Nutrition and diet are important throughout our lives, but perhaps more so as we get older. A new health conscious cookbook, "A Dash of Aloha," offers some a way to stay on track.

The cookbook was conceived right here at the Kapiolani Community College, in its culinary arts department. Daniel Leung was one of the prime movers.

"We were actually able to get a grant from the USDA, Department of Agriculture to conduct the research. We also have on hand among our staff, a dietician. So we have like a perfect combination of people to put this project together," said Daniel Leung, from the Culinary Arts program.

People in Hawaii love their food - sometimes to a fault. A Dash of Aloha takes many familiar island favorites and finds healthy, nutritious ways to use them.

"It's an eating plan, not a diet plan to create variations, excitement, tasty dishes for people who are concerned about their health and it helps to stop and reduce hypertension," said Leung.

There are 70 recipes in the book that include the nutrition values of the meals that are prepared. There are also healthy lifestyle hints offered by the American Heart Association. In fact, this cookbook is a collaborative effort all the way around.

"Exactly. We actually brought in American Heart Association and the Kidney Foundation of Hawaii as our consultants. They review all the material and basically consult us on the education information in there," said Leung.

Students at the Culinary Arts institute helped with the research for the Dash of Aloha. DASH, by the way stands for Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension. There is also a chapter on the importance of exercise in addition to proper diet.

"The chapter is about how to choose the appropriate exercises to not only help lower blood pressure but also to help other health parameters such as how to lower your risk of other diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and so forth," said Douglas Crowell from Kapiolani Community College.

Dash of Aloha is available at all Hawaii bookstores.