Before we kick off this article, I would like you to consider how often you do the following heart healthy habits. Do you do these regularly, occasionally or rarely?

1. Do you eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day (a portion is about what would fit into your hand)?
2. Do you have at least 2 meat-free days a week?
3. Do you eat a plant-based protein food everyday? This includes beans, nuts, peas, soya, lentils or a Quorn product for example?
4. Do you eat at least two portions of fish a week (of which one is an oily fish such as salmon, sardines, mackerel, trout or herring)?
5. Do you try to eat very little processed meats (such as ham, salamis, sausages, rashers, tinned meat, corned beef etc)?
6. Do you eat wholegrain foods everyday (such as brown bread, brown pasta, wholegrain breakfast cereals, oats, brown rice etc)?
7. Do you use plant-based oils such as olive oil, sunflower oil or rapeseed oil instead of coconut oil, butter, other hard animal fats or palm oil?
8. Do you choose low fat dairy foods such as low-fat milk, yoghurt and lower fat cheese (or plant-based milk-alternatives) instead of the high fat dairy options?
9. Do you avoid snacking on fatty and sugary snacks such as chocolate, crisps, biscuits, cakes, pastries etc?
10. Do you usually avoid high fat and salty fast foods and takeaways such as fish, chips, kebabs, creamy curries, fried chicken, tacos and sandwiches with mayo?
11. Do you usually choose water or diet/sugar free drinks instead of sugar-sweetened drinks or fruit juice?

Which heart healthy habits do you do regularly already? Many of us do some of these habits quite naturally already, and that is great to see!

Now, which habits do you find yourself doing less often? If we focus on tackling one or two of these habits at a time, we can continue to build an even stronger heart healthy foundation! And today, I would like you to pick one of these to work on over the next week or two! 

Each of the heart-healthy habits on our checklist is linked to a proven and well-researched diet pattern that is known to reduce our cholesterol levels and therefore also reduce our risk of heart disease and strokes. Let’s take a closer look at these habits in more detail:

Heart healthy fats:

The cholesterol in our blood that is affected by our diet can come from two places.

Firstly, a very small amount of the cholesterol can come from actual cholesterol found in the foods we eat. These higher cholesterol foods include eggs, shellfish and liver. However, interestingly we find that the cholesterol in the food we eat only has a small effect on our blood cholesterol levels.

The majority of our blood cholesterol comes from saturated fat and trans fats. This is because these types of fats cause our liver to produce more cholesterol.

Unsaturated fats can actually help to reduce our cholesterol levels and can improve the balance between the LDL and HDL cholesterol levels.

What are the different types of fat?

• Trans-fats: These are often found in processed foods that have been heated to a high temperature over a longer period of time. Such foods include fried foods, cakes and biscuits.
• Saturated fat is often found in animal foods including full-fat dairy, butter, the fat in chicken skin, pork rind, fat in mince and cream. Coconut oil is also a saturated fat.
• Mono-unsaturated fat is often found in olive oil, nuts and seeds.
• Polyunsaturated fats are found in oily fish (such as salmon, herring, trout, mackerel and sardines.

Some key diet changes you could make to build on a diet full of heart healthy fats are:

• Eat oily fish at least once a week and aim for fish in general at least twice a week.
• Swap from animal fats to olive-oil, sunflower oil or rapeseed oil in your cooking.
• Snack on nuts and seeds rather than processed cakes and biscuits.
• Chose low-fat dairy rather than full-fat dairy foods.
• Remove any visible fat off your meat and poultry foods, and drain any fat that comes out when cooking.
• Choose to have several meat-free days a week, and cut down especially on processed meats such as salami, rashers, sausages, tinned meats and ham.

Focus on getting in your 5-a-day of fruit and veg:

Many of us struggle with getting in enough of our greens (and reds, and oranges, and yellows etc…).

But increasing our fruit and vegetables in our diet has been linked to heart healthy benefits and more! Not only do they help us to feel fuller for longer (and so we are less likely to snack on higher fat foods), but their fibre content can help to reduce cholesterol levels.

Some useful diet changes to increase your fruit and vegetables include:

• Aim to fill half your plate for lunch and dinner with vegetables.
• Snack on fruit and vegetables.
• Add a small glass of fruit juice to your breakfast (but do not aim for more than one glass a day as it is somewhat higher in sugar than fresh fruit).
• Add some fruit to your breakfast by mixing some fresh or dried fruit into your breakfast cereal or porridge.
• Consider bulking up your sauces and stews with plenty of veg (frozen counts too)!

Choose wholegrain and healthy carbohydrates every day.

Wholegrain carbohydrates are higher fibre carbs that include the husk and germ of the grain, as well as the starchy part. Often white flour or more processed foods such as pastries, white bread and biscuits have had the husks and germs removed from the grain, leaving only the starchy inner part of the grain. Wholegrain foods can include brown bread, brown pasta, wholegrain breakfast cereals and quinoa.

The husk of the grain is high in fibre and can help your digestive tract to stay healthy. The germ of the grain is equally important as it is a good source of healthy fats and vitamins.

Other healthy carbohydrate foods include potatoes (with their skin on), brown rice and yams.

Some heart healthy ways to include more healthy carbs include:

• Swap your white or lower fibre options for a higher fibre option, such as choosing brown pasta instead of white, and wholegrain bread instead of white bread.
• Choose new potatoes and potatoes with their skin on for an extra fibre boost.
• Opt for a high-fibre breakfast cereal such as porridge, Weetabix or branflakes.

Choose to eat more plant-based protein and opt for less meat.

Meat and poultry are a source of saturated fat. Hence we recommend to look at reducing your intake of meat, especially red meat. Choosing a meat-free day on two days a week may be beneficial to our heart health!

Opting for more plant-based proteins such as pulse vegetables (including beans, lentils and peas) has been linked to a reduced cholesterol level, and they are a great source of fibre too!

Nuts are also a useful plant-based protein with links to reducing cholesterol levels. We will discuss these in more detail in our next video.

Try to reduce your intake of foods high in salt, sugar and fat.

Foods high in sugar, salt and fat of contain trans fats and saturated fats, which are linked to increasing our total and LDL cholesterol levels.

Higher sugar diets are also linked to higher triglyceride levels.

Cutting down on these foods can help reduce our cholesterol levels and also help us to maintain a healthy weight.

Aim to hydrate using healthy options

Choose water more often. Water is naturally calorie free and is a great option to stay hydrated. Choose a sugar free or diet drink to replace your higher sugar beverages. And opt for no more than 1 glass of juice a day.

And that summarises our heart healthy habits!

I hope you found today’s summary useful! Get in touch with a comment or email if you have any further questions at all on this topic and keep your eyes peeled for the next videos and articles coming out. And I still have a few slots left in my 1:1 virtual clinic if you’d like to learn more about how these tips and several of my other heart healthy hacks can fit into your diet and lifestyle!

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