American Heart Month - 5 Tips to Eat With Your Heart in Mind
Ellie Wilson
MS RDN, Manager, Lifestyle and Wellness
February is American Heart Month, and at Price Chopper/Market 32, we have many resources and tools that can support your efforts to enjoy a Heartsmart lifestyle.
The 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans has a great tagline that can guide how you make food and health decisions – “Make Every Bite Count”. This energizer is meant to help you look at the food choices you make for the benefits they bring to eating well and preventing disease. That can be challenging for many reasons. We have some shortcuts in our stores and pharmacies that can help put smart choices, budgets and wellbeing together more easily.
- Start small by using the Know Your Colors nutrition guides at the shelf and the Shops Online section of the Price Chopper/Market 32 website. These guides highlight products that meet HeartSmart and Low Sodium criteria, making it quick and easy to find and check the label for the information you need. The coordinating colors make it easy to use – red for HeartSmart, yellow for Low Sodium, with many items having both! Learn more at on our website.
- Enjoy more seafood, especially omega-3 rich salmon, trout, and tuna. Seafood twice per week is recommended by the American Heart Association and Dietary Guidelines – reel in the benefits of the great fresh and frozen seafood options that go from pan to plate in less than 20 minutes!
- Add Market 32 walnuts to salads, snacks and meals with American Heart Association Certified Heart Healthy recipes featuring walnuts! Check out the display in Produce and find a great BOGO coupon for Chobani Greek Yogurts.
- Double up on produce intake, whether it be fresh, frozen or canned – all bring benefits and Americans have plenty of room to add more to meet daily recommendations. Explore new takes on traditional foods, such as lentil pasta – combined with regular pasta to add the flavor, fiber, protein and nutrient benefits of pulses, in an affordable and delicious way. Add some extra canned PICS No Salt Added tomatoes and PICS Canned Beans for a flavor, protein and veggie-boosted meal that is easy on your time and budget!
- It is easy to find Low Sodium tagged tomatoes and other items throughout the store – the Know Your Colors nutrition guide helps you see where you can trade up to low sodium ingredients that connect the dots to smart choices for recipes and family meals.
Our Pharmacy team has great resources and programs – learn more about how to check blood pressure at the PharmaSmart kiosk, and how the Pharmacy app can help you keep blood pressure and heart medications on track!