2019-05-01_Healthy_Food_Guide_UK

SWAP THIS FORTHIS

BUTTER

ower-fat butter, or

egetable oil spreads

chas sunflower, olive

rapeseed oil spreads

WHOLE

MILK

1%milk

RED MEAT

Fish, turkey or chicken

without the skin, or

plant-based proteins

such as lentils

REGULAR

MINCE

Leaner, reduced-

fat varieties

REGULAR

CHEESE

ed-fat cheese

FRYING

Grilling, boiling,

steaming or baking

Unhealthy fats

The British Heart Foundation urges us to continue to

watch our saturated fat intake. ‘Reducing saturated

fat is a very simple way to lower your cholesterol

level and support your heart health,’ it advises. It’s

recommended women eat no more than 20g

saturated fats a day and men 30g. These fats are

found in processed meats such as sausages, ham

and burgers, fatty meat, cheese, butter, cream, whole

milk, lard, ghee, suet, palm and coconut oils.

‘The important thing about cutting out saturated

fat is what you replace it with,’ advises dietitian Tracy

Parker. ‘It’s no good cutting out fatty foods only to

replace them with low-fat sugary foods such as

Salt and blood pressure

‘Raised blood pressure is the highest cause of

deaths in the world,’ says Professor Graham

MacGregor, chair of Action on Salt and professor of

cardiovascular medicine at the Wolfson Institute of

Preventive Medicine – Barts and The London.

Worryingly, according to Blood Pressure UK, one in

three adults in the UK is known to have high blood

pressure, and a further one in nine has it but hasn’t

been diagnosed. A healthy reading is 120/80 or

lower, and blood pressure is considered to be high

when your reading is 140/90. At this level, you will

be advised to make lifestyle changes or your doctor

may prescribe medication.

One important change to make is to lower your

salt consumption. Too much salt raises our blood

pressure and, consequently, our risk of stroke and

heart disease. The maximum salt recommended for

an adult is 6g a day, but the majority of us go way

past this figure. One problem is that around 75%

of salt is hidden in our diets – in ready meals, sauces,

condiments, soups and bread, for example.

While supermarkets and food manufacturers have

made progress, very few mainstream restaurant

chains are as concerned about the salt content in

their meals. PizzaExpress’ Vegan Giardiniera has

6.5g salt per serving, for example, and many of its

pizzas contain over 4g salt per serving.

However, some restaurants are taking action.

Jamie’s Italian, for instance, works with nutritionists

to check salt in its recipes and trains its chefs in

nutrition. Jenny Rosborough, a spokesperson for

Jamie’s Italian, agrees the problem is that most of

the salt we consume is hidden in the foods we buy.

For this reason, she says, chefs are not allowed to

season any of the kids’ meals.

But haven’t food manufacturers been reducing

salt? Graham says incremental targets set by the

government were very successful up to 2010. ‘Salt

intake had fallen by around 20–40% in products on

supermarket shelves,’ he says. Levels in bread, which

The other heart-risk

factors in our diet

50%

of heart

attacks

and

strokes are

associated

with high

blood

pressure

30%

of adults

in the UK

have high

blood

pressure

THE BHF RECOMMENDS

STARTING WITH

THESE BASIC SWAPS

Getting enough fibre may improve your heart health, but its benefits will be minimal unless

you also address the other lifestyle risks for heart disease, say experts

fruit-flavoured yogurts. Aim to swap saturated fats for

polyunsaturated fats found in sunflower, corn, soya and

rapeseed oils, spreads made from these oils, and nuts

and seeds. Monounsaturated fats are also healthier,

and can be found in rapeseed oils, avocados and

some nuts including walnuts, almonds and pecans.’

R

Lo

vev

su

or

Reduc

20 HEALTHY FOOD GUIDE MAY 2019