SAN ANTONIO - February is Heart Disease Awareness Month, so everyday we are sharing one preventative measure to help everyone fight the disease. Yesterday, it was drinking green tea. Today, we’re talking about food labels.
In order to keep your heart healthy you have to trim fat in your diet. To do that, look for these words and limit them: saturated fat, hydrogenated and trans fat.
You should limit saturated fat to around twelve grams a day. Trans fats and hydrogenated ingredients should be avoided because both raise levels of artery-clogging cholesterol. Trans fats are most often found in cookies, crackers, baked goods, and other processed foods.
Adults who read food labels and nutrition facts slash twice as many calories from fat as those who don't give them a look, according to one study. Don't let fat exceed 30% percent of your calories. And more important, make most of your fat the healthy monounsaturated (from olive oil, nuts, dark chocolate, avocado) and polyunsaturated (from salmon, flaxseed, walnuts) kinds.
