Healthy eating
Looking after your body is very important for your general
and heart health. Eating healthily is a good place to start
and can greatly reduce your risk of getting heart disease or having
a stroke.
It will help you to control your weight,
blood sugar and cholesterol,
helping reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes and heart
disease.
- 4 medium snappa fish or other firm white fish of your choice e.g. coley or cod
200g pumpkin, peeled and cubed
150g okra, washed and trimmed
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 can chopped tomotoes
1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 bay leaf
2 whole pimentos
2 sprigs of thyme
Scotch bonnet pepper, finely sliced (optional)
. Season the fish with the scotch bonnet, black pepper, bay leaf, ground coriander and thyme. This can be done in advance and left to marinate in the fridge overnight.
Add the vegetables and a little water to a non-stick pan and heat gently for 5-7 minutes then place the marinated fish on top of the vegetables and cover with a tight fitting lid.
Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes or until the flesh is cooked all the way through. Serve with boiled yams or plain rice and vegetables of your choice
Get all the taste, but with less salt
This will probably come as no surprise
to you but eating
too much salt can give you high blood
pressure and is not good for your heart. African Caribbean
people are especially sensitive to the effects of salt, so it is
important to take care with the amount of salt you use in cooking
and don't add it at the table.
What might come as a surprise is that we get
most of our salt from processed foods. So while
it's a great idea to take the salt shaker off the dinner
table, getting familiar with food
labels is just as important to help make healthy choices.
Tip: Slowly reduce the amount
of salt you add each day, and try adding more herbs and
spices to bump up the flavour of your favourite dishes
Bust those food myths
Everyone wants to lose weight quickly and keep it off, and there
are so many diets out there promising instant results.
There are loads of different myths and
old wives tales about dieting, but healthy eating doesn't
require odd ingredients or overdosing on
garlic.
Simple steps such as making small changes to the way you prepare
and cook your food and watching your portion sizes can help you eat more healthily
and lose weight.
Get healthy in the kitchen
Why not try out some of these
healthy Caribbean dishes – our recipe cards have loads of
information about healthy ways to prepare the foods you love.
Aim to eat at least 5 portions of a
variety of fruit and vegetables a day can help protect you
against heart disease. Try cooking with okra and
green bananas - they'll help you
reach your daily target.
Learn more about eating healthy with our
Eating Well booklet.
Discover how your lifestyle affects your
risk of heart disease and stroke in our Healthy
Living, Healthy Heart booklet.
Download our recipe
app for Iphone and Android for instant access to loads of
great healthy recipes including healthy versions of dishes you'll
know and love.