Heart disease

You may be surprised to learn that heart disease is the biggest killer of women.

The drop in oestrogen that occurs at menopause increases the risk of heart disease, so now is the time to get your blood fats and blood pressure checked.

You can reduce your risk of heart disease risk by:

• treating high blood pressure
• treating high cholesterol
• being physically active every day
• eating nutritious foods
• not smoking.

To help control your level of blood fats, limit:

• saturated fats from animal fats, butter, palm oil, coconut oil
• takeaways or creamy pasta dishes to once per week
• snack foods such as potato crisps to once per week
• cakes and pastries to once per week unless you have time to make your own with healthier oils. Be aware that palm oil and coconut oil are often listed as ‘vegetable oil’ in baked goods but are saturated fats, in contrast to most vegetable oils
• fatty meats and full-cream dairy foods
• high cholesterol foods such as egg yolks, liver, kidney, brains
• large amounts of refined carbohydrate such as found in highly sweetened drinks.

It is beneficial to include the following in your diet:

• lean meat, vegetables and wholegrains
• fish twice a week
• unsalted nuts and seeds
• legumes such as dried beans, lentils, baked beans and kidney beans
• oils such as canola, sunflower, soybean, olive and peanut oils (If labelled ‘light’, this refers to light flavour rather than lower calorie content)
• margarines made from oils such as canola, sunflower, safflower or olive oil.

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