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Sound Bites: Tom Brady’s Meal Plan, Bob Harper’s Diet & Why Early Birds Are Healthier

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March 15, 2017
Photo Credit: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

By Megan O. Steintrager

BOB HARPER’S POST-HEART ATTACK DIET

Exercise alone cannot a healthy body make. Witness celebrity trainer Bob Harper (pictured above), who is now trying to adhere to a Mediterranean Diet following his recent heart attack. “Since my heart attack, my doctors have suggested more of a Mediterranean Diet so tonight’s dinner is branzino with Brussels sprouts and I started with a salad,” the Biggest Loser star posted on Instagram. Good news for Harper and anyone else following the Mediterranean Diet: It’s right in line with the heart healthy eating guidelines described above. Work some heart healthy fish into your diet the easy way with our tips on choosing canned fish and Salmon Patties with Turmeric and Dill Recipe.

EARLY BIRDS EAT BETTER

Night owls tend to have worse diets throughout the day than early risers, according to findings from Finland published in the journal Obesity. Evening types ate less protein overall and ate more sucrose in the morning,” Science Daily reports. “In the evening, they ate more sucrose, fat and saturated fatty acids.” Interestingly, total daily caloric intake didn’t differ much between the early and late risers in the study. “But on weekdays, evening types ate less in the morning and tended to choose breakfast foods that were higher in sugar and lower in fiber, carbohydrates and fats, including saturated fat,” The New York Times reports. “By evening, the night owls were eating more sugar and fats than the morning people.” The differences were even greater on the weekends. Night people need not give up on eating healthily — simply being aware of eating patterns can help you change them. Plus, the longer days of spring might just encourage you to get up and at it earlier in the day, fueled by a healthy breakfast.

FOODS FOR HEART HEALTH

To reduce your risk of developing heart disease, there are six specific things you should eat more of and four to eat less of, according to researchers at Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. “Just 10 foods account for nearly half of all heart disease deaths in the U.S.,” NBC News reports. The winners to eat more of are: nuts; seafood rich in omega 3 fatty acids (e.g. salmon and sardines); vegetables; fruits; whole grains; and polyunsaturated fats (found in nuts, seeds, corn oil, and soybean oil). Foods to eat less of are sodium; processed meat; sugar-sweetened beverages; and red meat.

TOM BRADY GETS INTO THE MEAL KIT GAME

Tom Brady

Photo Credit: Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com

The New England Patriots’ star quarterback Tom Brady is capitalizing on all the attention he gets for his diet. Brady has teamed up with vegan meal delivery service Purple Carrot to create a line of plant-based meals, TB12 Performance Meals, that are “gluten-free, higher in protein and lower in refined sugar than Purple Carrot’s core line of meal kit products,” CNBC reports. The plan costs $78 per week for three, two-serving meals (that comes out to $13 per person for each meal), which is a bit more than Purple Carrot’s regular two-person plan ($68 a week). A sample menu on the Purple Carrot website includes roasted veggie risotto with white lentils in place of rice; turnip cakes with quinoa tabbouleh and za’atar yogurt; and brown-rice ramen with broccolini and gingery amaranth greens.

SALAD GREENS SHORTAGE

The combination of damp winter in Arizona and weather-related delayed planting in California, two places where a lot of the country’s greens are grown, could add up to a shortage in salad greens in grocery stores toward the end of March and beginning of April, NPR reports. If you find yourself without bagged greens, don’t forget that there are plenty of delicious salads you can make without lettuce: This Crunchy Broccoli Salad with Almonds and Goat Cheese is one of our faves.

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