National Heart Month

February is regarded as National Heart Month. Not the chocolate kind that may receive around the middle of February, but that huge muscle located on the left hand-side/middle of your body which ticks away, keeping you alive and kicking.

The heart is the biggest muscle in the body and it also does the most work! Transporting blood, oxygen and nutrients around the body enabling us to go about our everyday activity. However, heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the UK.

During National Heart Month, our February blog posts will be focusing on how to be heart savvy and we’ll post some heart healthy recipes too. But first, we’ll start with some fun heart facts!

FYI:

• The heart beats about 100,000 times on a daily basis.

• When you listen to a heat beat, the noise you can hear are the opening and closing of the valves.

• The heart can continue to beat if separated from the human body, if there is a supply of oxygen, due to its own electrical impulses.

• A woman’s heart beats faster than a man’s.

Ways to help you keep your ticker healthy:

• Get regular exercise – aim for at least 30 minutes a day. We like walking, swimming, the odd run and yoga.

• Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables – variety is key. By keeping the skin on your fruit and veg you’ll get extra fibre. Go for soluble fibre sources such as carrots, avocado, figs, sweet potato and oranges – these can help to reduce the “bad cholesterol”.

• Base your meals on starchy wholegrains to boost that fibre content.

• Eat treats in moderation and limit the amount of processed food you eat.

• Eat less salt – try seasoning your food with herbs instead for added flavour.

• Try to quit smoking.

Our favourite heart healthy foods:

• Oats – our morning staple either as bircher or porridge. A great source of soluble fibre which acts like a sponge to soak up cholesterol.

• Oily fish – aim to have a serving of oily fish each week. Salmon, trout, fresh tuna, mackerel or sardines - we love them all in stir-fries & salads.

• Blueberries – sprinkle them on your morning oats, make blueberry & oat pancakes or go for a smoothie.

• Spinach - we add ours to our morning banana smoothie.

• Nuts – a handful of unsalted nuts are full of heart healthy fats, snack on them or sprinkle them in salads.

• Dark chocolate – we’re talking the dark stuff – 70%+. So if you want to treat your beau this Valentines day, go for the bitter stuff – they’ll thank you for it, if they don’t, then just give it to us.

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