To solve the problems inherent in the modern American diet, the first thing you need is a plan. You need to work out a scheme for gradually adjusting your food choices in a way that ensures success. If you plan ahead, you can have a healthy dinner ready when you and your family sit down to eat.

It’s hard to walk the straight and narrow, especially in our fast food society. Eating for health takes consistency, commitment and discipline. You need a plan, and you need to work out a scheme for gradually adjusting your food choices in a way that ensures success. We all know that stopping on the way home for a burger isn’t going to work for the long term. But, arriving at home after a hard day at work and putting some soybeans on the stove isn’t going to work out either, unless you plan for the 20 hours it takes for the soybeans to cook.

On the other hand, if you’ve planned ahead, and you have a head of broccoli in the fridge, it just takes seconds to chop it up and pop it into the steamer. When you come out of the shower, dinner will be waiting.

What Makes a Good Diet?

Really, the healthy diet guidelines are pretty simple. Eat natural food- that’s food left in a natural state, with no additional added chemicals, and eat whole, minimally processed food. These foods have higher nutrient content, promote more stable digestion, have less impact on biological mechanisms, such as liver, and contain important phytochemicals for nutrition.

The good news is that, when offered, kids are more than willing to eat these healthier foods. A University of Minnesota study recently analyzed five years of data for 330 Minnesota public school districts. It looked at compliance with federal standards for calories, nutrients and fats and reported that school lunch sales don’t decline when healthier meals are served.

Whole Carbohydrates

At the heart of the process is a shift to whole carbohydrates.  These natural grains slow down absorption of starch and sugar and create a more consistent insulin level. They lessen the requirement for alkaline buffering minerals to be removes from the skeleton, better preserving needed bone mass.  They are full of nutrients, including magnesium and B vitamins, bran & fiber.

Whole grains help you feel full with less total calories. In a recent study, people eating high whole carbohydrate diets consumed about 300 less calories per day than the average person. They had a lowered risk of diabetes and heart disease, better body fat readings, LDL cholesterol, and fasting insulin.

Fruits and Vegetables

Generally, shift toward more vegetables and less grains. Use a wide variety of vegetables to maximize nutrients. When eating grains, use a wide variety of grains to minimize wheat, which is drastically overused, and highly problematic for may Americans.

Heart Health and Diet

Your heart will thank you for improving your diet.

First, eat less fat. Reducing your fat intake reduces risk of high cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar.
 
Second, choose better quality fats. Reduce the total fat intake and favor vegetable oils over animal fats. Vegetable oils, in moderation, can reduce blood fats.

Third, bump up your fiber intake. Water-soluble fibers in whole grains, such as oat, rice and wheat, and the pectin in fruits such as apple may lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Fiber collects dietary fat in the intestines, traps it and prevents the fat from being absorbed.

Again, focus on whole carbohydrates. Overdoing refined bread, sugar and pasta may promote diabetes in those prone. Increasing consumption of unrefined grains and other carbohydrates such as whole root vegetables and green leafy vegetables and whole fruits appears safe for everyone.

Fourth, get the minerals you need.  Keep up calcium, an important mineral that lowers blood pressure. Many green vegetables, along with sesame seeds, are rich in this mineral.

Maximize magnesium. It’s abundant in green vegetables and whole grains. With its relaxing and antispasmodic effects on the blood vessels, it reduces angina and cardiovascular spasms and stabilizes heart rhythm. Studies have indicated a correlation between low magnesium levels and cardiovascular-related deaths. It also appears to improve cholesterol ratios and reduce damaging blood clots.

Fifth, get your antioxidants.  Antioxidants, including vitamin E, help protect the insides of blood vessels from disease-producing oxidizing agents. Vitamin E, in particular, reduces oxidative damage, improves blood fat levels and protects blood vessels from free radical damage. It also inhibits damaging blood clotting (platelet aggregation) and the accompanying inflammatory processes. Whole grains are rich in vitamin E.

Use B vitamin rich whole grains. The B vitamins lessen risk of cardiovascular disease. B6, folate and B12 help the body convert and excrete homocysteine. B vitamins associated with lowered risk of heart pathology. Vitamin B3 (niacin) reduces elevated cholesterol. Estrogen replacement therapy and birth control pills deplete magnesium, folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12, all of which can be found in whole grains.

Sixth, nix excess salt. High consumption challenges kidneys in role in regulating blood pressure. High salt intake especially is damaging when potassium and magnesium are low. High sodium, along with low potassium, increases water retention, and can elevate blood pressure. Increase potassium and magnesium reserves- eat more whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables. Upping potassium intake while restricting sodium will also help reduce blood pressure by reducing blood vessel constriction. Limit sodium consumption to 1 to 2 g per day.

Seventh, watch caffeine. Caffeine raises blood pressure temporarily, and coffee drinkers tend to have slightly higher blood pressure than those who don't drink coffee.

Eighth, eat fewer animal products. Animal products provide undesirable varieties of fats, and also raise cholesterol levels. An increased heart-disease risk is associated with eating them. On the whole, there is less incidence of heart disease among vegetarians than nonvegetarians.  Substituting whole, plant-based foods for animal products promotes good health.

Fat

The current scientific thinking on dietary fat goes something like this. Limit fat consumption to about 30 percent or less of total calories. The 20-25 percent range might be healthier. A range of 10–20 percent would also be acceptable in reducing the progression of cardiovascular disease by lowering blood levels of triglycerides and cholesterol. But do not cut fat intake altogether. You need the essential fatty acids for many valuable body functions. So, if you consume 2,000 calories per day, to get 30% of calories from fat, your total fat intake should hover around 67 grams of fat.

When consuming fat, focus mainly on mono-unsaturated fats like olive oil and canola oil. When consuming essential fatty acids, balance your intake of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. Consume extra Omega 3 oils (flax seed oil and walnuts).