Yummy Healthy Heart Recipes Needed

I've got a great low-fat green chili that is full of veggies and really tasty (and if you follow the recipe as written, incredibly spicy). You'd never think it was good for you :). If you're interested I'll send you the recipe - just let me know.

Try to go with fresher food. It always taste better. Experiment with different herbs and spices. For heart healthy lifestyle you should be watching their cholesterol, fats, sodium (salt) and sugar. Decrease red meats and use lean proteins (chicken without skin, pork & fish).Food does not have to be drowned to taste good. My husband used to want everything sauced, gravied or fried. It was a slow transition and I do indulge him every once in a while but mostly we eat healthier. A simple and tasty meal we do is grilled salmon (i use dill & white pepper to season) on mixed green salad with white balsalmic vinegar for dressing. Another thing I do is pumpkin spice muffins using a organic apple bran spice muffin mix and canned pumpkin puree with a little water. No fat, high fiber and YUMMY. They are dense, filling and my kids & husband LOVE them. Invest in a good cookbook, the American Heart Association has one. Good luck.

There is so much info I could give you but here I will have to be brief. The best thing one can do for the heart is eat a vegan diet. No meat except fish, and no dairy products. Cheese is the worst offender. However you can buy non-dairy products made from soy that are tasty without cholesterol.
Eat lots of fresh fruit and veges. For protein eat beans and rice or beans and corn. Oatmeal is another good fiber and cholesterol lowering food. There are no safe sugar substitutes; All have harmful chemicals. Best thing is to use sugar but cut down the amount. When I bake cookies I cut the sugar called for in half. You can train your taste buds to like less sugar. You can also use honey in small amounts. There are margerines on the market nowadays that have no cholesterol. The best oil to use is olive oil. For recipe ideas go to www.meatout.org I am a vegan and love my food! AF

Hi C.,
The American Heart Association has some really good cookbooks--several editions. Check them out. They use a lot of marinades, spices, etc, to liven things up, but they aren't too spicy for kids. Good luck--A.

I don't know much about the heart healthy diet but I am on a vegeatrian diet and only use good fats and low salts as well as no meat but my husband and son eat chicken and fish.

As a butter substitute we use Earth Balance which is made from good oils like olive oil, palm oil, and canola oil it has 120mg of sodium per serving and I am not sure if that is high or not.

I would suggest going to your Dad's doctor and asking if they have a nutritionist or dietician that can help you get started on making the changes to your family's diet. I believe that they have one for this particular issue at the hospital to go over the do's and don't's of a heart healthy diet.

Why didn't the doctor send him home with that information? The internet is a great place to start. I would just type in heart healthy recipes and see what happens.

Good luck and I wish your Dad a speedy recovery.

Hi C.,

Have you tried Trader Joes? They have a lot of healthy substitutes that are good for the heart and still taste delicious. There is one in one Springfield Plaza in Springfield. If you go to their website: traderjoes.com, you can find recipes, lists of foods, etc to help.

I would also like to suggest weight watchers cookbooks. They have a lot of healthy solutions too and I am always surprised by what I find in the books. I have found several ways to make my favorite foods without the salt and they still taste the same. Have fun and God Bless

I always buy lean white meats and fish - so you can make tons of recipes with ground turkey or chicken instead of red meat....and a really quick and easy food to bake is Tilapia - you can get fresh or frozen Tilapia and it is not too fishy tasting like some fish - you can grill with a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil, or you can just put a bit of EVOO in a baking dish and bake it - it takes 10 minutes, and the best part is, you can flavor it up any way you want to - I saw one poster adds Mrs. Dash - which is a great salt substitute...and garlic powder, smoked paprika, and crushed red pepper are also great. A middle eastern flare would be to add some turmeric and curry powder. YUM. I actually made Tilapia last night and I let my daughter do the herbs and seasonings - so she had a blast picking out stuff...she used about a tsp of Adobo(has salt, but a little goes a long way - 1 tsp for 8 pieces of fish is all you need), Thyme, Italian seasoning, parsley, etc....then she mixed it up, rubbed it on the fish and I baked for 12 minutes and served with brown rice and peas. You can also use the same types of seasonings for turkey and chicken - and when making pasta, I use whole wheat noodles and my husband loves to add crushed red pepper on everything - it flavors things with just a pinch and you don't need salt. I use Splenda instead of sugar, and a little doesn't hurt my kids, especially since they are overall healthy...but I wouldn't overdo it - and some people use that all natural one...don't remember the name, but that could work too. I use the Splenda for my husband's sweet tea, but I have the kids drink water. There's no real substitute for good butter, but I buy the Country Crock and make sure it's the one with NO TRANS FAT. Some had Trans Fat in it and I was shocked that they are still for sale! I had to search for one with none, but it is worth it - and I don't use very much butter...maybe a TBSP with potatoes or something...but I wouldn't use it at every meal. Using fresh herbs and spices is much healthier and still tasty! Some to consider are, cilantro, chives, mint, basil, ginger, dill, cinnamon, etc...and a fun thing for family would be to pick a new herb each day and plan a meal around it - here's a good list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_herbs_and_spices. Another fun activity to involve kids in is actually going to a farmer's market and picking things out there. Nice fresh air and good produce! Good luck and hope he feels better!

I really like the Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites cookbook.

hi C.,
my son had a heart transplant 5 years ago, so I know your worry and frustration all too well! I like flavor as well, we are spiced food eaters. my family is from the south, my hubby's family, is from the south west, so bad habits abound! look for spices first, mrs dash, all no sodium added.
read labels. I have started using a i cant believe it's not butter with olive oil. It has great flavor, low sodium and low fats. diabetic menus are a good choice, low carbs and sugar, usually low fat as well. tr using more garlic and pepper vs salt, and switch over to olive oil. i use it for everything. i bake with it..it does wonders to a brownie...and nothing burns or sticks. we dont fry hardly anything..bake bake bake! Watch out for prepared/boxed food, and eating out. Very very bad. You would be amazed at how much salt and butter/oils are in the foods. rice a roni has almost 1000mg sodium, per serving...euww!
Just start going for more home made things, experiment.
Make sure they are both taking in plenty of water to help wash out the fats and sodium that build up. It's a worthy switch. Best of luck to everyone!
take care
W.

Go on Ebay. I was buying cookbooks a while back and saw listing for several recipe books on this very subject.

My mother died of a heart attack at 55, my husband's mother at 47 so we understand your concerns. I am glad your dad is recovering! A couple of quick pieces of advice:

Check out www.youvegotsupper.com - if you subscribe they will email you a list of recipes each week and they just added a feature where they list at least one heart healthy recipe per week. or you can just search their website for some heart healthy recipes.

Mrs. Dash...comes in a lot of varieties now and tastes great on everything! Chicken, red meat (lean of course), pasta, etc. We skip added salt altogether as there is more than enough in food already.

Skip processed foods - most frozen foods, broths, soups, luncheon meat, hot dogs, etc.

Find the DASH diet online - will give you great ideas for how he should eat.

I just got a free Light & Easy recipe book from the American Heart Association courtesy of Merck. Looks like it has some yummy recipes. Sorry I don't have the link anymore but a Google search should bring it up.

I would say you are going to have to start bypassing salt, sugar and butter but there are some good alternatives. As for sugar, I know there is Splenda and Truvia (sp?) which are supposed to come from real sugar. Don't know about chemical additives. There are good butter alternatives too but yes, I think they have chemicals. Personally, I use olive oil 99% of the time and when necessary for butter, go ahead with the real thing (unsalted) but just in moderation.

Good luck!!!

Hey just a warning...their cardiologist should have talked to you about this, but salt is very bad for their hearts, worse than normal because they're already at risk. More importantly, DO NOT use artificial sugar substitutes like Splenda and NutraSweet, they are dangerous for the kids and even more dangerous for the men!! The artificial sweeteners, while fine for adults in moderation, is know to increase and cause additional heart problems in people with heart conditions. This was the first thing my father and brothers cardiologist told us. And be very careful of anything diet, diet things have artificial sweeteners to taste the same without the calories. Though soda is bad, diet soda is worse. Good luck!!