Heart Healthy Diet: How to Evaluate Your Patients

Guest: Kyla Lara-Breitinger, M.D.

Host: Stephen L. Kopecky, M.D.

Nutrition counseling plays a vital role in cardiovascular care, and even brief conversations can make a meaningful impact. Rapid dietary screeners offer a practical way to assess how heart healthy a patient’s eating pattern is, helping providers initiate valuable discussions. While no single cardioprotective diet stands above the rest, emphasizing reduced intake of ultra-processed foods and ensuring adequate protein—primarily from plant-based sources and lean animal proteins like poultry, fish, and seafood—can support heart health. These dietary priorities become especially important in later life stages, when maintaining lean muscle mass is critical to reducing risks of frailty, morbidity, and mortality.

Easily check your diet with mini-eat.org as discussed by Dr. Lara-Breitinger and Dr. Kopecky! 

Connect with Mayo Clinic's Cardiovascular Continuing Medical Education online at https://cveducation.mayo.edu or on Twitter @MayoClinicCV and @MayoCVservices.

LinkedIn: Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Services

No CME credit offered for this episode.

Podcast episode transcript found here.