Simple Changes

[Mr.X]

Simple Changes
Can making simple changes to your diet really make a difference? Just ask the participants of the Lyon Diet Heart Study. Over 600 men and women who had already suffered a heart attack participated in this four-year study on the effects of diet. For the half who saw a dietitian and received diet instructions six times in the four year period, there was a 76% reduction in risk of cardiovascular death and heart attack.

Here’s the five things the participants were asked to do:

Eat more bread.

Eat more root vegetables (potatoes, yams, carrots, etc.) and eat more green vegetables.

Eat fruit every day.

Eat more fish and chicken, eat less red meat.

Use canola margarine and use canola or olive oil.

Does this look familiar?

These five instructions are a part of your custom diet plan. However, for weight loss, the advice to “eat more bread” is modified. You do need to stay within the calorie guidelines that will cause you to lose weight, so if you already eat quite a bit of bread and starchy foods, you may not need to increase these foods.

In this study, many things were done to change the diet, not just one or two, so it is difficult to say which of these habits had the greatest impact. But let’s look at the impact that each of these simple changes can make.

Eat more bread

When people eat more bread, this means they are increasing carbohydrates, and generally, replacing fat calories with these foods. In this diet study, the difference was a 4% reduction in fat intake, (30% fat compared to 34% fat in the control group). Your personal diet plan is based upon a 30% fat diet for most of you, matching the Lyon Diet Study.

For some of you, your eating guidelines may give you more carbohydrates than you are used to eating, especially if you have been avoiding them lately. For others, you may be eating less carbohydrate because all quantities of foods have been reduced for weight loss. But, the total intake of all of the foods you eat is what determines energy balance and determines whether or not you lose or maintain a healthy body weight.

Eat more root vegetables and green vegetables

Not only are these foods excellent sources of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, vegetables (especially green leafy types) are low in calories and high in fiber content. These foods are filling, nutritious and low calorie, an excellent choice for people trying to achieve a healthier body weight. Mom was right: eat your vegetables - she didn’t need a scientific study to prove it!

Eating more vegetables is such a powerful change that I think if most people were to just concentrate on eating at least 4 servings of a variety of vegetables, that this could be enough to cause weight loss in some people. Keep track of your own vegetable consumption and work on this habit first.

Eat fruit every day

Once again, this is a food group that is very high in vitamins and minerals, high in water content and fiber. In addition, fruit is sweet and can satisfy the need to feed your sweet tooth. If you can replace regular desserts with fruit at least half the time, it can make a big difference. Eat fruit as a snack, and add a fresh fruit salad at dinner, especially if you eat a lot of packaged dinners or convenience foods. This can give a boost to the nutritional quality of your meal.

Eat more fish and chicken, eat less red meat.

By practicing this habit, you are reducing the saturated fat in your diet. Eating a lot of saturated fat, often found in animal foods, is strongly linked to atherosclerosis and heart disease. In addition, meats that are high in fat are high in calories. When you think you need protein, choose very lean meats - skinless poultry, wild game, fish.

By eating more fish, not only do you reduce saturated fat, you increase the omega-3 fatty acids in the diet, another substance linked to good heart health. Fish is the best source of these types of fats, and you don’t have to eat fish every day to get a good benefit.

When you eat more foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids, you improve the balance of essential fats in your diet. There are several studies that suggest that we eat too many foods with omega-6 fats and not enough foods containing omega-3 fats. This is because so many packaged foods contain vegetable oils that contain mostly omega-6 fats. Fish, canola oil, soy products, and walnuts are good sources of omega-3 fats.

Use canola margarine and canola or olive oil

By doing this, you will be eating fat that is monounsaturated rather than saturated or polyunsaturated. This habit increases the more beneficial fats in the diet and decreases the saturated fats and trans fats.

It’s no mistake. When you look at your personal diet plan and the goals and strategies suggested for different food groups, they really follow the instructions the people in Lyon Diet Heart Study were given. These are good habits to work on, and when you put them all together, add up to huge health benefits.

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