Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the largest killer in UK, according to the latest statistics published by the British Heart Foundation.

It accounts for around 125,000 deaths a year; approximately one-in-four deaths in men and one-in-six deaths in women.

CHD is also the most common cause of premature death in the UK. The good news is, we are becoming more aware of the importance of a healthy lifestyle and, as a result, death rates for CHD have been falling in the UK since the late Seventies.

For adults under 65 years, they have fallen by 40 per cent in the past ten years.

Last Saturday, I was invited to talk at a seminar on heart disease and stroke awareness among Asians in Watford, organised in collaboration with the Watford and Three Rivers Primary Care Team.

The event encouraged a holistic approach preventing heart disease and a team of speakers gave advice, including a conventional cardiologist, a dietician, a yoga teacher and a holistic GP.

Three hundred people participated in this community-awareness event, taking advantage of the helpful advice and a range of useful literature.

Dr Henry Nouriel, the cardiologist from Barnet General hospital, talked about the causes of heart disease and emphasised that smoking, lack of exercise, obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes remain the major causes of heart disease and heart attacks.

Did you know that more than 1.5 million people in the have angina, half a million have heart failure and that these numbers are rising?

Dietician Mina Patel, from Welwyn Garden City Hospital, highlighted Asian dietary habits which cause heart disease.

Lack of exercise and a high intake of oily and sweet foods are common among the Asian community and lead to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

This also applies to all communities in Brighton and Sussex. My message to the community was that holistic approach is vital in order to create motivation to empower yourself to heal. is about creating better health for yourself.

As I said in my last column: A happy soul healthy body. Learning to live with less stress, tension and anxiety is, I believe, key to preventing heart disease.

The fact is, a large percentage of coronary heart disease is preventable by adopting healthy lifestyle and yet we are happy to create our own illness and suffering.

Adopting a moderate, wholesome lifestyle and doing regular exercise is all we need do.

Get into the habit of doing simple exercise at home. Yoga, yogic breathing, meditation and brisk jogging have all been shown to reduce blood pressure, cholesterol and heart disease.