Tag: healthy heart tips

Healthy Heart Tip: Understanding Dietary Fats

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

A small quantity of fat is an important part of a healthy diet, but not all fats are the same. Saturated and trans fats can raise ‘bad’ cholesterol in your blood, increasing your risk of heart disease.

Here are some tips to help you manage the amount and type of fat in your diet:

Choose products with a lower total fat content

All fats are high in energy and too much can lead to weight gain. By reading the fat content on food labels you can choose products that are lower in fat. For example, you could switch from cheddar cheese (34g fat per 100g) to low-fat cheese spread (11g fat per 100g) or cottage cheese (5g per 100g).

Switch from saturated and trans fats to unsaturated fat

Foods high in saturated fat include fatty meats, hard cheeses, coconut oil, palm oil, butter, ghee, lard and cream. Trans fat is present in hard margarine, fried food, biscuits, cakes and pastries.

Saturated and trans fats can increase the ‘bad’ cholesterol in your body, increasing your risk of heart disease. Look after your heart by switching to unsaturated fats, such as oily fish such (e.g. salmon, mackerel and sardines), rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, unsalted nuts, seeds and avocados.

Find healthier cooking methods

If you fry your food, why not try baking, grilling, boiling or steaming instead? Rather than roasting potatoes in fat, switch to boiled new potatoes or a baked potato. Cut away visible fat from fatty meats, such as bacon and lamb. Use a small amount of unsaturated oil for cooking, such as rapeseed oil, rather than butter, ghee, lard or goose fat.

By cutting down on the amount of fat in your diet and switching from saturated or trans fats to unsaturated fats, you will take an important step towards reducing your risk of heart disease.

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips.

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/.

Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:

https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/.

Healthy Heart Tip: Mental Health and our Hearts

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

This week is mental health awareness week. We know that each year one in four of us will experience some sort of mental health problem.

Long-term mental health problems can increase our risk of developing heart disease, which is one of the reasons why it is important that we look after our mental health by combating stress, maximising our ability to cope, and seeking support.

Here are some tips to keep our mental health in check:

Create Balance

  • Aim to balance your day-to-day demands with regular exercise, me-time and a good sleep routine to increase your resilience levels

Use your Support Network

  • Having someone you can talk to about your mental health can help you to better deal with any problems you are experiencing. This could be a friend, family member, or mental health professional.

Check-In

  • Checking in with ourselves and noticing trends in our behaviour and the way we feel can help us to know when we may need to seek help or put something in place to support our mental health. Apps such as Formscore, Thought Diary or Daylio offer an easy way to track our wellbeing over time.

Ask for Help

  • If we feel any of the signs and symptoms of a mental health problem, it is important to ask for help. You can speak with your GP or use a mental health charity support line such as Samaritans.

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips.

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/.

Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:

https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/.

Healthy Tip: Walking

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

Healthy Heart Tip: Walking

May is National Walking Month, which encourages us to leave the car at home and find ways to incorporate more walking into our days. Walking a little each day can offer a great benefit to our overall health and wellbeing, including our heart.

It is a low-impact form of exercise so most people can give it a go. Right now is also the perfect time of year to get outside as the evenings lighten and temperatures start to warm up.

Here are some ideas to help you clock up more steps this May (and beyond!):

Set a Goal

  • This can really help you make walking a daily habit. A good example would be aiming to walk for twenty minutes a day, five days a week. Plan your week every Sunday evening and schedule in you walking times to make sure they happen. You could even ask a friend to commit to walking with you to help you stay motivated.

Set up Walking Meetings

  • For those of us working from offices, swap your usual desk-based meetings for walking ones. This can be done in person with colleagues, or on the telephone, using headphones.

Make it Fun

  • Get the kids involved by going on a scavenger hunt or wildlife spotting walk. You could simply head out with the family and look out for certain colour cars, anything to add an element of fun!

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips.

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/.

Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:

https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/.

Healthy Heart Tip: Alternatives to chocolate for a healthier Easter

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

Easter weekend marks the end of Lent and this is a time when chocolate eggs are traditionally exchanged with family and friends.

Chocolate is high in fat, saturated fat and sugar and consuming too much can increase your risk of weight-gain and heart disease. In this healthy tip, we provide ideas for cutting back on chocolate this Easter.

Avoid temptation when shopping for groceries


Long rows of chocolate eggs appear in supermarkets several weeks before Easter and it can be difficult to avoid temptation. Easter-themed treats are often heavily discounted in the weeks following Easter, which adds to the temptation. Avoid visiting the Easter-themed aisles in supermarkets and try to stay focused on your grocery shopping and finding healthier snacks.

Buy non-edible Easter gifts

A large Easter egg can contain your entire daily energy requirement. Replacing Easter eggs with non-edible gifts, such as toys, games, books, egg cups or flowers, can be a way to help your loved ones avoid over-indulging this Easter.

Get outdoors and step away from the chocolate

Make the most of the Spring weather and get outdoors. Remember to leave the chocolate and other high-calorie Easter treats at home.

Going for a walk, run or bike ride can be a good way to shift your focus away from food and stay healthy.  

We hope you have a happy and healthy Easter holiday!

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips.

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/.

Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:

https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/.

Healthy Heart Tip: Managing Stress

Stress can indirectly affect our heart by reducing motivation to eat well and exercise. Feeling stressed can also increase the likelihood that we will use negative coping strategies such as increasing the amount of alcohol we drink.

Stress occurs when we feel that we are unable to cope with the demands placed on us. We can address stress by assessing and changing our demands, and by changing our relationship to the things that cause us stress.

Here are some top tips for helping to manage your stress:

Keep Moving

  • Regular exercise has been shown to positively influence our ability to manage stress and reduce symptoms of some mental health conditions.

 Take Time to Re-Charge

  • Managing our energy levels throughout the day by taking moments to re-charge can help us to better deal with the demands placed on us. This could be taking regular breaks from work, relaxing through meditation, or even a short powernap!

Challenge your Thoughts

  • The way we think about our demands will influence how stressed we feel. You can ask yourself questions such as “how would I advise a friend in my situation?” to help re-frame what is going on in your life.

Break it Down

  • When we have lots to do, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. When this happens, it can be useful to break down your tasks and plan how you will tackle a situation.

Seek Support

  • It is okay to ask for help. It can help to share stressors with a friend or contact a mental health professional via your GP or another service such as Samaritans.

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips.

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/.

Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:
https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/.

Healthy Heart Tip: Healthy Snacking for Children

Nutritious snacking can help children curb hunger throughout the day, as well as provide energy and important nutrients. Getting children off to a good start with healthy snacking is a behaviour that will stick with them for a lifetime!

Here we share some ideas:

Encouraging Healthy Snacking

  • By involving children in the preparation or purchase of healthy snacks, you are encouraging healthy snacking as well as independence. The more exposure children have to healthy foods the better! Have healthy options readily available such as ready-to-eat veggie sticks in a box for when you are out and about, fresh fruit available in a bowl in the kitchen and wholegrain cereal and canned fruit in your cupboards.

Timings

  • Having regular meals at set times, with two or three snacks per day is ideal. Try not to allow snacks too close to mealtimes as this can cause children to fill up. If your child is not eating well at mealtimes, try looking at the amount and type of snacks they are having; they could still be full from their last snack!

Ideas

  • Where possible, try to combine snacks from at least two food groups, for example vegetables and houmous or fruit and sugar free yoghurt. Other healthy snack ideas include wholegrain foods such as bread, toast and breadsticks. This will provide extra nutrients and be filling for your little one.

Dividing up packaged snacks

  • If packaged foods are given to children, they may need to be divided up and shared. This is because packaged foods are normally designed for adults. As a general rule, one portion is roughly the amount that a child can fit in the palm of their hand.

We know childhood is a particularly important period for forming positive behaviours related to nutrition, so we hope this article has given you a few ideas.

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/

Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:

https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/

Healthy Tip – Salt: We consume 40% more than what is recommended

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

Healthy Heart Tip: Salt Awareness

14th to 20th March 2022 is Salt Awareness Week. It is estimated that in the UK we consume around 8.4g of salt a day which is 40% more than the recommended 6g a day. Too much salt in your diet can have a negative effect on your health and can increase the risk of water retention, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and kidney disease.  Here are some tips to help you reduce your salt intake:

  • Reduce salt gradually

By gradually reducing the amount of salt in your food, your taste buds will adapt over time. Try tasting your food before you add salt. You may find that your food is tasty enough. You could try experimenting with different flavours to replace added salt, such as herbs, spices, lemons, or limes.

  • Check food labels

Around 75% of the food we eat contains hidden salt. Food labels use a traffic light system, which allows us to see if a product contains a low (green), medium (amber), or high (red) amount of salt.

Check the labels to see how much salt is in your food before you buy. Different brands of similar products contain varying amounts of salt, so look at the label and choose products that contain less salt. Salt is made up of sodium chloride and sometimes the label will list ‘sodium’ but not ‘salt’.

You can work out how much salt is in a product by multiplying every 1g of sodium by 2.5.

  • Make a swap

Swap your high salt foods with foods lower in salt. Try snacking on fruit and vegetables, plain rice cakes, unsalted nuts and seeds or lower salt alternatives to your usual snacks.

Foods such as processed meats, stock cubes, ready-made sauces and powdered soups can contain high amounts of salt. Try swapping these for lower salt versions or make your own soups, with little or no added salt. You can also reduce the amount of salt in your diet by having smaller portions of foods that are higher in salt.

Adopting these tips can be challenging, but reducing your salt consumption gradually over time can help to reduce your risk of high blood pressure and coronary heart disease.

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/

Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:

https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/

Healthy Heart Tip: Influencing Children’s Eating Habits

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

Every parent or guardian has their own style of child-rearing, but ultimately every family has the same goal, which is to raise a healthy and happy child.

With a little intention and the right tools, we can do a lot to help our little ones thrive as good eaters!

Here we explore some of the ways you can encourage your child to adopt healthy eating habits:

Reward and punishment

  • We have all been there; we just want our little people to eat something! But parents and carers should carefully consider the use of food as a reward or punishment.
  • Children have a natural ability to regulate their eating and using foods as a reward or punishment can undermine healthy eating habits, as it encourages them to eat when they are not hungry.
  • Why not offer children non-edible objects or experiences as rewards, rather than food? For example, you could offer stickers or a trip to the park, as an alternative treat. Also don’t underestimate the power of verbal praise!

‘Clean your plate’

  • Pressuring children to ‘clean their plate’ may work in the short term, but it doesn’t promote long term healthy eating. It can also lead to a distaste for those nutritious foods they are being forced to eat.
  • Instead, help a child to feel supported, safe, and relaxed at the dinner table, by creating positive interactions with food. When a child feels safe, they are much more likely to want to eat and try new foods!

Offering choice

  • As parents, we can’t give our kids complete control over food, but we can guide them on making healthy choices.
  • For young children, you may give them to 2 or 3 options to choose from e.g., ‘would you like either toast or cereal for breakfast?’. Guided choices can be helpful as they enable a child to feel like they have their say and a degree of control, without feeling overwhelmed.

Eating is so messy!

  • Unfortunately, as much as we hate the mess, letting your kids get messy with food can be a big positive in relation to their eating habits.
  • Being messy with food, gives children the opportunity to learn about new foods using all their senses. Children who feel safe to touch, squash and play with their food become more familiar with the food and are more likely to snack on this later.
  • Maybe consider if you can embrace the mess at mealtimes, or alternatively consider dedicated ‘food playtime’.

We hope this article has given you some ‘food for thought’ about your food parenting behaviours.

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/

Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:

https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/

Healthy Heart Tip: Making Healthy Pancakes

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

Pancake Day, also known as Shrove Tuesday, occurs 47 days before Easter Sunday and this year it will take place on 1st March.

Traditionally, pancakes are made with flour, eggs and milk and they are fried in butter or oil. Whether you prefer your pancakes with a savoury or sweet filling, there are numerous recipes to choose from online and in cookbooks.

In this tip, we guide you in how to prepare healthy pancakes and choose a tasty and nutritious filling. We also provide a healthy pancake recipe that you might want to try out.

Choose a fibre-rich flour

  • By switching from white flour to wholemeal flour for your pancake recipe, you can increase the amount of heart-healthy fibre in your pancakes. You could blitz some high fibre, cholesterol-lowering porridge oats in a food processor to create tasty oat pancakes (see our recipe below).   

Choose a heart-healthy oil

  • Some people like to fry their pancakes in butter, however, butter is high in saturated fats which can raise your cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease. We recommend choosing an unsaturated oil, such as rapeseed, vegetable or sunflower oil. Fats and oils are high in calories and should be consumed in small amounts. Make sure you add just enough oil to coat the base of the frying pan and you can remove excess oil with kitchen paper, before heating the pan.

Choose a healthy filling

  • Some of the most popular pancake fillings, such as sugar, syrups, chocolate, cream, bacon and cheese, can be high in fat or sugar. Look for healthier options, such as fruit and low-fat yogurt with chopped nuts and no added sugar, or smoked salmon, spinach and low-fat cream cheese. 

RECIPE:

Oat pancakes with raspberry & pear compote and toasted walnuts

Serves 2 – 3

Ingredients:
100g porridge oats
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon plus a little extra to sprinkle on before serving
1 orange, finely zested and juiced
1 egg, lightly whisked with a fork
120ml oat milk or skimmed cow’s milk
100g frozen berries, such as raspberries
1 pear, diced into 1cm pieces
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 tbsp low-fat crème fraiche or fat-free Greek yogurt
20g walnut pieces, toasted in a dry frying pan and chopped
Mint leaves to garnish (optional)

Method

  1. Start by making the pancake mixture. Blitz the oats in a food processor for a couple of minutes until they resemble a course, powdery flour and pour into a large bowl. Add the baking powder, 1tsp cinnamon and the orange zest, and mix the ingredients together. Make a well in the middle of the oats, add the egg and milk and mix until you have a thick batter. Cover and leave in the fridge until you are ready to make the pancakes.
  2. Make the fruit compote by putting the juice from 1 orange in a saucepan with the raspberries and chopped pear and simmer for 12-15 minutes until the pear is soft. Leave to cool.
  3. Make the pancakes by heating half the rapeseed oil in the frying pan. Pour a sixth of the pancake mixture into the pan and spread it out to make a small pancake. Cook over a medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes until golden. Flip the pancake and cook for a further 2 mins. Repeat until you have 6 small pancakes.
  4. Stack 2 or 3 pancakes on individual serving plates, pour over the fruit and put a spoonful of low-fat crème fraiche or fat-free Greek yogurt on the top. Sprinkle with the chopped, toasted walnuts and a little cinnamon and garnish with mint leaves (optional).

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/

Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:

https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/

Healthy Tip: Getting Active

Regular physical activity is strongly associated with a reduced risk of chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes as well as improving mental health. Even small increases in physical activity can positively impact on health. Heart Research UK have some tips to help you keep active. 

  • Avoid long periods of inactivity
    Set a timer to go off at specific times throughout the day to prompt you to do ten (or more) minutes of physical activity. Any activity is better than none. You can include a variety of light, moderate and vigorous activities. E.g. a brisk walk, sit-ups, weight-lifting, gardening or housework.
  • Reduce screen time for kids
    It is common for children and young people to spend too much time sitting in front of a screen. Why not talk to your children about the importance of staying active and agree on a set amount of screen time each day/week and schedule in some time for getting active.
  • Don’t be a couch potato
    Rather than spending your evenings sitting on the sofa without moving much, why not try a few gentle exercises, such as leg raises, while watching your favourite TV show. Try opening YouTube and searching for a quick 10- or 20-minute workout video.
  • Change your daily commute
    Now that many of us are heading back to the workplace, try not to jump straight for the car as the main choice of travel. If you do need to drive to work, then why not park a little further away once you arrive in order to get some valuable steps in.

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/

Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:
https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/