Heart disease is a group of conditions that include chest pain (angina), heart attack, and congestive heart failure (heart failure is a condition, in which the heart is damaged or overworked and can’t function efficiently.) These conditions often seem to appear suddenly, but they nearly result from years of slow damage to the blood vessels and heart. Heart disease begins when the lining of a blood vessel becomes damaged or irritated. Cholesterol in the blood than starts to build upon the damaged blood vessel wall. This buildup increases over time, and the blood vessel becomes narrower and narrower, restricting the flow of blood. When this happens in a blood vessel that leads to the heart, chest pain may result. If the vessel becomes completely blocked, a heart attack occurs. 

Healthy food habits can help you reduce three of the major risk factors for heart attack- high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure and excess body weight. They'll also help reduce your risk of stroke, because heart disease and high blood pressure are major risk factors for stroke

Get the good eating habits:

1. Achieve an overall healthy eating pattern- balance your meals:

  • Choose an overall balanced diet with foods from all major food groups, emphasizing fruits, vegetables and grains (mainly from plant origin)
  • At least 5 serving of fruits and vegetables
  • Moderate amount of lean meats, skinless poultry, fish (have at least twice/week)
  • Choose low-fat dairy products
  • Try to limit take away food (pizza, pastries, pies, hamburgers, samosas, pakora’s, etc)
  • Try to limit snack food such as potato chips, nachos, namkeens, sauces, ketchup, chutneys etc

2. Achieve a healthy body weight– be active every day:

  • Maintain a level of physical activity that achieves fitness and balances energy expenditure with caloric intake; for weight reduction, expenditure should exceed intake
  • Limit foods that are high in calories and/or low in nutritional quality, including those with a high amount of added sugar 

3. Achieve a desirable cholesterol level:

  • Limit foods with a high content of saturated fat and cholesterol. Substitute with grains and unsaturated fat from vegetables, fish, legumes and nuts.
  • Limit cholesterol to 300 milligrams (mg) a day for the general population, and 200 mg a day for those with heart disease or its risk factors. 
  • Limit trans fatty acids. Trans fatty acids are found in foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils such as packaged cookies, crackers and other baked goods; commercially prepared fried foods and some margarine.
  • Choose healthier fats. Variety of cooking oils– canola, sunflower, soybean, peanut, olive, etc. For detail see back side of the product

4. Achieve a desirable blood pressure level:

  • Limit salt intake to less than 6 grams (2,400 mg sodium) per day, slightly more than one teaspoon a day and to 3 grams (1500 – 1800 mg sodium) per day, i.e. ¾ -1 tsp per day for those with heart disease or its risk factors. 

5. Go easy on alcohol 

6. Stop smoking

7. Balance stress