Pulse foods include chickpeas (or garbanzo beans), lentils and split peas. These inexpensive foods provide protein, complex carbohydrates, and several vitamins and minerals. Like other plant-based foods, they contain no cholesterol and little fat or sodium. They are an excellent source of fiber and folate, along with many other vitamins and minerals.

We’re all bombarded with information about nutrition and health. This publication will explore a few popular nutrition information sources and ways to determine if information is reliable.

On average, your heart beats about 100,000 times per day, pumping nutrients and oxygen throughout the body. Taking this hard-working group of muscles for granted can be easy. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. The purpose of this publication is to increase awareness of heart disease risk factors for women and ways for everyone to improve heart health through lifestyle choices. Having regular checkups and discussing any health-related issues with your physician or health-care provider is important.

Supplements have different serving sizes and intake recommendations. To determine how many milligrams (mg) of a nutrient are in each capsule, divide the milligrams of that nutrient by the number of capsules in each serving size. Remember, you probably are getting some vitamins and minerals from your diet. Be sure to include both supplements and dietary intake when considering if you are getting the right amount of a nutrient.

Keeping our bones healthy is a lifelong process. As we get older, our bodies may break down bone faster than we can make new bone. This can cause problems if our bones don’t have enough stored nutrients to keep them strong. Eating nutrient-rich foods and getting weight-bearing physical activity help keep our bones in good shape no matter what our age.

A Healthy Skin Diet is Like the Heart-healthy Diet.

Many people take prescription or nonprescription medications on a regular basis. Do you know how to properly store and dispose of medications? Do our medications interact with any foods? Know the questions to discuss with hour healthcare provider.

Sports drinks, such as Gatorade, Powerade and All Sport, contain carbohydrates and electrolytes, such as sodium, potassium and chloride. They are made for physical activity, to help rehydrate and to keep energy levels high. Are sports drinks really necessary? Not always. You can get these same benefits from other sources. A sports drink is not better for you unless you are active for 60 to 90 minutes or are exercising in very hot conditions. Anything less, and water should be the drink of choice.

We cannot change our genetic inheritance, but we can exercise and eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

This is a short guide to age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss in the United States for people over age 60.