Feed Your Heart Well Eating Plan

Eating a low-fat diet does not ensure you are:

Taking in the least amount of calories
Eating the right amount of nutrient
Getting the most health benefits to decrease your risk for heart disease

How do you put it all together in your daily meal plan?
The Cleveland Clinic Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation Program has created a nutrition plan that focuses on nutrition enhancement not nutrition deprivation. It incorporates the nutrition strategies to decrease your risk factors, and the essential power foods to boost your energy and health-protection potential.
This menu system is based on a 1600-calorie diet. If you are diabetic, this menu plan will still work for you! The carbohydrates are distributed evenly throughout the day and there is adequate protein at snacks and each meal. The menu supplies less than 30 percent of the daily calories as fat, and the fat used is monounsaturated whenever possible.

Sample Day

Breakfast
Oatmeal and Sliced Banana

½ cup oats (not instant)
1cup skim milk (instead of water for cooking; yields a creamier, more nutritious cereal)
Cook per package directions.

Slice 1 banana on top of cooked oatmeal.

Exchanges

2 bread
2 fruit
1 milk

Meal Nutrition Totals

350 calories
67g carbohydrate
16g protein
7g fiber
4g fat

Lunch
Split Pea Soup
Broccoli

1 cup flowerets – enjoy fresh or frozen

Tangerine, orange or clementine

In the winter, be sure to enjoy clementines, wonderful sweet gems available December through February.

Exchanges

2 bread
1 fruit
4 vegetable
2 lean protein

Meal Nutrition Totals

373 calories
66g carbohydrate
21g protein
24g fiber
6g fat <1g sat. fat

Dinner
4 Bean Salad
1 cup Strawberries
with 1 tablespoon fat-free whipped toppingIced seltzer water with orange wedge

Exchanges

1 fruit
3 bread
3 vegetable
2 lean protein
1 fat

Meal Nutrition Totals

485 calories
76g carbohydrate
22g protein
18g fiber
12g fat
1.8g sat. fat

Snack
1st Snack - Trail Mix

2 tablespoons almonds
2 tablespoons raisins

2 tablespoons chopped, dried apricots
2nd Snack - Creamy Orange Shake

1 cup fortified vanilla soy milk
3 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate

Exchanges

1st snack

3 fruit + 3 fat 2nd snack
1 milk + 2 fruit

Meal Nutrition Totals

434 calories
65g carbohydrate
16g protein
5g fiber
13g fat
1g sat fat
10g soy protein

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