Today on Snack Chat, Danielle Dalheim (pictured below with her husband), a Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Scientist with Frito-Lay, shares information about her role at Frito-Lay and offers tips for heart-healthy eating as we celebrate Heart Health Month throughout February. Our commitment to supporting heart health takes many forms -- education, ingredients, innovation. Using hearth-healthy oils to make our snacks is just one example of this commitment. Danielle joined Frito-Lay in 2007, after graduating from the University of Oklahoma, and plays an important role in the work we’re doing to enhance our products by using healthier ingredients and bringing better-for-you snacks to consumers.
As a dietitian at Frito-Lay, I get the unique opportunity to work in several different nutrition-related areas, from nutrition labeling to advertising to product development to health professional outreach and employee education.
Last Friday, hundreds of Frito-Lay’s female employees wore red in support of Heart Health Month and the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Go Red for Women campaign. It really made me proud to work for a company that takes the well-being of both its consumers and its employees to heart (no pun intended). People tend to think of heart disease as a condition that affects men, but what many people don’t know is that heart disease is also the No.1 killer of women. So, whether you are male or female, as we celebrate Heart Heath Month, I’d like to offer a few dietary tips that could help you to reduce your risk for heart disease:
1. Eat whole grains: Several epidemiological studies show that people who consume whole grains regularly are less likely to develop heart disease. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating three servings of whole grains daily. A 1-ounce serving of SunChips provides 18 grams of heart-healthy whole grains. So for lunch, have a sandwich made with two slices of whole wheat bread and a side of SunChips, and you’ll get your recommended amount of whole grains for the day!
2. Consume heart-healthy oils: You should try to limit your intake of “bad fats” -- saturated fat and trans fat -- and increase the amount of the “good fats” -- monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Bad fats increase total and LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) in your body while good fats have been shown to reduce a person’s risk for heart disease. The FDA considers vegetable oils such as sunflower, corn, olive and soybean oil to be heart healthy because they are low in saturated fat and high in mono- and polyunsaturated fat. Frito-Lay only uses these types of heart-healthy oils to cook our chips.
3. Get your fiber: There are two types of fiber that occur in our diet – soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber is associated with a decreased risk of developing heart disease, and is found in foods such as oats, beans, nuts and certain fruits. Quaker Oatmeal provides 2 grams of soluble fiber per serving and can be a great addition to a heart healthy diet.
4. Reach for nuts: Recent science suggests that people who eat nuts have a lower occurrence of heart disease. The FDA recommends consuming 1.5 ounce of nuts daily. You should choose the nuts that are lowest in saturated fat -- almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachios and walnuts.
5. Manage your weight: Maintaining a healthy weight is essential to heart health; people who are overweight or obese are more likely to develop heart disease. Calorie balance is the key to weight management, and controlling portions can really help you to meet your daily calorie target. Frito-Lay has a variety of single-serve offerings designed to help consumers manage their portion sizes. The Singles line offers six pre-portioned 1-ounce bags of your favorite snacks -- Lay’s, SunChips, Cheetos, Fritos and Doritos. You can also find SunChips, Cheetos and Doritos snacks in convenient 100-calorie portion packaging, which helps take the guesswork out of portion control.
If you’re looking for more information on how to live a heart healthy lifestyle, visit www.americanheart.org.
- Danielle
If a person had to choose between adding more heart healthy nuts to their diet OR adding more oily fish to their diet, what information would you give them to help in their decision?
Posted by: Jacob | February 26, 2010 at 08:13 AM
Jacob, thanks for your question. Frito-Lay Nutrition Scientist Danielle offered this advice: Fish oil and nuts provide different heart healthy benefits – fish oil is high in omega-3s which help to lower triglycerides, while fiber and unsaturated fat in nuts help to lower the bad LDL cholesterol. I would not recommend choosing one over the other, but trying to consume a variety of fish and nuts as part of an overall heart healthy diet. Thanks, Danielle
Posted by: Kristin | March 01, 2010 at 06:55 AM