Anyone who knows me well, knows I don’t like the words “no,” or “don’t,” or “shouldn’t,” especially when it comes to food… To me, focusing on what you can’t or shouldn’t eat is a set up for failure and takes the pleasure out of eating.
So in honor of Heart Health Awareness Month, rather than focusing on what we shouldn’t eat, I thought I’d share some “heart-healthy” eating tips that work for my family.
“Eat the orange first.” My kids probably hear this mantra in their sleep I say it so often. When they hit the door after school, feeling ravenous and begging for the cookies or chips in the pantry, I say yes. Yes, you can have the cookies but eat the orange first (or apple, fresh veggie sticks, etc.). The healthy snack doesn’t prevent them from eating the junk, but they are more likely to be satisfied with 3 oreos vs. the whole sleeve. Same goes for pizza. My kids love it, it’s convenient and has become somewhat of a tradition at our house on Friday night. Once I caved to the pressure of pizza every Friday, I started serving a large, crunchy green salad alongside it and suggesting they eat some of it before they have their 2nd piece of pizza. I don’t limit how much pizza they can eat, but now they are more likely to stop after 2 pieces vs. the 3-4 they might otherwise have without a salad.
The keys to heart healthy eating are fairly simple and the science is pretty consistent* – eat lots of fruits and vegetables in a wide variety of colors, eat lots of fiber, reduce the amounts of sodium, cholesterol and saturated fats in your diet. In your efforts to eat Heart Healthy, focus on a couple simple things you CAN do:
– Prepare more meals at home. You will save money and it will be easier to make healthy choices when you are not being tempted with super-sized, high fat, high sodium and high calorie choices found on many restaurant menus.
– Eat lots of whole or simply prepared fruits and vegetables. Simply by increasing the amount of fruits and vegetable you consume, you will:
- increase your dietary fiber
- reduce your sodium (77% of the sodium we eat comes from packaged, processed, store-bought, and restaurants foods)
- and you will have less room on your plate for high saturated fat and high cholesterol foods
Here’s a recipe for Roasted Winter Vegetables to help you add some veggies to this week’s menu.
1. Gather an assortment of dense vegetables that you like. I use red skin potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli and red or yellow onion. Wash, peel and cut vegetables into consistent sized chunks so that everything cooks evenly. I usually cut the redskins in quarters and use that as my size guide for the other veggies.
2. In a bowl, toss the cut vegetables with a 1 – 2 T. of olive oil, a sprinkle of kosher salt and a grind or two of black pepper.
3. Dump the vegetables onto a shallow baking dish or sheet pan that you have coated with cooking spray or drizzled with oil.
4. Top with a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary and a couple of whole cloves of garlic.
5. Roast vegetables in a 350 degree oven until fork tender, stirring occasionally to ensure even roasting. The time will depend on the quantity of vegetables you are cooking the size of the chunks. Typically, a fairly big tray of veggies takes me ~45 minutes to roast.
Let us know if you try the recipe. And remember, at PATH we believe “All Progress is Worthwhile.” What are the small incremental changes you can make to your diet to improve your heart health?
* You can learn more about heart-healthy eating by visiting the American Heart Association, the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health.