The Importance of Hydration; Maintaining Your Health Many of us have heard that we should drink enough water, but many people don’t drink enough and are dehydrated. Dehydration causes fatigue, headaches, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, and other serious symptoms. Dehydration is a frequent cause of hospitalizations and affects people of all ages. It can cause other medical conditions and significant illnesses as well (NIH, 2021).
COVID-19, and if they are positive, can also receive appropriate treatment at one location. For a list of “test to treat” locations, please visit: https://aspr.hhs.gov/TestToTreat/Pages/default.aspx .
The CDC recommends that getting vaccinated and boosted is still the best way to protect yourself from severe COVID-19 symptoms. For more information on vaccines and eligibility, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/index.html
Tips to drink more water: 1. Carry a water bottle with you and refill it throughout the day. 2. Freeze some freezer-safe water bottles and take one with you for ice-cold water all day long. 3. Choose water over sugary drinks. 4. Opt for water when eating out. You’ll save money and reduce calories. 5. Serve water during meals. 6. Add a wedge of lime or lemon to your water. This can help improve the taste and help you drink more water than you usually do.
Healthy Eating: During this time of year, more varieties of fresh produce are in season and farmers markets are back. When fruits and vegetables are in season, it can be less expensive to buy them fresh. 1 Meals full of fruits and vegetables have many benefits, as they are full of fiber, water, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. 2 Getting creative with shapes, utensils, and colors will make the presentation of a dish more visually appealing to everyone, and can even get kids excited to try it. When kids are allowed to pick out the food they want and help prepare it, they are more likely to eat it. 3 One entertaining food project that checks all these boxes is kabobs. Instead of making a bowl of fruit salad, pick up a package of skewers and pierce them through a variety of different cheeses and fruits, such as grapes, berries, and melons to make Fruit & Cheese Kabobs. You can take this opportunity with the younger kids to teach them about colors, names of fruits, and descriptions like crisp, juicy, sweet, etc. Kabobs can also become an entrée by adding vegetables and a protein such as chicken, ham, shrimp, or tofu, and throwing them on the grill. Try a Hawaiian theme with ham, pineapple, and mozzarella chunks; or a barbecue theme with chicken, apples, onion, and BBQ sauce. Below are links to the growing seasons for Connecticut crops and local farmers markets, along with information on which ones accept SNAP , EBT , and Farmers Market Nutrition Program checks: https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/DOAG/Marketing_files/2019/Crop-Calendar-Updated-2022.pdf https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/DOAG/ADaRC/Farmers-Markets/2022/2022-Farmers-Markets-Locations.pdf
Fat Attack TM - Managing Cholesterol Fat Attack TM is an interactive health education program that teaches how consuming both healthy and unhealthy fats affects our body. Too much unhealthy fat in our diet can raise our cholesterol and clog our arteries, which can lead to high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes. Saturated, unsaturated, and trans fats all play a role in our blood cholesterol levels. Too much saturated fat can raise our bad LDL cholesterol. Saturated fats should be limited to less than 10 percent of total calories per day. 4 Trans fats can both raise our LDL and lower our good HDL cholesterol. 5 Replacing foods high in saturated and trans fats in our diet, with food sources that contain healthy unsaturated fats, can help improve our overall cholesterol levels. 6 Fiber is also important to digestive health and helps manage our cholesterol. It prevents the body from taking in some fat and cholesterol from food. 7 Incorporating more plant-based foods into our recipes will increase our fiber and meet our fat and protein needs, without all of the excess bad fats. Beans, oats, barley, nuts, seeds, avocados, and olive oil are great additions to meals. 8 Click the video links below (in English or Spanish) to find out more about what cholesterol does for our body, how too much can harm us, and learn a heart-healthy Southwestern Black-Eyed Pea & Corn Salad recipe from Cooking Matters. References: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Water and Healthier Drinks: Benefits of Drinking Water. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/water-and-healthier-drinks.html National Institute of Health. National Library of Medicine. Adult Dehydration. 2021. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK555956/
Local Connecticut Farmer’s Markets
HUSKY Health Community Partner Newsletter
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Community Health Network of Connecticut, Inc.® (CHNCT) is the State of Connecticut’s Medical Administrative Services Organization for the HUSKY Health program.
HUSKY Health Community Partner Newsletter Page 5 Community Health Network of Connecticut, Inc.® (CHNCT) is the State of Connecticut’s Medical Administrative Services Organization for the HUSKY Health program.
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