How to stock a plant-based pantry (and fridge) on a budget

Given the current pandemic and related economic stressors, many of us are trying to maintain healthy habits while watching our expenses. One of the areas where we can support our immune system is through our food choices. We all have to eat, and eat several times a day, and selecting foods that support our health and our planet — while also saving money — is now a priority for many.

People are going meatless for many reasons

About a quarter of the US is now vegetarian, especially people ages 25 to 34. A survey from 2017 studied US attitudes toward animal farming, and found that 54% of Americans were trying to purchase less meat, dairy, and eggs, and buying more plant-based foods. A plant-based diet has been linked with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and overall mortality. Studies have also shown an improved mood with a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

In additional to health reasons for eating less meat, many people are embracing a plant-based diet with fewer meats, or even starting with one meatless day per week, in order to save money. Meat is becoming expensive, and even scarce, as some supermarkets are setting limits on the number of packages of beef or poultry a person can purchase per shopping trip. Also, more people are at home, and with schools and summer camps being canceled there are more meals to make each day within a tighter food budget. Additionally, many people have reduced incomes and may be using food pantries, or may need to be very limited in their grocery shopping choices.

Focus on wholesome ingredients, even with a limited food budget

Our food choices truly do make a difference to our physical and mental health, and with a little planning, we can make good foods go further. While many processed carbs are cheap, you can get much more nutrient-dense food without spending much more. One example: a large family-sized bag of potato chips costs about the same price as a bag of dried beans, or several cans of beans. A box of sugary, processed breakfast cereal may last less than a week compared to a large box of fiber-filled oatmeal, which is not only a healthier choice, but one that will last longer and be more filling.

Shopping to stock a mostly plant-based pantry and fridge

Setting up or adjusting your panty and fridge to include more plant-based options can help your budget and your health. Your focus should be on whole foods such as fresh (or frozen) vegetables and fruit, protein sources that include legumes (lentils, peas, and beans), whole grains, nuts, and seeds.

Long-lasting pantry staples include a variety of beans, chickpeas, spinach, coconut milk, tomatoes, olives, and corn. Some nondairy nut milks are shelf-stable, and can be great options for many recipes. Other shelf-stable options include whole-grain pastas (look for the Whole Grains Council stamp on the box), buckwheat noodles (which are gluten free), rice, and pad Thai noodles. Canned tomatoes, tomato paste, and tomato sauce (look for low-sugar brands) are great options for pasta sauces, lasagna, hearty stews, or vegetarian chili. Dry spices last a long time, and can help you add new flavors to your meals and change up leftovers to extend your budget even further. As an example, adding Mexican seasonings and a side of salsa to last night’s roast chicken can be today’s tacos!

Spend time in the foods section and stock up on lower-cost frozen vegetables and fruit. Adding vegetables to meals will make them more filling due to the fiber content. Adding frozen berries to breakfast oatmeal or whole-grain pancakes is more cost effective than buying fresh berries. Many Asian-inspired dishes such as pad Thai, noodle soups, or salads can be bulked up by adding vegetables, and these dishes will add variety to your menu. Some low-cost fresh vegetable options for soups and grain bowls include shredded carrots, peas, scallions, spinach, and bean sprouts.

Try homemade instead of canned soups

Rather than purchase a canned soup, why not buy dried lentils or legumes and fresh veggies and make your own? Lentils are low in sodium and saturated fat but high in potassium, fiber, folate, and antioxidants. They are also a great prebiotic for your gut microbiome. You’ll also know exactly what’s in your soup, and you’re cutting down on the excessive sodium and preservatives in most commercial soups. When you make a large quantity of soup, it’s less money per serving than a single can of soup, and you can freeze leftovers.

Plant-based can be protein-rich

If you are concerned about not getting enough protein through a plant-based diet, you should know that 8 ounces (1 cup) of cooked lentils provides about 18 grams of protein, and it has little to no saturated fat or sodium. Compare this to 4 ounces of ground beef, which provides 14 grams of protein, no fiber, and 11 grams of saturated fat.

In addition, plant-based options are great sources of folate, soluble and insoluble fiber, iron, phosphorus, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. Many plant-based options are neutral in flavor, lending themselves to creative cooking, from soups and stews to bean and lentil salads, stir-fry dishes, vegetable burgers, hummus, and bean dips.

Plant-based foods	Grams of protein
1 cup cooked/boiled lentils	18 g
1/2 cup dry red beans	21 g
1/2 cup chia seeds	18 g
1/2 cup flax seeds	18 g
1/2 cup dry black beans	24 g

General tips for healthy, budget-friendly shopping

A helpful guideline at the supermarket is that fresh produce is on the outer perimeter of the store. Start there, see what is on sale that week, and stock up. Remember, you can freeze fruits and vegetables for later use by properly chopping and storing them in the freezer. The shelf-stable items and more processed foods are in the supermarket aisles. Again, stock up on sale items such as canned low-sodium beans, chickpeas, corn, dry lentils, or beans. Planning a plant-based diet on a budget is possible, and has several positive effects: you’ll benefit physically and mentally from a diet with less meat, and you may see savings at the checkout.

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Paprika Roasted Cauliflower Florets

Set the oven the 400° F

Use a sheet pan or baking dish (a cookie sheet will work too)

1 bag of frozen cauliflower florets

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Squeeze of fresh lemon

Add the dry spices to the olive oil

Toss the frozen cauliflower in the olive oil

Spread cauliflower on the sheet pan in a single layer

Oven roast for 25 to 30 minutes

Add a squeeze of fresh lemon before serving

The post How to stock a plant-based pantry (and fridge) on a budget appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

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Beshear says virus is at a new plateau, and he will be guided by hospital data; sets modified nursing-home visitation for July 15

The New York Times posts a running chart of trends in every county. For the whole chart, click here.

As news develops about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this item may be updated. Official state guidance is at kycovid19.ky.gov.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Gov. Andy Beshear announced only 69 new coronavirus cases Thursday, but cautioned that the number was artificially low because of an issue with the federal system that is used to input the data. He said Friday's numbers will likely need to be averaged with Thursday's to show a more accurate count.

"Our number today is really low," Beshear said. "You should not read anything into that." He said between 5,000 to 8,000 test results still need to be processed.

Still, the governor said he believes Kentucky is at a new plateau in its number of cases, and likely no longer in a decline, which it saw two weeks ago. "We probably ought to expect to be in or around that as we move forward," he said, "with the number of contacts we are going to have, with reopening, with the ability to get together with other people."

Asked if he would pause reopenings in counties that show spikes in cases, Beshear said he would decide that with local officials. He said counties have always had the option of opening more slowly than the rest of the state. He also noted the state's ability to do widespread testing of targeted groups, including neighborhoods, to help make such decisions.

"If we have a significant regional outbreak and we are forced to pause, our hope is to pause just regionally at that point," he said.

He added later, "We are seeing spikes in a lot of states and with more contacts, with reopening, we are going to add more cases, we are going to. The question is, are those that are getting the virus in harm's way? Are they getting sick? So the numbers that we are really going to be looking at are hospitalizations, ICU use and ventilators." He said 514 people are hospitalized with covid-19, with 81 in intensive care.

Beshear has said his plan is to do aggressive testing and contact tracing so that the state can execute a "surgical approach" if and when Kentucky sees a surge in new coronavirus cases. Some other states are also using that strategy, according to Politico.

Beshear said 308,786 tests for the virus have been conducted in Kentucky. He again encouraged everyone to get tested, and cautioned against testing fatigue. He recognized that the test is uncomfortable, "but a lack of comfort is a very small price to pay to ensuring the safety of the people around you and of the community as a whole."

Nursing homes: Beshear reported that 19 more nursing-home residents and 11 more employees have tested positive for the virus, bringing those totals to 1,457 and 705 respectively. Click here for the daily report.

He announced that starting June 29, nursing-home residents will be able to participate in congregate meals and some group activities, and that starting July 15, they will be allowed to have modified visitation. He said adult day-care programs are set to reopen June 29. He said the state is expected to wrap up testing all of the nursing-home residents and staff by July 1.

Lexington surge: The only county with a double-figure case count Thursday was Fayette, with 14. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported today that Lexington's covid-19 cases have now topped 1,000, with more than half of them occurring  in the last month.

Lexington's WKYT-TV reported that the county's effective transmission rate is 1.14, meaning that on average, 100 infected people infect 114 others. A rate that stays below 1 means that the virus will eventually die out; a rate between 1 and 1.1 is considered "controlled spread," and rates above that are reason to worry.

Deaths: Beshear announced nine more deaths, with three of them from the same nursing home in Boone County. That brings the state's death toll to 493, with 63 percent of them residents of long-term-care facilities.

Today's deaths include 74-, 80- and 85-year-old men from Boone County; a 69-year-old man from Fayette County; a 75-year-old man from Gallatin County; 68- and 93-year-old men from Jefferson County; and a 63-year-old woman and an 81-year-old man from Kenton County.

As he usually does, Beshear encouraged Kentuckians to ring bells at 10 a.m. and to light their homes and businesses green, as a sign of compassion for those who have died from the virus. "Let's not let fatigue get in the way of our compassion," he said.

Back to school: Beshear said that on Monday, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman would present the results of a task force that has been working on plans to reopen Kentucky's schools. That will follow a Friday meeting of health and education officials to work out the guidelines.

"My expectation is that we will put out a plan that makes all of the best recommendations, but it will ultimately be up to each superintendent on the implementation." He also said that any plans to open schools will depend on what the virus does in the future.

Mental health: Beshear opened his final briefing of the week reminding people to take care of their mental health, noting that a recent poll shows many people feel that the world is out of control.

"We've got to breathe," he said. "We've got to stay calm, and we've got to know that we've got to get through this together."

In other covid-19 news Thursday:

• Adding the day's 69 reported cases, the state's adjusted total is 11,945. The New York Times reports the total to be 12,066. The state says at least 3,379 people have recovered.
• A study using mathematical models to analyze how different combinations of mask use and periods of lockdown affect the spread of the coronavirus found that if people wear masks all the time in public, not just when they show symptoms, it is twice as effective in reducing the number of people infected, Dawson White reports for McClatchy Co. newspapers, including the Lexington Herald-Leader. In every scenario, when at least half the population routinely wore a mask, the number of people an infected person passed the virus to fell below one, which is needed to stop the spread of the virus. Study author John Colvin said, "Cultural and even political issues may stop people wearing face masks, so the message needs to be clear: my mask protects you, your mask protects me." The research was done at Cambridge and Greenwich universities in the United Kingdom. 
• Nielsen reports that alcohol sales have risen 27% in the past three months, Don Sweeney reports for McClatchy, citing CNN.
• The Kentucky Derby will be held Sept. 5, but it won't be preceded by the usual Pegasus Parade or Thunder Over Louisville fireworks show due to concerns about the spread of the virus, the Courier Journal reports. 
• Coronavirus cases topped 2 million in the U.S. "It took the U.S. nearly three months to hit 1 million confirmed cases, but just six weeks to double that figure," Politico says in its daily roundup, saying part of the acceleration is due to more testing, "but there's little doubt current conditions have set the U.S. up for a surge." 
• Politico reports that political leaders "insist they're better equipped to deal with the outbreak than they were just a few months ago" and notes that Texas continues to reopen amid record numbers of hospitalizations; Arkansas's governor insists an infection surge is not tied to lifting restrictions; and North Carolina's governor summed it up when he said, "We want to avoid going backwards if we possibly can." 
• The Washington Post reports on covid-19 patients who have been sick for more than 60 days, and says doctors aren't sure why. "Post-viral syndromes have been associated with numerous viruses in the past, but until the pandemic, they were considered relatively rare. In the case of covid-19, researchers are unsure whether people with extended symptoms are simply facing a long recovery — or whether their illness will come to resemble something like myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, a complex illness characterized by profound exhaustion and sleep problems, or other conditions that can last for years, or a lifetime," Ariana Eunjung Cha and Lenny Bernstein report. 
• Whether it's confusion about symptoms, where to get tested or information about contact tracing, speakers at an online briefing said a lack of health literacy is preventing people from having a good understanding of the virus. They added that as we move to a vaccine, there will great work to do to convince people of the need to get vaccinated, especially if we use the lack of compliance with flu shots as an indicator, Medpage Today reports. 
• Politifact explores what the most recent data shows about how reopenings and protests affect coronavirus infections.

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Driving across the country in a pandemic

Thinking about traveling during the pandemic? Before heading out, there’s a lot to think about, including:

• Do you have risk factors for severe COVID-19, such as advanced age or chronic medical conditions?
• What about your co-travelers’ health and risk factors? Are your co-travelers part of your household or tight social circle?
• Is the virus spreading in the places you’re going?
• Who are you going to see along the way, and what’s their health risk profile?
• If you get sick while traveling, will healthcare be available? And do you have the supports you need in case you have to quarantine for two weeks when you return home — or in a state you’ll be staying in?

Depending on your answers, you might decide it’s better to stay home! Or you may decide the risks are acceptable given some preparation and precautions, as we recently did.

Fly or drive?

“Please be careful when you drive out of the airport today, as you begin the most dangerous part of your trip.” Ever hear a flight attendant say that when your plane lands? It suggests that driving is riskier than the flight you just took. And the statistics support that.

But this may not be true during a pandemic. Tight seating and exposure to lots of people whose behavior you can’t control might be riskier than driving between cities. For many, driving may be safer than flying precisely because you have more control over potentially risky exposures.

We just drove from Denver to Boston. We chose to drive rather than fly because we’d be traveling with our large dog. Yes, he could have traveled in the cargo hold, but let’s just say that option was vetoed. Having just made the reverse trip from Boston to Denver in January, right before the pandemic began, it’s fair to say the return trip was quite different.

Preparing for the trip

We carefully planned our route, choosing stopping points that had open hotels (some were reserved for healthcare workers and first responders) and making reservations at a chain that had a reputation for being particularly conscientious about COVID-19 safety. Fortunately, many hotels are taking a number of steps to keep their lodgers safe during the pandemic, as a recent article in Forbes notes.

Then we loaded the car up with

• hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, paper towels, and spray disinfectant
• food and water, so we could avoid stopping at restaurants
• supplies to allow bathroom breaks in the woods, in case we could not find suitable public restrooms
• masks
• the dog (of course), along with his food, toys, and bed.

Heading out into the world

As we left Denver, we knew some potentially risky situations would be hard to avoid. We’d have to stop for gas, walking the dog, walking me (I needed to stretch often), and of course bathroom breaks.

Friends told us to “just go in the woods,” but there are no woods along much of I-70 in Kansas! We were pleased to find plenty of truck stops, rest areas, and gas station restrooms that were clean and easy to use without touching nearly anything (though we took disinfectant wipes in case a door handle or soap dispenser had to be touched). I also used disinfectant wipes to touch gas pumps. Once back in the car, we used lots of hand sanitizer before resuming the trip.

We did notice masks were worn more in some areas than in others. One mask-free man saw our masks and asked us, “Do you really think there’s something to this virus thing?” I said yes, I thought there was something to it indeed! Clearly, there are a range of perspectives on the seriousness of the pandemic.

The hotels we stayed at seemed safe as well. Lots of wipes and sanitizer in the lobby, a protective shield at the front desk, masks on all the employees, and a two-person limit in the elevators. Once in the room, we wiped everything down: lamp switches, surfaces, door handles, bathroom, and of course, the TV remote. The hotel gave us the option of having no one enter the room (such as for maid service) during our stay, and we accepted.

It was easy to socially distance: there was almost no one in the hotel or in nearby streets, so going for a walk seemed safe.

Seeing family

Halfway home, we visited family at an independent living facility. Waving and talking through a glass door and wearing masks, our hugless greeting was far different from normal but much better than nothing. At another gathering of six people, we sat outside six feet apart and wondered if beer could kill viruses. (It can’t.)

The bottom line

After five days on the road, we arrived home weary but, hopefully, uninfected. We appreciated that most of our fellow travelers and all of our hosts took the pandemic seriously. While nothing is risk-free, our efforts and those of people we encountered made the trip feel like a low-risk undertaking. If you’re healthy, symptom-free, and need to drive a long way, I think there are ways to do it safely, even during a pandemic.

The post Driving across the country in a pandemic appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

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Randomized coronavirus and antibody testing in Louisville will determine 'true extent' of virus, could be extended to rest of Ky.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

A project aimed at finding out the true extent of the coronavirus in Louisville has moved into its second phase after receiving a $1.5 million donation from the James Graham Brown Foundation, with hopes that it will be replicated across the state and nation, and even the world.

"The project is a national model, and we hope the rest of the country will follow in the coming months," Aruni Bhatnagar, director of the University of Louisville Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, said at a news conference Monday, June 8.

The Co-Immunity Project is a collaboration of the Envirome Institute and the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council, along with Louisville’s three major health systems, Baptist Health, Norton Healthcare and UofL Health.

Bhatnagar said invitations bearing a U of L seal have been sent to 13,000 households in all parts of Louisville asking them to participate in free testing for both the coronavirus and its antibodies. Participants will be selected based on age, race, sex, background and location to create a sample that matches Jefferson County's demographics.

The first phase of the project involved testing nearly 1,500 health care workers for the virus and its antibodies. Tests of the public began with 2,400 people. They will be followed by random tests every eight weeks, with about 22,000 being tested when the project is finished. The first round will be completed by June 20, with the results to be released 10 to 12 days later.

"It is our hope that through this type of regular, representative [testing] is that we will be able to calibrate a response with greater precision in risk group, in timing and in location," he said. "But to succeed, it will depend on the participation of our community."

Initial results from statewide testing in Indiana released in May found that the number of infections was about 11 times higher than had been reported at the time of the tests, and that about 45% of those who tested positive had no symptoms, Marcus Green reports for WDRB.

Bhatnagar explained that while testing capacity has greatly expanded across the state, these results are not representative of the entire population, because they only include people who choose to be tested and this type of testing does "not tell us about the true extent of the virus in our community."

"We need not only expanded testing, but smart and consistent testing," said Bhatnagar "We need to test a random sample of people who are representative of the entire community. Much like a well-designed political poll, we have to be careful to ensure that the  test results from a group of people mirror that of the larger population. Only this can give us a real picture of who has the virus, and who has had the virus."

Bhatnagar said the data from this study will best represent an urban setting, and that he hopes to eventually extend this project to the rest of the state: "It would be somewhat precarious to extrapolate the results from urban areas to rural areas, so I think if this model could be followed in the entire state of Kentucky, then we would in the future like to include both urban and rural locations."

The news release says scientists from around the world can use the data to study effectiveness of antibody therapies and to identify types of individuals who are better able to fight off the virus.

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State school-bus guidance no longer includes social distancing; compliance with plan for masks is expected to be a battle

Kentucky public-health officials have reversed their position about social distancing on school buses, after school superintendents said the plan wasn't realistic.

Health officials still say students must wear masks, practice proper hygiene and have their temperature and health checked daily on buses, Valerie Honeycutt Spears reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The initial public-health guidance called for keeping students and staff six feet away from each other, even on buses, with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calling for one student to a seat, with a seat between them.

That's unrealistic, school superintendents said. Oldham County Supt. Greg Schultz told the legislature's Interim Joint Committee on Education June 2, "There is just no way that most schools districts will be able to get their students to school in a timely fashion or in a cost-effective fashion."

The same day, the immunization manager for the state Department for Public Health told superintendents it was changing its plan. Emily Messerli said, “In the classroom, we can’t have students being on top of each other because they’re in the classroom for seven to eight hours. The bus ride is less time, so there is less exposure.”

Messerli said families will be expected to provide masks for students, and bus drivers and monitors should have masks for those without one. Guidelines regarding masks and social distancing in school school buildings will still be required, she said.

That may be a challenge. Interim Education Commissioner Kevin Brown said at the online meeting that superintendents say families in some communities will not encourage children to wear masks to school.

Fleming County Supt. Brian Creasman told the Herald-Leader, “The majority of our students will not wear a mask, because the majority of their parents refuse to wear masks,” and that leaders who don’t know the pulse of their community are destined to fail.

He added later, “School districts across Kentucky and the nation can have the best plans for operation and teaching and learning, but if we overlook the glaring issue of support of masks and social distancing, we are doomed before we even leave the gate,” Creasman said.

Gov. Andy Beshear said June 2 that schools that embrace the suggested public-health guidance will likely operate without interruption, but those that don't could face a shutdown.

He said state officials are still working on guidance for schools and will be influenced by what happens with the virus over the next two months. On June 8, the state Department of Education issued more guidance, titled "Covid-19 Considerations for Reopening Schools: Alternative Learning Design Strategies."

The public-health officials said in response to a question that they would consider using Plexiglas as a barrier between students in classrooms, but said it would have to be cleaned between classes. They also discussed options for allowing students to eat in lunchrooms, with enhanced sanitation between groups and assigned seating, to allow for contact tracing.

Meanwhile, districts are sending surveys about covid-19 to parents and staff to gauge their concerns and preferences regarding schools reopening in the fall.

State Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, told Honeycutt June 5 that he had sent Beshear a letter saying he would like to convene an advisory council for the reopening of schools, including top education, health officials and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, Beshear's secretary of education and workforce.

Kentucky High School Athletic Association Commissioner Julian Tackett said at the virtual meeting that from June 1 through June 14, high-school coaches will be allowed to meet with their players in groups of no more than 10 if local school boards and local health officials agree, the Herald-Leader reports.

Workouts for high-contact sports and practices for low-contact sports can begin between June 15 to June 28. Low-contact sports can resume competition on June 29. That does not include school against school competition, she reports, adding that a date had not been announced last week for when basketball and high contact sports could resume.

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Better heart health in eight weeks? Double down on fruits and veggies

Two decades ago, the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) study tested the effects of three different diets on almost 500 participants over eight weeks. The first diet was a typical American diet, relatively low in fruits and vegetables (3.5 servings daily) and high in junk foods and sweets. The second offered more fruits and vegetables (8.5 servings daily) as well as seeds, nuts, and beans, and not many sweets. The third was the very healthy DASH diet, rich in fruits and vegetables (9.5 servings daily), beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, and barely any sweets. Participants truly stuck to each diet plan: All meals were provided by the researchers, with one meal per day eaten at the study center and the rest provided in coolers for take-home. All diets had the same amount of sodium (salt) and calories.

What did the original DASH study find?

After only two weeks, both the more-fruits-and-vegetables diet and the DASH diet significantly lowered blood pressure! This healthy blood pressure effect lasted for the whole eight-week study. Most importantly, it didn’t occur due to any differences in sodium intake or weight loss among the participants in all three diet groups.

Further, the study highlighted a remarkable effect on participants following the DASH diet. Among those with a diagnosis of high blood pressure, systolic blood pressure (the top number) dropped by 11.4 points, and diastolic blood pressure (the lower number) by 5.5 points. Basically, the DASH diet was more effective than a lot of blood pressure medications. Who wants to take a pill when you can simply eat healthier, which will provide plenty of other benefits? For example, diets higher in fruits and vegetables are associated with lower risk for all sorts of cardiovascular disease, like heart attacks and strokes.

What does the new data tell us about heart benefits?

Researchers eager to learn more about the heart benefits recently took a second look at data collected in the original study. Using blood samples from the original study participants in all three diet groups, they ran newer tests that can detect levels of heart strain, heart muscle injury, and total body inflammation. They found that both the more-fruits-and-vegetables diet and the DASH diet significantly lowered levels of heart strain and heart muscle injury, after just eight weeks. Total body inflammation levels were not significantly different, but scientists hypothesize that inflammation — which is linked to weight — would decrease with ongoing healthy eating and the inevitable weight loss that follows. This has been shown in many other studies.

The takeaway

The benefits of eating even slightly more fruits and vegetables can be seen in as little as two to eight weeks: significantly lower blood pressure, a measurably lower strain on the heart, and decreased heart muscle damage. Here is an important point: You can’t see these changes with your eyes. Blood pressure measurements and blood tests that find markers of heart strain and damage can show invisible changes critically important to our health, that can later lead to a heart attack, aortic aneurysm, stroke, peripheral artery disease, even dementia. A healthy cardiovascular system, the network of arteries connected to our hearts, keeps our bodies functioning well.

What it is not about: The numbers on the scale. The overall goal of a healthy diet should not be only about weight loss. If it is, then all of the other benefits are missed. A healthy diet and lifestyle will lead to healthy weight loss, which is great, but if that’s the only goal, then folks end up disappointed and disillusioned. Focus instead on eating healthy to be healthy, and take the focus off of the scale.

So how do we eat more like the DASH diet? You can find more information at the American Heart Association and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Nutrition Source. But basically, it’s about working in more fruits, veggies, beans and legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, and avoiding processed foods, red meats, snacks, and sweets.

Tips from a pro

• Health-ify breakfast. Instead of a bowl of cereal or a bagel for breakfast (which are processed foods), have plain low-fat yogurt and a big serving of thawed berries with a sprinkling of nuts. It’s my favorite healthy breakfast! Do you prefer not to eat dairy? Feel like you need some whole grains in your breakfast? Great, try my no-added-sugar vegan granola. Need eggs for breakfast? Check out these other breakfast ideas, including a veggie-heavy frittata. You do you. Make your healthy breakfast out of foods you enjoy eating that are available to you and that also happen to be good for you. There are lots of options.
• Always have a fruit or a vegetable with your snack. Hangry in the late afternoons? Have a handful of nuts and a banana, or a tablespoon of peanut butter and an apple, or a cup of hummus and a bunch of carrots, or even one of my faves, a couple of squares of very dark chocolate and an orange. Every snack will be healthier (and more filling) if it includes fiber-rich fruits and veggies.
• Sneak more veggies into your main meals. Have frozen chopped spinach or kale handy to add to soups and stews, adding fiber and plant nutrients to your usual recipe. Add another veggie side to your barbecue, like sweet onions and colorful peppers sliced thin and sautéed in a grill pan on your grill.

The post Better heart health in eight weeks? Double down on fruits and veggies appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

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Beshear says spread of virus is controlled, but easy absentee voting and more polling places will be needed for Nov. election

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