Manage blood pressure

 First let’s define exactly what we mean by heart-healthy recipes and how this

collection is different from other cookbooks you may have or have seen. Heart-

healthy diets are aimed at preventing or reducing a number of risk factors that

can lead to heart attacks and heart disease. Among the more important ones are

coronary artery disease, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

The American Heart Association lists seven key items for maintaining

cardiovascular health. They are:

• Don’t smoke

• Maintain a healthy weight

• Engage in regular physical activity

• Eat a healthy diet

• Manage blood pressure

• Take charge of cholesterol

• Keep blood sugar, or glucose, at healthy levels.

You can easily see that while they list diet as a separate factor, what you eat

affects everything on the list except smoking and exercise. If you start digging

into the details of dietary recommendations for staying a healthy weight,

maintaining a healthy blood pressure and cholesterol level, and managing blood

sugar levels you immediately find that the same recommendations are key to

many or all of them. Common themes at such diverse web sites as the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the

American Heart Association, the Mayo Clinic and WebMD include:

• Limit the amount of unhealthy fats such as saturated fats and trans fats

that you eat