You are what you eat

Every day we are bombarded with information from advertisers or the media and celebrity endorsed fad diets are never far from the news. It can be hard to know who to listen to when it comes to eating the right foods.

Eating a healthy balanced diet is the only solution and is a simple way to reduce your risk of developing heart disease. Most people can improve their diet by eating more fresh fruit and vegetables and cutting down on saturated fat and salt.  Make sure you and your family eat a wide variety of foods, choosing the right amounts from each food group.

The five food groups

• Bread, cereals and starchy foods
• Fruit and vegetables
• Milk and dairy foods
• Meat, fish and high protein foods
• Foods containing fats and sugars

It is important to eat a wide range of foods from each group.  Starchy foods should make up a third of your diet, fruit and vegetables another third.  The remaining third should comprise of moderate amounts of dairy and protein and a small amount of foods containing fats and sugars.

Eating for a healthy heart

• Eat lots of starchy foods like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and chapattis.  Choose wholemeal or wholegrain options where possible.
• Eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day.  Ideally, choose different types and colours of fruit and veg to get a full range of vitamins and minerals.
• Choose low fat yoghurts, cheese, fromage frais and skimmed or semi-skimmed milk.
• Trim all visible fat from meat and use fat-free cooking methods.   This is a simple way to reduce your saturated fat intake.
• Eat oily fish twice a week. Fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines, kippers and fresh tuna all contain Omega 3 which is good for your heart.
• Drink lots of water.  Keep hydrated and prevent yourself from feeling hungry.
• Write a shopping list before you shop to prevent unhealthy impulse buys.
• Check the fat, salt and sugar content on labels.

Know your fats

Too much saturated fat is bad for the heart. However, we do need a small amount of fat in our diets, so make sure you make the right choices.

Butter and margarine are both high in fat and even the low fat varieties should be used sparingly. Animal fats such as lard are a no-no. The best oils to use are olive or rapeseed oil as these have a good balance of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Small changes

You don't have to cut out all your favourite foods, just change the way that you cook.  So chuck out your deep fat fryer and try steaming, baking, boiling or grilling instead, so that you don't need to use oil or fat.

In many recipes butter or margarine can be replaced with olive or rapeseed oil, for every 4oz use 75ml or 5 tablespoons.

Good and bad cholesterol

A diet high in saturated fat leads to raised blood cholesterol levels and this causes a build up of fatty deposits in the arteries. Saturated fats also cause an increase in the ratio of LDL (bad) cholesterol to HDL (good) cholesterol. 

Simply put, LDL (bad) cholesterol delivers cholesterol to where it is needed in the body and HDL (good) cholesterol 'mops' up the excess and takes it back to the liver.  So you need to keep the balance right to prevent cholesterol building up. Keep the LDL low and the HDL high.

The good news is that eating the right foods can get the balance right and stop heart disease in its tracks, or even put it into reverse.

Salt

Eating too much salt raises blood pressure and this can cause heart disease and stroke.

Nearly 75% of the salt we consume is hidden in processed foods, such as cereals, ready meals, biscuits, soups and even bread. So even if you never add salt at the table or when cooking, you are probably still eating too much.

Adults should not eat more than 6g of salt per day, that's around a teaspoon and children should have even less.

Simply using fresh ingredients when cooking means you can control the amount of salt and other additives in your food.   Avoid adding salt to your food and use herbs, spices and garlic to flavour meals.  Your tastebuds will soon adjust.

Eat smart for a healthy heart!

For more information about healthy eating, contact Heart Research UK's Lifestyle Department on 0113 297 6206 or email lifestyle@heartresearch.org.uk