Let’s face it – a new year may bring new opportunities for us to make the lifestyle changes that we believe will improve our lives, but it doesn’t bring any extra time for us to do it. In fact, it often feels like a new year starts quickly and then flies by to the end, leaving us wondering about where it went and how we missed it.
“Busy” is a term that only begins to describe daily life for most of us, but just because we’re busy doesn’t mean that we should forget about achieving our health goals. It just means that we need to find quick (and easy!) ways to incorporate them.
Have you heard about the “Choose MyPlate” initiative from the USDA? It’s a new way of looking at the food groups that we have all studied from the food pyramid, but it illustrates how to eat them daily by putting them on your plate. This initiative is one that we have supported at Logansport Memorial Hospital since it was first introduced, because we believe that to truly have healthy habits, you have to be able to do it your everyday life. The “Choose MyPlate” guidelines are designed to help you do just that.
Increase certain foods
Decrease certain foods
For more tips on healthy eating, use www.choosemyplate.gov as a resource for you and your family.
February is officially recognized as American Heart Month by the CDC, which means it’s a great time to think about how what you eat affects your heart health. If your meals and snacks are regularly packed with saturated fats and sodium, your ticker could eventually take a time out. But cooking heart-healthy recipes doesn’t have to be challenging! And you don’t have to sacrifice flavor, either.
Try some of these healthful but easy cooking techniques to tweak your favorite recipes.
We hope that these suggestions are ones that you find helpful. Continue exploring and expanding your recipe collection, because there are probably other “family-favorites” that you can slightly change for a big difference in your health. And that’s the easiest thing of all – taking something you already love and simply adjusting it to achieve a new goal.
Here’s to your health in every season of “busy-ness” for you and your family!