If you are pursuing a heart-healthy lifestyle, the first thing to do is arm yourself with knowledge, then put that knowledge to work each time you dine by paying greater attention to the foods you eat.

Both the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association recommend using food and diet to improve, manage or reduce risk of disease. Below are some of the recommendations both organizations encourage Americans to follow:

• Eat lots of vegetables and fruits. The more colors and variety, the better.
• Choose whole grain foods over processed grain products.
• Choose non-fat dairy such as skim milk, non-fat yogurt and non-fat cheese.
• Include dried beans (like kidney or pinto beans) and lentils into your meals.
• Include fish in your meals 2-3 times a week.
• Choose lean meats like cuts of beef and pork that end in "loin" such as pork loin and sirloin.
• Choose water and calorie-free "diet" drinks instead of regular soda, fruit punch, sweet tea and other sugar-sweetened drinks.
• Choose liquid oils for cooking instead of solid fats and hydrogenated oils that can be high in saturated and trans fats.
• Limit foods high in dietary cholesterol.
• Limit foods and beverages with added sugars
• Choose and prepare foods with little or no salt.
• Eating too much of even healthful foods can lead to weight gain. Watch your portion sizes.
• Limit daily alcohol intake to one drink for women and two drinks for men. One drink is equivalent to 12 ounces beer, 1½ ounces 80 proof spirits, 1 ounce 100 proof spirits or 4 ounces wine.
• Choose to be active at least 30 minutes a day.

A food product must meet all nutritional levels based on a single serving size to be specified HH/DM:

• Total fat – 3 grams or less
• Trans fat – 0.5 grams or less
• Saturated fat – 1 gram or less
• Sodium – 480 milligrams  or less
• Cholesterol – 20 milligrams or less
• Fiber – 3 grams or more

Download our printable HHDM Tag Brochure here