Living Heart Healthy

This post is sponsored by Campbell's Soup Company.

Living a heart healthy lifestyle is very important to my family. My family tries to stay heart healthy a number of ways. We are slowly modifying our diet and activity level to better do this.

These are the things we are working towards to stay heart healthy:

• Getting a good amount of exercise: Make regular physical activity part of your lifestyle.
• Children and adolescence should get at least an hour or more per day of moderate or vigorous intensity aerobic age-appropriate physical activity. Vigorous activity should be done at least 3 days of the week. Activities should also include muscle-strengthening and bone strengthening on at least 3 days of the week.
• Healthy Adults should get 2-1/2 hours per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, or a minimum of 1-1/4 hours per week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or a combination of the two. Adults should also aim to do muscle-strengthening activities at least 2 days a week.
• Older Adults who are healthy should follow the guidelines for healthy adults. If older adults cannot meet these guidelines because of health reasons should do at least what their abilities and conditions allow. Older adults who are at risk of falling should also include activities that promote balance.
• Drinking enough water:
• Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid a day. All healthy fluids (soups, water, 100% juice, herbal tea) count toward the daily total. I dislike the taste of tap water and my irony well water is down right gross so, I compensate with my Zing Anything Citrus Juicer, naturally flavored water, 100% juice that is watered down, herbal tea, or soup.
• Eating plenty of good fats: (monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and good saturated fats)
• Try to eliminate trans fats from your diet. Check food labels for trans fats (avoid anything with partially hydrogenated oil). Avoid commercially-baked goods, packaged snack foods, margarine, vegetable shortening, candy bars and fried foods. Bake, broil, or grill instead of frying. Also limit or eliminate fast food. We are slowly doing this, but habits can be very hard to break. I need to make my own baked goods and snacks from scratch.
• Limit your intake of saturated fats. Cut back on red meat (lean cuts are better than fatty). Try replacing red meat with beans, nuts, poultry, and fish whenever possible. Eat better saturated fats like: whole fat dairy (raw is better), butter, cheese, ice cream, palm and coconut oil. We actually do pretty good with this one. We eat a lot more white meats like poultry or fish than we do red meats. I need to cook with beans more often and we love all manner of nuts.
• Eat omega-3 fats every day. Good sources include fish, walnuts, ground flax seeds, flaxseed oil. We want to incorporate aquaponics (growing fish and hydroponics, plants in water, in a balanced symbiotic system) in our agriculture. We will then have a free natural and organic source of fish for the omega-3 fats. We also already have walnut trees and love to eat them raw or in foods.
• Eating more fruits and veggies. Fruits and veggies are high in vitamins, minerals and fiber and low in fat and calories. I am planning on canning/freezing/drying my own and having my own year round garden.
• Making more healthy, well balanced meals at home. Eating healthy well balanced meals will help in keeping your body strong. Have good time management, proper ingredients and tools, a meal plan and recipes that are both easy and nutritious. I struggle with this because I do not manage my time very well and end up procrastinating and not knowing what I am going to fix. Doing these steps will help me.
• Minimizing and Managing the stress. Laugh more, don't let little things stress you out or make you angry, meditate or do a relaxing exercise like yoga, listen to nice music, take time out for yourself, do a relaxing hobby, etc.
• Getting enough sleep. Getting a good amount of sleep helps with keeping your body well rested and working well.

Other great things that keep your heart healthy that my family already does:

• Not smoking and trying not to be around people that do. Smoking harms nearly every organ in the body. Smoking is a major risk factor of heart disease. Second hand smoke is bad for you also.
• Not drinking alcohol. Alcoholism can cause high blood pressure, obesity, stroke and a number of other health problems.
• Minimizing the caffeine. Caffeine increases: alertness (therefore can make you miss sleep you need), cravings of fats and carbs, and stress levels (making you grumpy, edgy, and agitated). Too much caffeine can be bad for your heart because of the constant raised adrenalin levels. This can eventually take a toll on your body as well.

Here are 5 of my favorite recipes from the American Heart Association Certified Recipes:

Broccoli Cheddar Rice


Creamy Turkey & Vegetable Lasagna


Louisiana-Style Chicken, Sausage & Shrimp Skillet


Polenta Turkey Bake


Tilapia & Vegetable Casserole
 

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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: This post is sponsored by Campbell's Soup Company. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else.