Daily physical chores and tasks "count" toward your physical activity. To find out how your lifestyle activity adds up, take this quiz.
Lifestyle Activity Scale
On average, how often have you done these lifestyle activities during the past year? Circle your score.
Add up all circled numbers. Your Activity Score _____
Aim for a score of 25 or more. To double check if you are meeting the recommended 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most days, keep a record of your activities for a few days.
If you are falling short of 30 minutes a day, increase your physical activity just minutes each week to help you live a longer, healthier life. For more information about health and wellness, click here.
Cooking Tips
Make the most of the vegetables and fruits you prepare to keep the flavor, pleasure and nutrition of all the goodness that's locked inside.
For the Perfect Salad…
… handle greens with care to keep delicate salad leaves crisp and undamaged! A mixed green salad, loaded with vegetables and more, makes the perfect no-cook, no-effort meal for people with active lifestyles. To keep your salad greens spring-fresh and appealing:
Start with young delicate, tender greens. Use several different greens, perhaps a spring mix since different greens have different flavors: for example, buttery, mild Bibb lettuce or māche, bitter escarole or chicory, and peppery arugula or watercress.
Rinse greens well to remove any particles on the surface. Then drain and dry well, perhaps with a salad spinner. That way the water on the leaves won't dilute the salad dressing. Greens go limp? Soak them for a little while in ice water. That allows the cells in the leaves to absorb the water they've lost. But dry before adding the dressing.
Cut greens into smaller pieces - but only if you need to — with a sharp knife. Tearing and crushing tender leaves bruises their cells and starts the process of discoloration.
Dress your greens only at the last minute - and with just a small amount of dressing. That keeps them from getting soggy.
Serve salad on a cold plate. That keeps the greens crisper.
To make your salad heartier, toss with shredded cheese, sliced Healthy Choice Lean Deli Meat, herbs, nuts, and sliced vegetables and fruits of all kinds!
Veggies: Keep Nutrients In!
Whether you're a "speed cook" or not, cook with savvy to conserve the valuable nutrients. Water-soluble vitamins (vitamin C, folate, other B vitamins) are especially vulnerable to loss when vegetables are handled and cooked.
Keep the peel or skin on. Enjoy carrots, tomatoes, and all types of vegetables with their edible peel. The area just below the peel is loaded with nutrients.
Cook in bigger chunks. The fewer cut surfaces you expose, the less nutrients in veggies you lose.
Go easy on water - steam, stir-fry, roast, or microwave vegetables instead. That way, water-soluble vitamins can't dissolve in liquid.
Cover up. With the lid on, fewer water-soluble vitamins dissipate in the steam.
Cook with speed. Besides having better-looking, better-tasting vegetables, short cooking times result in less nutrient loss. That's another reason why stir-frying and microwaving are so great!
Follow directions. For frozen veggies and Healthy Choice frozen meals, cook only until done, according to package instructions.
Finger-Food Fruits!
If you're eating on the run and want an easy snack to pop in your mouth, there's no sweeter idea than bite-size, finger-food fruits. And there's no quicker fruit dessert than berries, served over your favorite To enjoy finger-food fruit at its peak:
Strawberries… Choose berries that are plump, bright red, with their caps intact. They won't ripen after picking.
Grapes… Choose clumps of plump grapes (red or green) that are tightly attached to their stems. Unwashed and in a plastic bag, they'll keep up to a week in your 'fridge.
Blueberries… Choose plump, firm, berries with a silver-blue blush.
Before eating or preparing these fruits, gently rinse well and blot dry. Wash strawberries with the hulls on. If fruits are rinsed, then refrigerated for storage without being dried, they get moldy faster.
If you buy more than you need of these fruits: rinse, blot dry, then freeze. As a frozen snack, they're easy to pop in your mouth!
Dried Fruit… Quick 'n Easy
Dried apricots, apples, berries, dates, figs, grapes (raisins), plums (prunes), pineapple, and more! Since they aren't perishable, dried fruits can go with you anywhere, making them a great way to fit fruit in anytime.
Keep dried fruit in a cool, dry place. Or, in an airtight container, refrigerate dried fruit if you like to eat it cold; refrigeration isn't needed, however
Need smaller pieces of dried apple, pear, peaches, or plums? Snip dried fruit with kitchen shears for trail mix. Dipping the shears in hot water or spraying them with vegetable oil spray helps to keep dried fruit from sticking to the shears.
And a few quick ideas…
Mix dried fruit in a trail mix—or enjoy it plain. Dried fruit makes a great snack.
Add dried fruit to other dishes for a burst of flavor and color: for example, dried cranberries in rice dishes, dried apples in stuffing, raisins and dried berries over yogurt and granola, dried apricots or pineapple in quick breads and muffins, and dried figs in tossed salads.
Plump dried fruit in hot water, then drain. Or soak it in juice with cinnamon or other spices. Once softened, use it with fruit sauces over chicken or fish, French toast made with Healthy Choice Bread, or Healthy Choice Ice Cream.
