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Happy Hearts
Eating for Heart Health
By Donna Smith
Be aware of foods that are eaten by the family most often. "Review your daily intake," Owen says. "Do your food choices provide essential vitamins and minerals? Do your food choices provide polyunsaturated fats? Do you eat fruits and vegetables every day? Is the sodium content of your diet less than 2,400 mg per day? Please choose carefully so you can answer 'yes' to those questions."
And get kids into the kitchen – before mealtime! "Children like to be involved in food preparation and it helps them to accept new foods and foods prepared in unfamiliar ways," Owen says. "It also helps you get the most out of mealtime – preparation can take 30 minutes of together time and eating the meal gives you more together time."
How does one magically increase family mealtime togetherness? "It takes planning," Owen says. She offers the following tips to get the family to the table quicker and with less stress:
- Consider once-a-month cooking.
- Make meals and freeze them in disposable containers. You can transfer the food to plates at the table.
- Use the meal planning calendars in popular magazines. There are magazines that specialize in "quick meal' recipes.
- Use The American Heart Association's Web site for recipes and meal tips. Recipes are included and tips to use the leftovers are provided. Some of the recipes call for condensed soups and other commercial products. If you use these products, don't add any additional salt to the recipe and figure out how many people are going to eat the meal. If you don't exceed 750 mg sodium per serving then you are on the right track.
