When living with a heart condition, following a healthier diet is an easy way to really take care of your body and reduces your risk of future heart related issues.
Information on diet changes as research uncovers new evidence. It’s important to access information that is up to date and relevant to you. Accessing information from reputable websites makes this easier. Cardiac Rehabilitation will only direct you to such websites so that you can get the most reliable information available.
Eating a healthy diet is an important part of maintaining good health. A heart healthy diet helps us in a number of ways
- It helps to reduce cholesterol levels
- Lowers our blood pressure
- Supports/maintains a healthy weight
- Increases energy levels
- Makes us feel good
Initially, focusing on making some small changes can be helpful. Enjoying a variety of fruit and vegetables, reducing the saturated fats you consume and by cutting down on refined sugars.
All the food groups are important and it is recommended that you incorporate the following into your diet :-
- Fruit and Veg – Aim to eat 5 portions a day this includes fresh, frozen, tinned (in natural Juice) and/or dried.
- Fats – We recommend switching from saturated fat to unsaturated fat. All Fats are high in calories so should be eaten in small amounts.
- Starchy Foods – such as bread, rice potatoes should make up about a third of your intake.
- Diary – Milk, cheese, yoghurt – try switching to low fat alternatives.
- Protein – these include meat, fish, pulses, eggs – aim to have 2 portions.
Following a “Mediterranean style” diet is beneficial- with lots of vegetables, fruit, lean meats and fish. You can find more information and score how well you are doing at the Mediterranean Diet Score.
Helpful messages
Further useful information about healthy eating is available on the British Heart Foundation website, and from Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland.
Dietary changes can seem overwhelming, when habits are usually long standing. Small changes are positive steps to looking after your heart moving forwards and reducing the risk of future issues.
Diet can play an important part in managing your risk factors in the long term, e.g. by cutting the amount of staturated fat in your diet you can reduce your total cholestrol by around 12%. The following links provide risk factor specific information:
Cholesterol lowering diet tips
High blood pressure lowering diet tips
For more genreal information, tools, tips, hints and ideas for how to make good dietry changes select the folowing links:
Health recipe ideas that are easy to do and cost effective
NHS Inform – How to eat a healthy balanced diet
