Enjoying a plate of your favorite meal is the closest thing to heaven for most people. It is partly because of this that some people are having a hard time getting a go at healthier meals. Unfortunately, the lack of the right food groups in one’s plate can, later on, lead to bigger problems. So how does one turn a favorite meal into a healthier one?
First thing’s first. When it comes to the contents of your plate, you have to make sure that you include fruits and vegetables. While most fruits and vegetables are not exactly abundant in calories, they contain minerals that can help the body regulate well as well as lower the risk for a heart disease. At least two servings of fruits and vegetables each day would already suffice. Now, this might sound a lot but is actually really simple. For example, you can have strawberries on your cereal in the morning, a few sticks of asparagus and an orange with your lunch, and vegetable salad by the time you hit dinner.
It is also a good idea to make sure that you include whole grain in your meal. Wheat, barley, oats, and even popcorn are actually considered as whole grain and could be good for your body. If this is not possible, you can make use instead of legumes or potatoes; which brings us to another thing that you need to include in your meal – nuts. Nuts have naturally lower levels of saturated fat. It is also a good source for nitric oxide which helps the body in lowering blood pressure as well as relaxing the blood vessels. When it comes to nuts, what you can do is top your cereal with crushed nuts or make use of it in order to coat your baked fish. You can also have a snack of yogurt with crushed nuts as toppings.
While most people are of the opinion that sodium is not something that you need to worry about, medical professionals would tell you otherwise. Sodium, especially in excess, has been known to elevate blood pressure. Sodium is also known to cause fluid retention which, in turn, also causes an increase in blood volume. Of course, this would mean that your heart would need to exert extra effort. What you can do is to slowly limit your sodium intake to about 2,300 mg per day until you are able to train your taste buds to go after too much sodium. You can then lower the amount to about 1500 mg per day. Make sure that when you cook, you do not put any salt. You can then have a salt shaker on your table which you can use in order to add only a small amount. When it comes to buying vegetables, fruits, and meat, always go for raw. Sodium is typically used as a preservative which means that you can actually be ingesting more than you need.
Heart problems, most specifically heart attack and Sudden Cardiac Arrest can be quite unpredictable. That being the case, your best bet, aside from having the right diet and lifestyle, is to ready yourself for unexpected situations. This can be done by undergoing CPR training with Citywide CPR.
