Free Guide to Planning Healthy Food Menus and Recipes

We found this guide useful and informative, particularly for chefs and food consultants who work with health-conscious clients. When planning a healthier menu, there are many things to consider—not only calories and fat, but also the balance of fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products and other foods.The following eating plan was developed by the American Heart Association with the aim of reducing one of the major risk factors associated with heart disease—high blood cholesterol. It provides practical guidance on making everyday food choices with heart health in mind.

Editor’s note: This is an archived dietary guide published for reference. Nutrition and heart-health recommendations have developed over time, so current professional advice should be considered when planning a diet for individual health needs.

The American Heart Association Diet

Vegetables and Fruits

Vegetables and fruits provide vitamins, minerals, potassium and fibre. Most are naturally low in fat and calories and contain no cholesterol.

Foods to Include

Almost all vegetables and fruits can form part of a healthy daily eating plan.The original guide recommends at least three servings of fruit or real fruit juice each day. One serving is approximately one medium-sized piece of fruit, or ½ cup of juice or canned fruit.It also recommends at least three servings of vegetables each day, with one serving being approximately ½ to 1 cup of cooked or raw vegetables.

The guide particularly highlights foods rich in Vitamins C and A:

High in Vitamin C: asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cantaloupe, grapefruit, mustard greens, beet greens, kale, collards, green pepper, oranges, potatoes, spinach, strawberries, tangerines and tomatoes.

High in Vitamin A: broccoli, cantaloupe, carrots, greens, peaches, pumpkin, spinach, sweet potatoes and winter squash.

When reducing foods such as red meat and egg yolks, the guide suggests including more green leafy vegetables, peas, beans, dried fruits and whole-grain or enriched cereals as sources of iron.Eating these foods together with a source of Vitamin C can also help the body absorb plant-based iron.Vegetables and fruits can bring colour, texture and variety to a menu while providing plenty of nutritional value.

Foods the Original Guide Recommends Limiting

The original guide singles out coconut, coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil because of their saturated-fat content. It also notes that olives and avocados contain more fat and therefore more calories than many other fruits and vegetables.
Because this is an older dietary guide, these recommendations should be understood in their historical context rather than treated as personalised or current medical advice.

High Vitamin A Foods :Free Guide to Planning Healthy Food Menus and Recipes

High Vitamin C -Free Guide to Planning Healthy Food Menus and Recipes

Milk Products

Foods to Include

The guide gives preference to milk products containing around 0–1% fat, including:

Skim or non-fat milk
1% low-fat milk
Non-fat or low-fat dry milk
Evaporated skim milk
Buttermilk made from skim or low-fat milk
Skim or low-fat yoghurt
Drinks prepared with skim or low-fat milk
Low-fat frozen yoghurt

It also recommends lower-fat cheeses such as dry-curd or low-fat cottage cheese and cheeses labelled as containing no more than two grams of fat per ounce.For someone accustomed to whole milk, the original advice suggests making the change gradually—moving first to a reduced-fat milk, then to 1%, and eventually to skim milk.

It also recommends looking for milk products fortified with Vitamins A and D.The original guide gives different suggested serving amounts for adults, children, teenagers and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. As nutritional requirements vary considerably between individuals, these older serving recommendations are best treated as historical guidance.