Helping you achieve a healthy community within your worksite

 Heart heath video Heart heath video  Heart disease is #1 killer of Americans and stoke is the #4 killer.

 Eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. ◦ These foods are high in antioxidants and can help fight against heart disease. ◦ Eat fruits and vegetables in a variety of colors !  Increase fiber! ◦ Eating fiber rich foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans) can help reduce cholesterol and help control blood sugar levels.

 Choose more heart healthy fats like olive oil and peanut oil.  Decrease saturated fat and trans fat by limiting foods made with these less healthy fats. ◦ Ex) margarine, shortening, salad dressing, sweets, high fat dairy products, processed foods, and red meat.

 Limit salt consumption to help reduce blood pressure.  Salt is sneaky and shows up almost everywhere! ◦ Ex) lunch meats, baked goods, chips, crackers, TV dinners, salad dressing, etc.  Limit processed foods and try to eat foods closer to their natural state.  Limit using the salt shaker and use seasoning blends (ex. Mrs. Dash) instead.  Wean yourself off the salt shaker by mixing salt with seasoning blends, slowly reducing the salt you mix in.

 Get minutes of exercise daily!  Exercise strengthens the heart muscle, improves blood flow, helps reduce high blood pressure, raises HDL cholesterol ("good" cholesterol), and helps control blood sugar levels, and body weight.

 Reduce stress! People with chronic job stress are 68% more likely to develop heart disease.

 If you smoke, quit!  Quitting smoking can help reduce your risk of heart disease. Ask your doctor how you can quit.

 Write down 1-2 attainable heart healthy goals and the reason why you want to accomplish them. ◦ Ex: My goal is to quit smoking, because I want to live a longer life to see my grandchildren grow up.