Healthy Eating for Native Americans

Treat your heart to a healthy celebration!

Strength, wisdom, and good health are Native American birthrights. Our elders taught us many healthy ways that were practiced for many generations. Over time, some healthy traditions have been traded for unhealthy ways that increase the chances of getting some diseases. Today, many Native American families choose foods that are higher in fat, saturated fat (animal fat), cholesterol, calories, sugar, salt, and sodium. We also eat more than we used to. These habits can lead to heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and some forms of cancer.

Here are tips for making healthy choices:

Choose fish, fowl, deer, and caribou.
Eat lean cuts of beef, pork, and mutton.
Cut the fat from meat and throw it away. Take off the skin from chicken and turkey.
Remove fat from canned meat.
Eat rice, corn, oats, and beans.
Eat salads and sandwiches with little or no dressing.
Eat fruits and vegetables.
Drink fat-free or low-fat milk and choose fat-free and low-fat cheese.
Bake, boil, broil, steam, or roast! Fry foods less often. Use small amounts of vegetable oil instead of lard or shortening.
Drain the liquid from canned vegetables and the syrup from canned fruits.
Grow traditional plants such as beans, corn, chile, pumpkin, squash, and melons.
Choose berries, nuts, plants, fish, caribou, deer, rabbit, duck, and other native foods more often.
Use traditional ways of preparing food like drying, baking, stewing, and boiling.

We can do something to prevent these diseases. Healthy eating is one way to keep a healthy heart. Native foods and traditional ways can help us stay healthy. Native foods can still be found in many places today.

BREAD GROUP

These foods provide carbohydrate for energy, fiber for healthy digestion, plus iron and B vitamins.

1 slice bread
1 ounce ready to eat cereal
1/2 cup cooked cereal
1/2 English muffin or hamburger roll
1 tortilla
1/2 cup spaghetti, noodles, macaroni, or rice
4 - 6 crackers

Traditional Grains:

Indian biscuits (Bannock bread)
Dried corn
Lukameen
Mush
Wild oats
Wild rice
Popcorn

VEGETABLE GROUP -

These foods provide vitamins A an C, plus fiber for healthy digestion.

1 cup raw leafy greens
1/2 cup chopped raw or cooked vegetables
3/4 cup vegetable juice
1 medium potato

Traditional Vegetables:

Sprouts or new shoots
Peeled stems
Spring Greens
Wild Rhubarb
Indian Celery
Wild Mushrooms
Wild roots such as bitter root, camas, and cattail
Seaweed
Black tree moss

FRUIT GROUP

These foods provide protein for developing and maintaining strong bodies, plus iron for healthy blood.

3/4 cup 100% fruit juice
1 medium piece fresh fruit
1/2 cup canned or fresh chopped fruit
1/2 cup canned or fresh chopped fruit
1/4 cup dried fruit

Traditional Fruits and Berries:

Wild berries such as huckleberries
Choke cherries
Wild crab apples
Wild black cherries

DAIRY GROUP

These foods provide calcium for strong bones and teeth, plus protein.

1 cup milk or lactose reduced milk
1 cup yogurt
1 1/2 ounces cheese

Traditional Calcium Sources:

Breast milk for babies
Bone soup or broth
Fish head soup
Canned salmon with the bones
Coush, camas or wild carrots (in large amounts)
Oyster or clams

MEAT GROUP

These foods provide protein for developing and maintaining strong bodies, plus iron for healthy blood. Meat Group

2 - 3 ounces cooked meat, poultry, or fish
1/2 cup cooked dried beans or peas
2 egg
4 tablespoons peanut butter, nuts or seeds

Traditional Meats, Fish, Birds, Eggs, and Nuts:

Deer, elk, mountain goat, rabbit, squirrel, or beaver
Seal or Whale
Salmon or other Fish
Oysters, clams, sea urchin, mussels, crab squid, or octopus
Ducks, geese, pheasant, grouse, quail, or chuckers
Eggs of salmon or birds
Acorns, hazelnuts, or pine nuts

FATS & SWEETS - use only very small amounts!

These foods provide lots of extra calories, but few of the vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to function well.

Butter, margarine, mayonnaise or salad dressing
Lard, oil or gravy
Fried food, chips or fry bread
Sugar, honey, syrup, candy, jam or jelly
Pie, cake, cookies or desserts
Soda pop, kool-aid, sports drinks, sweetened teas or fruit flavored punches

Traditional Fats and Sweets

Animal fat
Fish Oil
Honey

Add activity to your daily routine and feel more energetic!

Being physically active is important. It can help you feel better and improve your health. There are many fun things that you can do to be active‹by yourself or with family or friends. Children and adults should do 30 minutes or more of moderate physical activity each day. You can do 30 minutes all at once or 10 minutes at a time, three times a day. If you are not used to being active, start out slowly and work up to 30 minutes a day. Add more activities for longer periods of time as you begin to feel more fit, or add some vigorous activity.

Physical activity can also:

make you feel more energetic
help you lose weight and control your appetite
help you sleep better
lower your chance for diabetes
lower your chance for a stroke
lower your blood pressure
improve your blood cholesterol levels

Move your body!

Change your habits by adding activity to your daily routine. Any movement you do burns calories. The more you move, the better. Check out some of these simple activities to get you started today.

Get up 15 minutes earlier in the morning and stretch.
Jog in place.
Ride your stationary bike while watching TV.
Workout along with an exercise video.

To do a quick workout:

Use the stairs instead of the elevator.
Walk to the bus or train stop.
Walk to each end of the mall when you go shopping.
Park your car a few blocks away and walk.
Play your favorite dance music. Do the old steps you love--add some new moves.
Jump rope or play tag with your kids or grandkids.
Use hand-held arm weights during a phone conversation with a friend.

This information was brought to you by:

Indian Health Service
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Washington , D.C.

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Bethesda , Maryland

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