If you’re struggling to keep your healthy heart, the University of Queensland’s Dr Matthew Hocking says it’s all about being mindful of your diet and exercise. 

Dr Hocking is one of the founders of the Healthy Heart program, which focuses on making healthy lifestyle choices and diet changes for people with heart disease.

“What we’re trying to do is encourage people to think about eating more plant-based foods, more fruits and vegetables and less processed food,” Dr Hocking told 720 ABC Brisbane.

“It’s really about how we’re eating and getting out of the habit of consuming a lot of processed foods.”

Dr Hock says it all started with a conversation with a patient he’d met a couple of years ago.

“She’s a very active, active woman, and we started talking about exercise, and I think she was in the middle of a cycle, and she had to take time off work, and there was no way she could do that on a daily basis,” Dr James said.

“So we’re talking about how to balance that with eating more fruits, vegetables, beans, and other plant foods, and exercising.”

Dr James said the patient was in remission, and wanted to do more exercise to help her keep her heart healthy.

“I was trying to convince her that, no, it’s not just for women, it should be for anyone who’s struggling with their heart,” he said.

“That’s a big thing, and that was one of our primary messages to her.”

Dr Daniel Koehler from the University Health Network in Australia said a lot more research was needed into this particular topic.

“There’s so many variables in the health of the heart, and they’re all influenced by a number of factors, and these are not always well-understood, so we’re really trying to understand how this may play out in terms of a range of different variables,” Dr Koehl said.

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