Heart Healthy Tuna Fish Sandwich

Imagine... A tuna fish sandwich low in fat & low in sodium with a boost of potassium to benefit your heart! It is possible...

The Tuna Base: Mix 1/2 a 5 oz can of "chunk light tuna in water" with 1 teaspoon of nonfat mayonnaise.

The Bread: 1 serving of your favorite "no sodium" sandwich bread (cut into 2 slices). Plenty of no sodium bread recipes are provided in previous posts, my favorite to use with tuna is the garlic chili bread or the garlic herb bread.

The Preparation:

• Toast 1/8 cup of low fat mozzarella on the sandwich bread.
• Sprinkle 1 tsp of garlic powder on the toasted cheese (while still hot).
• Spread the tuna base on the bread to complete the sandwich.

The Heart Health Facts:

• 345mg potassium: 82mg (bread) + 90mg (tuna) + 120mg (mayo) + 20mg (mozzarella) + 33mg (garlic).
• 341mg sodium: 9mg (bread) + 180mg (tuna) + 60mg (mayo) + 90mg (mozzarella) + 2mg (garlic).
• 6g fat: 3g (bread) + 0.5g (tuna) + 2.5g (mozzarella).
• Total: 345mg potassium, 339mg sodium, 6g fat [a 1:1 health ratio]

 Now, complement the sandwich with any heart healthy side dish and you have a heart healthy meal! Examples:

• Sandwich with a fresh orange: 602mg potassium, 341mg sodium, 6g fat [a 2:1 meal]
• Sandwich with a vegetable medley side: 1233mg potassium, 396 mg sodium, 7g fat [a 3:1 meal]

There you have it - a hearth healthy tuna fish sandwich meal!

Heart Healthy Seafood

So you want seafood to be part of your high potassium/low sodium/low fat heart healthy diet. As I demonstrated in my salmon analysis: not all seafood is as good as we have all been lead to believe. Thus, I will enumerate the types of seafood you should allow in your heart healthy diet:

1. Pink Salmon (1/2 fillet or 124 g): 513mg potassium, 107mg sodium, 5.5g fat [5:1 potassium to sodium] - remember pink salmon is the only salmon that qualifies as heart healthy!
2. Yellowfin Tuna (4 oz): 645mg potassium, 53mg sodium, 1.4g fat [12:1 potassium to sodium]
3. Halibut (4 oz): 653mg potassium, 78mg sodium, 3.3g fat [8:1 potassium to sodium]
4. Cod (4 oz): 586 mg potassium, 103 mg sodium, 0.9g fat [6:1 potassium to sodium]
5. Tilapia (4 oz): 424mg potassium, 64mg sodium, 2.8g fat [7:1 potassium to sodium]

Keep any or all of these 5 types of seafood in your fridge or freezer and you have a high potassium/low sodium/low fat hearth healthy seafood contribution to your diet.

It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: serve any of these seafoods breaded or sauteed in butter and they are no longer heart healthy - the fat you introduce via breading or sauteing cancels out all the positives.

The best way to prepare seafood and preserve the "heart healthy benefits": grilled (consider a George Foreman Grill for ease & simplicity). Feel free to add any sodium free spices before grilling; but grilling your seafood is the only way to prepare it in a heart healthy manner.