Eat your heart healthy

Keep your ticker in top form with easy diet and lifestyle tweaks from Healthy Food Guide experts.

Most risk factors for heart disease are lifestyle related. They are a result of the everyday choices we make: what to eat, how much to exercise and whether to smoke. About one in 20 Australians and one in 23 Kiwi adults have heart disease, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) – a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels – is the number-one killer of women globally. There’s no single cause of heart disease, but lifestyle tweaks, like a healthy diet, can help reduce your risk of developing it.

4 steps to lower your risk

1 Know your numbers

Do you know your cholesterol and blood pressure levels? Elevated levels of these are risk factors for heart disease. See your GP annually and keep tabs on your numbers. An ideal blood pressure is between 90/60 and 120/80.
✽ If your blood pressure is between 120/80 and 140/90, it’s considered slightly raised and is called pre-hypertension.
✽ If your blood pressure is consistently 140/90 or greater, this is considered high, and is called hypertension.

Cholesterol and triglycerides numbers
There is no ‘normal’ for lipids. Ideal numbers will depend on a person’s CVD risk. A person who has had a heart or stroke event or is at high CVD risk will aim to keep within the following numbers:
✽ Total cholesterol – less than 4.0 mmol/L
✽ Triglyceride – less than 1.7 mmol/L
✽ LDL-cholesterol – less than 2.0 mmol/L
✽ HDL-cholesterol – 1.0 mmol/L or more
✽ Total cholesterol to HDL ratio – less than 4

2 If you’re overweight, shed 5-10% of your weight

Overweight and obesity can increase the risk of developing heart disease by up to three times. Your risk will also increase if you store fat around your abdomen, which is more dangerous than thigh or buttock fat. But lose just 5-10 per cent of your body weight, and your blood pressure and cholesterol falls.

3 Try the acclaimed Mediterranean diet

A Mediterranean-style diet loaded with veggies, fruit, nuts, legumes, oily fish and olive oil reduces the risk of heart disease by about 25 per cent.

4 Check your stress

Too much stress has many detrimental effects on the body, including an increased risk of heart disease. Manage stress by practising yoga, listening to music, taking a walk, sleeping 7–8 hours a night, laughing more and having frequent hugs.

What to eat for a healthy heart

As science develops, advice around what to eat and what to avoid for heart health can change. Current advice is:

No need to ditch dairy

Full-fat dairy foods like yoghurt, milk and cheese can all play a part in a healthy diet. This doesn’t mean reduced-fat products are bad for you, so if you prefer skim or low-fat varieties, you don’t need to make any changes. It also doesn’t mean that full-fat products are healthier. Recent evidence reveals full-fat dairy foods have a neutral effect on heart disease risk — which means they don’t directly increase or decrease your risk for heart disease and stroke. But there is also good evidence replacing dairy fat with healthier fats, such as olive oil, oily fish, avocado, nuts and seeds, actually may help reduce heart disease risk. Full-fat dairy tends to be higher in kilojoules and saturated fat, and if you already have heart disease or high cholesterol, it’s still recommended you eat reduced-fat dairy products.

Eat less meat and more plant protein

The latest evidence indicates excessive red meat consumption increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, and may lead to weight gain.
The Heart Foundation recommends limiting the amount of unprocessed beef, lamb, pork and veal we eat to 350g a week. That’s about one to three lean red meat meals a week. The rest of the time we can eat more heart-healthy plant-protein foods, such as beans, lentils and tofu, as well as fish and seafood.

Snack on nuts

Nuts are full of heart-friendly nutrients, including fibre, plant sterols, healthy fats and antioxidants. And eating just a 30g handful a day can reduce your risk of heart disease by 30 to 50 per cent.

Pull in some oily fish

The key nutrients in fish for heart health are long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. These help protect against heart disease by reducing inflammation and blood clots, lowering blood pressure slightly and reducing triglycerides, one of the fats in the blood. Oily fish, such as salmon, fresh tuna, mackerel and herring, are a better source of long-chain omega 3 than white fish.

Fill up on fibre

A high-fibre diet may help protect your heart by reducing cholesterol levels, and improving blood sugar levels, blood pressure and weight which are all risk factors for heart disease. Fibre is thought to help protect your heart by increasing short-chain fatty acid production (which reduces inflammation and cholesterol production) and forming gel-like substances in the bowel which may reduce sugar and cholesterol absorption. Fibre is readily found in vegetables, fruit and wholegrain foods.

Eggs are in

As for eggs, the advice is healthy people have no need to restrict them, while people with increased heart disease risk are advised to keep to no more than six eggs per week. Being mindful of how the eggs are prepared and what they are served with is also a consideration.

Swap your fats

Saturated fat is the type of fat found in red meat, butter, cream, coconut oil and shelf-stable baked goods. Eating too much saturated fat can increase your level of unhealthy LDL cholesterol which, in turn, increases your risk of heart disease.
Unsaturated fat, on the other hand, is good for your heart and brain health. It’s found in avocados, nuts and oily fish, as well as olive and canola oil. Eating sufficient amounts of healthy fats can improve your level of good-for-you HDL cholesterol.

5 Foods that help lower cholesterol

➜ Sanitarium Weet-Bix Cholesterol Lowering
Per 2 biscuits: 529kJ (127cal), 3.8g protein, 0.3g sat fat, 21.9g carbs, 1g sugars, 3.5g fibre
➜ Avocado
Per ¼ avocado: 345kJ (83cal), 0.7g protein, 8.6g fat, 1.9g sat fat, 0.2g carbs, 1.2g fibre
➜ Rolled oats
Per ½ cup: 639kJ (153cal), 5.2g protein, 0.6g sat fat, 22.5g carbs, 0.4g sugars, 4g fibre
➜ Salmon
Per medium (150g) fillet: 1295kJ (310cal), 32.3g protein, 20.1g fat, 4.1g sat fat, 0g carbs
➜ Sweetcorn
Per medium cob: 704kJ (168cal), 7g protein, 0.4g sat fat, 22.8g carbs, 9.1g fibre

Heart healthy day on a plate

BREAKFAST
2 slices wholegrain bread with 20g no added salt cashew or peanut butter and a 160g bowl of orange segments.

SNACK
200g reduced-fat Greek yogurt with 30g dried apple pieces.

LUNCH
Salad made with 100g cooked lentils, 140g avocado, 80g cucumber and 80 g tomato, dressed with 1tsp olive oil and 1tbsp balsamic vinegar.

SNACK
30g handful pistachio nuts and 80g fresh mango.

DINNER
130g grilled salmon with 125g quinoa and 80g ratatouille, plus a fruit salad topped with low-fat fromage frais

Total: 1953kcal, 17g saturated fat, 1.7g salt, plus 64 per cent of your daily potassium.