|
The 3Fs: Cardioprotective Foods
Healthy Eating for Your Heart
This leaflet is to help you choose foods which will protect your heart.
People who have had a heart attack need to know which foods to eat to help keep their heart healthy This advice may also help people with angina to stay well for longer.
The 3f message :- it’s about
- Fish Eat oily fish 2-3 servings each week
- Fruit and vegetables Eat 5 servings each day
- Fat Eat mono-saturated (but less saturated fat)
How to put this in to practice
Fish
- Eat oily fish 2-3 times per week.
- One serving is about 100g (4oz)
- Oily fish include:- fresh or tinned salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel, pilchards and fresh tuna.
If the fish is tinned, choose brine or tomato sauce, (not oil)
Examples:
- salmon steak and potatoes
- mackerel in tomato sauce on toast
- tinned salmon sandwiches
- rollmop herring and salad
- kippers
If you can’t eat fish,
- you could buy an omega 3 fish oil capsule (NOT cod liver oil).
- Keep to the recommended dose as shown on the label.
- This will be a 500 mg or 1000 mg capsule each day.
- But these are not as good as eating fish.
Fruit and Vegetables
Rough guide to portion size
Fruit and vegetables – try to eat at least five portions a day
It does not have to be fresh :- frozen, dried and tinned are all good. To increase the amount you eat try to eat some fruit or vegetables at every
- Vegetables 2-3 tablespoonfuls
- Salad 1 dessert bowlful
- Banana, apple ect 1 fruit
- Small fruits eg plum’s 2 fruits
- Stewed or tinned fruit 2-3 tablespoons
- Tomatoes 2 fruit
Tips to help you eat more fruit and vegetables
- Drink a glass of fruit juice at breakfast
- And lots of vegetables to curries or casseroles
- Serve two or more vegetables and potatoes on a ‘dinner’
- Make broth/soup with lots of vegetables
- Have fruit as a snack or dessert (peel and chop fruit up if you wish)
- Have a tomato with your fish sandwich
Fat
use monounsaturated fats for spreading and cooking.
These are found in :-
- rapeseed oil (often vegetable oil)
- olive oil
- margarines made from these oils
Don’t use too many foods that contain a lot of fat, especially saturated fat.We mainly eat saturated fat as biscuits, pies, cakes, pastry, cheese and fatty meats (like sausages, burgers or chopped pork).
Ideas to help you eat the right proportion of fat
- Eat oily fish two or three times a week
- If you eat two or more biscuits or chocolate every day, try to eat half your usual amount or less.
- Keep pastry, chips, crisps and sausage to no more than twice a week
- When you eat meat, make sure it’s lean and have small portions
- Eat white fish once a week or more
- Milk – use semi-skimmed or skimmed milk
Produced by; Dieticians from Northumbria NHS Trust: Healthy Hearts Diet 11
|
