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Easy Heart Healthy Snacks this Valentines Day

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Valentine’s Day is an event celebrated across the world, which exemplifies the day of love and romance. If you are planning on having your loved one(s) over for Valentine’s Day and you aren’t sure about what to make or buy, perhaps these easy yet fun ideas can help you! Express your love through these heart-healthy yet delicious snacks!

Photo Credits: https://binged.it/2Bxsc71

  1. A Pizza My Heart: There’s no better way to win over someone’s heart than to give them some thin-crust home-made pizza! Home-made pizza is definitely a healthier option! You can even cut out the dough into heart shapes!

Things you need:

  1. Option One: Whole-Wheat Dough

Option Two: Whole-grain tortilla. If you decide to go with this option, whole-grain tortillas are more personalized. Therefore, you       can make one or two per person.

  1. Vegetables (optional)
  2. Turkey Pepperoni as a healthier choice, instead of beef or pork
  3. Cheese
  4. Pizza Sauce

What to do:

Oven: Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Place a pizza baking tray on the lowest rack of your oven.

For Vegetables: If you choose to use vegetables, put a little olive oil in a skillet and sauté them until the vegetables are tender.

Creating Your Pizza: This is the fun part in making your delicious creation! Place your pizza sauce, cheese, turkey pepperoni, and your tender vegetables onto your whole-wheat pizza dough or tortilla’s. Then place it in the oven, until the cheese is melted and your dough is golden-brown.

The only thing left to do is, eat!

Food Recipe: https://bit.ly/2I7oBT3

Photo Credit: https://binged.it/2SGxG9i

2.You’re one in a Melon: Fruits are a great source of nutrients and natural sugar. They are also a great way to open up your digestive tract and clean your pallet.

For this heart-healthy snack you can pick any fruit you like. Some options can include watermelon, cantaloupe, and pineapple. You will need three items:

  1. Your fruits of choice
  2. Popsicle or shortened skewer sticks
  3. Heart-Shaped Cookie Cutter

Take your heart-shaped cookie cutter and cut out heart shapes out of your fruits, then place the Popsicle or shortened skewer sticks in bottom of the fruit. This will give your snack a Popsicle effect, which is a great snack-serving idea.

Photo and Idea Credit : https://bit.ly/2GlMjJm

3.You are the Jelly to my Peanut-butter(or Soy-Nut butter) Heart: YUM! What better way to say ‘I love you’ than with a peanut-butter/soy-nut butter and jelly heart shaped sandwich?

Things You Need:

  1. Peanut Butter/Soy-nut butter
  2. Jellies of your choice – Two options are strawberry or raspberry jam.
  3. Slice Bread (brown bread is a healthier option compared to white bread)

What to do:

  1. Cut your bread into a beautiful heart shape. After you do this, take one of the slices and cut out a heart shape within the bread.
  2. Spread your peanut butter/soy-nut butter and jelly of your choice on this delicious sandwich and serve!

There are many benefits to peanut-butter and jelly. Some of them include Vitamin E and fiber. This helps improve blood flow in your body.

We hope that these heart-healthy yet delicious treats are an easy way to say ‘I love you’ to your loved one(s) on Valentine’s Day. From us at The Mikey Network to you and yours, we wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day!

5 Heart Health Definitions

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  1. Angina: A recurring pain or discomfort in the chest area. This discomfort is caused by some part of the heart not receiving
    enough blood. The pain can feel like heaviness, a burning sensation or discomfort in the left arm or jaw.
  2. Bundle Branch Block: A condition in which the heart’s electrical system is unable to normally conduct the electrical signal.
  3. Cardiomyopathy: Disease of the heart muscle, causing decreased functioning of the heart.
  4. Electrocardiogram: A method for studying the heart by measuring the electrical impulses of the heart as they are detected on the surface of the body. Also known as EKG or ECG.
  5. Fibrillation: Rapid contractions of the heart muscles, sometimes called quivering of the heart muscle. When your heart is in fibrillation blood cannot be pumped in or out properly. Fibrillation can lead to cardiac arrest, stopping of all heart functions.

Here’s how to eat healthy on a budget

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It’s easy to become overwhelmed by healthy eating, but your overall health will benefit if you can stick with healthy basics during this trying time. That means filling half your plate with vegetables and fruit, a quarter with protein-rich foods, and a quarter with whole grains, as described by Canada’s Food Guide.

Preparing meals can seem complicated though with hard to get ‘superfoods‘ seeming like the only way to cook nutritiously. But this is simply not the case — heart healthy foods are hiding in plain sight at every grocery store across the country. Fresh, frozen, shelf-stable and more, these delicious whole foods benefit your total body health. Below are some of our tips that you can use, without breaking the bank.

Choose Wisely

Plan your meals ahead of time, so you can shop once and get groceries for the next week or two. When you plan your meals, make sure to use your perishable vegetables, fruit and protein options first, and save the canned, frozen and shelf-stable food for later.

Peel it Yourself

Buying foods in their close-to-natural state will always save you money. A one kilogram bag of whole unpeeled carrots costs about one-third the price of the same size bag of pre-cut baby carrots. Convenience comes with a higher price tag.

Go Meatless on Monday

Pick one or more days per week to go fully meatless, focusing on the highly affordable protein found in beans, legumes, eggs and tofu. Transform humble edamame beans into an edible masterpiece with this Carrot, Parsnip and Edamame Salad, ideal for lunch or dinner on the days you go meatless, or any day.

Choose In-Season Foods

Shopping in season is a simple way to enjoy a healthy diet on a budget, without even thinking twice. Head to your local farmers’ market or grocery store each week with growing seasons in mind. For instance, buy asparagus in April or May (not December!) and strawberries in June. In the summertime, you’re spoiled for choice, though this way of cooking and eating works year-round.

Use Frozen Vegetables

Picked at the peak of freshness and flash frozen, these ice-cold health foods are often just as nutritious as they are fresh. Choose frozen produce free of sauces, salt and sugar, and keep your eye out for sales during the week. They’ll keep for months, allowing you to buy in bulk and add to stews, stir-fries, salads, sides and soups.

Here are some heart health recipes to try

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Here are some heart-healthy food ideas for you to consider this season

Heart Healthy Meals

Tilapia and Vegetables

Grilled Corn Salsa

Piri Piri Chicken

Bulgur Wheat Salad

Peachy Chicken Salad

Summer Fruit Smoothie Ice Pops

Vanilla Lemon Berry Parfaits

Tart Apple Buttermilk Cake

Recipes From Our Resident Expert, Marsha Rosen, RD
Here are some heart-healthy recipes provided by Marsha Rosen, RD (Registered Dietitian). Marsha is Mike Salem’s sister and in addition to offering private nutrition counselling, Marsha provides group lectures, seminars and cooking demonstrations.

If you have a nutrition question for our dietitian, you can email Marsha here…

Do you have a heart-healthy recipe that you would like to share? Send your recipes to info@mikeynetwork.com

Everything you need to know about our Mikey Programs

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The Mikey Network has a number of programs that provide education, training, and of course life-saving MIKEYS in as many high-risk, high-need locations as possible.

Mikey Young At Heart – The School Defibrillator Program

The MIKEY’s installed under this program are available to hundreds of high school and continuing education students, their teachers and school staff. The life-saving potential is even greater when you consider that schools form the heart of our communities. MIKEYS will also benefit all of the individuals and neighbourhood groups who regularly attend meetings, play sports,vote at their local polling stations, and participate in other special events held on school property.

Mikey’s Kids – The Mikey At Home Program

The Mikey Network has developed the Mikey’s Kids – Mikey at Home Program to allow children who have been diagnosed with a heart disease to go home when they would otherwise have to stay in the hospital. These children would not be able to be discharged from the hospital without receiving a MIKEY defibrillator unit.

Mikey On Board

The Mikey On Board Program is an initiative that provides training and places mobile MIKEY defibrillator units in vehicles that travel throughout local communities on a regular basis, including transport and moving companies. In early 2012, this program was launched with TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® CANADA to place MIKEYs on all of the company’s moving trucks, and to train the drivers and movers in their use.

Mikey On the GO

GO Transit carries thousands of passengers each day, and having easy-to-access defibrillators on board is another way GO is putting the safety of its passengers first. GO was the first transit system in the Greater Toronto Area to equip its vehicles and facilities with MIKEY defibrillators.

Mikey Cops Are Tops

The Mikey Network is proud to help the brave men and women of the Toronto Police Service by offering a second chance at life to those who experience sudden cardiac arrest. No one knows better than police officers how quickly the unexpected can happen, and how fleeting life can be when it does.

Mikey Goes To Camp

Sending your kids to camp is an annual experience for many Canadian parents. At the same time they can’t help but worry about them being away – often out in a rather remote location – and how long it might take an ambulance to arrive if a medical emergency should happen. Now, everyone at camp can feel more comfortable knowing that a MIKEY defibrillator is close at hand.