Active women do their hearts a favor when they exercise, but with heart disease as the number-one killer among women, maintaining heart-healthy habits means more than just working out. While we can't reverse age or genetic factors that influence heart disease, certain lifestyle factors beyond not smoking will go a long way to ensure your heart continues pumping strong.
     
     Nutrition plays a big role in a heart-healthy lifestyle. Adopt these seven nutrition habits to feel great and keep performing at your best:

Load up on fruits and vegetables. Eating a minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables per day increases heart health. Fruits and vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytonutrients, plant compounds that help fight heart disease as well as cancer and diabetes.

Include Omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats that protect against heart disease. They are most abundant in fatty fish such as mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon. Because your body can't produce these fatty acids, try to eat at least two servings of fatty fish weekly. You can also get Omega 3s from canola oil, soybean, flaxseed, walnuts and wheat germ, though fish is thought to be the most effective source.

Cut saturated fat. Saturated fat raises LDL (bad) cholesterol and decreases HDL (good) cholesterol. Stick to leaner skinless meats, trim fat from meats and choose fat-free or low-fat dairy products. Also moderate your intake of baked goods, fried snacks and fast food.

Trim trans fats. Trans fatty acids may be more of a dietary evil than saturated fat. Created through a process called hydrogenation—in which hydrogen is added to unsaturated fats to make them solid—trans fats rob your heart of healthy cholesterol in a big way. Sources include margarines, cookies, crackers, commercial baked goods, french fries, doughnuts and other fried foods. Thankfully, new labeling requirements that go into effect in January of 2006, and a move by food manufacturers to retool recipes without trans fats, is making them easier to avoid.

Be cholesterol smart. Cholesterol is a fatty substance needed to form cell membranes and produce some hormones, but too much LDL cholesterol will collect in the arteries, restrict blood flow, and threaten your heart. Keep your cholesterol intake in check by switching to a lower fat and lower cholesterol diet. Eat leaner meats, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, whole grains, and fruits and vegetables. Consider incorporating a vegetarian meal a few times a week, and shoot for no more than 300 milligrams of cholesterol each day.

Go for fiber. Fiber-rich foods can help lower blood cholesterol levels, which helps protect against heart disease. Here's why: soluble fiber binds with cholesterol before it can be absorbed into the blood and eliminates it with waste. Reach for oatmeal, oat bran, brown rice, wheat bran, barley, dried beans, fruits and vegetables. By increasing your total fiber intake (25 to 35 grams per day) you can also increase your intake of soluble fiber. Just keep in mind that it's important to increase fluid intake when increasing fiber intake.

Discover the joy of soy. Soy foods such as soy milk, tofu, tempeh, edamame (soy beans), and veggie burgers contain several phytonutrients that may promote heart health. Soy protein and isoflavones seem to be the active parts of soy that have the ability to lower LDL and total cholesterol. Shoot for eating up to 25 grams of soy protein daily.

Other important lifestyle factors include maintaining a healthy weight, managing stress, drinking alcohol only moderately, not smoking, and, of course, exercising regularly.

    For more information on promoting heart health, check out the American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women" campaign at www.americanheart.org.

Kimberly A. Tessmer is a registered dietician and owner of Nutrition Focus, specializing in nutrition, health and weight loss. Her upcoming book "The Everything Pregnancy Nutrition Book" will be released by Adams Media in 2005. For more information, visit www.nutrifocus.net.