Eating a healthy meal that is balanced with good fats, fiber, protein, and loaded with nutrients for your body is ideal for a healthy heart. But, in our busy lives, it can be challenging to eat what is recommended.

The American Heart Association (AHA) has a new initiative referred to as + color. This new program is an attempt to get Americans to add more vegetables and fruits to their diet. They encourage everyone to take the challenge of adding at least one more cup every day of colorful foods such as fruits and vegetables to their meals. They figure that one additional cup every day adds up to a lot of heart healthy nutrients and vitamins over a lifetime

It has been found the teenage girls and boys eat the least amount of vegetables and fruits. The AHA would like everyone to adopt this new challenge. They predict, however, that if teenagers began adding more color to their plates today, their risk of coronary disease would reduce dramatically later in life.

Three out of four Americans do not eat a diet enriched with a variety of healthy foods. The +color program is aimed at bringing attention to the dinner plates of Americans through information, research, and outreach. This program is an effort to reduce type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.

Adding a plethora of colorful foods to your meals is not that difficult to do. Shop your local farmer’s markets for seasonal fruits and veggies. The food offered will be fresh, change with the seasons, and support your local farmers. You can even grow your own garden for delicious seasonal colorful foods. Buy frozen vegetables for those nights when you aren’t sure what to add to the meal. These make it easy to throw in some color to meals that are too beige such as mac-n-cheese.

Adding color to your meals will not only brighten up your plate, it will make you feel good to know that you and your family are eating a healthy diet. Tampa Cardiovascular Associates encourages you to maintain a healthy, well-balanced diet to ward off cardiovascular and chronic diseases.

If you are in need of an evaluation, please call us today at 813-975-2800 or visit us online at TampaCardio.com to schedule an appointment.