Heart Healthy Diet. Information for patients, relatives and carers

Transcription

1 Heart Healthy Diet Information for patients, relatives and carers For more information, please contact: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics Scarborough Hospital Tel: Woodlands Drive, Scarborough, YO12 6QL The York Hospital Tel: Wigginton Road, York, YO31 8HE

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3 Contents Page Healthy eating for your heart 5 Basing meals around wholegrain starchy foods 6 Fruits and vegetables 8 Fats 9 How to reduce saturated fat intake 10 Sugar sweetened beverages 11 Fish and other lean proteins 12 Nuts 12 Salt 13 Alcohol 15 Meal ideas and healthy snacks 16 Useful websites 18 3

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5 Healthy eating for your heart Healthy eating for your heart is called a cardioprotective diet. Following a cardioprotective diet can help to reduce the risk of developing or further progressing heart disease and can help towards maintaining a healthy weight. A Mediterranean style diet is recommended for promoting good heart health, and your usual family routine can easily be adapted to include heart healthy changes. You and your family can promote a heart healthy lifestyle by including the following; A regular meal pattern with meals based around wholegrain starchy food, e.g. wholegrain cereals, brown rice, wholemeal pasta, potatoes with skin or wholegrain bread. Increasing fruit and vegetable intake. Including fish and other lean sources of protein. Reducing saturated fat intake and replacing these with heart healthy fats. Including four to five portions of unsalted nuts or seeds each week. Reducing the amount of sugar in your diet. Maintaining a healthy weight. 5

6 Basing meals around wholegrain starchy foods A regular meal pattern is important for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and can help to reduce cravings and maintain energy levels. Wholegrain starchy foods contain more fibre than white or refined foods. Fibre plays an important part in our heart and bowel health. It may help to reduce cholesterol and also helps to keep us feeling fuller for longer. Why choose wholegrain? A diet that contains limited amounts of processed foods is associated with the lowest cardiovascular risk. Reducing the amount of refined carbohydrates, such and white bread, and processed cereals is an important part of a heart healthy diet. Wholegrain foods include: Wholemeal/wholegrain/granary/seeded breads, pittas, chapattis Wholewheat pasta Brown rice Wholegrain breakfast cereals or whole oats 6

7 For example: Breakfast: Wholegrain cereals or granary toast. Lunch: Sandwich or a salad with potatoes with skins on, wholewheat pasta or brown rice. Evening meal: Base your meal around potatoes with skins, wholewheat pasta, brown rice, noodles or grains such as bulgur wheat. Snack ideas Remember, only snack if you are hungry Fruit Two to three plain biscuits Diet or light yoghurt Toast Small bowl of cereal Raw vegetable sticks Three to four crackers (e.g. oat cakes/wheat based crackers) with low fat soft cheese Handful of unsalted nuts/seeds/dried fruit For more meal and snack ideas you could visit the NHS Eatwell website at: 7

8 Fruits and vegetables Try to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day as this helps to protect your heart. Try to include a variety of fruits and vegetables and include them with meals where possible. This can include fresh, frozen, dried or tinned fruit and vegetables. What is a portion? 80g is a portion. This is equivalent to: One apple, a small banana, pear or similar sized fruit Two satsumas or plums Handful of grapes (about twelve) Three heaped tablespoons of vegetables A dessert bowl of salad Seven cherry tomatoes A glass (150ml) of fruit juice (though only one glass per day can count as one of your five a day) One heaped tablespoon of dried fruit How can I include more fruit and vegetables in my diet? Have fruit or raw vegetables as snacks Add salad to your sandwiches Include fruit in puddings Keep frozen vegetables in the freezer so there are always some at hand Make soups with leftover vegetables Add chopped fresh or dried fruit to breakfast cereal 8

9 Fats Saturated fats raise LDL (bad) cholesterol in the blood, increasing the risk of heart disease. It is therefore recommended to replace these fats with heart healthy (unsaturated) fats, as these do not increase LDL cholesterol levels. Saturated fats come mainly from animal sources such as fatty meats and are also included in butter, cream, cheese, coconut oil, palm oil, pastries, cakes, biscuits and other processed foods. Unsaturated fats are generally found in vegetable/plant based products. For example, olive based products, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, soya based products, corn oil, avocado, nuts and seeds. 9

10 How to reduce saturated fat intake The following points can help you to reduce saturated fat intake: Use skimmed, semi skimmed or 1% fat milk. Choose margarines and oils high in heart healthy fats, e.g. olive oil, olive based spread, sunflower spread etc. Try low fat yoghurts. Try half fat cheese or choose cottage cheese. Grate cheese before adding it to meals/sandwiches so that a smaller portion goes further. Use low fat salad dressings and mayonnaise. Choose lean cuts of meat and remove all visible fat. Limit processed meats, e.g. salami, sausages, bacon, pastrami and meat pastries. Remove the skin from poultry. Use fat free cooking methods such as grilling, steaming, microwaving, boiling or baking. Reduce high fat snacks such as cakes, biscuits, crisps and pastry products. Choose snacks with heart healthy fats such as unsalted nuts and seeds. Bulk up main meals with plenty of vegetables, beans and pulses. 10

11 Sugar sweetened beverages Soft and fizzy drinks can be very high in sugar and contain few nutrients. Drinking soft and fizzy drinks every day can result in a high intake of sugar which has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease. Squash and cordials can contain up to five teaspoons of sugar in one glass of diluted drink. Lemonade and colas can have up to eight teaspoons of sugar per 330ml can. Try introducing low sugar and sugar free drinks for your whole family. Swap sugary drinks for sparkling water or soda water with a slice of lemon or a dash of fruit juice, or even diet versions. Energy and sports drinks can also contain a lot of calories check the label. 11

12 Fish and other lean proteins As meat can be high in saturated fat, choosing lean alternatives such as fish and vegetarian sources of protein helps to promote heart health. It is recommended to include two portions of fish per week, one of which should be oily. Oily fish includes tinned, fresh or frozen varieties of sardines, mackerel, kippers, salmon, herring, trout, pilchards and fresh or frozen tuna (tinned tuna does not count as a portion of oily fish). Vegetarian sources of protein include beans, pulses and lentils. These foods are high in fibre, vitamins and minerals and low in saturated fat. Nuts Regularly including nuts in your diet is associated with lower total cholesterol and lower LDL (bad) cholesterol in the blood. Choose nuts that are raw and unsalted, and avoid those which are roasted or covered in salt or sugar. Nuts are low in saturated fat, but high in unsaturated fats and calories so stick to a 30-40g portion. Nuts can count as one of your portions of protein, a 30-40g portion added to stir fries or in a nut loaf can be included in a heart healthy diet. 12

13 Salt The advice for good health is that we should all cut our salt intake to a maximum of 6g of salt per day. Try the below tips to help reduce your salt intake: Use little or no salt in cooking and at the table; this includes rock salt, sea salt and garlic salts Use different flavouring instead, e.g. pepper, herbs and spices or garlic Salt substitutes, e.g. Lo-Salt or SoLo are not recommended Look at the food labels and go for lower salt choices. There can be a really big difference between different food types and brands Foods high in salt may display a red traffic light label, medium amber and low green on the front of the packet 13

14 The main foods that are high in salt are: Salty meats and processed meat products, such as ham, bacon, gammon, sausages, pate, salami Canned, packet and instant soups Ketchup, soy sauce, mayonnaise, pickles Stock cubes, gravy powder and salted flavourings Smoked meat and fish, prawns and anchovies Meat and yeast extracts Salted snacks like crisps, salted nuts, salted biscuits, popcorn High salt ready meals, sauces and takeaway meals Pasta sauce Pre-prepared sandwiches Cheese have no more than 4oz (ounces) per week 14

15 Alcohol For a heart healthy diet it is advisable to keep to the recommended alcohol guidelines. Alcohol is high in calories so being aware of the number of alcoholic drinks you have can also help you maintain a healthy weight. The NHS recommends: Men should not regularly drink more than three to four units of alcohol a day. Women should not regularly drink more than two to three units of alcohol a day. Have at least two alcohol free days per week. What is a unit? Units are a way of measuring a drinks alcohol content 125ml of 12% wine = 1.5 units 85 kcal 175ml of 12% wine = 2 units 120 kcal 250ml of 12% wine = 3 units 170 kcal Pint of lower strength = 2 units 74 kcal lager/beer/cider (3.6%) Pint of stronger strength = 3 units 230 kcal lager/beer/cider (5.2%) Can of lager/beer/cider = 2 units 170 kcal (440ml, 5%) Single measure/25ml of spirit (40%) = 1 unit 61 kcal 15

16 Meal ideas and healthy snacks Breakfast ideas Breakfast cereal with semi-skimmed milk. Wholemeal toast/muffin/crumpets with low fat spread. Scrambled/poached/boiled egg on wholemeal toast. Add piece of fruit or glass of juice for one of your five a day Lunch ideas Jacket potato with beans/low fat cheese/tuna and salad. Vegetable based soup with wholemeal roll. Mackerel/tuna/chicken salad with pasta/potatoes/rice or bread and a low fat dressing. Roasted vegetables and pesto panini. Sandwich (wholemeal bread, pitta bread, wraps or rolls) with lean meat/fish and salad. 16

17 Evening meal ideas Lean mince based meals served with extra vegetables or salad, e.g. Spaghetti bolognese Shepherds pie Lasagne Chilli con carne Mince and dumplings Meat and fish meals, e.g. Chicken/turkey and vegetable stir fry with noodles Fish with boiled potatoes, mixed bean salad or vegetables Lean grilled meat with potatoes/rice/noodles/pasta with vegetables Use herbs and spices to make fish and meat more flavoursome Vegetarian meals, e.g. Pasta with roasted vegetables and beans in tomato sauce Vegetable omelette with boiled potatoes or two slices of bread Vegetable and chickpea curry with brown rice Cashew nut stir fry with brown rice Nut loaf and jacket potato Lentil rissoles with boiled potatoes 17

18 Useful websites British Heart Foundation view or download healthy eating booklet NHS Healthy Choices Healthy eating and NHS weight loss plan NHS Healthy Choices Love your heart echanges.aspx Change for life Daily tips to cut down on sugar Change for life Healthy snacks

19 Tell us what you think We hope that you found this leaflet helpful. If you would like to tell us what you think, please contact: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, The York Hospital, Wigginton Road, York, YO31 8HE, telephone or Teaching, Training and Research Our Trust is committed to teaching, training and research to support the development of staff and improve health and healthcare in our community. Staff or students in training may attend consultations for this purpose. You can opt-out if you do not want trainees to attend. Staff may also ask you to be involved in our research. Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) Patients, relatives and carers sometimes need to turn to someone for help, advice or support. Our PALS team is here for you. PALS can be contacted on , or via at An answer phone is available out of hours. 19

20 Owner Department of Nutrition and Dietetics Date first issued August 2015 Review Date July 2017 Version 1 (issued August 2015) Approved by Berenice Carter, Advanced Clinical Specialist Dietitian Document Reference PI 954 v York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. All Rights reserved.