If the rhythm moves you, dance! You don’t need to know fancy steps or have a partner. Even with two left feet you get the health-promoting benefits and the fun. Especially if you get your heart pumping, dancing is great for heart and overall health. Sixty minutes of continuous dancing may burn 200 calories or
Feel artistic? Enjoy blending paints, musical notes, or words to express something new? Turn your creative genius toward the kitchen. Blend foods and flavors for more variety, new taste sensations, perhaps more nutrition. “Fusion cuisine”— blending ingredients or cooking techniques of different cultures—is a culinary phenomenon. Though trendy, it’s not new. Over time, every cuisine
Got kids? If so, did you know that kids influence up to 80 percent of family food spending? Still, as a family shopper, you control what foods go into the family kitchen. For children, you decide the three Ws: What foods to offer, When, and Where. As kids learn to be good eaters, they decide
Imagine: a blistering hot day with a slice of sweet, juicy watermelon— or an icy, thick smoothie made with fragrant cantaloupe or honeydew melon! Melons are treasure troves—with more health-promoting benefits than simply water in the melon. Known for their beta carotene and vitamin C, melons have vitamin B, potassium, magnesium, and thiamin, as well
Nearly everyone knows that calcium keeps bones healthy at every age. Today’s science is revealing more. Eating enough calcium may: Lower colon cancer risk, likely by counteracting the effects of high-fat eating. Help reduce blood pressure (along with potassium and magnesium) among sodium-sensitive people. (No test exists yet to know who’s sodium sensitive.) Early research
When did you last ride a bike? Fortunately, bike riding is one skill you probably won’t forget. So dust off your own bike or borrow one from a teen, and start pedaling! Pumping your legs pumps your heart muscle for a heart-healthy workout. Even bicycling at less than 10 miles an hour burns 220 calories
Flax: For thousands of years, this blue-lowering crop has been cultivated for food, linen cloth, and fine-quality paper. Today we’re learning why flaxseeds are good for you. Let’s start with taste: Flaxseeds add a nutty flavor to breads, muffins, cookies, cereal bars, pancakes, even smoothies! Buy flaxseeds whole, ground, or as flour. As for health:
Curry, turmeric, other spices, chutney, more! These seasonings flavor the cuisine of India, giving distinction to lentils, rice, vegetables, and other plant-based dishes. If you pick a restaurant featuring Indian cuisine, enjoy the many combinations with plant-based ingredients: baked roti, lentil dishes, vegetable dishes made with yogurt, chicken or fish dishes with vegetable sauces, or
Do spicy foods taste especially hot? Do bitter or tart flavors make you wince? If so, you may be a supertaster. With more papillae, you taste more intensely. Fact is, we do taste the same foods differently. Age and genes affect how many taste buds (found in papillae) we have on our tongue, throat, and
Got the phone, the steering wheel, or your computer mouse in one hand—and food in the other? Two-handed eating, when you’re relaxed and focused on food and your body’s fullness cues, may be healthier. By paying attention, you’re less likely to overeat. If you’re trying to eat and drive, pull over. It’s safer, less messy