After 2 years of giving myself an exercise routine and a leisurely diet choice to keep me healthy--that of bringing my LDL ("bad" cholesterol) to low levels and increasing my HDL ("good" cholesterol)-turning points were marked. But the discipline of eating remain a yardstick. Today, let me start a new challenge. Courtesy of Oprah's Four Weeks to Healthy Eating, I will indulge myself to week 1-4 prescription.
Week One: Make a Produce-Aisle Hit List
Eating more fruits and vegetables is one of the most important dietary habits you can adopt to prevent heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension and to manage your weight. Vegetables in particular will cost you little in the way of calories while offering huge health benefits.
Your weekly goal is to eat five to nine servings of fruits and veggies a day. That's not as challenging as it may seem. The serving sizes are reasonable—one medium-size fruit, a half cup of cooked vegetables, three-quarters of a cup of 100-percent juice, one cup of raw leafy vegetables, a quarter cup of dried fruit. Mix fruit into your breakfast cereal, add lettuce and tomato to your sandwich (with a side of a vegetable-based soup), eat a piece of fruit in the afternoon and a vegetable side at dinner, and you've taken care of at least five servings.
Before shopping, write down the names of five richly colored vegetables and fruits that you really like, then add to the list two that you're curious about and are willing to try.
Week One: Make a Produce-Aisle Hit ListEating more fruits and vegetables is one of the most important dietary habits you can adopt to prevent heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension and to manage your weight. Vegetables in particular will cost you little in the way of calories while offering huge health benefits.
Your weekly goal is to eat five to nine servings of fruits and veggies a day. That's not as challenging as it may seem. The serving sizes are reasonable—one medium-size fruit, a half cup of cooked vegetables, three-quarters of a cup of 100-percent juice, one cup of raw leafy vegetables, a quarter cup of dried fruit. Mix fruit into your breakfast cereal, add lettuce and tomato to your sandwich (with a side of a vegetable-based soup), eat a piece of fruit in the afternoon and a vegetable side at dinner, and you've taken care of at least five servings.
Before shopping, write down the names of five richly colored vegetables and fruits that you really like, then add to the list two that you're curious about and are willing to try.
