In the UK, Heart Disease is one of the leading causes of death for women (it kills twice as many women in the UK as breast cancer), and over 3 million women are living with heart disease.
Nutrition and Lifestyle can play a key role in helping minimise disease onset.
Risk Factors
There are a number of risk factors all women should be aware of when it comes to heart disease. These include:
- High Blood Pressure
- High Cholesterol
- Diabetes
There are also lifestyle factors that can play a role in increasing in our risk. These include:
- Smoking
- Lack of exercise
- Having a BMI over 30
- PCOS – often women with PCOS can experience diabetes, high cholesterol and even high blood pressure which are all risk factors for heart disesease
- Gestational Diabetes – increases your risk of developing diabetes and in turn heart disease
- Continuous Stress – experiencing stress for long periods of time
And finally, simply going through the Menopause, increases a woman’s risk of heart disease. Oestrogen is a sex hormone that helps reduce our risk of heart disease. In menopause, our oestrogen levels decline and thus the risk of high cholesterol and other heart issues increases.
Nutrition to support Healthy Hearts includes
Protein – Lean animal (such as turkey, chicken, fish eggs) and or Plant Protein (including legumes, tempeh, edamame, nuts etc)
Omega 3 – Oily fish such as Salmon, Herring, Mackerel, Anchovies and Sardines
Health Fats – such as those from avocados, nuts, seeds and extra virgin olive oil
Vegetables – all vegetables but in particular focus on the leafy green vegetables and beetroot
Fruits – berries, apples, pears
At the same time foods to exclude / keep to a minimum include:
- Processed foods / ready meals
- Foods with high sodium and or salt levels – particularly smoked and packet meats
- Added sugars – from pastries, biscuits etc
- Soda drinks
- Fruit juices
- Alchohol
Lifestyle factors to consider
- Have regular health checks to assess your cholesterol and blood pressure
- Manage your weight ensuring you have a healthy BMI – check your BMI her at https://www.nhs.uk/health-assessment-tools/calculate-your-body-mass-index/
- Stop smoking
- Exercise – whether it be chair exercises, dancing, walking, swimming etc. Ensure you undertake some sort of movement every day
- Seek ways to manage stress better – from mediation to breath work to yoga. Start a hobby, or simply find time each week for you, away from the demands of the world and allowing you to refocus and reset.
Summary
Every woman is unique and therefore the risk of heart disease varies by person to person. However all of us can benefit from eating well and making healthy lifestyle choices that can help minimise our risk of heart disease – surely these are choices worth making?