What Is A Smart Heart Disease Diet ?

Why do you need a smart heart disease diet and what does this involve? If you have been diagnosed with or have a family member or friend who has coronary heart disease then one of the most helpful things you can do for them is to encourage them to look at their diet and check that they are following a heart disease diet. A heart disease diet plan is strongly recommended for a good heart attack recovery and for those after heart bypass or valve surgery.

Putting together a heart disease diet plan which not only enables weight loss to be achieved but also provides lots of energy so that physical activity can be done to strengthen the heart muscle is vitally important. For those after heart bypass surgery and those who have had a heart attack then the aim is to get the best possible recovery which will not just help them lose weight and get fit but will improve how they feel about their heart condition.

This feeling of being in control is important for those who have had cardiac illness as often they feel that their life is out of control, therefore to feel well and taking positive steps will help them to feel back in control again. To guarantee success in improving cardiac health as well as getting fitter and losing weight you need to get "smart" about it and you can do that by taking the following steps.

SPECIFIC

What is it exactly you want to achieve? Write it down. Then think about what is behind that desire, what's motivating you to want to change. If it's just wishful thinking then you will easily be distracted but if it's a powerful and important reason then you will be ready to take on the challenges that bring this into being will take.

Write down some positive steps to take to assist you with this, again be very specific, for example, "I'll eat more fruit" is fine but try and be more specific, so "I'll carry healthy snacks around with me to stop me buying chocolate".

MEASURABLE

Put a number to what you want to do and see. Write down where you are now, set up your baseline. For example I currently weigh 89kg. My waist is 45 inches. I take physical activity 3 times a week for 20 minutes at a slow pace. I do the following types of exercise, dog walking and walking to the shops. You replace the answers with your results as at today.

By doing this you will then be able to measure what progress you have made as the weeks and months progress. Repeat the above baseline measurements and activity levels once every month.

ACHIEVABLE

Look at your base line and make your goal for the next four weeks achievable, start small. It's no good deciding that you are going to exercise six days a week and four of those sessions will involve a 10 mile run if you currently are not able to run a mile! Or you are expecting to lose 5 stones and 12 inches off your waist in the next ten weeks. If you set yourself goals that are totally unrealistic you will feel like a failure and then be tempted to give up.

RELEVANT

Is what you are planning to do relevant and enjoyable to you. If you hate dancing then don't decide to take up Zumba! Or if you hate certain types of fruit and vegetables don't then decide to force yourself to eat them.

TIMED

Give yourself a deadline by which you want to see certain changes. The best way of doing this is to look at your long term goal and then break it down into achievable chunks. For example, aiming to lose 4 - 8lbs a month is a realistic goal to set. After the first month come back and look at this again was your first month's target correct? Once you know what is realistic you can then give yourself a deadline.

You may find you already have a deadline imposed on you, for example a family wedding. If that's the case then don't panic, do as I have suggested above and you will very quickly see the results you are looking for and this in itself will give you more motivation to make further changes which will then give you more results.

Getting smart with a heart disease diet plan for those with coronary heart disease is the best and most realistic way of reaching the long term goal of losing weight, but also of getting life back to normal again.