Primary Care

Eating fewer high-fat, high-cholesterol foods and watching calories are important steps to a healthier diet and a healthier heart.

Guidelines for a healthy diet

With your doctor, determine the number of calories you need each day to achieve or maintain a healthy body weight.

Eat fewer high-fat foods

• Keep fat intake 30% or less of your total daily calories

• Replace some saturated fat with unsaturated fat (limit saturated fat to 8% to 10% of total daily calories)

• Lower cholesterol intake to less than 300 mg per day

• Choose foods high in starch and fiber

• If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation

Read the labels to find the fat

To calculate the percentage of fat per serving...
Take the number of fat calories and divide it by the total number of calories. ( 90 / 100 = 90% of calories from fat )

Learn more about reading a food nutrition label.

To choose low-fat products, ask yourself:

Is fat a major ingredient? Read food labels. To avoid too much fat or cholesterol, go easy on products that list any ingredient high in saturated fat or cholesterol first (egg, oils, lard, cheese). Is there more than one type of fat in the product? When you see several high-fat ingredients on a label, the product could have too much fat. Is the serving size appropriate? When you are figuring out the fat content in a food, make sure you use a serving size that is close to what you would really eat—which could be more than the label says.

Salad

Use vegetable oil and vinegar dressings

Bread

Use margarine instead of butter if desired

Chicken

Eat broiled or grilled chicken; remove skin before eating

Steak

Ask the chef to trim off excess fat before cooking

Hamburger

Avoid cheese or mayonnaise toppings— add tomato or lettuce instead

Fish

Select broiled or poached fillets

Pasta

Use marinara, clam or tomato sauce without meat or sausage (avoid cream sauce)

Pizza

Choose vegetable toppings instead of cheese or meat toppings

Baked potato

Avoid toppings such as butter or sour cream

Vegetables

Eat plenty of these, but without heavy sauces

Dessert

Sherbet and fresh fruit are excellent choices

Coffee, tea

Use skim milk or nondairy, nonfat creamer

Food Group

Choose

Go Easy

Avoid

Meat, poultry, fish and shellfish

(up to 6 oz./day)

Lean cuts of meat with fat trimmed, chicken and turkey without skin, fish

Shellfish

Prime-grade” fatty cuts of meat, goose, duck, liver, kidneys, sausage, bacon, regular luncheon meats, hot dogs

Dairy products

2 or more servings/day
( 3 – 4 servings for pregnant or breast-feeding women)

Skim milk, 1% fat milk, low-fat buttermilk, evaporated skim milk, low-fat yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese, cheeses with no more than 3 grams of fat per ounce.

2% fat milk, yogurt, part skim ricotta, part-skim or imitation hard cheeses (like part-skim milk mozzarella), “ lite” cream cheese, “lite” sour cream

Whole milk, cream, half-and-half, imitation milk products, whipped cream, custard style yogurt, whole-milk ricotta, hard cheeses (like Swiss, American, cheddar, muenster), cream cheese, sour cream

Eggs

Egg whites, cholesterol-free egg substitutes

Egg yolks (3–4 / week)

Fats and oils

(approx. 5– 8 tsps./day)

Nuts, seeds, avocados, olives, peanut oil Corn, olive, canola, safflower, sesame, soybean and sunflower oils; margarine that has liquid vegetable oil as the first listed ingredient and <2 grams of saturated fat per serving

Saturated fat, butter, lard, bacon fat, coconut, palm and palm kernel oils

Breads, cereals, pasta, rice, dried peas and beans

(6 or more servings/day)

Most breads, water bagels, English muffins, rice cakes, low-fat crackers (like matzo, bread sticks, rye crisps, saltines); hot and cold cereals; spaghetti, macaroni, noodles and any grain rice, dried peas and beans, plain baked potato

Store-bought pancakes, waffles, biscuits, muffins and cornbread

Croissants, sweet rolls, danish, doughnuts and crackers made with saturated oils; granola-type cereals made with saturated oils, egg noodles, pasta and rice prepared with cream, butter or cheese sauces, scalloped potatoes

Fruits and vegetables

(5 or more servings/day)

Fresh, frozen or dried fruits, canned fruits (watch sodium content)

Canned fruit in heavy syrup

Coconut, vegetables prepared in butter, cream or sauce

Snacks

(in very limited amounts)

Sherbet, sorbet, Italian ice, low-fat frozen yogurt, popsicles, angel food cake, fig bars, gingersnaps, lo-fat jelly beans and hard candy, plain popcorn, pretzels, fruit juices, tea, coffee

Ice milk, fruit crisps and cobblers, homemade cakes, cookies and pies prepared with unsaturated oils

Ice cream, frozen tofu, candy, chocolate, potato chips, buttered popcorn, milkshakes, frappes, floats, eggnog, store bought pies, most store bought frosted and pound cakes