Healthy Heart Program Updates
In this Issue
Along with the new year we have new policy guidelines, new initiatives and new challenges. You will see the challenges as you read the summary of the 2005 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans in this issue. We will face challenges in educating people on how to translate these recommendations into daily choices for food and activity. The increase in the activity levels has many people wondering how to carve out more time to exercise. We all wait to learn if the USDA will change the Food Guide Pyramid, but that is unknown and it may be a few more months before this tool that illustrates the Dietary Guidelines is released. With the increased recommendation for fruit and vegetable intake and the use of cups of food rather than servings, we will need to educate our clients on how this looks in meals and menus. An article in the New York Times on January 23, 2005, detailed how the author had tried to follow the guidelines for four days. He quickly found that it wasn't a small adjustment here and there, but instead it required a lot of planning and interpretation, especially with the calories and the term discretionary calories. Indeed challenges for us in nutrition education are in store!
An article in this issue presents information on omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. This may be confusing to many, so please mark your calendars now and plan to attend this year's Lillian Fountain Smith Conference when we will have three speakers address this complex and misunderstood area on Friday, June 10, 2005. The conference will begin, as is the custom, on Thursday, June 9, 2005, and will be at the Marriot Hotel in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Remember that February is Heart Month which is the perfect time for everyone to focus on heart disease and offer educational programs. Self Care for a Healthy Heart is a resource you may wish to use. Contact the CSU Resource Center for this packet that you may obtain for the small sum of $5 per packet. Go Red for Women is the focus of this year's Heart Month with American Heart Association and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services working together to heighten awareness and provide education on this major health problem for women. Here are a few sobering facts to contemplate: Heart disease is the number 1 killer of women; 1 in 2 women dies of heart disease or stroke; 1 in 30 women dies of breast cancer; 1 in 8 women age 45-64 has some form of heart disease, increasing to 1 in 3 for women age 65 and over. Women have tremendous power to prevent heart disease. Educators have the challenge to get out the facts, help women identify their personal risk factors, and help them understand how to make healthy changes. Visit the AHA web site www.heart.org or go to www.4woman.gov.
Happy New Year and
Enjoy Good Health in 2005!
Jennifer Anderson, Ph.D., R.D.
Food and Nutrition Extension Specialist
Shirley Perryman, M.S., R.D.
Extension Specialist
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Updated Tuesday, September 25, 2007.
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