What’s for breakfast on this cold, winter morning? How about instant oatmeal, crunchy oat cereal, or an oat bran muffin? No matter how you eat them, oats offer benefits beyond their hearty taste. A good source of soluble fiber, oats are well known for their heart-healthy benefits, which include lowering blood cholesterol. What’s more, the
Will you (or did you) enjoy a snack today? Fine, if you snack smart. Snack for the health of it. Snack when you’re really hungry, not just when you’re bored or stressed. Snack with your whole day’s food intake in mind, not just as an add-on. Smaller meal portions allow room for snacks. Choose smart
Shopping for value? Value isn’t necessarily “supersized” or how much your food dollar buys. True value is the quality and health benefits that your food and drink choices impart. For the best value for your food dollar: Buy canned or dried beans. Beans are an inexpensive protein food, loaded with fiber and other phytonutrients. Fill
A bite here, a nibble there, a sip here, another taste there. How much did you eat today? Want to get a better picture of your day-to-day eating habits? Keep a food diary. It’s easier to spot a problem and control temptation, and you have a better chance of reaching your wellness goals and perhaps
Life’s hectic! How can you be assured of eating enough food and variety for good nutrition, but not too much? Truth is, there’s no single way to eat for health. Even your own family members enjoy different foods and flavors, prepared in different ways, and they have different nutrient and energy needs. No matter what
How much is a food-group serving? It’s not necessarily a helping, a plateful, a small garnish, or the entire contents of one food package. It is a specific, standardized amount of food, meant to help you judge your own portions and estimate how much you eat. Your portion may measure as more or less than
Do you know your vital signs for heart health: your cholesterol levels and your blood pressure? For total cholesterol level, normal is less than 200 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter). The higher your level, the greater your risks for heart attack or stroke. So, even if your cholesterol level is borderline high (200 to 239 mg/dL)
Need an easy way to get your “five to nine a day” for fruits and vegetables? Reach for dried fruit. There’s lots more than raisins, dried apricots, and dried plums (prunes) on store shelves today. Are dried fruits as nutritious as fresh? Overall, yes, except the drying process destroys a hefty amount of vitamin C
Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Lunar New Year! Whether you eat out or in, enjoy Asian flavors and foods today, and get their good-for-you benefits. Traditional Chinese meals have plenty of vegetables, rice, and noodles (that’s their benefit), yet they’re modest with meat, poultry, and fish. Besides their vitamins and minerals, vegetables in Chinese dishes
You don’t need to buy out the supplement shelf. But you do need to take the right vitamin or mineral supplement for your age and unique health needs. Remember, food first! Then if you need a supplement, here’s what health experts advise as a daily guideline, depending on your age: 20s, 30s, or 40s: folic