Diet

• Avoid simple, processed carbohydrates.
• Eat a varied diet of complex, high fibre carbohydrates and oat bran.

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  Avoid saturated animal fats - use extra virgin olive oil, linseed (flaxseed) oil, have a tablespoon of crushed linseeds over cereal or salads every day, eat cold water fish (salmon, trout, mackerel) at least twice a week to provide you with heart healthy fats.
• Eat lots of berries and their extracts.
• Eat a handful of nuts every day; also legumes like chick peas, lentils, samp and soy beans at least twice a week.
• Refer tot the adapted food pyramid in the Quality Life section and dietary guidelines in the Diet and Food section.
• Obesity is a high risk factor for heart disease. Do your waist-hip ratio (WHR) and body mass index (BMI) to ascertain whether you fall into the obese weight range.
• Eat celery, cucumber and asparagus for fluid retention / oedema.
• Use ginger, turmeric and other warming spices regularly

If you do lapse once in a while, it’s okay – don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s what you mostly do on a daily basis, that makes a difference to your health and wellbeing.

Exercise
Exercise improves your mood, increases oxygen and nutrient supply to your heart and other cells and helps you maintain a healthy weight. If you’ve been sedentary for long, or have an existing heart problem, start gently with five minutes a day, gradually increasing to 30 minutes four times a week. Avoid straining and too many weight bearing exercises if you have existing heart disease and / or high blood pressure. Swimming and water aerobics work well to gently increase the supply of oxygen and nutrients to cells. Yoga, a slow gentle walk, Tai chi and dancing are all very effective ways to exercise.

Specific yoga exercises that help for high blood pressure and heart disease: shavasana and other relaxation poses, especially the sphinx, yoga nidra, pawanmuktasana part 1, ananda madirasana, siddhasana, makarasana, akarna dhanurasana, hasta utthanasana, ujjai and bhramari breath with no breath retention, yoga mudra with hands in prayer position in front of heart while repeating the positive affirmations. You can also attend a beginners’ yoga class or consult a book on basic yoga exercises.

Other

• Don’t smoke
• Drink at least eight glasses of water a day
• Restrict coffee intake – both caffeinated and decaffeinated
• Restrict alcohol intake to not more than one glass of red wine or one tot of whiskey a day for no more than five days a week
• Stress management

Written by Dr Arien van der Merwe

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