Lori Johnson| UF/IFAS Family & Consumer Science Agent

February is American Heart Month with the goal of creating awareness of the importance of choosing a healthy lifestyle to prevent heart disease. Changes made could help reduce the risk of additional chronic diseases from developing or their severity. Small changes over time can make a lasting effect on your daily habits, food choicesand health status. Remember to balance what you eat with physical activity, aiming for at least 150 minutes a week.

When grocery shopping, review food labels and nutrition facts to have a better understanding of what you are consuming. Compare products in serving size and the nutrition they provide. To make heart-healthy choices, aim for foods that are 1g or less of saturated fat per serving and zero trans-fat. You can also reduce your fat and sodium intake by choosing reduced or light, which will provide 25 percentor 50 percentless compared to the regular product. Fiber also contributes to heart health and 5 grams per serving is considered a good source.

Aim to stock your pantry with heart-healthy choices from each of the food groups to balance your plate and nutrition. Choose seasonal fresh fruits and veggies or frozen in a variety of colors. If choosing canned fruits, ensure they are packed in water or light syrup. For vegetables, look for reduced-sodium or no salt added.

When choosing grains like bread, pasta, crackersand tortillas, focus on the ingredient lists and look for the whole before the grain used in the food or labeled as 100 percentwhole grain. Your protein choices can vary from meats, poultry, fish, nuts, and seeds to legumes. Choose leaner cuts of meat such as 90 percentor higher lean ground beef, skinless poultry, or pork tenderloin as a few examples.

Fresh or frozen salmon, albacore tuna, herringor mackerel contain omega-3 fatty acids which are healthy fats. They can help to reduce the build-up of fat in our arteries and unhealthy fats in our blood. Each week try to include at least twoservings of non-fried fish;oneserving of fish is about 4 ounces cooked.

Monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats can help improve your total cholesterol and heart health. You can find these in protein foods such as nuts and seeds and peanut butter. Other heart-healthy protein choices include edamame, tofu, lentils, and beans like pinto, black, garbanzo, white and navy. To complete your meals and snacks add low fat or nonfat milk, yogurt, or cottage cheese. Add low-fat and reduced-fat cheese to sandwiches, salads, or eggsor try string cheese as a snack.

Ditch the salt-shaker and flavor foods with fresh or dried herbs and spices. A little can go a long way:try different flavor combinations to see which you like best. Try preparing your foods by either baking, broiling, saut, steamingor grilling. When baking, substitute butter or oil with applesauce or other pureed fruit. During preparation, use canola or olive oil for a heart-healthy choice. Healthy choices made every day can help keep our bodies healthy and our hearts strong.

An Equal Opportunity Institution. UF/IFAS Extension, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Nick T. Place, dean for UF/IFAS Extension. Single copies of UF/IFAS Extension publications (excluding 4-H and youth publications) are available free to Florida residents from county UF/IFAS Extension offices.

Read the original post:
From the Extension: Be heart smart in your food choices - Daily Commercial