Heart disease is one of the most common health problems in the US, and one of the costliest for employers and families. “Heart disease” includes a range of conditions from chronic high blood pressure to stroke to heart failure. While your risk may be higher if you have a family history of any of these conditions, we also know that lifestyle factors like exercise and food choices make a significant difference in both the prevention and treatment of heart disease. At The Dinner Daily, we want to make your life easier when it comes to cooking healthy meals, and that’s why we’ve worked to provide an option for people trying to prevent or currently battling heart disease. So whether you’re taking precautionary steps or were recently told to follow a cardiac diet plan, these menus are for all of you.
Hi TDD fans! I’m your resident TDD Registered Dietitian, and I’m excited to tell you about the new heart-healthy menu option in your docket of tasty recipes from The Dinner Daily.
What is Heart Healthy?
Our new Heart Healthy menu option has been designed by Registered Dietitians and focuses on two main nutrients of concern for the heart: sodium and saturated fat. Eating more sodium can raise your blood pressure, which causes your heart to work harder to pump blood throughout the body. This isn’t ideal for anyone, but can be particularly harmful to someone with already high blood pressure or at risk of heart disease. Eating more saturated fat can raise your LDL cholesterol (the lousy one), known for dropping the fatty deposits that can form plaque in your veins and arteries.
To set limits on both of these nutrients, we’ve taken into account recent research and the average American’s typical meal habits. Whether you need a “cardiac diet” or just more specific parameters for your dinner meals, we’re confident the limits we’ve set are healthier for your heart while continuing to provide the delicious dinner recipes we’re known for at TDD.
While individual needs vary from person to person, recipes on our Heart Healthy menu (including main + side) are always less than 800mg of sodium, and typically considerably less. Also, less than 10% of the total calories of the meal come from saturated fat. Integrity and transparency are important to us at TDD, so you will always see the nutritional information for your meals on your weekly plan, allowing you to adjust as necessary if you have a different goal in mind. We encourage you to try new protein options, swap for different entrees and sides, and learn new ways to fuel your body a heart healthy way.
What about red meat?
While sodium and saturated fat were our primary focus in tailoring this plan for heart-conscious users, we’ve also excluded red meat from these menus (including beef, lamb, and pork). Do we believe red meat causes or exacerbates heart disease? The truth is: science just isn’t sure. At TDD, we’re committed to staying up to date on the most current nutrition research so that you can trust and enjoy the recipes we put in front of you, and the fact is, science isn’t conclusive about red meat and its role in our heart health. For every study indicating a connection between the two, there is one that seems to disprove the others. What we do know is this: cultures that include less red meat in their typical diet have less heart disease. While this isn’t enough to peg red meat as the culprit, it is enough for us to choose to focus on other protein options that we’re confident will benefit your heart health rather than have a neutral to potentially negative effect. We’ve worked hard on this menu to include delicious recipes with new takes on chicken, fish, and plant-based proteins so that you can be confident you’re cooking recipes that will protect and build up the strength of your heart while you use our meal plans.
So what should I expect?
As always at TDD, you can expect convenience, cost savings, and meal-planning ease. By choosing our heart healthy meal plan you will receive recipes with new methods for adding flavor to lower the total sodium without compromising taste, as well as entrees and sides naturally low in saturated fat. This meal plan is a healthy one for anyone, whether you’re already health-conscious and taking another step toward eating for maximum longevity or battling a current diagnosis and learning to incorporate foods appropriate for a cardiac diet.
We can’t wait to hear your feedback on this great new feature in The Dinner Daily menu family.
If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at support@thedinnerdaily.com.
My father is a heart patient and my mother is always tensed onto what foods will help him in the disease fight, this blog will surely help my mother in planning to prepare food accordingly, Thank you so much for sharing such great article with us.
Thank you! We wish your father a healthy recovery! We are glad the article helped you.