Smart Starts for a Healthy Heart

(Family Features) How you start your morning can impact the rest of your day. If you’re looking to incorporate healthier choices into your morning routine, try a concept known as “habit stacking.” Building tiny, healthier habits into routines you already have, like enjoying a morning beverage or breakfast before you check your email instead of jumping right into the day’s tasks, can make it easier to stick to a new habit when it’s built into an existing routine.

If you already enjoy the routine of breakfast to start the day, consider swapping sugary drinks for beverages without added sugars like unsweetened green or black tea. When incorporated as part of an overall healthy diet, unsweetened tea can help support heart health.

If you need help getting started, Lipton, a proud national sponsor of the American Heart Association’s Life is Why campaign, created these easy-to-make, better-for-you tea recipes.

A small handful of ingredients makes a big splash in Green Tea Berry Banana Smoothies, ideal for an on-the-go breakfast. For a little refreshment any time of day, simple Sparkling Green Tea Cranberry Spritzers offer a solution with 0 grams of added sugars while non-alcoholic Green Tea Mojito Mocktails provide natural sweetness with 100% fruit juice.

Choosing beverages with no added sugars can contribute to a healthy heart, according to the American Heart Association, making these recipes perfect for daily habit stacking. Water is needed to keep your body running at its best, and because unsweetened tea is 99.5 % water, it provides a delicious way to help hydrate.

Discover more ways to improve daily routines at Heart.org/eatsmart.

Green Tea Mojito Mocktails

Recipe courtesy of the American Heart Association

Servings 4

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Ingredients

  

• 4 cups water
• 4 single-serving green tea bags
• 32-40 sprigs fresh mint plus additional for garnish, divided
• 2 cups ice cubes
• 1 cup 100% white grape juice
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice about 4 medium limes
• 1 medium lime cut into four wedges or lime zest twists (optional)

Instructions

 

• In small saucepan over high heat, bring water to boil. Remove pan from heat. Submerge tea bags. Steep 4 minutes. Discard tea bags. Let tea mixture cool 30 minutes. Pour into pitcher. Refrigerate 2 hours, or until chilled.
• At serving time, add mint leaves to four glasses. Using muddler or wooden spoon, mash mint leaves several times to release juices. Don’t mash into pulp. Add ice.
• Stir white grape juice and lime juice into tea mixture. Pour into glasses. Garnish each with lime wedge and mint leaf.

Notes

Tip: To get more juice from citrus, before slicing, microwave fruit on high 30 seconds, or until warm. When cool enough to handle, use citrus reamer or handheld juice press to juice citrus.

Nutritional information per serving: 45 calories; 0 g total fat (0 g saturated fat, trans fat, polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat); 0 mg cholesterol; 7 mg sodium; 13 g carbohydrates; 0 g fiber; 10 g total sugars (0 g added sugars); 1 g protein.

Course: Drinks

Keyword: healthy

Green Tea Berry Banana Smoothies

Recipe courtesy of the American Heart Association

Servings 4 1 1/2 cups

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Ingredients

  

• 3 cups water
• 8 single-serving green tea bags
• 16 ounces frozen mixed berries about 3 cups
• 2 medium bananas peeled, cut in half and frozen
• 1 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
• 2 teaspoons fresh-grated peeled gingerroot optional
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract optional
• 2 teaspoons chia or flax seeds optional

Instructions

 

• In small saucepan over high heat, bring water to boil. Remove pan from heat. Submerge tea bags. Steep 4 minutes. Discard tea bags. Let tea mixture cool 30 minutes. Pour into pitcher. Refrigerate 2 hours, or until chilled.
• In food processor or blender, process tea, berries, bananas and yogurt until smooth. Add gingerroot and vanilla, if desired, and process until smooth. Pour into four glasses. Sprinkle with chia seeds, if desired.

Video

Notes

Nutritional information per serving (without optional ingredients): 136 calories; 1 g total fat (0 g saturated fat, trans fat, polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat); 3 mg cholesterol; 23 mg sodium; 29 g carbohydrates; 5 g fiber; 18 g total sugars (0 g added sugars); 8 g protein. Source: American Heart Association

Source: American Heart Association

Keyword: video

Sparkling Green Tea Cranberry Spritzers

Recipe courtesy of the American Heart Association

Servings 4

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Ingredients

  

• 4 cups water
• 4 single-serving green tea bags
• 1 cup 100% cranberry juice or 100% cranberry-pomegranate juice
• 2 cups ice cubes
• 1/2 cup seltzer flavored or plain or low-sodium club soda, chilled
• 4 orange slices or lime wedges optional

Instructions

 

• In small saucepan over high heat, bring water to boil. Remove pan from heat. Submerge tea bags. Steep 4 minutes. Discard tea bags. Let tea mixture cool 30 minutes. Pour into pitcher. Stir in cranberry juice. Refrigerate 2 hours, or until chilled.
• At serving time, put ice cubes in four glasses. Pour tea mixture into glasses. Top each serving with seltzer. Garnish with orange slices.

Notes

Tip: To create cranberry-flavored ice cubes, fill ice cube tray with 100% cranberry juice and freeze.

Nutritional information per serving: 32 calories: 0 g total fat (0 g saturated fat, trans fat, polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat); 0 mg cholesterol; 4 mg sodium; 8 mg carbohydrates; 0 g fiber; 8 g total sugars (0 g added sugars); 1 g protein.

Course: Drinks

Source: American Heart Association