According to the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans, adults should consume less than 2,300mg (approximately 1 teaspoon of salt) of sodium per day. For people with chronic diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, or kidney disease, as well as older adults and African Americans, the recommended daily limit is 1,500mg, or roughly half a teaspoon of salt.

Note that added salt comes in many forms and may be listed on nutrition labels as monosodium glutamate (MSG), sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sodium saccharin, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), and sodium benzoate.

Sodium chloride, or table salt, is approximately 40 percent sodium. Understand just how much sodium is in salt so you can take measures to control your intake.
1/4 teaspoon salt = 600mg sodium                                                                     1/2 teaspoon salt = 1,200mg sodium
3/4 teaspoon salt = 1,800mg sodium                                                                  1 teaspoon salt = 2,300mg sodium

Source: American Heart Association

It is 64 degrees today in North Carolina. It hard for me to wrap my mind around leaving my house for work in early February without a coat, scarf and gloves. I am enjoying the sun and the abilty to go for a walk after work without freezing – but is still a bit weird.

The other day I heard an enviromental expert say that the unseasonably warm weather we are experiencing on the east coast, as well as, the exceptionally frigid temps in east Europe is all because of us. Yep, that’s right – you, me and the other folks that inhabit this planet with us.

There are simple things each of us can do to live a greener, more sustainable lifestyle. One way help out the planet is to grow a little bit of your own food. Growing your own fruits and vegetables in a garden, flower pot  or on a windowsill supports the environment by reducing fossil fuel use, plus foods grown locally taste better and offer more nutrients than foods shipped from across the country (or the world). The nutrient value of freshly harvested vegetables is generally higher than food eaten several days after it was picked. Having a garden is also a great way to keep your food safe, because you know how it was grown – no unsanitary hands in the garden, please -  and it helps you save money.

My little garden

With all of these benefits it’s hard to argue that growing your own food leads to a better quality of life.

Do you have a garden? If so,why?

Heart disease (including stroke) is the #1 killer of Americans. Since 1963, February has been proclaimed as American Heart Month to heighen awareness of heart disease. The American Heart Association (AHA) works to educate and empower individuals to undeerstand the risk factors for heart disease and to take measures to reduce these risks.

Eating a nutritious diet is key to maintaining a healthy heart.  Borrowing traditions from The Mediterranean Diet is one way to love your heart. Mediterranean -style foods include fiber-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes. The AHA recommends that adults consuming 2,000 calories a day aim for at least three 1-ounce servings of fiber-rich whole grains every day. One of my favorite ways to increase my fiber intake is by eating steel cut oatmeal. Most of us probably grew up on instant oatmeal or quick-cooking oatmeal, but steel-cut is a nutritional step above these varieties. I had not heard of steel-cut oatmeal until I heard Oprah mention it on one of her healthy living episodes with Bob Greene.

At first the chewy texture and lack of sweetness took some getting used to. Adding a drizzle of agave syrup, honey or fruit (dried or fresh) makes the flavor of the oatmeal really pop. Steel cut requires cooking on the stove top and usually takes about 20-25 minutes to cook. Most recipes call for water, but I prefer a creamy consistency, so I substitute half the water for 1% milk or soy milk. As you know, milk scorches very easily, so using milk will require lower cooking temperatures. The richness in flavor and nutritional quality of steel cut is worth the extra effort.

Eating a warm bowl of steel-cut oatmeal for breakfast is a great way to start your day and be kind to your heart. The blog, Pinch My Salt, offers a great description of how to prepare and freeze batches of steel cut oatmeal for later use so you won’t have to go through the ritual of making oatmeal every morning. Steel cut oats can be purchased from most local grocery stores and are usually found on the breakfast aisle near the instant oatmeal. For more economical shopping, buy steel cut oatmeal in bulk from Whole Foods Market or EarthFare or any other grocer that sells it in bulk. Bulk pricing is usually around $1.19 per pound.

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, you might be in need of a little spending money. Maybe you want to get that extra special something for your Valentine, or maybe you want to get yourself a little something to make yourself feel extra special. Or maybe you are in need of a little boost to help with your resolutions.

Whatever your needs, wouldn’t $150 in Cold Hard – PAYPAL – Cash be great?

Enter to Win the “V Day $150 Pay Day” Giveaway!
Use the Rafflecopter below to post your entries. You can do all of them or just a few. Since the prize will be sent via PayPal, it is open to anyone – worldwide – that has a PayPal account.

Please note that when using a Rafflecopter based giveaway, it is best to be viewing the page in Firefox or Internet Explorer (Google Chrome may product issues with seeing all of the entires). It is also a good idea that this Rafflecopter be the only one you are viewing, so please click the title of the post so that you can be sure you are only looking at this giveaway.

This Giveaway is a collaborative effort of three sites – The Busy Woman’s Guide to Surviving Motherhood, Simply Eating Better and Mommies Point of View Reviews. Please visit each of them often for great giveaways, tips and trends.

The Busy Woman’s Guide to Surviving Motherhood – Every Mom needs a little guidance – this blog is full of tips, tricks and fun stories about surviving MOTHERHOOD! With product reviews and giveaways thrown in for FUN.
Everyone has a question – WHAT’S YOURS?

Simply Eating Better -
Tonya Peele is author of the new book, Quick Wins for Healthy Eating and the inspiring cook behind the natural food blog, Simply Eating Better. This blog is ideal for every woman interesting in healthy cooking and losing weight naturally. Go to www.tonyapeele.com to download a sample chapter of her book and sign up for The Better Diet Project.

Mommies Point Of View – Glenda Cates aka Mommies Point of View is a wife, mommy and pet owner. I am also a business owner.
I am from Hurst, Texas. I like to blog about family, friends and my pets. I host reviews and giveaways.

Your friends and family may have some idea of your philosophy about life, politics, religion and education. But do they have a clue about your philosophy about food? Have you even considered your beliefs and values about how and what you eat? Something to think about, huh?

Don’t waste time creating another new year’s resolution about eating better. If you want to make healthy eating a permanent part of your life, I encourage you to sit down right now and think about your food philosophy – or your personal beliefs and guiding principles about how you wish to eat and live and why.

Creating a food philosophy

It is important to be aware of your own ideals about food because it helps you focus on why you make the food choices you make. In order to live by a personal food philosophy, you have to take charge of specific areas of your life. For example, you have to set clear goals and communicate your priorities and preferences to the people you live and work with. You also have to put a plan in place that will support your success.

Establishing a food philosophy is no different than committing to any other personal regimen. Consider people who have developed a longtime meditation practice. In order to establish a meaningful practice, they had to set aside time regularly to meditate and follow through with their intentions no matter what else got in the way. You will have to apply that same level of commitment to your intention to eat a better diet. If you don’t put the right strategies in place, you will not get the health benefits you are looking for. The first step in your strategy is to create your food philosophy.

Starting Point

It’s time to hit the renew button and begin to lay out your strategy for starting a lifetime of better eating. Just because you were raised to eat a certain way doesn’t mean you have to eat that way all your life. You can change your eating style anytime you like. I was raised on traditional, Southern-style foods like fried chicken, cornbread and vegetables seasoned with fatback. So you can imagine how challenging it was for me to change my habits. But I did!

Small, meaningful changes in your diet can lead to huge improvements in your health and happiness over time. What you value is where you’ll want to put your energy. So the question before you is, “How do you want to eat?” as this decision ultimately defines how you want to live.

Here’s my food philosophy: I beleieve that food should taste good, nourish the body and preserve health.

So now let’s use the worksheet below to write yours…..

{Adapted from Quick Wins for Healthy Eating}

FOOD PHILOSOPHY WORKSHEET

1. WHY DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR EATING STYLE?

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2. WHAT IS YOUR CONNECTION TO EATING BETTER? HOW IMPORTANT IS YOUR HEALTH TO YOU?

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3. WHAT WOULD MOTIVATE YOU TO EAT FRESHER, LESS PROCESSED FOODS?

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WRITE YOUR FOOD PHILOSOPHY:

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