughout the
world. How I’m going to be
Haley, the Mediterranean diet.
Plant-based diet, and then also
the dash diet, which is kind
of a low-salt version of the
Mediterranean diet. So at the
foundation, you’ve got whole
grains, things like vegetables,
potatoes, everyday kuz kuz.
And then you’ve got a couple of
times a week. Willie fish like
Salmon Tuna as well as lean
chicken and then having a
little bit of yoga that, you
know, Greek yogurt, I’m not
legumes and then occasionally
having, you know, your red
meats and sweets. But kind of
like a special occasion.
And you think that this starts
with breakfast, too. All
absolutely so I believe good
strong breakfast is an
important part of how heart
health. Now, if you get a
workout in the morning, I’m all
for doing you work out before
you big breakfast. But anyway,
things like whole grains or I’m
having some granola as well as
some Greek yo that maybe some
almonds on top of that, some
cash is we know cash is boost
your HDL cholesterol. And then
on the a glass of freshly
squeezed juice and then going
to lunch. Now, this is
important for kids to school.
When I was going to ask you are
talking about school lunches.
Yes. So I mean, the main thing
with school lunches are make
sure you try to have a little
bit of
lean protein. Had as well,
dairy. And that can be, you
know, like a low fat cheese
and the protein could be a
little bit of chicken and then
a little bit of carbs. So a
little bit of whole grain bread
and you can bet the make a
sandwich for you, kids or you
can a salad in a box or you
can do. You know, I like and
lunchables they have these way.
You can get them 30, about 250
calories and they have a little
bit of each you can buy if you
don’t have time. So I would
rather you go with that because
unfortunately, a lot of the
school cafeterias are, you
know, use the wrong oils and
and then not as heart healthy.
So we want the kids to have
a heart healthy lunch. And
then, of course, you know, the
dinner as we talked about
focusing on the Mediterranean
or that a plant based diet and
low cutting back on the
assault. And of course, we’ve
got to exercise to is there one
that’s more important than the
other diet or exercise? That’s
a great question, Haley.
I based on my experience, I
would say that if people are
trying to lose weight and get
heart healthy, I would put now
the diet of about 60% and then
the exercise at 40%. I think he
used to be different. We used
to put a lot of emphasis on
exercise rider. You’re saying
watch what you eat. Yeah.
I think that’s really, really
important. And part of the
reason for that is Haley look.
>> If you having a regular diet
during the day, you’re going to
have to put in like flat say
you have 500 calories to 1000
calories that equates to 10,000
to 20,000 steps or basically
walking for 3 hours to burn
that off. It’s almost
impossible. So what we have to
do is we have to have the heart
healthy diet. So you get your
calories down to about 500 to
7.50, and then doing the usual
exercise during the day.
You know, now to an hour and
a half, you can kind of
compensate for that. But if
the diet is out of control,
it’s almost impossible these
days to have the time to
exercise to counteract that.
So definitely dive tide is
really, really important.
We know that, for example, a
healthy diet can bring your
blood pressure down 10
millimeters of mercury. Where’s
exercise tends to bring it
down. Only about 5 to 7
millimeters of Mary. So the
diet can be really, really
powerful thing. And of course,
drinking lots of water. Most
people should be drinking about
3 Cosby down to a gallon of
water. And finally, Haley
getting that 7 to 9 hours sleep
a day. If you do get purposely,
actually, that’s going to have
high blood pressure, high
cholesterol. And that’s not
heart healthy. So all of those
things are part of the jigsaw
puzzle. You’re awesome. Doctor