Patient was educated on measures to be considered for compliance with heart healthy diet recommendation as follows:
- While picking meat, choose to have your meat cooked fresh versus processed/cured/smoked/cold cut deli. Strictly avoid all processed/cured/smoked/cold cut deli meats such as, hot dogs, sausages, ham, corned beef, bologna, salami, bratwurst, blood sausages, jerky meats, smoked fish, caviar, and liverwurst, as loads of salt are added to them during the processing and curing. Even while choosing to eat processed/cured/smoked/cold cut deli meats, pick the products with the label, reduced or low sodium.
- Among fresh meat, prefer lean meats of chicken, beef, lamb, and fish, as they are low in salt content compared to fresh sodium rich meat from turkey, pork, and veal. Substituting fish, chicken, and turkey for beef, lamb, and pork, twice a week, can help cutting down on consumption of unhealthy fat that is increasingly associated with red meat.
- Avoid or observe strict moderation with all canned meats, such as, canned beef, canned chicken, and canned pork, as they are heavily loaded with sodium, to increase the shelf-life of the product on the store aisles. Even while choosing to pick canned meat items from the aisle, pick the products with the label, reduced or low sodium.
- Prepare your meat by removing extra fat, before you cook it. Cutting away all the visible fat from the meat and/or roasting the meat on rack, can help with removing all the unhealthy fat from the meat. Prefer having meat and meat products steamed, broiled, roasted, grilled, or baked versus fried, to help cut down upon consumption of unhealthy fats in the oils used for frying.
