Eating to protect your heart

What we eat day to day can affect our overall health and wellbeing. With all the information on social media and the internet, it can be hard to work out what are the right choices for you and your heart. Poor diet is a major risk factors for heart disease. So where do we start?     

 A good place is including a wide variety of fresh unprocessed foods from all five food groups: grains, vegetables, fruit, dairy, and meat. This allows us to eat low in salt, added sugars and unhealthy fats    

Fruit, vegetables and wholegrains

Protein sources

Protein is an important part of every diet; however, some protein choices can be better than others.

When we are thinking about heart health, we are also thinking about avoiding saturated fats. Although meat is a great source of protein, too much can have an impact on our heart health. Limiting our intake, especially of red meat, to 3 meals per week has been shown to be beneficial. Therefore, choosing plant-based protein sources, such as lentils, chickpeas, beans, tofu, nuts and seeds, are better options for our heart. Additionally, fish, unlike other meat products, contain healthy unsaturated fats and are also good heart healthy protein sources.     

Simple changes and swaps can have a huge impact on our long-term health. Setting yourself goals and changing things gradually can allow these changes to feel small and easy.

And of course there is no harm in enjoying all your favourite foods now and then if your day to day diet contains these healthy building blocks.