Eating for a healthy heart
February is Heart Health Month! Here are 10 lifestyle changes you can make to reduce your risk of heart disease:
■ Fill half your plate with vegetables and fruit at every meal. Fresh, frozen and canned are all good choices.
■ Choose whole grains every day. Fill a quarter of your plate with whole grains at every meal. Examples are whole grain breads, oatmeal, brown rice or quinoa.
■ Choose higher fibre foods every day. The Nutrition Facts table shows the amount of fibre in foods. Choose foods with a higher % Daily Value (% DV) for fibre. 5% DV means a little, 15% DV means a lot.
■ Eat beans and lentils four times per week. Start by adding to your regular salads, soups and pasta sauce recipes.
■ Have nuts or nut butter every day. Examples are almonds, walnuts, peanut butter or almond butter.
■ Have fish and seafood at least twice each week. Examples are salmon, haddock, shrimp, mussels, sardines or tuna.
■ Choose unsaturated fat most often. This includes soft margarine and oils like olive, canola or soybean.
■ Have saturated fat less often. Examples are coffee cream, cream cheese, sour cream, butter or coconut oil.
■ Limit treat foods that are high in sugar, fat or salt. These include foods such as baked goods, candy, chips or pretzels.
■ Be physically active. The recommendation for adults is at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each week. Activities lasting 10 minutes or more count!
The best changes are the ones you can stick with for life. Set a realistic goal to improve your heart health. Seek support from a registered dietitian to learn what is best for your heart.
Hungry for more? Like @SobeysDietitian on Facebook and Twitter for more tasty tips & recipes or receive our schedule of events and Healthy Bits & Bites Newsletter directly to your inbox! Register at www.sobeyspharmacy.com/newsletter.
NUTRITION EVENTS
Join me for her Secrets for Better Heart Health on Friday, Feb. 22, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Sobeys Aberdeen. Learn tips to improve your heart health. Please contact me to register at 902-755-3645 or Teresa. flynn@sobeys.com.