Eating for a Lifetime of Good Health
Eating a diet that can reduce your risk for disease doesn't have to be difficult.
Start out by incorporating one or two of the following changes into your diet each week for the next six months.
By the end of that time, you should be well on your way to better health.
Healthy Hints:
• Eat a variety of foods. Eating the same foods every day supplies your body with the same vitamins and minerals.
• Drink calcium fortified orange juice instead of the regular kind. You’ll consume as much calcium as a glass of milk.
• Eat fruits and vegetables with their skins and peels on to increase your fiber intake.
• Toss beans into salads and soups. Besides providing fiber, beans are a good source of iron, protein and foliate.
• Liven up your salads. Top your lettuce with bell peppers, onions, celery, carrots, apple, mushrooms and tomatoes.
• Reduce the fat and increase the fiber in soups, stews and casseroles by replacing the meat with brown rice or beans.
• Eat high potassium foods, such as oranges, grapefruits and bananas; they help lower your blood pressure.
• When you cook with fat, use the monounsaturated kind. Olive oil, peanut oil, sesame seed oil and canola oil.
These are high in monounsaturated fat – the kind that helps lower blood cholesterol.
• Use fruit spreads instead of butter, margarine or jelly.
• Watch your portion sizes. Two servings of a low-fat food can contain as much fat as one portion of a high-fat food.