digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: Make heart healthy chicken tostadas by baking the tortillas instead of frying them, and building the topping from poached chicken, reduced-sodium black beans, and a mashed avocado mix. The segment pairs this recipe with the broader advice to eat more grains, vegetables, and fruits, cut back on fast food and salt, and walk roughly 10,000 steps a day plus additional exercise.
Key Points
- Baking the tostada shells, rather than heavily frying them, is the core change that makes the dish heart healthy, as presented by Susette Call of Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute.
- Susette says most people in society do not eat enough healthy foods and eat too much fast food and salt, and recommends more grains, vegetables, and fruits.
- Eating a colorful variety of foods is endorsed; Susette says her mother taught her that a dinner did not look good without lots of color on the plate.
- Susette says most people do not get enough exercise, citing an Intermountain doctor's advice to be active throughout the day and walk up to 10,000 steps daily, plus dedicated exercise.
- Susette says she usually gets 6,000 to 10,000 steps daily, tracked with a small step counter she wears all the time.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Bake the tortillas instead of frying them to make tostada shells. Mash avocado with no-salt seasoning, a little paprika, chopped cilantro, and onion; add a little garlic and diced jalapeño. Dice the tomato. Poach the chicken. Combine the avocado mixture with the poached chicken, reduced-sodium or low-sodium black beans, and a little lime juice, then plate over the baked shells.
- Aim for about 10,000 steps a day (roughly five miles) and add exercise on top of that; Susette says running, aerobics, treadmill walking, and golf are her ways to switch it up.
- To add steps, park farther back in the parking lot; Susette says Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute has designated spots far out in the lot that encourage a longer walk into the hospital.
- The recipe segment was hosted by Damon with Jen Burns of Fox 13 and guest Susette Call; the dish was described as delicious and as not missing the fried version.
Bottom Line
Baking instead of frying, paired with lean protein, beans, and fresh toppings, makes a tostada that fits a heart healthy diet, and the segment ties it to more daily walking.
