What does Cardiovascular diseases mean?

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is the umbrella term for diseases that affect the heart and circulatory system, including heart attacks, strokes, ischemic attacks (TIA) and vascular diseases of the great vessels (including intermittent claudication).
Cardiovascular diseases are divided into acquired and innate (congenital) disorders. The diseases may be treated with medicines, a.o. blood thinners and cholesterol-lowering drugs, or with an intervention such as bypass surgery or angioplasty.
Advices on lifestyle are an important part of the treatment, such as dietary advices and assistance in quitting smoking.
Known blood levels which can show something, are the cholesterol levels (total, LDL, HDL, ratio), the triglyceride values, the blood pressure and the (progress of) bodyweight.

The role of the dietitian

A dietitian gives lifestyle advice on how to reduce the abnormal blood levels and possibly  the excessive body weight. In this case, it’s important to increase the knowledge about the various types of fats (saturated, unsaturated, essential fats and trans fats) and products that contain salt (sodium).

In what products can you find fats?

Saturated fat is mostly hidden in products. Think of full-fat cheese (48+), sausages, fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, biscuits, pastries, snacks and pretzels. Also packets of hard margarine and fry & roasting products contain saturated fat.
Unsaturated fat is found in vegetable oils such as sunflower oil, peanut oil, olive oil, grapeseed oil, rapeseed oil (canola oil) and corn oil, tubs of margarine and halvarine and liquid fry and cooking products, fatty fish such as salmon, halibut, herring, sprats, mackerel, haddock liver and nuts and peanuts.

In what products can you find salt (sodium)?

Besides the famous salt shaker on the table, salt is often hidden in certain products. Think of ready-made meals, sauces, gravy powder, seasoning packets, soup in different packaging, bouillon (cube), snacks, cheese, different cold cuts, sambal and Maggi.

With what can we help you?

We can recommend a tasty and healthy diet, with attention to products containing less saturated and more unsaturated fat. We can give you tips to make your food tasty without or with less salt. And we can explain other methods of preparation which are less fatty and again quickly.