Who’s looking After Your Heart?

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Your heart is a pump and its job is to push blood around your body, delivering the oxygen and nutrients your body needs to be healthy and work properly. It can beat up to 100,000 times a day; that’s up to 3 billion heartbeats during an average lifetime!

Carrying excess body fat can have a serious impact on your health and is a risk factor for heart disease. It can also increase your risk of chronic diseases like diabetes, arthritis and certain cancers. The good news is this is something you can change.

 

Simple Tips for Healthy Weight Loss

  1. Move more! Small changes in your daily physical activity all add up.
  2. Never go on a ‘diet’. Instead make small changes that can become your norm for life. Little changes will make a big difference in the long run.
  3. Make each meal an opportunity to fuel your body with nutritious foods instead of ‘sometimes’ foods.
  4. Reduce your portion size. Try using a smaller plate and don’t feel you have to finish everything on it.
  5. Fill half your plate with vegies or salad, quarter with protein the size of your palm (not including your fingers) and the last quarter with carbohydrates, such as brown rice, wholegrain bread or sweet potato.
  6. Slow and steady is best for long term sustainable weight loss. Avoid jumping on the scales daily. Instead, let your clothes and how good you feel provide you feedback.
  7. Get help from a professional. If you’re not sure how to get started with your exercise or if you’re doing it correctly, seek the support of a trained professional. All of our exercise advisors at Health Mates are registered with Fitness Australia, so you know they hold their license to practise as fitness professional and have attained recognised qualifications. For comprehensive dietary advice we’d also suggest seeking help from an Accredited Practising Dietitian.

Eating Tips for a Healthy Heart

  1. Include vegetables, wholegrains, fruit, nuts and seeds daily.
  2. Choose good fats, such as avocadoes, olives, nuts and seeds, plus use their olds?? for when cooking.
  3. Include fish or seafood 2 – 3 times per week.
  4. Include beans and legumes in at least two meals a week and up to six eggs per week.
  5. Keep ‘sometimes’ foods to just sometime. ‘Sometimes’ foods include things like cakes, soft drinks, chips, chocolate and doughnuts.
  6. Instead of adding salt, add flavour to your meals with herbs and spices.
  7. Drink water.