Healthy Heart Beats

Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition

Extension
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1571

Healthy Heart Beats

July-September 2007
Vol 29, Issue 3

Dining a la Health

Easy Steps to Eating Healthy

Read the label. Nutrition Facts labels have lots of information to help you become a healthier eater. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a website to teach you to use and understand labels at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/foodlab.html. Nutrition labels can help you understand both what you may be getting too much of and also what you may need to choose less often. Too much saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol can raise your blood cholesterol, a risk factor for heart disease. Too much salt (which appears on the label as "sodium") can contribute to high blood pressure, another risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Too much sugar adds empty calories and helps contribute to obesity.

Load your grocery cart with natural color. Eat more fruits and vegetables. They naturally contain vitamins, minerals and fiber. Fruits and vegetables with different colors tend to have different levels of important nutrients, such as folate, potassium and vitamins A and C. If you have children in the family, let them help you make selections in the produce aisle as well as prepare them when you get home. You'll find that kids want to eat more of what they cook.

Choose whole grains often. You can easily add whole grains to your diet by choosing breads and cereals made with whole grains. Be aware that some cereals marketed for children may contain only a small amount of whole grain and also be very high in sugar. If your family is used to eating only white bread, start making the change slowly-perhaps combining both whole wheat and white bread in a sandwich. Dietary fiber helps lower cholesterol, control blood sugar, promote regularity, and help control weight.

Pay attention to portion size. Be aware of how much you eat. Even if your food choices qualify as healthy, you're still at risk for diabetes, heart disease and other health problems if you're overweight. For example, value-size meals are not a bargain if you're eating more that your body needs to burn for energy. Those extra calories are stored as fat.

Make healthy choices when eating out. When you go to restaurants, either ask for their healthier options or look for them to be highlighted on the menu. When you buy prepared foods at the store from the deli or the frozen food section, check the labels for foods that are lower in sodium, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and calories.

Eat healthy at home. If you're an active family make sure the choices that are available to grab-and-go are healthy choices. Have more fruit sitting out on the table-and nuts, if weight control isn't a problem for your family. Put clear containers of washed, cut up veggies at eye level in the refrigerator. Encourage drinking water in place of sugary, high-calorie drinks. To help you get started on the road to good eating, check out sample recipes from some of the American Heart Association cookbooks at http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3040179.

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