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Perfect Combo
Delicious and Heart-Healthy

(Family Features) - If one of your resolutions is to live healthier this year, the American Heart Association offers up a simple recipe: Get active and eat better. It's easier than you think when you — and your family — follow these healthy, step-by-step directions:

Start by Turning Activity to "On"

The body benefits from being physically active for at least 30 minutes each day. Regular activity can help you use more calories and build long-term heart health.

That's important because heart disease and stroke continue to be America's No. 1 and 3 killers. So turn off the TV and video games and take walks with the family. Stride briskly through the entire mall before stopping to shop. Take the stairs rather than the elevator. Think of household "chores" as "opportunities to exercise." In short, get up and move!

Add a Healthy Diet

Good food and good health are ingredients that DO go together in this simple, healthy living recipe. It's just a matter of selecting the right combination of foods to fuel your body and satisfy the tastes you love.

The first step in building your family's healthy and flavorful eating plan, says the American Heart Association, is to select a wide variety of foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Then, to complete your good nutrition resolution:

Fill your grocery cart with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, which are naturally low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
Choose whole grain products including oatmeal, rice and whole grain breads.
Select lean protein sources, such as skinless poultry, fish, legumes and extra-lean meats.
Substitute low-fat, low-cholesterol snacks for traditional high- fat, empty-calorie snacks. (Try baked tortilla chips and salsa or fruit and low-fat yogurt dip, for instance.)
Look for the American Heart Association's red heart with the white check mark on food labels to identify foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

Blend With Smart Shopping

With so many foods in the grocery store, it's hard to spot heart- healthy choices. That's why the American Heart Association created the heart-check mark. Backed by science, the distinctive red heart with the white check mark helps you easily and reliably identify heart-healthy foods that can be part of a sensible eating plan. Food packages bearing the simple logo have been evaluated to ensure they meet the Association's criteria for heart-healthy levels of saturated fat and cholesterol for healthy people over age 2. You have many important things to do — spending hours at the grocery store shouldn't be one of them.

To make shopping for your recipe for good health even easier, create your list of heart-healthy foods online before you go. Log on to heartcheckmark.org. Click on the new "My Grocery List." Select, print ... and shop!

Serve, Keeping Your Eyes on Serving Size

Oversized portions are not allowed in a recipe for good health. With many Americans often eating two or three times the recommended amount of a food, reading a product's Nutrition Facts panel on its label for the suggested serving size is a good measurement to follow. This helps you get the nutrients you need while helping control added calories you don't.

Learn more about reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke through good nutrition by visiting the American Heart Association Web site at americanheart.org, or call 1-800-AHA-USA1 for your free copy of the "Shop Smart with Heart" brochure.

Shop Smart. Live Well.
Look for the Heart-Check Mark.

All products bearing the red heart with the white check mark meet the American Heart Association's nutrition criteria per standard serving:

Low fat (less than or equal to 3 grams)
Low saturated fat (less than or equal to 1 gram)
Low cholesterol (less than or equal to 20 milligrams)
Moderate in sodium, with less than or equal to 480 milligrams for individual foods
Nutritious, containing at least 10 percent of the Daily Value of one or more of these naturally occurring nutrients: protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron or dietary fiber
For meats to be eligible for the heart-check mark, they must meet the USDA standard for "extra lean."

Log on to heartcheckmark.org for more information and to create your easy-to-use, printable grocery list.

With recipes like this Sweet Corn Soup, the American Heart Association proves you can enjoy tasty foods — and still keep your heart healthy and your waistline trim.

Sweet Corn Soup With Crab and Asparagus
This Cantonese-style soup is practically a meal in itself.
Serves 8

1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus
1/4 cup water
4 cups fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
1 15-ounce can no-salt-added cream-style corn
2 teaspoons low-salt soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
Egg substitute equivalent to 3 eggs, or 3 large eggs
2 6-ounce cans crabmeat, rinsed and drained
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
6 medium green onions (green part only), finely chopped
Chili garlic sauce to taste (optional)

Trim the asparagus and cut into 1-inch pieces. Put in a microwave- safe dish with 1/4 cup water. Microwave, covered, on 100 percent power (high) for 5 minutes, or until tender-crisp. Don't overcook. Drain well.

In a large saucepan, bring the broth to a boil over high heat. Stir in the corn, soy sauce, and salt. Return to a boil. Meanwhile, put the cornstarch in a cup. Add 2 tablespoons water, stirring to dissolve. Pour into the broth mixture, stirring constantly.

Pour the egg substitute into the boiling soup in a thin stream. Remove from the heat.

To serve, spoon 1/2 cup asparagus into each bowl. Ladle the broth mixture over each serving. Top with the crabmeat and sesame oil. Sprinkle the green onions over each serving.

Serve the chili garlic sauce on the side.

Nutrition analysis per serving: 138 calories, 15g protein, 17g carbohydrates, 38mg cholesterol, 1.0g total fat, 278mg sodium

This recipe is reprinted with permission from The New American Heart Association Cookbook, Seventh Edition, Copyright © 2004 by the American Heart Association. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc. Available from booksellers everywhere.

SOURCE: American Heart Association