The news is always full of new ways for women to get healthy or stay healthy. Here are some tips that are "tried and true" and easy to adapt into your lifestyle.

(ENLARGE)

Fruit and vegetables are key ingredients to a healthy diet.

Eat more fruits and vegetables

The flowers are blooming, and warm air is near. As the ground thaws and the soil warms, visions of cantaloupe, strawberries and peapods dance in our heads.

April showers not only bring May flowers, but the choices of fresh fruits and vegetables to our table.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend we eat between 2 and 2½ cups of fruit and vegetables every day. They're almost all low in fat and calories, full of fiber and an easy ingredient in a healthful eating plan.

Research continues to show the role fruits and vegetables play in disease prevention, such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Fill your plate all spring and summer long with fresh fruits and vegetables such as: berries, grapes, fresh greens and tender onions, blushing beets, mouth-watering melons, fabulous fennel and incomparable tomatoes.

These are a few tips for using fresh fruits and vegetables in an alternative way:

1. Puree berries for a thick, sweet sauce on grilled or broiled fish or poultry, pancakes or waffles.

2. Grill or sauté spring onions and serve them on sandwiches, salads or in pasta dishes. The phytonutrients that make onions so flavorful and so healthful may also help to lower LDL (bad cholesterol).

3. Dip vegetables in fresh salsa made with lycopene – loaded tomatoes. Add mangoes and honeydew melon. Both contain zeaxanthin, which helps keeps your eyes healthy.

4. Add folate – rich beets to your green salad.

5. Grill fennel and serve it as a side dish. You'll benefit from the potassium, calcium and phosphorus fennel brings to the table.

Treat yourself to heaping helpings of all the produce that is in season. It doesn't get any better than enjoying fresh fruits and vegetables with friends and family.

Whole Grains

Make half or more of your grains whole. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines recommend that Americans "make half their grains whole."

This means most people should consume three or more servings of whole grains each day. The Dietary Guidelines say that "more whole grains up to all the grains recommended may be selected." Active people would need even more whole grains. Four, five even six servings of whole grains daily are not unreasonable.

Most people may still worry that finding and preparing whole grains could be difficult. However, new whole grain foods introduced in the past two years provide plenty of options to appeal to everyone's taste, budget and busy schedule.

Americans today can enjoy a broad range of whole grain ready-to-eat cereals, white whole wheat bread, 90-second brown rice, instant oatmeal, popcorn, whole grain crackers, whole grain chips and many more choices.

Most Americans need 48 grams or more of whole grains daily. A growing number of foods are being labeled with information about whole grain content (often in grams), making it easier for consumers to identify whole grain products.

Foods made only with bran are not whole grain products. High fiber is not always equivalent to whole grain. Check the ingredient list for whole grains among the first ingredients.

Exercise

Do you ever find it tough the get in the mood to exercise? Do you find it difficult to fit 30 minutes of physical activity into your life everyday?

It can be done. Even with a busy lifestyle, you can boost your activity level. These activities can count toward your day's total if they're done with moderate intensity.

1. Get up 30 minutes earlier in the morning and take a brisk walk to start your day.

2. Forget the drive-through car wash. Wash the car yourself. You'll save money at the same time.

3. Do yard work. Make raking leaves a family activity.

4. Play actively with your kids, grandchildren or pets. Some dogs like to play Frisbee as much as kids do.

To Maximize Your Health, Go Fish

Consuming fish is a great way to increase the healthy fats in your eating plan. But what about safety?

Fish provides a good source of the fatty acid omega-3, which can help reduce your risk of heart attacks.

Fish is also a great source of protein, zinc and iron and it's low in saturated fat. Yet new research indicates fish may contain a variety of contaminants that could be harmful to certain population groups.

The current FDA recommendation is to eat up to 12 ounces of fish a week. Try sole, salmon, shellfish, haddock or mahi-mahi and make sure the fish is cooked properly.

Pregnant women, nursing mothers and children should avoid shark, swordfish, tilefish and king mackerel, all of which have high levels of mercury.

These people can comfortably enjoy up to 12 ounces a week of other types of fish that are lower in mercury such as shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish.

Soy's Benefits

Soy is a complete protein, and soyfoods are rich in vitamins and minerals including folate, potassium and, in some cases, fiber. In the past 15 years, soyfoods have attracted the attention of research scientists around the world for health properties beyond basic nutrition as well. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially recognized the cholesterol-lowering effects of soy protein in 1999 with a health claim stating that 25 grams of soy protein per day may reduce the risk of heart disease. Most soyfoods are also low in saturated and trans fats, one reason why the American Heart Association has recognized soyfoods' role in an overall heart-healthy diet.

Recent research suggests that soy may also lower risk of prostate, colon and breast cancers as well as osteoporosis and other bone health problems, and alleviate hot flashes associated with menopause.

Deborah Wilson, RD, LDN, works at Boice Willis Clinic.