This year’s National Eating Healthy Day is Wednesday, Nov. 4. The American Heart Association wants to encourage healthy eating habits by helping Americans take simple steps with their families, friends, co-workers and communities.  The following steps are designed to make the healthy choice the easy choice wherever people live, work or play:

 Step1: Register for National Eating Healthy Day by visiting www.heart.org/NationalEatingHealthyDay

Step 2: Get healthy with activities and tips for National Eating Healthy Day; all included in the free AHA toolkit

Step 3:  Share our “punny” memes on your social media channels using #NEHD and share your successes with us on AHA’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages

 “Most Americans know that eating good-for-you foods comes with a lot of health benefits, but it isn’t always easy to break old habits,” said Jenna Smith, Registered Dietitian and Educator at the University of Illinois Extension. “National Eating Healthy Day offers people across the country – at home, work or in their community – an opportunity to make a healthy change together and provides necessary resources to make the changes as easy as possible.  But eating healthy is more than just an easy way to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke; it’s also fun and delicious.”

 More than two-thirds of American adults and one in three children and teens are overweight or obese, putting them at risk for heart disease and stroke, as well as many other chronic illnesses and conditions.

 A free online toolkit is available to participate in National Eating Healthy Day. Resources include easy-to-do activities, ways to help others to join in and delicious recipes. To download the toolkit and other NEHD resources, visit www.heart.org/NationalEatingHealthyDay.