Many of the controllable risk factors for heart disease can be managed with proper nutrition. Eating a heart healthy diet allows you to maintain a healthy weight, which is especially important. Excess pounds put additional stress on the heart, raise blood pressure, increase LDL (bad) cholesterol, and lower HDL (good) cholesterol. Moreover, obesity increases your risk for diabetes, and more than 65 percent of people with diabetes die from heart disease or stroke. Even if you're not overweight, you still need to watch your diet and have your blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked regularly.

What should your 'heart healthy' diet be comprised of? It should be low in fat (especially saturated fat), calories, carbohydrates, and sodium, and rich in vitamins, fiber and antioxidants.

As a general rule of thumb, your daily diet should be comprised of:

• 25 to 35% of calories from fat (preferably unsaturated fat)
• 7% or less of calories from saturated fat (the type of fat most likely to raise LDL cholesterol levels)
• 200 mg or less of cholesterol
• 2,400 mg or less of sodium
• Limited carbohydrates