Healthy eats, for healthy hearts!

I know I said I'd do this post on healthy eats yesterday. But I have had a truly poop couple of days.

My Gran (who has dementia) keeps forgetting about my heart condition and constantly bitches at me about how I don't do any of her cleaning any more. And someone I loved dearly discarded me like an old sandwich. 

As if that wasn't crap enough...

I woke up on Wednesday night with a stupidly sore chest and a heart rate up in the 100bpms again. My doctor thinks I may have a virus and this sucker has really wiped me out. My chest still hurts and my heart rate has settled, but I'm keeping an eye on it.

But onwards and upwards. I shall keep you all updated. Fingers crossed it's all calmed down now.

Anyway...FOOD STUFF!

Salt!
If you've had heart failure your body retains water and salt is not your friend, because it makes you retain water. If you're on diuretics you especially need to avoid salt for this very reason...or that pesky heart failure thing will happen again.

DO NOT USE SALT SUBSTITUTES! These are even worse at making you retain water...RETAINING WATER IS BAD! I cannot stress that enough...or use the words retain and water enough either. 

Salt intake for a normal human should be about 6g a day.

Fish!
Eat oily fish, Omega 3 is good for you. Not necessarily directly linked to heart health but I was told to do it by a doctor, so I'm gunna.

Oily fish listed in a couple of my heart booklets includes; fresh salmon, fresh tuna (none of that tinned crap), mackerel, sardines, herring, trout and pilchards (yuck).

Nice quick east recipe for you: Get a salmon fillet. Stick it on some foil, cover it in lemon juice and pepper, wrap it in a foil parcel and bake for 15-20mins at 200°C or gas mark 6. BOOTIFUL!
Avoid smoked fish as this can be very salty!

Fruit & Veg!

Eat 5 portions at least a day! They are full of good vitamins and make an excellent crappy snack substitute. Try and have veg with at least one of your main meals every couple of days. I have it every day.

Stick some blueberries in the freezer, they taste amazing. Cut up a pineapple, stick it in the oven on a very low heat for 15mins...again NOMMY!

Make low fat ice cream by freezing some bananas then blend them with some other fruit or peanut butter/nutella for a delicious frozen treat (unless you hate bananas...then that would be disgusting)

Cut up some carrot sticks and make your own hummus, this is a great recipe. 

Dairy!
Substitute your dairy stuff for low fat dairy products. I know that skimmed milk tastes like watery crap but it has a much lower fat content. Fat clogs up your arteries and this is bad!

Frozen yoghurt is a great alternative to ice cream! Cut down on the cheese, cheese also has a lot of salt so keep your portions low.

Use low fat spread on your toast! And try some vegan baking, these choccy orange cupcakes are actually really delicious!

Saturated Fats!

These are not good at all for anyone, they're in all sorts of food that tastes really good; like sausages, cakes, biscuits, cream, SAUSAGES, cheese, butter and other fatty meat...I like sausages.

I've switched to lean meat (chicken and turkey) and I now eat veggie sausages. Quorn mince is now a staple in my recipes. I use it in my chilli, bolognese, lasagne and cottage pie.

Saturated fat is linked to heart disease. This shit is not good for your body. If you have a high fatty diet it'll end up clogging up arteries or you'll get fat and put more pressure on your ticker.

This stuff has been the most drastic change in my diet...because I really LOVE cake and I am overweight thanks to years of eating crap. I've lost a couple of stone since mid April and it is making a huge difference in how I feel.

But.......OMFG DO I MISS DOUGHNUTS!

Alcohol & Caffiene!
Do not have any of this if you are on heart drugs. Alcohol can damage your heart OR react badly with your heart medication and caffeine pushes your heart rate up, so cut that shit out!

Finally, drink water. About 5 glasses a day. I have a 1.5ltr bottle and I drink one of those a day. It helps keep your metabolism going and keeps clearing crap out of your body to keep your kidneys happy.

This little card is a list of what you need to look out for on the packaging of your foods. This has been a huge help to me if I've been caught out and want to buy something quick to eat. It is amazing how much salt is in EVERYTHING!

Well, that's all for this one. I hope it helps even one person, because when I came out of hospital I had no clue what to do with my diet.

I'll start posting some proper healthy recipes soon and maybe even a one week food diary so people get an idea of how I plan my meals out for the week.