Irish Heart Foundation

The Irish Heart Foundation’s Dietitian Sarah Noone Tells Us How to Eat Your Way to a Healthier Heart in the New Year

 

After all the indulgence of the party season, January is the month of New Year’s resolutions. Many of these focus on weight and nutrition, which is good news for heart health, as increased physical activity and achieving a healthy weight can cut your chances of developing heart disease and stroke. So here’s our top three tips to eat your way to a healthier heart:

 

1.            The best place to start is often reviewing portion sizes. Our perception of what is a ‘healthy’ or ‘normal’ portion can be quite different from what’s recommended. Compare your portions to the Food Pyramid. What changes can you make?

 

2.            Swap bad fats for good fats. In practice this means choosing less butter, processed meats and full fat products and swapping for heart-healthy fats like nuts, seeds and oily fish. These changes will mean a healthier cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.

 

3.            Cut down on Salt. There is a proven link between a high salt diet and high blood pressure. To cut your risk of stroke and heart disease swap salt for black pepper, lemon juice, herbs and spices.

 

Overall it‘s not about any one food or nutrient. Rather a heart-healthy diet contains plenty of vegetables, fruit, salads, wholegrains and oily fish, modest intakes of oils, low fat dairy and meat and low intakes of foods high in fat, salt and sugar.

 

Making changes isn’t always easy. Having a plan based on a desirable achievable goal can be hugely effective for those wishing to make a change. Start today and make one change!