Dick Logue - 1,001 heart healthy recipes: quick, delicious recipes high in fiber and low in sodium and cholesterol that keep you committed to your healthy lifestyle

Dick Logue

Author of the best-selling 500 Low Sodium Recipes

2013 Fair Winds Press

Text 2009 Dick Logue

First published in the USA in 2013 by

Fair Winds Press, a member of

Quayside Publishing Group

100 Cummings Center

Suite 406-L

Beverly, MA 01915-6101

www.fairwindspress.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

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Digital edition published in 2013

eISBN: 978-1-61058-610-8

This book is a compilation of two previously published books, 500 High-Fiber Recipes (2009) and 500 Low-Cholesterol Recipes (2009).

Digital Edition: 978-1-61058-610-8

Softcover Edition: 978-1-59233-540-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

The information in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace the advice of a physician or medical practitioner. Please see your health care provider before beginning any new health program.

This book is dedicated to all the people who have helped me reach this point in my writing life, from my mother who taught me to cook, to my wife and kids who dealt with the failed experiments in addition to the successes, the people at Fair Winds Press and the Quayside Publishing Group, and all the loyal newsletter subscribers who have provided inspiration and suggestions.

F irst lets 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:

Dont 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

Choose lean sources of protein

Eat more whole grains

East more fruits and vegetables

Limit your sodium intake

Limit your cholesterol intake.

Well go into more detail on what these recommendations mean and how to follow them in the next chapter.

Given the importance of the topic, there are of course a number of heart-healthy cookbooks available. I have quite a few myself and some of them have a number of really good recipes. But what Ive found in looking at them is that most of them focus on one or another aspect of heart healthy cooking and tend to ignore the others. So youll find a book that has pages of great information on lower fat substitutions, but still includes a number of high sodium ingredients for which there are equally easy-to-find substitutions. Another book may focus on including more whole grains, but have recipes that are high in saturated fat. Or they give you a small number of recipes. It seemed to me that what was needed was one book that took all the aspects of heart-healthy cooking into consideration and gave you enough recipes that you could always find what you were looking for: a one stop shop for heart-healthy cooking. That is what this book is. It contains healthy versions of some things that may already be family favorites like fried chicken, meatloaf, and pizza as well as things that you may not have thought about, such as roasted chickpeas and bean pie.