Nutrition Classes

Nutrition classes offer a new perspective on how to modify your diet to keep a healthy heart.

Supporting Prevention as Treatment

The Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital Corrigan Minehan Heart Center provides classes on strategies to reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease and cardiac events (heart attack). Classes are available to patients as part of their program participation.

Class Topics

• Mindful Eating: Learn strategies to stay on track and reach your dietary goals. Learn ways to track your intake and how to know if you are consuming a balanced diet.
• The Impact of Sugar and Refined Carbohydrates: An introduction to the role of carbohydrates.  Discover sources of sugar in the diet and the impact of sugar on the health of your blood vessels and managing your weight. 
• Fiber is Your Friend: Examine the impact of fiber on overall health.  Learn what foods provide fiber and how different types of fiber impact your health.  Learn a strategy that will help you recognize if you are including an adequate intake of fiber in your diet.  As you discover ways to include whole grains in your diet, identify which foods provide a source of whole grains and their impact on your health.
• Fats: While it’s important to include fat in your diet, different types of fat vary in how they affect your cholesterol.  Identify sources of fat in the diet and which fats to limit and which fats to include.  This topic has been divided into 2 classes:
  • Fats to limit
  • Fats to include
• Label Reading: Learn how to read and compare food labels so that you can choose the healthiest foods on the market today. 
• Let's Go Shopping! Navigating the Supermarket: Take a virtual tour of the supermarket and learn techniques to help you compare prices to get the most value from your purchases.  Should you buy organically grown food?  Learn when and why you might consider buying certain foods organically grown.  This class includes a supermarket list of heart-healthy brand name products
• Dining Out: Review strategies to eat include heart healthy foods when dining out.  Recognize words that identify fat and carbohydrate sources that may indicate the need for substitutions.  Discuss substitutions you may ask of your server.  Practice ordering off menus from local restaurants as you apply your new understanding of nutrition.