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The hectic pace of modern life often dictates the type of food that we consume. And with the wealth of information about healthy eating bombarding us every day from all directions, most of us probably feel pretty guilty about the seemingly impossible trade-off between getting through our daily schedule, and eating a healthy balanced diet.

The importance of a good diet cannot be overstated. If managed well, our diets can help to reduce the risk of our developing heart disease. For patients already suffering from coronary heart disease, eating a good diet can also help protect and guard against more serious heart problems, such as hypertension, heart attack and stroke. 

How eating healthily can help protect your heart

Although it may take a little more time, effort and expense, the up-side of eating a healthy diet can bring enormous benefits to our overall well being, including:

• lower body weight
• lower blood cholesterol level
• lower blood pressure
• lower risk of Atherosclerosis (build up of fatty deposits in the arteries)
• lower risk of blood clots
• lower risk of hypertension
• lower risk of heart attack and stroke

So, regularly consuming a well balanced diet can help you improve your overall health and can help protect against other life threatening conditions such as some types of cancer and diabetes. 

What exactly is a healthy diet? 

A healthy diet contains plenty of fruit and vegetables and starchy foods such as wholegrain bread, pasta and rice; and is low in fat (especially saturated fat), salt and sugar.

The problem is, it is difficult to adhere to a healthy diet if your lifestyle results in having little available time to shop and cook wholesome home made meals made with fresh natural ingredients. The problem is made worse if your lifestyle is continuously mobile, as the choice of healthy eating on the go, especially from fast food outlets is even more restricted.

The problem with fat 

Too much fat in your diet particularly saturated fat, can increase your blood cholesterol levels which can increase your risk of developing coronary heart disease.   To help reduce your cholesterol level you should cut down on the total amount of fat you eat and replace saturated fats with monounsaturates and polyunsaturates and cut down on foods containing trans fats. 

The hidden risks of dietary fat intake

This is a simple study where we compare the actual amounts of dietary fat which is consumed by two imaginary people – one who does not consider the health implications of what they’re eating, and one who is health conscious and takes care about what they are eating and it’s implications for their long-term health.

The table below shows two different food types for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The comparison is between the normal diet and the healthy option.

Keep in mind that the UK daily recommended intake of dietary fat is 95 grams for men and 70 grams for women.

It can be seen that the healthy option weighs in at a healthy 65 grams of fat allowing a ‘bonus’ of up to 30 grams for the odd cookie or candy bar! 

Now take a look at the ‘normal’ diet based on classic popular meals. This shows that without even realising it we can way exceed the healthy daily limits just by consuming one or more meals of our everyday regular favourite foods. In the extreme example our imaginary person has consumed over 2 days worth of fat in just one day, with  216 grams!

This shocking example is being played out every day by millions of men and women in the United Kingdom, United States and most other Westernised countries.