Have you ever noticed that you eat the same foods, day in and day out?  Cereal for breakfast, fast food for lunch, and maybe a burger-brat combo supper at the track meet or baseball field?  If you are trying to eat healthier and drop a few pounds before summer arrives, consider having a side salad every day for lunch!
Lettuce leaves are one of the very low-calorie green vegetables.  The vitamins and minerals in lettuce are plentiful, and lettuce also contains fiber and cellulose which fill you up and help improve digestion. Improving your digestion may not sound like a good thing for losing weight, but it is actually essential for long-term weight control.  Choose romaine lettuce or spinach, if you can, instead of iceberg which has the lowest nutritional value.
Romaine has one of the highest nutritional values in the lettuce category.  Romaine has less sugars and sodium, twice the protein, twice the calcium, three times the vitamin K, four times the iron, eight times the vitamin C, and seventeen times the vitamin A (nutritional data from USDA SR-21).
Spinach is an excellent source of manganese, folate, magnesium, iron and copper.  It also contains higher levels of Vitamins A, B2, B6, C, E and K and minerals like calcium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, protein, and choline.  Spinach is an excellent source of dietary fiber and makes salads more colorful.  No wonder Popeye loved to eat it in the old cartoon many of us used to watch!
Add in some blueberries, strawberries, mandarin oranges, walnuts or almonds, low-fat shredded cheese, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and lean grilled chicken and you have a heart-healthy lunch that is packed with nutrients that your taste buds will enjoy.  When you are at the grocery store this week, take a peek at all the “lettuce” varieties and try something new!

Exercise is not the same as being active.  Many times the terms are confused and used interchangeably. While both physical activity and exercise require movement, the two are DEFINITELY not the same.  Generally speaking, all movement is good.  However, remember that 10,000 steps a day on your Fitbit is NOT the same as 10,000 steps a day if 5,000 came from exercising 30 minutes straight!
Think of exercise as “physical activity with some basic rules”. Exercise is designed to bring about a positive change. In other words, exercise results in increased strength, or endurance, or flexibility, or speed, or weight loss, etc. Walking isn’t “exercise” until you walk fast enough, long enough and often enough to bring about a change in your cardiovascular system.  You must get your heart rate up enough to break a sweat.  It is that simple.
Examples of EXERCISE are walking 30 minutes at a fast pace, lifting weights, whole body stretching, running on a treadmill, taking a fitness class, swimming laps at the pool, hiking a couple miles around the park, or jumping rope.
Examples of BEING ACTIVE include things like sweeping, cleaning, emptying the dishwasher, folding laundry, lifting boxes, walking to the road to get the mail, or getting groceries.  Golfing while riding in a golf cart is very different than golfing while pulling your clubs behind you on foot.
Many Americans will visit their local doctor for an annual physical this year.  The doctor will review their height, weight, pulse, heart rate, temperature, blood pressure, eyes, ears, nose, and throat.  You get the idea.  I wish doctors would start the visit by seriously asking “What did YOU do today for exercise?”  It is never too soon to start the dialogue about the differences between exercising and being “active”.
How did YOU spend your last 24 hours? What exercise, if any, did you do?  How many hours did you spend sleeping?  How many hours did you spend sitting down in the car, at the computer, eating, watching TV, playing video games, etc.?  How many hours did you spend moving?
Turn off the television, get out of the chair, back away from the table, go outside and exercise every day.  Your heart will thank you!