Tips To A Healthy Heart

Nearly a third of all deaths in the UK in people aged under 75 are the result of heart disease, which can of course number stress among its causes. Looking after your heart, and doing so from an early age, is among the best protective measures you can take against suffering later in life from angina, a heart attack or coronary thrombosis, which occurs when a sudden, severe blockage - usually a blood clot - in one of the coronary arteries cuts off the blood supply to part of the heart muscle.

The following suggestions for watching what you and your family eat will help you to ensure that you do not become a coronary casualty, as well as enhancing your general sense of well-being (remember that smoking and insufficient exercise are also key contributory factors to heart disease).

• Choose skimmed or semi-skimmed milk in preference to full-cream, and low-fat yoghurt and cheeses, such as cottage cheese and Edam (both of these relatively low-fat cheeses make delicious fillings for healthy sandwiches made with wholemeal bread spread with polyunsaturated margarine or low-fat spread instead of butter).

• Eat more low-fat, high-protein fish and chicken.

• When you buy meat, look for lean-choice roasting joints, stewing steak or mince. Many supermarkets now make a point of labeling meat products with their fat content.

• Remove all visible fat from meat.

• Skim all excess fat from gravies and stocks.

• Grill rather than fry.

• Use minimum added fat in cooking: for example, use roasting bags for a joint of meat.

• Cut down on sugar: go easy on sweet pastries, cakes, biscuits and confectionery, and do without sugar in hot drinks, or use an artificial sweetener.

• Avoid greasy, salty snacks like potato chips and crisps: cut back on your use of salt in cooking, and make imaginative use of herbs, natural flavor-enhancers, instead.

More Stress And Health