Oldham Community Leisure is running a project called Cook 4 Change for patients who are on the Coronary Heart Disease register.

One in four men and one in six women will get coronary heart disease in their lives and around 300,000 people in the UK have a heart attack every year, it is important that we all take steps to reduce our risk and improve quality of life if you have had a cardiac event.

Cook 4 Change focuses on promoting the cardio-protective diet. The cardio-protective diet is the name given to a Mediterranean style diet that has been shown to protect our hearts.

It was first discovered that people of Greece, in particular the Island of Crete had lower rates of Coronary Heart Disease than people of other nations. Their cholesterol, blood pressure and rates of heart attacks are lower then other parts of the world, including the UK.

Their diet was studied and the components of it that contribute to heart health were identified. If followed, the diet can reduce your risk of coronary heart disease and reduce the risk of further cardiac events if you have already suffered something such as a heart attack. It will work in addition to drugs such as Statins and blood pressure tablets to give you a better overall benefit.

It might take some time for you to see these benefits in your blood tests, such as a reduction in cholesterol, but you will benefit from following the diet after just a few weeks and your risk of having a cardiac event will be reduced in a short period of time. This is not to say that you can stop following the diet, it is important that dietary changes you make, are kept for life.

In order to help you make these changes and fit them into your lifestyle and routine, Cook 4 Change offers patients the chance to take part in group cookery sessions and/or one to one appointments with a dietitian.

All of the sessions are informal, fun and interactive, tailored specifically to coronary heart disease patients, although you can bring relatives or friends with you, and you have the chance to ask questions throughout.