Healthy Eating
Healthy eating will reduce your risk of developing heart disease and may increase your chances of survival after a heart attack.
Fruit and vegetables
General healthy eating guidelines advice us to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day. A portion of fruit can be:
- One piece of fruit
- One tablespoon of vegetables
- One small bowl of salad
- One glass of fruit juice.
Antioxidant vitamins in fruit and vegetables will help to prevent thickening of the artery walls.
Eating oily fish twice per week can reduce the level of fat in the blood, preventing blood clots from forming in the arteries. Oily fish types are:
- Kippers
- Herring
- Mackerel
- Sardines
- Trout
- Fresh tuna
Fat
You can reduce the amount of fats in your blood by reducing the amount of certain types of fat in your flat. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, found mainly in vegetable sources such as vegetable and olive oil, have a beneficial effect on decreasing blood cholesterol.
You should try to replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Take care to look for hidden saturated fats in many processed foods such as pies, pastries, biscuits and cakes.
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is found in foods such as eggs and offal. The cholesterol in these foods does not usually make a great contribution to your blood cholesterol but it is worth limiting yourself to three eggs per week.
If you need to reduce your blood cholesterol, it is more important to reduce the amount of saturated fats that you consume. Saturated fat is found in foods such as meat-fat and dairy products.
Salt
People who eat a lot of salt tend to be more likely to have high blood pressure. Try to cut down on salt intake by not adding to your food at the table or avoiding cooking with it. Many processed foods such as tinned foods, smoked foods and ready-made sauces contain high amounts of salt.
For further information about healthy heart advice, click here to visit the British Heart Foundation website.