How We Pick Our Recipes

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Heart-Healthy Living™ recipes are full of good-for-you ingredients known to benefit heart health. Each recipe includes nutrition information based on a single serving and details on calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, and fiber

Calculating the Nutritional Analysis
The Better Homes and Gardens® Test Kitchen uses nutrition-analysis software to determine the nutritional values of a single serving of a recipe. These are the general guidelines we use in analyzing our recipes:

1. When ingredient choices appear (such as frozen egg product or eggs), the first ingredient listed is analyzed.
2. When an ingredient is optional, such as a garnish, it is not included.
3. When there is a range in the number of servings (4–6 servings), the first (smaller) number is used.

Heart-Healthy Meal Plan
A heart-healthy diet is one that is low in cholesterol, fat, and sodium and high in complex carbohydrates and fiber. The primary treatment for high blood cholesterol is a diet low in total fat, especially saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol.

Your daily fat "budget" depends on your daily caloric intake (see chart). The American Heart Association recommends limiting total fat intake to 30–35 percent of calories. Saturated fat should be less than 7 percent and trans fatty acids (trans fats) less than 1 percent of total calories. Limit your cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams per day. Consult a physician and/or dietitian for individual needs.

Sodium
We use low-sodium products when possible. Sodium intake can affect blood pressure and fluid retention, which affects your heart. Middle-age and older people, African-Americans, and those with hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease should limit their intake to 1,500 milligrams daily. Others should consume no more than 2,300 milligrams per day.

Fiber
Research indicates that a high-fiber diet can lower the risk of heart disease. Adults need 20–35 grams of dietary fiber per day for good health.