Thursday 21 January 2010

Helping you care for your heart

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.

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Make a note of Friday 26 February - it's National Wear Red Day!

February is National Heart Month and we’ve got a stack of exciting things coming up to celebrate it!

You can get involved too by doing something red at work, school or home.

Last year, Amanda and her friends got in the spirit and had a great time...

"We went red for my daughter Victoria, who underwent surgery for an unexpected heart condition at just 21 years old, and has since made a great recovery.

"We had a red party at home and asked people to interpret red however they wanted - the photo shows how inventive they were feeling. We had a great night and raised £750 for the BHF."

What will you do this year? Anything you like, as it happens!

Join National Wear Red Day on Friday 26 February. Bake red cakes. Paint your face red. Anything goes as long as it’s red.

Get your free fundraising kit at bhf.org.uk/red or call 0845 241 0976.