- Author: Emily Harris
In honor of National Wear Red Day today, this month's Tasty Tips is all about heart health. Whether you are dealing with heart health issues, know someone who is, or want to prevent any heart issues in the future, this post is for you! The best place to start when thinking about your heart health is to think of the foods you eat. Below are some tips and tricks to help your heart:
1.Choose foods that promote heart health more often.
Fruits and vegetables. At least half of your plate should be fruits and vegetables.
Whole grains. At least half of your grains should be whole grains. Whole grains include:
- whole wheat
- whole oats
- oatmeal
- whole-grain corn
- brown rice
- wild rice
- whole rye
- whole-grain barley
- buckwheat
- bulgur
- millet
- sorghum
Fat-free or low-fat dairy products. These include milk, calcium-fortified soy drinks (soy milk), cheese, yogurt, and other milk products.
Seafood, skinless poultry, lean meats, beans, eggs, and unsalted nuts.
Source: www.womenshealth.gov
2. Reduce your intake of foods that hinder heart health.
Saturated fats. Saturated fat is usually in pizza, ice cream, fried chicken, many cakes and cookies, bacon, and hamburgers. Check the Nutrition Facts label for saturated fat. Less than 10% of your daily calories should be from saturated fats.
Trans fats. These are found mainly in commercially prepared baked goods, snack foods, fried foods, and margarine. The Food and Drug Administration is taking action to remove artificial trans fats from our food supply because of their risk to
Added sugars. Foods like fruit and dairy products naturally contain sugar. But you should limit foods that contain added sugars. These include sodas, sports drinks, cake, candy, and ice cream. Check the Nutrition Facts label for added sugars and limit the how much food you eat with added sugars.
Source: www.womenshealth.gov
3. Bring heart healthy recipes to life.
Now that you know what's best to eat for your heart, try out some of the recipes from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute below to turn your knowledge into action.
Want more information? Check out the resources below for more tips, studies, and inspiration:
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
The USDA Food and Nutrition Service Information Center
The American Heart Association
Have you seen how healthy eating and dietary changes have made an impact on the heart health of you or someone you know? Let us know in the comments below!
- Author: Emily Harris
Super Bowl 50 brings many opportunities to snack this Sunday. UC CalFresh would love to help you make healthy snack swaps as you sit down to watch the big game. Check out our ideas below:
Try a twist on a classic with our
Mango Salsa
Makes: 8 (2 Tablespoon) servings | Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
1 mango, peeled, pitted, and diced (or 1 cup thawed, frozen mango chunks)
1 Tablespoon diced red onion
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried cilantro (optional)
¼ teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lime or 2 Tablespoons bottled lime juice
Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Serve with baked tortilla chips.
Need more ideas? Try these:
Whole Wheat Garlic Bread Sticks
- Author: Emily Harris
The new dietary guidelines are here! If you don't have time to read through them yourself, here are the key recommendations:
- Eat more…
- Vegetables of all colors
- Whole fruits
- Grains, making at least half of your grains whole grains
- Low-fat or fat-free dairy products
- Varieties of protein foods, such as seafood, eggs, legumes (which includes beans and peas), nuts, lean meats and poultry and soy products
- Eat less…
- Saturated fat
- Trans fat
- Sodium
- Added sugars
- Everyday…
- Consume less than 10 percent of your calories from added sugar
- Consume less than 10 percent of your calories from saturated fats
- Consume less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium
- Limit your alcohol consumption to up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men (for adults of legal drinking age).
For more detailed information on the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines, click here.
- Author: Emily Harris
- Contributor: Angelica Perez
- Contributor: Consuelo Cid
Do you know your BMI? BMI stands for Body Mass Index and is a measurement comparing a person's height and weight. Although it is not a measurement of body fat, your BMI can give you an insight to your weight status and indicate if you need to make a change. An individual with a BMI that falls into the overweight or obese category has an increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type-2 diabetes and some forms of cancer.
At a recent no cost adult nutrition class, Nutrition Educator Consuelo Cid taught her participants about BMI and encouraged them to use it as a catalyst for healthy lifestyle changes.
If you are interested in finding out your BMI, click here.
- Author: Nath Say
The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program provides free fruits and vegetables to participating schools every single day. Schools enrolled in this federally assisted program are "encouraged to develop partnerships to help implement the program, such as with local universities, extension services and local grocers."
The University of California CalFresh Nutrition Education Program has been partnering with Fresno Unified Food Service and Nutrition Center to provide support to Fresno schools participating in the program.
For the month of November, UC CalFresh provided indirect nutrition education to nine Fresno Unified sites participating in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. Edison Bethune, Lincoln, Pyle, Del Mar, Holland, Power-Ginsburg, Phoenix Academy, Fremont, and Webster each received a colorful nutrition board for their cafeteria. All nine Nutrition Corners display the importance of eating different color fruits and vegetables so that students can learn the benefits of how each color helps their bodies become healthy and strong. Over 60 Fresno Unified school sites are receiving direct nutrition education from UC CalFresh by receiving nutrition lessons in the classroom and food tastings on a bimonthly basis.
Pictured above is head custodian, George Solorzano, at Pyle Elementary modeling our Nutrition Corner display. Mr. Solorzano assisted in hanging the nutrition corner in the school's cafeteria. He shared how valuable our program is for students in Fresno Unified. UC CalFresh appreciates all the support we receive from our community extenders!
Thank you, Mr. Solorzano!
Below are a few pictures of the nutrition boards placed at the elementary sites.
