Try to keep your consumption of saturated fats to a minimum. Check food labels to work out if a food is high or
low in fat:
Saturated fat - High in saturates is 5g or more per 100g of food.
- Low is foods with less than 1g saturates per 100g of food.
2. Aim to replace saturated fats, with moderate amounts of ‘good’ fats also known as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
3. People with a healthy heart tend to eat more wholegrain foods. Try to cut down on the amount of fatty foods you eat by filling up with starchy foods such as bread, pasta or rice instead.
4. Grill, steam, boil and bake foods instead of frying and roasting.
5. Try to eat plenty of fibre-rich foods. Some forms of soluble fibre, such as pectin in fruit and beta glucan in oats, may slightly reduce blood cholesterol.
6. Replace your usual snacks of crisps and biscuits with healthy alternatives such as fruit, nuts and seeds,
olives etc.
7. Eat at least two portions of fish per week, one of which should be oily (Choose from salmon, mackerel, sardines, pilchards or herring).
8. Include foods with health promoting benefits over and above the usual nutritional value you might expect. For example: Foods enriched with plant stanols/sterols, which are clinically proven to lower ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol as part of a
healthy diet and lifestyle.
9. Keep physically active. The Department of Health recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise on five or more days of the week.
10. Avoid smoking.
11. Try and manage your stress levels.

This post was submitted by chan.