Small changes mean you can have a heart healthy Pancake Day

WITH Pancake Day just around the corner on Tuesday, March 1 charity Heart Research UK have provided a few tips how to make it a healthy celebration.

Traditionally, pancakes are made with flour, eggs and milk and they are fried in butter or oil. However, with a few tweaks they can be made healthy, tasty and nutritious.

Choose a fibre-rich flour

By switching from white flour to wholemeal flour for your pancake recipe, you can increase the amount of heart-healthy fibre in your pancakes. You could blitz some high fibre, cholesterol-lowering porridge oats in a food processor to create tasty oat pancakes.

Choose a heart-healthy oil

Some people like to fry their pancakes in butter, however butter is high in saturated fats which can raise your cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease. Heart Research UK recommends choosing an unsaturated oil, such as rapeseed, vegetable or sunflower oil. Fats and oils are high in calories and should be consumed in small amounts. Make sure you add just enough oil to coat the base of the frying pan and you can remove excess oil with kitchen paper before heating the pan.

Choose a healthy filling

Some of the most popular pancake fillings, such as sugar, syrups, chocolate, cream, bacon and cheese, can be high in fat or sugar. Look for healthier options, such as fruit and low-fat yogurt with chopped nuts and no added sugar, or smoked salmon, spinach and low-fat cream cheese.

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of these recipes from the charity's website https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/

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