Tomah Chamber & Visitors Center Newsletter February Newsletter | Page 3

The Wellness Bite:
February is Heart Health
Awareness Month
It’s no coincidence that the month that Hearth Health Awareness Month is the same month as Valentine’s Day! Whether you
celebrate the holiday of love or not, it’s a good reminder to keep your heart healthy and strong.
As you make daily food choices, base your eating pattern on these recommendations:
• Eat a variety of fresh, frozen and canned vegetables and fruits without high-calorie sauces or added salt and sugars.
Replace high-calorie foods with fruits and vegetables.
• Choose fiber-rich whole grains for most grain servings.
• Choose poultry and fish without skin and prepare them in healthy ways without added saturated and trans fat. If you
choose to eat meat, look for the leanest cuts available and prepare them in healthy and delicious ways.
• Eat a variety of fish at least twice a week, especially fish containing omega-3 fatty acids (for example, salmon, trout and
herring).
• Select fat-free (skim) and low-fat (1%) dairy products.
• Avoid foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to reduce trans fat in your diet.
• Limit saturated fat and trans fat and replace them with the better fats, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. If you
need to lower your blood cholesterol, reduce saturated fat to no more than 5 to 6 percent of total calories. For someone
eating 2,000 calories a day, that’s about 13 grams of saturated fat.
• Cut back on beverages and foods with added sugars.
• Choose foods with less sodium and prepare foods with little or no salt. To lower blood pressure, aim to eat no more
than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. Reducing daily intake to 1,500 mg is desirable because it can lower blood
pressure even further. If you can’t meet these goals right now, even reducing sodium intake by 1,000 mg per day can
benefit blood pressure.
• If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. That means no more than one drink per day if you’re a woman and no more
than two drinks per day if you’re a man.
• Follow the American Heart Association
recommendations when you eat out,
and keep an eye on your portion sizes.
Source: www.heart.org
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