Want to improve your eating habits? Take it bite by bite, meal by meal. Choose one bad habit and replace it with a good one.
It may not seem like a big change, but replacing a serving of potato chips with an apple represents a significant improvement in nutrition, especially if that behavior is repeated day after day, week after week.
To help you take one small step for better eating, consider these "Top 10 Healthy Foods" from the August issue of the Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource newsletter.
- Apples: Most everybody knows about the vitamin C in apples, which keeps the body's cells healthy. Vitamin C also helps the body absorb other nutrients, such as iron (for healthy blood) and folate (for building cells and preventing birth defects). Apples also contain pectin, which like all types of fiber can reduce cholesterol and glucose.
- Almonds: Yes, almonds have fat, but it's monounsaturated fat, a good fat that can help reduce cholesterol, making these nuts heart-healthy. Almonds also have fiber, iron, calcium (for strong bones) and vitamin E (an antioxidant). They make a great snack because their protein content means that a small amount can tide you over until dinner.
- Broccoli: This may not be everyone's favorite vegetable, but it has nutrients that can help prevent heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. It's a great source of fiber, folate, calcium, potassium, beta-carotene and vitamin C. To make it more palatable, try it in a stir-fry coated in soy sauce and other bold Asian flavors. Or eat it raw with a dip.
- Blueberries: These are high in antioxidants, which can help fight against aging problems, such as short-term-memory loss. Blueberries also have fiber and phytonutrients (to fight cancer).
- Red beans: This group includes small pinto and dark-red kidney beans, which provide lots of fiber, potassium, protein and copper (which aids healing, among other things).
CONTRIBUTE TO THIS STORY
