Tips For Eating Healthfully

What you eat is important. It may help you prevent a heart attack or stroke. Healthy food habits can help you reduce at least three of the major risk factors for heart attack - high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure and excess body weight.

Did you know it's OK to snack? The key is choosing foods that don't just taste great but are good for you. They're not hard to find. Eat smart snacks such as fruits, vegetables, a handful of almonds or a low-fat or nonfat yogurt. Research shows that almonds are effective in reducing total and LDL cholesterol if they're part of a low-saturated-fat and low-cholesterol diet. Heart-healthy eating and planning is easy and doesn't have to take a lot of time. Try these tips to help get you started!

Go grocery shopping only once a week. While shopping, look for the American Heart Association's heart-check mark. The distinctive heart-check mark is ONE way for you to quickly and reliably find foods that meet criteria for heart-healthy levels of fat, saturated fat and cholesterol for healthy people over age 2.
When cooking, prepare double batches. Freeze the extras; pack some for lunch or save them for another meal later in the week.
If you are craving a snack try a handful of almonds, low-fat yogurt or snack mix made with salt-free seasonings.
Take your lunch to work and you won't need to take time out of the middle of the day to get one.
Instead of adding croutons to your salad, sprinkle a handful of sliced or slivered almonds on top.