An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but so can other fruits and vegetables, whole grains and certain antioxidants. So which foods should you add to your shopping list? Doctors say answering that question could be key to protecting your heart health.

Heart disease is the number one killer in the U.S., with up to 2,500 Americans dying from the condition each day. Doctors say people can control their risk of heart disease by exercising regularly, getting regular checkups and eating a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol. That’s where the right shopping list comes in.

To help people select heart-healthy groceries, the American Heart Association now has an online grocery list builder. The free, innovative tool helps people save time by making it easier for them to select products certified to be low in saturated fat and cholesterol and conveniently identified by the American Heart Association’s red-and-white heart-check mark.

You can access the easy-to-use tool at heartcheckmark.org. Once there, click on “Create your list today,” then browse through the more than 850 products and click “Add to list.” A box called “Your Grocery List” shows your list of foods. When you’re done, just print the list and take it with you when you go shopping.

You can select items by product manufacturer or these categories:

• Beverages

• Breads

• Breakfast foods

• Canned soup

• Dairy case

• Deli meats

• Desserts

• Frozen foods

• Fruits and vegetables

• Meat and poultry

• Pasta, sauces and grains

• Seafood

• Snacks

A separate category, called “My Items,” allows you to add other household items, such as spices or bottled water, to your list.

“With all the messages in grocery stores, consumers are bombarded with information,” said Penny Kris-Etherton, R.D., Ph.D., professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University. “The simple heart-check mark from the American Heart Association makes it easy for them to cut through the clutter and reliably find the nutritious foods they’re looking for.” The online tool, she added, makes healthy shopping even faster.

For more information about the American Heart Association’s Food Certification Program and the heart-check mark, visit heartcheckmark.org.

A new online grocery list builder can help people shop for heart-healthy foods.

Note to Editors: Although this story is evergreen and may be used at any time, it may be especially appropriate during March, which is nutrition month.

School boards and parents are discovering that schools they labored hard to raise money to build in the last 10 years or so are subjecting their children to mold and indoor air quality problems.

Many of these problems can be attributed to choices made in building materials. Some materials provide a ready food source for mold. Roof leaks, wall leaks, window leaks or plumbing failures have even led to the destruction of materials installed to protect the buildings.

These observations are at the heart of a new book called “Are You Building a School or a Liability?” written by Chris Huckabee and Kyle Montgomery and published by the Brick Industry Association, the Masonry Contractors Association of America and the National Concrete Masonry Association. The book calls attention to a serious problem with school buildings.

“The use of porous and paper-based products as the substrate of an exterior wall system has given rise to many, if not most, of the mold-related issues that building owners face today. These products are destroyed by mold. In fact, the mold actually consumes this material as a food source,” said the authors.

Huckabee is a well-known Texas architect who has built more than 1,000 schools. Montgomery is the executive director of the Texas Masonry Council. Together, they recommend the use of materials that are “forgiving.”

A forgiving material, according to Huckabee and Montgomery, is a material that is not destroyed by moisture. They also argue in favor of redundant construction in which wall systems are designed and constructed to direct moisture from inside the building to outside.

“Are You Building a School or a Liability?” presents several case studies where masonry was the solution to serious mold problems in schools. Huckabee and Montgomery note that concrete masonry block is a material that can be cleaned and dried easily and will not be destroyed by mold.

Huckabee and Montgomery cite case studies where gypsum-based interior walls of schools were replaced with concrete block in areas of high moisture probability. In one case, all exterior walls were demolished and replaced with a masonry wall system that included a masonry wall backup. They call this approach “total masonry construction.”

School boards, parent groups and architectural firms specializing in school building construction can obtain free copies of “Are You Building a School or a Liability?” To get a copy, send a letter written on letterhead stationery from your school board, parent group or architectural firm to the National Concrete Masonry Association, 13750 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA 20171.

The number of marriages ending in divorce is on the rise and many couples are now starting to re-evaluate their relationships. But while the increasing statistics may be true, it is important to know some facts about marriage and how it benefits both spouses, physically, emotionally. psychologically, even financially.
According to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), married people were healthier for nearly every measure of health. They live longer lives, and they suffer less from heart disease, back pain, headaches, and serious psychological distress. Most married people are also less likely to get involved in smoking and heavy drinking. They even fared better on their depression tests than when they were still single.
Married couples benefit about equally from marriage, although in different ways. While both men and women live longer, happier, healthier, and wealthier lives when they are married, husbands are usually the ones to gain greater health benefits. The wives, on the other hand, get the greater financial advantages.
Although some quarters claim that the arrival of the first baby comes in between the husband and wife, thus bringing some kind of stress to the marriage, it seemed that it was just an initial effect since couples with children have a slightly lower rate of divorce than childless couples.
For most couples, the secret to a long-lasting marital relationship are commitment and companionship. They define their marriage as a product of hard work, dedication, and commitment to each other and to the institution of marriage. The most successful marriages are couples who have become friends who have compatible in interests and values.
In the past, women with higher education were less likely to get married. On the contrary, recent studies on marriage rates in the mid-1990s concluded that today’s educated women are more likely to marry despite of their older age, than their non-college peers.
Even the notion that those couples living-in together prior to marriage are able to test their compatibility for a more satisfying and lasting marriage seems to prove otherwise as they become less committed over time and more likely to call it quits when problems arise. Recent findings reveal that there may be less motivation for cohabiting couples to undergo conflict resolution. Still, others may argue that co-habitation is just like marriage, but without the “piece of paper.” However, it does not bring the benefits – in physical health, wealth, and emotional well-being – that marriage does. In terms of these benefits, cohabitants in the United States more closely resemble singles than married couples. This is due, in part, to the fact that cohabitants tend not to be as committed as married couples, and they are more oriented toward their own personal autonomy and less to the well-being of their partner.
While some feminists believe that a marriage license gives men a “license to hit” women, a large body of research shows that being unmarried and/or living with a man outside of marriage, is associated with a considerably higher risk of domestic violence for women. Moreover, married men are less likely to commit domestic violence because they are more invested in their wives’ well-being, and more integrated into the extended family and community. These social forces seem to help check men’s violent behavior.
When it comes to sexual relationship, married people have both more and better sex than do their unmarried counterparts. Not only do they have sex more often but they enjoy it more, both physically and emotionally.
With all of the above-mentioned advantages and benefits of marriage, the one area where married couples fared unsatisfactorily is with body weight. Most married men and women have the tendency to gain weight. From ages 45 to 64, three out of four married men were overweight or obese. Single men and women who had never been married were the leanest groups.
While live-in partners, divorced and separated coupled don’t get the same health benefits as happily married couples, a bad marriage can have serious negative effects on your health. Marital stress can be a strong a marker as work stress when it comes to your risk of heart disease.

It’s possible to learn HOW to better your health in only 4 steps and this article will show you how. Each step is a bite-sized nugget of healthy living information you can actually use.

Let’s get started…

Step 1: Nutritional Supplements

In my opinion, they are very necessary and very beneficial- especially when combined with healthy eating habits. It’s very difficult to get all the nutrients your body needs through food alone, but combining proper nutrition with nutritional supplements is very powerful.

That being said, the one supplement everyone should be taking is a good multi vitamin/mineral. Look at it as added insurance- eating well is crucial, but now that you’re also taking a multi, you can rest assured you’re getting the nutrients your body needs.

Step 2: Nutrition

Good nutrition is SO important. You are what you eat…remember that. Make a conscious effort to gradually improve your eating habits, eating more of the good foods (nuts, berries, peanut butter, olive oil, greens, chicken, whole grains, etc.) and less of the bad foods (fried food, saturated fat, fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, etc.). Reading the label of what you’re eating will tell you a lot.

You may think you lack the needed will power, but you’ll be amazed at what happens when you start to gradually improve your eating habits.

Step 3: Exercise

Exercise is the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to better health. There are so many benefits of exercising, including stronger bones and improved libido- it’s a no brainer to start doing it. Your goal should be to exercise 3-5 times a week with a combination of cardio exercises and strength training (but no more than 1 hour per workout session).

It’s been measured that if you add 3 pounds of muscle to your body, this added muscle will burn as many calories as if you ran 1 mile. Muscle burns calories!

Step 4: Stress Management and Sleep

Stress management and getting good sleep each night round out your path to better health. Until you find a way to manage your stress, it will continue to do damage to your body. Two tips you might want to implement include prioritizing your day each morning and practicing deep breathing exercises (yes, you probably already knew this, but have you tried it?).

Getting enough sleep each night is equally important when you consider your body uses this time to repair itself. You should aim for 7-9 hours each night. Two tips you might want to implement include exercising and avoiding late night eating.

Now that you have the basics, expand on this information. Step 1 research more about Nutritional Supplements, Step 2 research more about Nutrition and so on. I guarantee after the 4 steps you’ll feel more confident about reaching your health & fitness goals.

Like many teens, my sons read the cereal box panels at breakfast. A few weeks ago, they noticed the health claims on our Whole Grain Total cereal box and asked me what they meant. You may be wondering the same thing.

Health claims on food packages help people shop for foods that are linked with prevention of certain diseases. “Several approved health claims pertaining to the health benefits of whole grains will help consumers make wise food choices,” says Kathleen Zelman, M.P.H., R.D., director of nutrition for WebMD Health.

• Grain products, fruits, and vegetables may lower cancer risk when they are included in a low-fat diet. A diet that is high in fat increases risk of developing certain types of cancer.

• Diets that are low in saturated fat and cholesterol and rich in fruits, vegetables, and grain products that contain some types of dietary fiber, particularly soluble fiber, may reduce the risk of heart disease. Oats are a good grain source of soluble fiber.

• Diets rich in whole grain foods and other plant foods and low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease and some cancers. This health claim specifies that benefits come from eating whole grain foods rather than all grain foods.

Ms. Zelman points out that while a health claim about foods with calcium and bone health does not mention grains, “a breakfast of whole grain cereal with low-fat milk and fresh fruit is an ideal way to start the day because fortified cereal and milk provide calcium, along with protein and a whole host of vitamins, minerals and fiber to meet your nutritional needs and keep you feeling full all morning.”

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid food guidance system emphasize the importance of eating whole grain foods. They recommend including at least three servings a day of whole grains in place of processed grain foods. Health claims can help you find all-important whole grain foods.

Mindy Hermann

Note to Editors: This is Series V-17 of 26.