These Are Heart-Dangerous Meals

Avoid delis. "Even lower-fat cured lunch meats contain sodium nitrate," adds Suzanne Fisher, RD, LDN, founder of Fisher Nutrition Systems in Cooper City, Florida.

Deli meats

"Sausage and hotdogs include saturated fat. Even low-fat foods are salty. Dietary salt may raise blood pressure, thus limit it "Batayneh advises.

Hot dogs

If you buy fully seasoned, skin-on supermarket roasted chickens, they have more salt and saturated fat than home-cooked fowl.

Roast chicken

"Ketchup is particularly rich in salt," says Miami cardiologist Juan Rivera, MD, chief medical reporter for Univision Network and author of The Mojito Diet.

Ketchup

In other condiment news, avoid sauce during cookouts for heart health. A normal bottle provides 310 mg of salt per tablespoon. 

BBQ sauce

70% of our salt comes from packaged and restaurant meals. Natural substances contribute 15%. 

Salt

Fisher thinks hidden sugar and salt make reduced-fat salad dressings a cardiac crime.

Low-fat dressings

Unnaturally low-fat is far worse. Fisher says fat-free packaged meals were formerly promoted as helpful for weight loss and healthy living.

Fat-free snacks

For heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, choose a natural, full-fat, sugar-free nut butter. "Low-fat peanut butters have the same calories as regular ones. "

Fat-free peanut butter

Check the nutrition label of your cold cereal for another illustration of "not all fats are bad." 

Sugary cereal

Nut milks vary. "Flavored and sweetened milk replacements cover grocery shelves, making it difficult to pick the healthiest alternative," Fisher adds.

Alternative milk flavors

Batayneh says conventional frying techniques may use oils with trans fats, which boost bad cholesterol and diminish good cholesterol.

Fries

Batter-fried chicken isn't the only heart-breaker. Research has connected high potato intake to hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Frying potatoes harms your heart.

Fried chicken

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