A heart-friendly diet is high in fibre and favours soft fats. It avoids hard animal fats and cholesterol, and also limits salt. Avoiding stress and nurturing good personal relationships is also beneficial for your heart. Staying active – through both planned and incidental exercise – is important, too. Many health-threatening issues are easily corrected by losing even a little bit of weight – and keeping it off.
The main characteristics of a heart-friendly diet:
• Plenty of vegetables, berries and fruits – don't forget the plate model
• Plenty of wholegrain bread and other wholegrain products
• Favour soft vegetable fats, such as vegetable oil and vegetable margarine
• Only a little hard fat, such as fats from dairy and meat products
• Choose fat-free and low-fat dairy products
• Regular fish consumption
• Only a little salt
Keep your cholesterol levels in check