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If you've become mesmerized by all of theveggie-focused recipes floating around Instagram recently, welcome to the club. Veg culture is becoming more and more mainstream, and while this could possibly be just a passing trend as a direct result of the rising popularity of plant-based bloggers and gone-viral documentaries, there are so many health benefits to swapping animal meat for whole foods. If you've been mulling over how to become a vegetarian after eating like a born and bred carnivore for the past 20 or so years, it's easier than it looks.

The first step to making the transition from meat to plant-eater is to understand why this could be the right decision for your body's well-being. Sakara Life founders Danielle DuBoise and Whitney Tingle told Elite Daily,

The plant based diet is arguably the best diet for optimal wellness. Vegetables pack more nutrients per bite than most foods and help the body combat inflammation, eliminate yeast, get rid of belly fat, balance your pH, quiet your irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), cut your risk of colon cancer in half, boost your energy, lose weight, banish your bloat, and glow from the inside out.

Aside from feeling the effects of high energy, a plant-based diet has been scientifically proven to be connected to lower risk of cancer, heart disease and autoimmune disorders like colitis and arthritis, as well as fewer fertility problems. Lastly, eating plants in their natural state puts you close to the source with minimal processing.

The next step is to commit. Now, not everyone can go veg cold-turkey (no pun intended), and that's OK! If you're struggling, theseare a fewtiny steps that can make a big difference in the long run.

I know this can bealmost impossible when you are literally deleting staple foods from your diet, but instead of focusing on what you're giving up, think of all you are about to gain.

One of the coolest things I've found through my transition from a carnivorous to a plant-based diet is that if you're struggling or find yourself craving animal meat, there are so many options.

There are meat substitutes like Tofurkey and veggie dogs, but you can also finagle legumes, beans, and tofu to taste like meat. Make a top 10list of food items you're not ready to let go of and take full advantage of the millions of veg recipes around blogs, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube to find a mock version.

For starters, let's address the elephant on the page here. You should not be swapping soy for meat at every meal, however, once or twice a week offers herbivores a significant source of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, according to Vandana Sheth, RDN, CDE, and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Spokesperson.

I was a junior in college the first time I tried tofu, and I did not enjoy it one bit. The batch I sampled was squishy, wet, and tasted like it had been seasoned with weeks-old marinade.It wasn't until almost five years later when my husband convinced me to give it a second chance. Bakingit with barbecue saucemade all the difference. It was delicious, and is now a favorite for football nights with a plate of baked french fries.

The key to tofu is experimentation. Gather up your favorite spices, read a few recipes, and I promise it can become a staple foryour meal plan.

I think it's a common misconception that vegetarians strictly chow down on fruits and vegetables alone, but we can have our fun and be healthy, too! The thing to remember is, this is not a diet, it's a lifestyle, and in order to keep up with it, you have to train yourself to a) try new things and b) find vegetables and fruits you want to eat, and implement them into meals outside a salad.

For example, instead of sausage and pepperoni as a pizza topping, try peppers, onions, mushrooms and broccoli, or even pineapple for a sweet treat. If you eat pasta on a weekly basis, swap traditional spaghetti with lentil noodles (Cybele's is a personal fave), or add spinach leaves to your sandwiches.

A lot of vegetarians are not only plant-based, but dairy-free, too. Instead of pouring a cup of cow's milk into your cereal bowl every morning, start swapping a serving or two per week with a non-dairy option like Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Vanilla Almond Cashew Milk, Lifeway Kefir, or rice milk instead.

Another branch of vegetarianism is pescatarianism, in which case you would give up all beef, pork, and poultry, but still eat fish. The upside tothis is that fish is easy to cook, contains less fat than animal meat, can stimulate your brain, and is an all-around excellent source of protein.

So rather than taking a turkey sandwich for lunch, try canned tuna or salmon. Cut out chicken stripsfor dinner and bake fillets in the oven with a zesty lemon marinade instead.

Another easy way for vegetarians to meet their protein requirements is to supplement animal products with powders in a smoothie or shake.

Personally, I love the Vital Proteins Marine Collagen powder as it blends in with the flavors of fruit and is easy to digest (they just launched a vegan line, as well), but if you're practicing a solely plant-based diet, Naturade's Vegan Smart Vanilla Shake powder is super flavorful, filling, and even helps repair muscles after a hard workout.

Prior to becoming vegetarian, I had a love affair with a cheeseburger and fries combo at least once a week. Upon switching to plant-based options, I felt lost in a world saturated byfast food. What the heck was I going to order now that beef and chicken were off the table?

Luckily we are living in the 21st century where, despite a traditional Western diet being the norm, plant-based options are plentiful. The easiest way to know what you can and can't eat out is bysimply doing the research.

Look up your favorite restaurants online and browse their menus to decipher which establishments are more or less veg-friendly. To give you a head start, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, and Italian cuisine all have a ton of delicious indulgences that are 100 percent vegetarian-friendly. (Here's looking at you, Chipotle.)

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7 Changes You Can Make In Your Diet Right Now If You're Thinking Of Going Vegetarian - Elite Daily

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The protein powder aisle is beginning to look like the cereal aisle. Dozens of options, an abundance of ingredients and colorful packaging, with promises of better health. The market for more protein in the American diet has arrived and its not going away. The attraction to protein as a weight-loss and muscle-building nutrient has exploded so exponentially that many of us may be getting more than medical experts think we need.

Recently, a story came out about a woman who died after consuming an extremely high-protein diet. She was a body builder and suffered from a rare genetic condition called urea cycle disorder. This condition is an inborn error of metabolism and can be diagnosed in both children and adults. Those who have it may have a diminished ability to break down protein in the correct manner. As a consequence, the byproducts of protein don't leave the body like they should. Instead, they build up in the blood, and can cause coma or death.

Why You Should Eat More Protein at Breakfast Play Video - 1:07

Why You Should Eat More Protein at Breakfast Play Video - 1:07

According to the National Urea Cycles Disorder Foundation, the condition may be mild, and undiagnosed for years if the individual carrying it produces enough enzymes to remove these protein byproducts from the blood. Its when the body is pushed to the limit that problems may occur. An excessively high intake of protein can be one of these stressors.

Death from too much protein intake is not something you hear of every day, but there are certainly people who should focus on getting less (not more) protein in their diets. For example, individuals who have chronic kidney disease, certain diseases of the liver as well as phenylketonuria (PKU) and other inherited disorders all require a low-protein diet.

On the opposite end of this are populations that need more protein: endurance or weight-training athletes, pregnant and breastfeeding women, individuals recovering from surgery or injury and elderly. Then, there's the rest of us. Whats the protein sweet spot for everyone inside the extreme ranges and can we keep including all the bars, powders and liquids safety and effectively?

Unlike other macro and micronutrients, there remains no official standard defining an upper limit for protein consumption, and most government standards recommend a bare bone minimum to be assessed by a universal calculation that takes your weight in kilograms multiplied by 0.8. For example, if you are a healthy, 150-pound woman, your low end of protein would start at 54.5 grams per day, and as for your high end, theres really no agreement on what that is.

Breakfast protein (without eggs): Try Joy's chocolate banana oatmeal! Play Video - 1:16

Breakfast protein (without eggs): Try Joy's chocolate banana oatmeal! Play Video - 1:16

Many experts believe we are getting way more than we need, but despite the very clear evidence that too many protein-rich foods like red and processed meat can lead to heart disease and cancer, its unclear whether doubling down from other sources (such as plants) is negatively impacting health.

Protein has often been described as the building block of life. Thats because all of our cells including those that make up your hair, skin, bones, muscles and organs like your heart, brain and liver contain protein. Youd be dead without it. Protein is a must if you want to grow and thrive.

What has more protein: Eggs or Greek yogurt? Play Video - 4:08

What has more protein: Eggs or Greek yogurt? Play Video - 4:08

Thats probably not whats driving the protein craze though. After all, how often do you think of your cells, or whats keeping them all alive? Whats driving this is our desire to be thin and maintain, or build muscle. Protein, according to research, appears to play a positive role in both. This explains why new protein powders are coming out every week and why so many of us are turning to them to get that added boost.

Bottom line: Should we take a chill on this very hot macronutrient? Will death by protein be the next fear derived from food?

My advice to my patients is this: Embrace protein and the many benefits it can provide to health, but resist the urge to triple or quadruple your recommended amounts on a regular basis by downing protein drinks the way you would water. Going to this extreme may mean you're skimping out on other important macronutrients, like healthy fats and complex carbohydrates. While it may not lead to death in relatively healthy individuals, too much for too long may put too much stress on your kidneys, which can lead to other serious problems.

4 ways to add more protein to your salad Play Video - 5:35

4 ways to add more protein to your salad Play Video - 5:35

Some liquid forms of protein and protein powders and drinks can be loaded with additional supplements and herbs, added sugar or excess amounts of sugar alcohols (which can lead to diarrhea) or artificial sweeteners.

Just like any other dietary choice, youll want to find the options that best fit your goals. If youre a vegetarian or dairy intolerant, your best bet is a plant-based option made with pea, soy, hemp or rice. If you're not interested in a plant-based form, then whey, or bone broth products may work best for you.

Do your research, and try a few single packet options before you settle on buying an entire vat of it. A powder or drink can never mimic whole foods, so use them as a way to boost your protein for one meal, or after a workout, for example, but not exclusively.

You can get plenty of protein in the day by adding in small amounts at each meal, like sprinkling hemp seed in your yogurt in the morning, enjoying canned wild salmon over a salad for lunch, munching on roasted chick peas as a snack and ending the day with a grilled tempeh sandwich. In the world of food, you can have too much of ANY good thing. Protein included.

Kristin Kirkpatrick, MS, R.D., is the manager of wellness nutrition services at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, and the author of "Skinny Liver." Follow her on Twitter @KristinKirkpat. For more simple swaps to improve your life, sign up for our One Small Thing newsletter.

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Is our love of protein hurting our health? Make sure you're eating the right amount - Today.com

M

ove over, low-fat diets. More and more experts are recommending plant-based diets to reduce the risk of heart disease and other chronic conditions such as diabetes and cancer. But are all plant-based diets equally beneficial? And must they be all-or-none eating strategies, or is there a role for a semi-vegetarian or flexitarian approach?

The term plant-based diet often conjures up images of vegetarian or vegan fare. But it really means a diet that emphasizes foods from plants vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, and the like not one that necessarily excludes non-plant foods.

The results of studies on the health effects of plant-based diets have varied widely, largely due to how these diets were defined. Some focused on vegetarian or vegan eating habits, others included some foods from animals. Notably, these studies tended to treat all plant foods equally, even though eating certain foods from plants, such as refined grains and sugar-sweetened beverages, is associated with a higher risk of developing diabetes or having a heart attack or stroke, while eating whole grains and produce are associated with lower risks.

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Thats why we were so interested to see the results of a recently published study performed by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Led by Ambika Satija, the team catalogued the diets of nearly 210,000 nurses and other health professionals based on their answers to food frequency questionnaires every two years for an average of 23 years. From these data, the researchers defined three versions of a plant-based diet: an overall plant-based diet that emphasizes the consumption of all plant foods and reduced the intake of animal foods; a healthful plant-based diet that emphasizes the intake of healthy whole grains, fruits, and vegetables; and an unhealthful plant-based diet that emphasizes the intake of less-healthy plant foods, such as refined grains.

In addition to detailing their food choices, the study participants also recorded other lifestyle choices, health behaviors, and their medical histories.

Over the course of the study, 8,631 participants developed coronary heart disease, which the researchers defined as a nonfatal heart attack or dying of heart disease. Those who followed an overall plant-based diet were slightly less likely (an 8 percent reduction) to have developed coronary heart disease than those who didnt.

But heres where things get interesting. Those who followed a healthful plant-based diet had a substantial 25 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease, while those who followed an unhealthful plant-based diet had a substantial 32 percent increased risk.

This study is certainly not the last word on the subject. As an observational study, it cant prove cause and effect like a randomized trial can. And the diet data came from self reports, which arent always accurate at measuring an individuals diet. However, these diet assessments were validated against multiple-week diet records and biomarkers. Overall, this work adds to the substantial evidence that a predominately plant-based diet reduces the risk of developing heart disease.

It has two important take-home messages. One is that a plant-based diet is good for long-term health. The other is that not all plant-based diets are equally healthy. The kind that deserves to be highlighted in dietary recommendations is rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and unsaturated fats, and contains minimal animal protein, refined carbohydrates, and harmful saturated and trans fats.

In practice, this translates into eating mostly vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, and soy products in their natural forms; sufficient good fats, such as those in fish or flax seeds, nuts, and other seeds; very few simple and refined carbohydrates; and little or no red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy. It also means choosing quality over quantity.

As we wrote in a commentary on the Harvard study, just as physical activity is a continuum some activity is better than none, and more is better so is diet. For anyone following a traditional American diet, heavy on the meat, its easier to make a change by starting with small dietary tweaks instead of embracing a precipitous shift to a vegetarian or vegan diet. Try the elimination game: cut out red meat from your diet then, after a couple weeks, eliminate other types of meat; and then do the same with dairy foods and eggs. Or try the Meatless Monday approach dont eat meat on Monday then gradually add more meatless days each week. No matter what approach you take to cutting out foods, try to add one or more new plant-based recipes to your cooking repertoire every week.

What you stand to gain is so much more than what you would give up.

Hena Patel, M.D., is a cardiology fellow and Kim Allan Williams Sr., M.D., is chief of the division of cardiology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

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Not all vegan or plant-based diets are equally healthy - STAT

In case you need another reason to eat more veggies, a new study says they may be helpful in making men smell more attractive to women.

The study, performed by researchers at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, found that men who ate a diet heavy in vegetables smelled nicer than those who ate a carb-heavy diet, NPR reports. Interestingly, those who ate more meat produced a stronger smell, though it wasn't thought of as better or worse.

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To understand how our diet impacts our smell, researchers recruited a group of young men and assessed their skin with a spectrophotometer. This device flashes a light onto someone's skin, then measures the color reflected back, which indicates how much fruit and veggies a person eats.

The men then filled out questionnaires about their diets, and were given a clean shirt to exercise in. After the men sweated it out, women were brought in to smell the shirts and share their opinions on each shirt's scent, including how floral, fruity, and attractive it smelled.

"Women basically found that men who ate more vegetables smelled nicer," Ian Stephen, the author of the study, told NPR.

According to the study, eating more fat, meat, egg, and tofu was also associated with a more pleasant smell. Sorry carbs, you're killing our game.

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Study Shows Following This Diet Makes You Smell Sexier To Other People - Delish.com

Bright red elderberries ripe for bears to harvest. (Photo courtesy of Caroline Cheung/United States Fish and Wildlife Service)

Climate change may be throwing off the Kodiak bears eating equilibrium.

On years with warmer spring temperatures, research says that elderberries ripen several weeks earlier than normal.

Oregon State Universitypostdoctoral researcher William Deacy just published findings from a multi-year study of bears on the southwest side of Kodiak Island.

The paper looks at how climate change affects the relationships between two species that have evolved to rely on one another.

Elderberries are the Kodiak bears favorite snack, Deacy said, even more than salmon.

The salmon is essentially the super Aktins diet for the bears, he said. Its just lean protein, almost no fat, and they end up gaining very little weight eating that, and the elderberries have a really perfect amount of protein for bears, and that allows them to gain weight really rapidly.

Bears normally feed on salmon,Deacy said, and then switch over to elderberries.

This new pattern means that the elderberries are available at the same time as salmon spawn in tributary streams.

Deacy said the bears sense that, and once they switch over from one food source to the next, they stick with the berries.

Its probably because theyre very, very good at detecting what foods are valuable to them, and they have instincts that tell them that these berries are the best food, and so they go and just eat those berries instead of having a mixed diet.

Deacy said the warming temperatures force bears to choose between salmon and elderberries.

Meanwhile, the salmon spawn out and die.

He says that leaves a gap where bears dont have access to either elderberries or salmon.

The bears usually stick to one area with its own resources and salmon run patterns,partly due to how much energy they expend while moving from point A to point B,

Bears dont appear to be suffering from these changes so far, Deacy said, and reproductive rates are about the same, if not better.

He said one possible effect of the timing change is that during early elderberry years, salmon may spawn more successfully.

Just cause the bears arent there and the salmon can kind of do their thing without being killed, so thats pretty intuitive, but we dont know whether that would show up four, five, six years later as increase in returning salmon because theres just so many other things that could happen to salmon in their life cycle before they come back.

This study is one example of how climate change can scramble the timing of two closely tied species and disrupt a food web, he said.

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Warmer temperatures may disrupt the Kodiak bear's diet - KTOO

Add another one to the list

There has been a recent trend in the NFL, and Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson is the latest to convert to a plant-based diet.

Apparently, popular Netflix documentaries What the Health and Fork Over Knives had some influence on Johnsons decision to adopt a plant-based diet.

Johnson quickly realized that his new diet was causing significant weight loss. He reported to camp at 223 pounds, which is lighter than he was in the past. But running back is a grueling position and with Johnson being a work-horse back, he needed to maintain his target weight, so he added some meat-based protein back into his diet.

But, after cutting most meat from his diet, he has noticed he has significant increase in energy.

Like Johnson, many other NFL players have joined the movement after watching the popular Netflix documentary, notably QB Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, to name a few.

We as Americans are conditioned to eat meat and programmed to think that meat is the only way to get quality protein. Now, by weeding out meat, how does Johnson get the necessary calories to sustain full NFL season?

According to ESPN staff write Josh Weinfuss, Johnson eats nuts between meals to help increase the necessary calories to maintain his weight.

Could this be a trend? If Johnson has another spectacular season on this new diet, could more and more NFL players adopt a plant-based diet? Will this be a fad that comes in goes or could we really see a change in the eating habits? Only time will tell.

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How Netflix changed Cardinals running back David Johnson's diet - ClutchPoints

Photo: PAUL BUCKOWSKI, Albany Times Union

A view of Delaware Ave. on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, in Delmar, N.Y. This area of Delaware currently has four lanes for traffic. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A view of Delaware Ave. on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, in Delmar, N.Y. This area of Delaware currently has four lanes for traffic. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A view of Delaware Ave. on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, in Delmar, N.Y. This area of Delaware currently has four lanes for traffic. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A view of Delaware Ave. on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, in Delmar, N.Y. This area of Delaware currently has four lanes for traffic. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A view of Delaware Ave. on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, in Delmar, N.Y. This area of Delaware currently has four lanes for traffic. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A view of Delaware Ave. on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, in Delmar, N.Y. This area of Delaware currently has four lanes for traffic. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A view of Delaware Ave. on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, in Delmar, N.Y. This area of Delaware currently has four lanes for traffic. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A view of Delaware Ave. on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, in Delmar, N.Y. This area of Delaware currently has four lanes for traffic. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

*Date range for data is from January 2015 to December 2016

*Date range for data is from January 2015 to

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Original post:
Is Delmar willing to go on a 'road diet' on Delaware Avenue? - Albany Times Union

Theyve been called cave babiesminiature members of society who are going paleo even before they learn their first words.

And thanks to adult advocates for the diet, theres a whole line of baby food just hitting the market. A paleo dieter herself, Serenity Heegel explained to Food Navigator: I just couldnt believe that nothing existed that would be something I would want to feed my own baby. So Heegel co-founded Serenity Kids, and started marketing a line of liquid baby food that has the highest meat content of any pouched baby food. It hit the market this month.

Meals include liquified uncured bacon with organic kale and butternut squash, chicken with peas and carrots, even beef with kale and sweet potato. The product is sold in packs of six 4-ounce pouches for about $27.

Like many dieting fads, paleo has faced scrutiny and skepticismincluding from author Michael Pollan, who discusses the diet as a decision for adults to make about themselves. According to the Nutrition Business Journal, between one and three million people prescribe to the paleo dietmost of them middle-aged, affluent, white people looking to lose weight or combat a health problem. The idea of putting a developing child on the diet is much less widespread.

As a concept, the diet is comprised of food that would have been available to Paleolithic humans which includes non-processed foods that could be found by foraging or killing animals for meat. That means no dairy, no grains, and definitely no Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies. The idea was popularized in 2002 when Loren Cordain published the book, The Paleo Diet, which proposed the idea that we should go back to our ancestral diet from about 10,000 years ago.

Designing such a diet for very young children hasnt come without controversy. In Australia, the government in 2015 scrutinized a paleo cookbook called Bubba Yum Yum: The Paleo Way for New Mums, Babies and Toddlers that recommended feeding infants bone broth as baby formula. Its made using chicken bones, chicken feet, and apple cider vinegar. Health officials considered it a risk because there was fear children would miss out on important nutrients during a critical stage. Complications down the road could mean poor growth and a weaker immune system, among other things.

For Heegel, the reception to her baby food has been characterized as positive so far. As of early August, the company pre-sold 1,800 pouches. As of now the company is selling the food online, and hopes to be in grocery stores within the next year.

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The paleo food craze is now being bottled for babies - Quartz

I woke up the other morning and saw a post on Facebook about a white football player supporting his fellow black teammate in protest of the National Anthem. I was so geeked up! When I get excited, I sing and make up dances but not like, The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round type lyrics. Im more like, Oooooooooohhhhh yeaaaaaaaaaah! Lemme see this whiiiiiiiiiiiiite boy on his kneeeeeeeeee! It wasnt until I was at the end of the article that I realized that people were praising Chris Long of the Philadelphia Eagles for placing his arm around his black teammate, Malcolm Jenkins as he held up his fist during the National Anthem. I guess its something, right? Sure. I kept reading and came across a quote by Long, Ive said before that Ill never kneel for an anthem because the flag means something different for everybody in this country but I support my peers. Yes, I know there is more to his quote. I dont care (dont @ me). And THATS what I call Diet Support.

Well damn, Chris! Thanks for putting yourself out there. I had to look at two pictures and read an entire article before I realized what your support was. Sometimes Im a little too woke. I get it. Im constantly checking my initial reactions to things especially when it comes to racism and allies. Its like, hey, boo! I see you with your Black Lives Matter button on your jacket! *whispers I had to squint to see it but I saw it sooooooooooooo, cool. Then the next day my Facebook is blowing up like,Look guys! We got ANOTHER white player supporting us! I grabbed my eclipse glasses because I might not see this again in my lifetime and I didnt want to damage my own vision. I see a photo of Justin Britt of the Seattle Seahawks with his hand on the shoulder of black teammate Michael Bennett as he sat during the National Anthem. I mean, visually, it made me uncomfortable but again, Im too woke sometimes. How much more powerful would it have been to see a white player actually take a knee WITH his black teammate and show actual support?

There was a terrorist attack in Barcelona this week that took over my white friends social media feeds. Pray for Barcelona, I stand with Barcelona and even I am Barcelona. People always show what and who they support when tragedies occur. I remember when there was a terrorist attack in London at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper. Everyone was all Je Suis Charlie but no one was Je Suis Tamir or Travon or Sandra. Its a dagger to the heart every single time. I used to hate when people said, what about us but really, what about US?! People of color are dying at the hands of paid public servants and you cant move your mouth OR your fingers to declare that Black Lives Matter? I get that were supposed to meet people where they are but why dont you try meeting me at least close to where I am? Paid public servants were ALLOWED to murder a 12 year old CHILD who was PLAYING IN A PARK and you want to offer your arm around me? No thanks. I dont want your Diet Support. I want the full-fat. I need all the calories. Give me all the good stuff. Get on your knee; put your fist in the air; wear a Black Lives Matter shirt and when someone whispers All Lives Matter take the time to let them know whats really going on; tell your racist uncle that hes racist and stop laughing at your co-workers racist jokes. Ok? Thanks, team.

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Diet Support aka Diet Ally - HuffPost

Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death worldwide. According to the American Heart Association, you can lower your heart-disease risk by keeping blood pressure, blood lipids and blood sugars regulated. If you smoke, are overweight or inactive, or if you need to make healthier food choices, you need to improve your lifestyle. All of this may sound daunting. Making a few simple dietary changes could fix most of these risk factors.

1. Sodium is just part of the story

Our Standard American Diet (SAD) is high in sodium and extremely low in potassium. Sodium and potassium are considered nutrient partners and need to be balanced. You should eat more potassium than sodium. You might be thinking, My daily banana gives me all the potassium I need. But you need to eat 11 bananas a day to meet the minimum daily potassium requirement. How can you meet your potassium needs? Eat plants and lots of them.

Try other potassium-rich plants like avocados, potatoes and beans.

Use crisp veggies like carrots, celery or broccoli, to replace chips for dipping.

Smoothies. Pack your blender full of plants, add a banana for sweetness, any liquid of your choice and blend away.

Use food trackers like Cronometer to measure the sodium-to-potassium ratio in your diet. (Warning: Math is involved).

2. Give your plate a plant slant.

Fifty percent of heart attacks occur in people with normal blood lipids. These people are active, seem super-healthy and then suddenly have a heart attack. This happened to Bob Harper, a trainer from NBC-TVs The Biggest Loser. These "out of nowhere" heart attacks are often caused by inflammation.

Inflammation can be measured many ways in the blood, most commonly as C-reactive protein. Many dietary patterns, including the Mediterranean Diet and the Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension (DASH) pattern can lower the risk of heart disease by decreasing inflammation. Both diets focus mostly on plants, primarily vegetables, whole grains, nuts, beans and berries.

Cook sweet potatoes in the microwave for five to eight minutes. Dont forget to pierce them first.

Add berries to your oatmeal recipe.

Replace your typical afternoon snack with a handful of almonds.

Try using a meal planning website or app, like Eat This Much, to provide weekly Mediterranean recipes.

3. Choose oils over solid fats

Liquid oils, like olive oil and the fats found in fish, are better for your heart than solid fats such as butter and palm oil. By eating a more plant-based diet, youll naturally eat less solid fat without thinking about it.

Roast veggies in the oven; drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic and onion powder.

Use unsweetened applesauce to replace butter and vegetable oil in baking recipes.

Take steps to add an extra serving or two of veggies to your plate. Developing long-lasting dietary habits wont happen overnight. Dont get discouraged, but think of each plate as an opportunity to improve your health. Be mindful of what you eat, and most of all, enjoy it.

Dr. Lia Nightingale is an associate professor at Palmer College of Chiropractic. She has a Ph.D. in food science and human nutrition, and lives on a farm in rural Osco, Illinois, with her husband and three children.

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Start the Week Off Right: Easy changes for a heart healthy diet - Quad City Times

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