March is National Nutrition Month®️, and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics wants to help give everyone the tools to make informed food choices and develop healthful eating and physical activity habits for life. This year’s theme is to Celebrate a World of Flavors, and this week’s message is to:

Eat a variety of nutritious foods every day!

Follow these tips below to help you know how to eat a balanced diet in a mindful way.

Include healthful foods from all food groups – eating a balanced diet that includes all food groups is an easy way to help your body get the nutrients it needs.

• Fruits – make half your plate fruits and vegetables! Choose fruit that is fresh, frozen,    dried, or canned in 100% fruit juice.
• Vegetables – make half your plate fruits and vegetables! Choose vegetables that are fresh, frozen, or canned without added salt.
• Grains – make half your grains whole grains, like oatmeal, popcorn, quinoa, brown rice, and whole grain flours.
• Protein – try different protein foods, like seafood, beans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds, soy, eggs, and lean meats and poultry.
• Dairy – choose low-fat or fat-free milk, yogurt, calcium-fortified soymilk, and cheese.

Learn how to read Nutrition Facts Panels

• First, look at the servings per container and the serving size. All information on the food label is based on the serving size, so if you eat more than the serving size, you’re getting more of the nutrients listed.
• For one serving of food, try to limit saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, and added sugars to less than 5% of the daily value.
• For one serving of food, try to aim for at least 20% of the daily value for vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
• Check the ingredient list for whole grains and hidden sources of trans fat (partially hydrogenated oils) and sugar (ingredients that end in -ose, honey, and corn sweeteners).

Incorporate your favorite cultural foods and traditions

• Cook with others – learn about cooking different traditional or regional foods from others who use authentic recipes and ingredients and explore ways to improve the nutrition of some of your own family favorites.
• Add a touch of spice – combinations of herbs and spices often remind us of dishes from our own heritage or our favorite ethnic food. Add flavor to meals with herbs and spices, such as chili, garlic, ginger, basil, oregano, curry, or cilantro, which can replace salt and saturated fat.
• Make smart choices when dining out – eating out offers tempting new dishes that make it easy to overeat. Choose lower calorie dishes, such as stir fries, kabobs, or whole-wheat pastas with tomato sauce. Split a dish or ask for a take-home container at the start of a meal to save part of what’s served on your plate.
• All types of foods fit on MyPlate – MyPlate is designed to remind Americans to eat healthfully, using foods from the food groups. The MyPlate website provides practical information, tips, tools, and recipes that will help you build a healthier diet.

For healthy recipes visit etfbrecipes.org.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women. American Hearth Month was created to not only spread awareness of this, but also to help you know ways of preventing it! So, here are the top 8 ways of doing that:

1. Knowing Your Risk
It is important to know how at risk you are for developing heart disease based on not only family history, but also with lifestyle choices that can increase your risk. Risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, weight status, high cholesterol, inactivity, and even your age, if you are 55 or older for women, or 45 or older for men. Although some things can’t be changed such as your genetics, sex, or age, you can change your lifestyle habits to lower the overall risk.

2. Stay in Check
Don’t forget to have annual doctor appointments to have your blood pressure and blood cholesterol checked! High blood pressure (>140/90) and high cholesterol levels increase your risk by increasing plaque build-up on your arteries and possibly damaging your heart overtime.

3. Food for the Heart
Don’t forget to align your food with your goals! Choose a heart-healthy diet which includes fruits, vegetables, and grains and decrease your saturated and trans fats, added sugars, and sodium. If you are already experiencing high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels, your doctor may recommend the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, which is similar to what is listed above, just more specific on servings.

4. Healthy Weight
Keeping a healthy weight can help lower your risk of heart disease. Talk to your doctor about what a healthy weight looks like for you! Keep in mind most people use their BMI to determine this, however for kids we look at their growth chart instead since they are still growing!

5. Stress Less
Stress can be a major trigger for high blood pressure, heart risk factors, and even a heart attack in some cases. Make sure you have a coping mechanism to deal with stress such as talking to someone, breathing exercises, mediation, or physical activity.

6. Get That Heart Beating!
As mentioned previously, physical activity is a great way to reduce stress. Not only that, it also can help improve your heart health by helping maintain or lower your weight, manage high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and lower your risk for other chronic conditions! Don’t forget to talk to your doctor about what exercises are right for you!

7. Smoking, Vaping, & Other Tobacco Products
Smoking is another well-known increased risk for heart disease as well as lung disease. This also includes vaping, e-cigarettes, and other forms of smoking. Set a date to quit, stay active and busy, avoid things that can trigger the need to smoke. Talk to your doctor about joining a program to help you quit smoking.

8. Give Your Heart a Rest
Don’t forget to get the appropriate amount of sleep. Adults are recommended to have 7-9 hours of sleep every night, and the needs increase as you look at younger teens and kids. Sleeping is the prime time for your body to fix anything that needs to be repaired, and it helps with your hunger hormones and immune system. Need help sleeping? Try getting physical activity during the day, maintain the schedule of when you go to bed and wake up, relax before bed, unplug from your phone or TV an hour before bed, and make sure not to eat a big meal or exercise an hour or so before bed.

Source: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/heart-healthy-living

What is Fiber?

Dietary fiber is the part of plant foods that can’t be digested or absorbed by the body. This is naturally found in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and beans and legumes. There are two different types of fiber, soluble and insoluble.

Benefits

• Heart disease: fiber may help prevent heart disease by reducing cholesterol
• Weight Management: slows digestion keeping you fuller for longer. Foods high in fiber also are usually lower in calories!
• Diabetes: slower digestion means it may also help reduce blood sugar spikes after meals
• Digestive Issues: improve frequency and bulk of bowel movements

How much do we need?

The recommended amount of dietary fiber is about 25g for women and 38g for men daily for the general healthy population. More than 90% of women and 97% of men do not meet the recommended intakes for dietary fiber according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

How to increase it?

Fiber is found in higher amounts in whole grains and beans than fruits and vegetables. Other sources of fibers include oatmeal, whole-wheat flour, nuts, wheat bran, beans, peas, carrots, oranges, apples, and other vegetables.

• Mix in oats where it’s possible whether it be meatloaf and bread or cookies and smoothies
• Don’t forget the beans in your next soup or salad
• When baking, substitute whole-wheat flour for half of the white flour your recipe calls for
• Choose whole fruits over fruit juices as more fiber is in the whole fruit and less chances of consuming added sugars
• Always find new ways to make sure you reach the amount of fruits and vegetables you need in a day by adding them to sandwiches, salads or noodle and rice dishes.

Remember fiber consumed naturally is always a better route than supplements (unless otherwise instructed by your primary care physician or registered dietitian)

Cautions

Make sure as you dive into adding more fiber into your diet, you gradually add it in and drink plenty of water with it to prevent gas, bloating, and abdominal cramps.

Sources:

https://www.eatright.org/food/vitamins-and-supplements/nutrient-rich-foods/fiber

https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/Dietary_Guidelines_for_Americans-2020-2025.pdf

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