New website for teenagers launched

As we write this our new website for teenagers, yheart.net, is being launched at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.

The website - yheart.net - encourages young people to find out how their heart works and how to keep it healthy in an exciting and interesting way.

It's jam packed with health-related competitions, quirky games and challenges that win prizes.

It is estimated that 4,600 babies are born with a heart defect in the UK every year – that’s one in every 145 babies. At least three quarters of babies born with congenital heart disease are predicted to survive to adulthood.

Take a look at the site now

Heart support groups

We have nearly 300 BHF affiliated heart support groups across England and Wales. The groups are set up by patients themselves and provide a vital network for people living with heart disease.

The groups are a friendly environment where you can get the support and advice you need.

If there isn't one in your local area you can set one up yourself.

Affiliation comes with a number of advantages including access to a £100 start-up grant, free public liability insurance and a regular BHF Network Newsletter.

Find out more about our heart support groups

Here we ho, here we ho, here we ho...

This just in...

Some wonderful footage and a lengthy news report from ITV Wales on the great BHF Swansea Santa Jog, which took place last weekend - see it here

Sign up for one of the next upcoming BHF Santa Jogs here

Enjoy a 'fruity' stuffing this Christmas...

Did you know the average person consumes 7,000 calories over Christmas lunch? That's three times the recommended intake for an average woman!

Here at the BHF we don't want to come across as "bah humbug" this Christmas, so we have put together our top tips on how you can enjoy a healthier Christmas lunch

That's right. You can - just about! - have you cake and it eat it too. Follow our tips to find out just how easy it is to be healthy over the festive season.

From piling on the veg, making your own gravy and watching your portion size, you really can enjoy the wonderful food Christmas has to offer - without cutting back on all the traditional trimmings.

On your marks, get set, "Ho"...

A week or so back we were commending the British Heart Foundation's very own fundraising Santa Jog events to you.

Well the first of these festive fun runs just took place in Swansea at the weekend, and rather than try to resell the proposition to you again ourselves, we thought you might like to read a first-hand report on the blog of jog participant DDWT - there's also some great video on there too.

Then, should you feel remotivated and want to get out on the road yourself, why not find out more about one of the Santa Jogs taking place near you on our main website

Please note: If you read the headline above in the previous blog entry about Santa Jogs - and got it - then please ignore it. But we liked it and thought it was worth repeating...

Take credit for saving lives

Fancy finding a way to spend money without feeling so bad about it? Well we think we can help.

Not that we'd encourage overspending, of course, but if you are going to spend money on a credit card then doesn't it make sense for a good cause to benefit from it at the same time?

For every new British Heart Foundation credit card account opened with MBNA, we get £50 when you make your first purchase with the card. We also get 35p for every £100 you spend.

Since the launch of the card we've received more than £1.2 million to help beart heart disease. Now doesn't that feel a little bit better?

Find out more about how to apply for the BHF credit card right here

It's about time we had a list here on the BHF Blog. We like lists, and we hope you do too.

Today's list came about while we were trying to find out what the most popular BHF Publications had been over the past three months, so we thought we should share the top ten with you right now. Here goes...

1. Reducing Your Blood Cholesterol - download
2. So You Want to Lose Weight for Good - download
3. Blood Pressure - download
4. Eating for Your Heart - download
5. Physical Activity and Your Heart - download
6. Cut the Saturated Fat From Your Diet (wallchart) - order
7. Guide to Food Labelling - order
8. Heartstart CPR Card - order
9. Get Active - order
10. Food Should Be Fun...and Healthy - order

Saving lives...and paper

There are a lot of things to think about these days when it comes to sending personal or corporate Christmas cards.

Not only do you want to send a stylish card, but to donate to charity and help the environment. Fortunately at the BHF we can help with all three requirements.

Why not send one of our classic e-cards to all your friends or clients?

Our e-cards are simple to send, save paper (and eliminate that seasonal postal drama of will it arrive on time or not) and show your support for the nation’s heart charity.

All the details on how to order our stylish e-cards are on our main website.

Day In The Life of a BHF Heart Nurse

Did you know that we currently fund more than 300 specialist BHF Heart Nurses (pictured right)?

But since that figure equates to just one nurse for every 10,000 people, you can understand why we desperately want to be able to fund many more nurses.

Find out a bit more about the work of our nurses in the special section on the main website, where you can also read about a Day In The Life of a BHF Nurse and a Day In The Life of a Children's Nurse

And if you feel moved to help us try and reduce the yawning gap in the ratio of Heart Nurses to patients, please think about making a donation to work of the BHF

As a charity we are totally reliant on your generosity to support our care work.

Thanks for taking the time to read about BHF Heart Nurses.

Voting with your feet

Do you ever have good intentions of walking or cycling somewhere, but then, when you think about the route you'd have to take, get cold feet and decide you'd better drive instead?

The good news - if that's what you can call it - is that you're almost certainly not alone. Environmental barriers are one of the main reasons that people have cited to us for not taking the recommended 30 minutes a day of exercise.

So we launched the 30 a Day campaign earlier this year, which included calling on local authorities to work with builders, town planners and health groups to create everyday opportunties for people to be physically active.

And now we're supporting Connect2, a project launched by sustainable transport charity Sustrans, to make it easier for people to walk and cycle on everyday journeys to school, work, shops, parks and the countryside.

Connect2 is now one of four projects competing in the Big Lottery Fund’s The People’s £50 Million contest. The winner of the £50 million will be decided by the public in online and telephone voting.

To find out more about the project and contest - and to register your support - please visit SustransConnect2 or text Connect2 to 80010.

Or you can read more about it now on our main website

A digital workout for your digits

Our online traffic statistics tell us a lot of interesting things about what you enjoy on the BHF website. Really they do.

And racing to the top of the leaderboard this week are the Office Olympics on our ever-popular Think Fit! microsite.

This digital workout is particularly popular among those of you in Asia, inspired no doubt by the forthcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Of course, once you've mastered this desktop challenge, we'd urge you to raise your game and try out some of our Active At Work ideas.

Think 'faster, higher, stronger' or at least order a Think Fit! pack

A souper, heart warming treat

We know we only mentioned the weather yesterday, but the arrival of chilly temperatures has rather focused our minds on staying warm.

At this time of year there's no better winter warmer than comfort food. But the good news is that comfort food doesn't have to be unhealthy.

Take this tasty carrot and coriander soup. It's quick and simple to make, and you can download the recipe from our Food should be fun...and healthy! booklet.

So if that's inspired you, why not treat yourself - or your friends and family - to The Big Book of Quick & Healthy Recipes - available from our Online Shop

Coming in from the cold

Let's be honest. It's not much fun smoking outside now that temperatures are plummeting and winter is finally arriving, is it?

If you've been thinking about quitting since the smoking ban came into force this July, perhaps the harsh reality of being abandoned by your non-smoking friends - and left to shiver on the pavement outside - are just the incentives you need.

Of course, quitting can be really tough. But our special Giving Up Smoking website offers all the help and support you need.

Why not sign up for our free daily email support programme - or call our Giving Up Smoking helpline on 0800 169 1900.

Still thinking about it? Well according to our online Stop Smoking Calculator stubbing out even a five-a-day habit means you'd save enough cash to buy yourself a new TV by Christmas.

Reason enough indeed to come in from the cold.

Yule be sorry...

... if you miss out on the chance to dress up in a free Santa suit and jog around a town centre near you.

Of course, we're not suggesting that you look festively foolish for nothing. We want you to look festively foolish, walk or run 2km and raise money for the BHF.

Still not convinced? The Santa Jogs are being supported by former Big Brother contestants Sam and Amanda - or 'Samanda' to those in the know.

Ok, so now that we've sold the idea to you, find out how to be a dashing Santa at our Hearts First Santa Jogs events page on our main website.

The first Santa Jog takes part in Swansea on Sunday 25 November, followed by many more including Birmingham, Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Reading, Nottingham, Salford Quays and Peterborough, plus further locations still to be announced - further details here

On your marks, get set, Ho!

The good, the bad and the fat

We all know that fat is high in calories and that it's best to limit our intake.

But did you know that when it comes to heart health, some fats increase your cholesterol levels (a bad thing) but some actually lower it (a good thing)?

The key to lowering your blood cholesterol levels, and your risk of coronary heart disease, is cutting down on saturated fat.

But which foods contain saturated fat? Unravelling the difference between these two types of fat can be tricky but fortunately our Top tips to cut saturated fat on our main website can help.

Join our Cardiac Rehab rally!

On Wednesday 5 December we will be holding a rally at the Houses of Parliament from 12-4pm in support of the National Campaign for Cardiac Rehabilitation.

Cardiac rehabilitation is an inexpensive treatment that saves lives. Yet, amazingly, 60% of heart patients who need it do not have access to it.

We want to take your concerns about cardiac rehab provision direct to our national decision makers.

We’re looking for passionate campaigners who are ready to take up the call for improved access to cardiac rehabilitation.

Sign up today to become a Cardiac Rebab campaigner - we need your support today!

Find out more about our Campaign for Cardiac Rehabilitation

Calling all new mums!

New mothers are being invited to help with vital new research to find out why South Asian Indians living in the UK are twice as likely to die from heart disease as the general UK population.

The London Mother and Baby Study is calling for new mums to have their baby’s measurements harmlessly taken by a ‘PeaPod’ crib at a Northwest London hospital.

The safe, comfortable, warm PeaPod machine has been designed just for babies and measures the baby’s weight and size (body volume). These measurements are used to work out the amount of fat and muscle the baby has.

The study is recruiting pregnant, UK-born South Asian Indian women and pregnant UK-born white women. Mothers to be will be asked to fill in a questionnaire and, if they are eligible, transport will be provided to the hospital clinic when the baby is 6–8 weeks old.

The study visit only takes about 90 minutes. Volunteers are being recruited from now until the end of 2008.

For further information or if you are interested in taking part in the study, please contact Kristina Stanfield on 020 7927 2247 or at kristina.stanfield@lshtm.ac.uk

Stub it out..

At the BHF we would like to think that we don't rest on our laurels. So even if the smoking ban is now in force, our fight against cigarette sales themselves is far from over.

This time we're targeting cigarette vending machines. We want them banned. Why? Because an astonishing 52,500 children regularly buy cigarettes from unsupervised machines.

And we'd really like your help. Please go our ban cigarette vending machine campaign page on our main website to find out more.

Of course we don't just ask for help - we can give it too.

If you're trying to quit, our giving up smoking website has lots of helpful tips and ideas on how to help you give up.

Tis the season...

..to start your Christmas shopping?

Yes, Christmas really is approaching fast, so get in there quick before it becomes really unbearable.

We have a number of ways to help make your Christmas shopping enjoyable and stress free.

Shop with us today and help make a difference to the fight against heart disease.

You can find your perfect gift with us, we have something for everyone.

Great value gifts at fantastic prices, everything from fitness and health products to jewellery and even a popcorn maker!

Find out more about shopping with the BHF here

Help us be a winner!

We need your help to win the coveted title of 'Best Body and Mind' website for our main website bhf.org.uk in the annual Website of the Year awards.

Voting is now open and it's really easy to cast your vote. As an added incentive there are even some fantastic prizes on offer like iPods and digital cameras.

So if you think we're worth it, and we hope you do (!) then please do vote for us and help spread the word by emailing family and friends to cast their vote.

Every vote counts!

Vote for us today here

The grape debate

The issue of how much it's possible for a person to drink before it affects their health - including their heart health - is once again very much in the news. After all, isn't red wine meant to be good for the heart?

So we felt it was worthwhile once again to publish on our main BHF website the information that we believe to be correct on the burning question of How Much Alcohol Is It Safe To Drink?

We hope that it brings some clarity to a subject which very often - particularly if alcohol itself is involved - can become somewhat confusing. You'll find it if you click here