Your 3-Day Heart-Healthy Meal Plan: 1,200 Calories (2024)

Have diabetes or hypertension raised your risk of heart disease, or do you simply want to eat in a more heart-healthy way? A three-day meal plan can help. This 1,200 calorie-a-day plan can help most women lose weight, says Julia Zumpano, RD, LD. (Discover the six benefits of seeing a heart dietitian below.)

Day 1

Breakfast: 2 large eggs, 2 slices whole grain bread, 1 Tbsp. olive oil spread.

Lunch: 2 slices whole grain bread, 3 oz. tuna (canned in water), 1 slice low-fat mozzarella cheese, 1 Tbsp. olive oil mayo.

Dinner: 4 oz. grilled chicken, 1 medium Idaho baked potato, 1-1/2 cups green beans.

Snacks: 1 cup skim milk, 1 medium apple.

Day 2

Breakfast: 1 cup oatmeal, ½ cup blueberries, 1 Tbsp. peanut butter.

Lunch: 2 slices whole grain bread, 2 oz. low-sodium turkey, 1 slice Swiss cheese, 1 tsp. mustard; 1 cup skim milk.

Dinner: 4 oz. salmon, ½ cup brown rice, 1-1/2 cups broccoli, 2 tsp. olive oil, 1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese.

Snacks: 6 oz. non-fat plain Greek yogurt, ½ cup strawberries.

Day 3

Breakfast: 1 cup fat-free cottage cheese, ½ cup fresh pineapple.

Lunch: 3 oz. grilled chicken, ¼ cup bell pepper, ¼ avocado, 2 Tbsp. salsa, ¼ cup shredded lettuce, 1 low-carb wrap; 1 medium peach.

Dinner: 3 turkey meatballs, ½ cup whole wheat pasta, 1/3 cup marinara sauce, 1 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese; 2 cups spring lettuce mix, 1 Tsp. olive oil, 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar.

Snacks: ¼ cup mixed nuts, 2 Tbsp. dried cranberries.

6 ways a heart dietitian will help you

When you have high blood pressure, diabetes or excess weight, your doctormay refer you to a heart dietitian.

“Our goal is to reduce your cardiac risk,” explains Zumpano. “We try toget you started and educate you so that you’re empowered to make ‘good’ versus‘bad’ food choices.”

When you see a heart dietitian, you will learn how to:

1.Distinguish nutrient-dense foods from empty-calorie foods.

• TheMediterranean diet is loaded with nutrient-dense foods, packed withvitamins, minerals, fiber and/or healthy fat: fresh produce; nuts, seedsand olive oil; beans and whole grains; and lean proteins.
• The typicalAmerican diet contains too many high-calorie foods devoid ofnutrients: soda, chips, crackers, cookies and candy bars. They add to yourweight, and raise your blood sugar and bad LDL cholesterol levels.

2. Choose healthy versus unhealthy fats.

• Healthy (unsaturated) fatsdon’t turn solid at room temperature, and include plant oils, nuts,olives, avocado and fatty fish.
• Saturated fats turn solid atroom temperature. “While there’s room for some saturated fat in our diets,we want to limit meat and keep solid animal fat, like chicken skin,marbled cuts and bacon, to a minimum,” she says.
• Start replacingred meat with poultry or fish, and full-fat dairy with plant-basedoptions like olive oil and nuts. Try making one meatless meal per weekusing beans or legumes.
• Manmade fats (transfat/partially hydrogenated oils), also solid at room temperature, havebeen banned by the FDA. “They increase bad cholesterol and usually causeweight gain and inflammation,” she notes.

3. Tell healthy carbs from unhealthy carbs.

• High-fibercarbs (like whole grains and legumes) are always better than simplecarbs, like sweets, snack foods, chips, and white bread, pasta or rice.
• Every meal should includelots of veggies, and some fruit or whole grain. “Watch your grainportions,” cautions Zumpano. “I recommend three 15-gram servings ofcarbs per day — for example, ½ cup oatmeal, 1 slice of bread and ½ cup ofbrown rice.”
• If you have diabetes and needto lose weight, limit your carbs to 2 to 3 grams per meal (for women) and3 to 4 grams of carbs (for men). This will also keep your blood sugarsstable.

4. Eat at home moreoften.

• Restaurantmeals are often high in salt and saturated fat. If you’re eating outfive days a week, “we’ll troubleshoot why you’re doing this so often andtry to find some quick, easy options that you can make at home instead,”says Zumpano.
• Can’t give up eating at restaurants? Work on doing so four, or three, days a week instead. Avoid dishesthat are fried, creamed, buttered or tempura, and opt for baked, boiled orbroiled foods instead.

5. Get a handle on your snacking.

• Snacks should have no morethan 15 or 20 grams of carbohydrate. (One carb serving is 15 carbs, two is30, etc.).
• Include a protein and complexcarb in each snack.
• Choose healthy snacks thatsuit your taste buds (e.g., replace sweets with fruit and nuts, and saltychips with whole grain crackers and cheese).

6. Reduce the salt in your diet.

• Always read food labels forsodium content, and if you have hypertension or prehypertension, limityourself to 1,500 milligrams (about 2/3 teaspoon) of salt per day.
• When eating out, avoid theAmerican Heart Association’s “salty six” (foods that increase bloodpressure): pizza, poultry, deli meats, canned soups, breads andsandwiches.

“We can show you how to make changes in the way you eat so that you canfollow a heart-healthy diet and not even have to think about it,” says Zumpano.