Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust (PCT) has commissioned a new website called Caring for your Heart, which we think will be really useful for everyone.
It's been specially designed to help people of Muslim faith understand how to look after their hearts better. There are helpful videos in English, Urdu and Punjabi and a wealth of advice on how to eat better and exercise more.
Not many people know that South Asian people living in the UK have a higher risk of heart disease than the rest of the UK population. The web is full of exercise and diet ideas, but tips that apply to Western readers might not always be suitable.
Caring for your Heart is full of ideas on how to tackle heart disease. They recommend little ways to change your diet:
"Foods recommended in the Qur'an include fruit, vegetables, lentils, fish, dates, olives, figs, garlic and ginger. Try using olive oil or rapeseed oil instead of ghee and using wholemeal atta for chapatis. Having smaller portions on your plate will help you lose weight. Try to have rice or chapatis and not both at the same time."
They also have some very sensible tips on how to make exercise easy.
You can share your experiences too, and help other people start exercising and eating better!
The British Heart Foundation has a good range of heart health leaflets and magazines available in English, Bengali, Gujarati, Urdu and Punjabi. So if your family is affected by heart disease or you just want to start cooking healthier recipes, we can help.
February is National Heart Month and we’ve got a stack of exciting things coming up to celebrate it!
