Love Your Heart

February is National Heart Health Awareness Month and is dedicated to raising awareness and increasing knowledge about prevention.  One of the most important things you can do to protect your heart is eating healthy. What better way to celebrate this month than talking about delicious meals, where to grab the grub and how to make it yourself!

Eat Healthy.  Most healthy eating habits include fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains, and limit unhealthy fats.  Viewed as perhaps the world’s healthiest eating pattern, the Mediterranean style incorporates the basics of healthy eating and is abundant in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and olive oil. Lean proteins include fish and poultry.  Delicious food that’s stood the test of time and helps keep you healthy for years to come is the heart of the traditional Mediterranean diet.

Get Heart-Healthy at Hummus in San Mateo:
If you’re craving Mediterranean comfort food, you will love your local San Mateo Hummus Mediterranean Restaurant.  Serving fresh, authentic Mediterranean, Lebanese and Turkish dishes cooked-to-order using fresh ingredients and fragrant herbs and spices. With 4 stars on Yelp and a great review from SFGate, their falafel and lamb gyros are worth sinking your teeth into.

Where to Find Local Goods?
The College of San Mateo plays host to our local San Mateo Farmers’ Market, open year round every Saturday from 9am to 1pm.  Earning 4.5 stars on yelp, they have earned a reputation as one of the best farmers’ markets on the peninsula.

Score some heart-healthy winter fruits and vegetables from your local farmers market including clementines-which are a great go-to snack for the Mediterranean eating plan.

Home is Where the Heart Is:
You can easily bring these bold flavors into your home with these quick and easy heart-healthy recipes that incorporate the Mediterranean patterns and fresh winter fruits and vegetables, we picked just a few of our favorites from Whole Foods:

Mediterranean Crunch Salad is a scrumptious salad featuring kale and kalamata olives.  Fresh and flavorful with bold flavors. Definitely a keeper for your recipe book.

Hummus and Vegetable Stuffed Pitas are quick, easy and perfect for picnics or packed in a bento box for lunch.

Mediterranean Tuna Salad is from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook.  This is fantastic served on fresh focaccia bread or as an appetizer on crackers or veggies.

A total healthy eating plan and lifestyle approach continues to be one of the best prescriptions for a long, healthy life.  Live long and love your heart!

As we develop community, we want to see how you live or play at Bay Meadows. Share your fun lifestyle photos with our community by using #baymeadowslife. You could WIN $50 or our Grand Prize of $500 at the end of 2014 and be featured in a live pop-up gallery exhibit event.

For the latest news and updates from Bay Meadows, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.