Spring Into Healthy Habits

Spring is here! The change of season offers a fresh start with flowers blooming and nature awakening all around us. Longer days give us extra time to get outside, with the warmer temperatures making it more enjoyable. Spring is a great time to renew and refresh healthy habits to help you live your healthiest life.

This spring, think about the following healthy habits:
• Eat more fruits and vegetables
• Plan your meals and snacks
• Get outside and get more active
• Remember to hydrate

Getting more fruits and vegetables made easy

Eat the rainbow! Have at least 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day–up to 7-10 servings! Fruits and veggies are packed with nutrients including fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Shop spring’s bounty with the fresh and delicious fruits and veggies in season. When produce is in-season and on sale at the store, you can buy more and freeze for the off-season or split a larger amount with a friend. Supplement the fresh produce with frozen and canned options. You can rinse canned veggies to cut the sodium content.

Have a fruit or veggie at every meal starting with breakfast. Add veggies to your morning eggs, snack on raw veggies, and add fruit to cereal or granola. Toss a fresh salad with greens like butter lettuce, spinach, or mixed baby lettuce and top with fresh berries. You can roast veggies in the oven or grill to really bring out their flavor. Try some new fruits and veggies every time you shop.

Shopping for produce at farmers markets can be a fun outing that offers social time and helps support local farms. It’s great to connect with where your food comes from and, of course, the fresh local produce tastes fantastic. It’s also packed with nutrition since fewer nutrients are lost in travel time.

Planning meals and snacks

Planning ahead can improve your day-to-day nutrition and save you time and money. Save time by prepping meals and snacks for the entire week. You can make big batches of chicken or quinoa at one time and refrigerate or freeze for future meals. Plan to make extra when you prepare soups, stews, or casseroles, and freeze them to use later. Repurposing all types of leftovers in creative ways can help you waste less food.

You can save time and money by shopping with a list. A list helps you move through the store more quickly and makes you less likely to buy foods you already have at home, thereby cutting down on waste. Planning also helps you avoid impulse purchases. You are more likely to make good food choices with a plan in place.

Getting more active

With warmer weather and longer days, it’s a great time to get active and be outside more. Exercise boosts your mood and can help you sleep better. As recommended by the American Heart Association and other health organizations, the overall goal is to be active for 150 minutes each week. You can start small. Try walking a little bit each day, perhaps 10 minutes after each meal. Enlist a friend to make it more fun. Socializing with others is also good for mood.

Remember to do what you enjoy. Gardening, dancing, and cleaning count as exercise, too! Adding strength training two days per week can help boost metabolism, maintain strength, and slow muscle loss. Use small hand weights if you have them, or you can use canned foods or water bottles as hand weights.

Hydration

Don’t forget to hydrate. The thirst mechanism decreases with age, which makes it easier to become dehydrated. With warmer weather, the more you sweat, the more water you need. Eight glasses per day is a good starting point, but you likely need more as it gets hotter. Spruce up your water with fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Try berries, oranges, lemons, limes, cucumber, and herbs like mint and basil.

Try this delicious spring veggie recipe!

EASY SPRING VEGGIE STIR FRY
Adapted from cookieandkate.com

Yield: 4 side servings
• ¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons corn starch
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (or 1 tsp dried ginger)
• 1 large clove garlic, pressed or minced
• ½ teaspoon crushed red (optional)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 small red onion, root and tip ends removed and cut into ¼-inch thick wedges
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into very thin rounds
• Pinch of salt
• ½ bunch (½ pound) thin asparagus, tough ends removed and cut into 2-inch long pieces

Instructions
1. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the soy sauce, honey, starch, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes. Whisk until blended and set aside.
2. Warm the oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and carrots and a pinch of salt. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring every 30 seconds or so, until the onions have softened, about 4 to 5 minutes. (If at any point you catch a whiff of something burning while making this stir-fry, dial back the heat a bit.)
3. Add the asparagus and cook, stirring every 30 seconds, until the carrots are starting to caramelize on the edges and are easily pierced by a fork, about 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Pour in the prepared sauce and cook, while stirring constantly, until the sauce has thickened to your liking, about 20 to 60 seconds. Remove from heat and serve as a side dish as-is or turn it into a main dish by serving it with rice, fried eggs or tofu.