Following a heart attack you start looking at your life in new light. In my case excessive weight, lack of fitness or smoking could not be attributed to the cause\u2026but one thing that I can change is my diet. Particularly my cholesterol level, which, at 6.6 (post heart attack), is too high for today\u2019s standards. The guideline for UK today is around 3. I was put on statins which reduces this level but it\u2019s time for a diet change as for years I\u2019ve been doing it wrong \u2013 very wrong.<\/p>\n
Two things I ate almost daily where cheese and chocolate\u2026not together I might add.
\nI\u2019d have cheese on toast, cheese in sandwiches, cheese on pizza, cheese in dishes.
\nAnd, in the evening I\u2019d have a bar of chocolate with a pint. It became regular, and addictive. I\u2019m told cheese can still be eaten, but not the hard variety which tends to have more fat. Basically, if the cheese tastes strong and lovely, like mature cheddar, it\u2019s probably no good. If it tastes bland like Edam it\u2019s better.
\nAnd milk chocolate is the one I\u2019d reach for, but plain is the safer choice. I\u2019ve had about two bars of chocolate in three months and miss it badly. <\/p>\n
Things I ate weekly: curries, fish and chips, ready meals. I\u2019ve had fish and chips once since and ready meals have been stopped completely.
\nI love curries\u2026the ones I like are cooked in Ghee (Indian butter). It\u2019s about as fatty as you can get. I enjoy a peshwari naan alongside and pilau rice. In curry terms these are three big bad items. We should be eating dry meals such as Tandori or Shashlik, but I like those runny dishes that soak into the fried rice and go well with the coconut naan.
\nThe naan should be plain and the rice should be boiled. I\u2019ve had two \u201cproper\u201d curries since, and the temptation to go back to what I really enjoy was too great, I can live without the peshwari naan and the pilau rice, but not the flavour rich jalfrezis or dopiazas. Once now and again won\u2019t hurt, he mutters with fingers crossed.<\/p>\n
Five a day!
\nIf there\u2019s one thing that\u2019s been well and truly drilled into us it\u2019s the message – five a day. We\u2019ve all heard it, but do we take notice? I didn\u2019t, I do now! So what is five a day? We know it\u2019s fruit and veg but how much? Here are the requirements for an adult:<\/p>\n
Something the size of an apple is classed as one portion
\nA plum or kiwi is half a portion so two would be needed to make a portion
\nA larger item such as a pineapple would require a thick slice
\nAnd a small item such as a grape would need a handful
\nDried fruit counts (you need a tablespoon\u2019s worth)
\nA 150ml glass of fruit juice
\nA dessert bowl of salad
\n2 tablespoons of any veg, raw or cooked<\/p>\n
Have fruit with breakfast, as a snack and after a meal, include veg with a meal and a glass of juice at some point in the day and you\u2019re sorted.<\/p>\n
Something fishy
\nI regularly ate tinned tuna in sandwiches, and was eating it because I thought I was being healthy. I had no idea why, but thought, it was fish, so it was good. The reason you need fish is for the Omega 3 oils. In tuna it\u2019s unfortunately removed in the canning process, so you need to switch to mackerel or pilchards if canned fish is your thing. Fresh Tuna\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n
Milk round
\nI\u2019ve had semi skimmed milk for years and at least that\u2019s one thing I don\u2019t need to change. I\u2019m told there are some new skimmed milks doing the rounds that have flavour, but that remains to be tested by the Bargh palate. <\/p>\n
I also cook using Olive oil which is the best route but reduce the amount of oil you use. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve used spreads as a butter replacement for years too, but there are some that are better than others. Make sure you choose a spread with less than 15g of saturated fat per 100g, and spread thinly.<\/p>\n
Are you nuts about nuts?
\nResearch suggests that nuts can reduce your chances of heart attack by up to 35%. This is because they are shown to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (the bad cholesterol)
\nMy favourite nuts are cashews, but the best appear to be Walnuts (they contain Omega 3 fatty acids) and Almonds that are rich in protein, vitamin E, manganese, magnesium, copper, vitamin B2 (riboflavin), and phosphorus. Other healthy options include peanuts (not Bombay spiced!), pumpkin seeds and cashews.<\/p>\n
As a disclaimer I must state that I\u2019m not a dietician just following advice I\u2019ve been given or read. It\u2019s not conclusive; I\u2019ve just scratched the surface, but it may give you a lead to research further. But be warned you will find lots of conflicting info. <\/p>\n
btw my cholesterol level is now 3.5. So something’s worked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following a heart attack you start looking at your life in new light. In my case excessive weight, lack of fitness or smoking could not be attributed to the cause\u2026but one thing that I can change is my diet. Particularly my cholesterol level, which, at 6.6 (post heart attack), is too high for today\u2019s standards. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[708,1296],"tags":[1490,1555],"class_list":["post-2186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-helping-hand","tag-cholesterol","tag-diet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bargh.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bargh.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bargh.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bargh.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bargh.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bargh.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bargh.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bargh.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bargh.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}