Saturday, September 24, 2011

Six Tips to Healthy Eating

By Denchi Minh

Healthy eating is essential to having a fit body because everything that we ingest becomes part of our system. Health experts all concur that the fundamentals of the said practice can be generalized into three namely balance, variety, and moderation. Balance is all about eating meals that provide just the right amounts of the essential nutrients our body needs. Too little consumption of certain nutrients can lead to malnutrition. Overconsumption on the other hand may lead to a variety of health problems. Variety on the other hand is all about consuming different kinds of foods. A representative from each food group should as much as possible be present in each meal. Lastly, moderation is all about restraint when it comes to eating food items that contain undesirable substances. Given below are six basic tips towards Eating Healthy.

1. Wide Variety of Nutrient Rich Foods

Our body requires numerous nutrients in order to function well. There is no one food item that can supply all of these so our meals should be made up of different items that offer different nutrients. You can refer to the food pyramid for guidance about what nutrients each item contains.

2. Fruits, Vegetables, and Whole Grain

These food items are known to contain the highest amounts of nutrients per serving while at the same time also having the lowest amounts of undesirable nutrients per serving. See to it that you incorporate at least one of them in every meal.

3. Healthy Body Weight

The ideal body weight is dependent of numerous factors such as height, age, sex, and many others. You should go see your doctor or fitness expert to help you identify the right weight for you and then try to achieve and then maintain it. Being overweight means there are excess fat buildups in your body. These unwanted fats make your body more susceptible to various kinds of diseases.

4. Moderate Portions

Another method of Healthy Eating is avoiding the consumption of huge meals because such practice is the best way to gain weight. So unless you are underweight you should practice eating moderate sized meals. You can refer to the food pyramid or recipe books for the ideal serving sizes.

5. Regular Meals

Consumption of food at regular intervals is essential to keeping stability within the body. Skipping meals will also cause intense hunger that is difficult to satisfy and hence may lead to overeating on the next meal.

6. Organic Foods

Switching to Organic Foods is the newest method of Healthy Eating. These items are free of synthetic substances and are also more nutritious.

You are what you eat. If you want to live healthy go organic! Visit us at Organic Food Zen and get free tips about healthy eating, and learn more about organic food, benefits of organic food and where to buy organic food.

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Saturday, September 17, 2011

Healthy Eating Guidelines for First-Timers

By Kate Trillin

If you have never dieted before, or ever even considered changing your eating habits, this article is for you. You see, when you are young and active, you can basically eat anything you want, and stay within healthy eating guidelines without even trying. Remember when you could eat and eat and never think twice? Now everything has changed. You may have gained weight through pregnancy, or just a sedentary lifestyle. Whatever the reason, you find the numbers on the scale just keep going up. Don't despair. You can get back to where you used to be by following the guidelines to lose weight, and increase your activity level. It won't be easy, but it you stick to these healthy eating guidelines, you will be able to lose weight, feel better and reduce your risk for heart attack, stroke and other health issues. There is no time like the present to implement these changes.

Cut out the fats, sweets and salty snacks for a start. Snacking is a terrible habit, easy to get into, but difficult to break. You can still snack within the guidelines but the foods you snack on will have to change. Instead of baked goods, ice cream, candy or salty chips and pretzels choose whole fruits and keep a supply of crunchy veggie slices to munch on when you feel the urge to snack. Your healthy eating guidelines can allow for a little flexibility but keep in mind the fat and sugar content of your food choices. Fresh fruit is the best option because it gives you sweetness for taste and fiber and vitamins for good nutrition. Cultivate a taste for fresh fruit in season. You can eat canned or frozen fruit but make sure there is no added sugar in the canning process.

Stop the Frying

Cutting out fats also means preparing foods a bit differently. You want to stop frying foods in animal fat, butter and lard. Use cold-pressed oils like corn, canola, olive and sunflowers oils instead. This small change to your food preparation adheres to healthy eating guidelines and will actually help lower cholesterol and reduce your calories through fat.

Rethink Your Beverages

You may not realize how many calories come from sodas, beer, and other processed beverages. Sweet sodas and teas are full of calories from sugar. Switch to flavored waters and diet sodas. Drinking extra servings of water are recommended by the guidelines for weight loss and good health.

Taking some basic and relatively simple steps to follow healthy eating guidelines will make a huge difference in your diet and overall health. These tips are just a few suggestions to get you on your way to a healthier way of eating. Follow healthy eating guidelines for weight loss, better eating habits and reduce your health risk at the same time.

Kate Trillin is a freelance writer who specializes in proper nutrition, healthy eating guidelines, and healthy living. She has been an avid health enthusiast for the past 5 years, and has recently ventured into the world of online publishing in an effort to reach a wider audience. Her writing focuses on providing tips and useful information on the importance of healthy eating guidelines.

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Sunday, September 11, 2011

Your Mother Was Right About Vegetables</title>

By Kyle Aviance

Have you been looking after your health? Let us rephrase this question in another way. Have you been looking after your diet? We ask this question because your diet has a lot to do with your health. In fact, it is the most important aspect of a weight loss program.

As we all know, not eating well can lead to a variety of health problems. Obesity has been the cause of heart diseases, stroke and joint problems. If you don't watch what you eat, you may also be malnourished and your bones may become weaker. You may suffer from osteoarthritis prematurely. Your muscles will also weaken due to lack of nutrition.

On the flip side, if you eat well, you will enjoy more vitality, and you will feel a lot healthier. You will have more energy for social activities, work, and for your family. In other words, you get to enjoy life a lot more when you are healthy. Your quality of life improves tremendously.

Of course, if your career depended on your physical attributes, then you must take extra care to ensure that you remain fit. For instance, let's say you aspire to be a male model. This is an industry that is highly competitive and many male models are lean and have six pack abs to show to their clients. To be successful in the industry, you should try to achieve a similar physique. This is often easier said than done.

Your nutrition plan has to completely change. One way to get lean quick is to adopt a plant based diet. There are many health benefits associated with a plant based diet. Here are some of them.

1) Low or non-fat. Plants mean your foods come from fruits or vegetables. Vegetables are highly recommended because they contain less sugar when compared to fruits. Mostly, they contain almost zero fat, which makes it easier for you to become leaner and healthier.

2) Minerals and nutrients that are not found in meat. Vegetables contain lots of vitamins and minerals that are not usually found abundantly in meat and animal products. The wide variety of vegetables available also means that you get a wider spectrum of vitamin diversity in your diet.

3) Lower cholesterol level. When you don't eat meat, you don't have to be watching your cholesterol level all the time. When your cholesterol level goes through the roof, you may suffer from heart diseases or stroke. Having a predominantly plant based diet can lower your cholesterol levels dramatically.

4) Lower calories consumption. Vegetables like broccoli, long beans and celery fill you up so that you don't feel hungry all the time. This leads to lower calorie consumption for the entire day. A few weeks later, you will find that you have lost a lot of weight - most of which is fat.

5) Rich sources of protein. Plant foods also contain rich sources of protein which are important for muscle growth and recovery. You want your six pack abs to be visible quickly? Then grow your muscles fast by consuming plant based foods that are hyper rich in protein.

More fitness and health tips from Bleep Models.

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Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Importance of Probiotics for Everyone

By Dr Kevin Lau D.C.

Probiotics as described by FAO/WHO are: "Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host." Of all the micro-organisms identified in the world so far, lactic acid bacteria and (LAB) and bifidobacteria are the most common type of bacteria that are being used as probiotics, not excluding the use of yeasts and bacilli from time immemorial without any knowledge on food and industrial microbiology. Probiotics are usually added as additives in the making of fermented foods in excess as a treatment methodology by helping to replace the pathogenic bacteria in the body using the trick of competition for substrates. One would know how important the role of Probiotics is, only when you know how useful these are in the treatment of various common diseases.

Various types of probiotic food supplements:

Besides being available as medicinal supplements commercially being approved by FDA and other regulations, fermented foods seemed to contain micro-organisms that are in general good for our health and are available in the food that we usually relish, which includes miso, yoghurt, fermented and unfermented milk, juices and soymilk.

Diarrhoea:

The role of probiotics in alleviating the symptoms of diarrhoea, especially those triggered during antibiotic treatment is a very common treatment and many research are being conducted to provide sound scientific backing.

Yeasts and urinary tract infections:

Probiotics are being used to treat to help in the treatment of yeast infections like vaginitis and oral thrush, and urinary tract infections. Despite no sound scientific backing has been provided to date, expect for observation of alleviation of the symptomatic conditions, these have been considered as best supplements to the regular antibiotic therapy and has been found also to reduce the occurrence of antibiotic resistance.

Probiotics are known to reduce the occurrence of cancer:

The presence of good bacteria in the gut and their ability to scavenge the free radicals has been proven to reduce the occurrence of a number of cancers like stomach cancer, colon cancer, mouth cancer, etc.

Probiotics are known to reduce allergy:

Probiotics has been useful in reducing the hypersensitivity of the immune system. One such condition for which the probiotic treatment has been well established is lactose intolerance. The presence of lactose sugars in the milk could not be digested by some of the children and causes allergy while drinking milk, and are therefore treated with acidophilus milk, which has the end product of digested lactose sugar, lactic acid, and are therefore are not deprived of the nutrition from milk. Recent studies showed their positive effect in children against the hypersensitivity reactions like eczema and asthma. Similarly, in adults probiotics have been known to treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which is usually an allergic reaction resulting in diarrhoea, while the consumption of probiotic milk aids in alleviating the symptoms instantly.

Probiotics for a healthy immune system:

Medical practitioners, these days are encouraging the inclusion of probiotics in their daily diet that they find to their support a recent study in clinical nutrition that the inclusion of probiotics in the daily diet boosts the immune system. Of the 479 adults who have subjected to probiotic diet, between the age group of 18 to 67, the use of probiotics compensated for the daily dietary intake of vitamins and minerals which otherwise is missing from the daily food along with the additional vitamin and mineral supplements. This they found to increase the presence of total T-cell count and the occurrence of some of the common seasonal diseases like common cold were reduced and even if this occurs, the severity of the disease was much reduced and the symptoms got alleviated in a fewer number of days.

Probiotics for general wellness:

The best example of probiotic for general wellness is a recent research conducted by a group of scientists in Sweden who found that the group of employees who took probiotic had reduced number of leave in their record, in contrast to the employees who did not take probiotic food. The probiotic that they were taking into consideration included Lactobacilli reuteri as the common complaint that the workers were facing were respiratory or gastrointestinal illnesses. How probiotics have been helping them is not much known, but the possible logical conclusion is that this boosted the immunity and encouraged healthiness in them.

Probiotics supplementing alternative medicines:

The beneficial role of probiotics for supplementing the effectiveness of alternative medicines has been widely known. A few examples to be cited here are as follows:

The first example is the use of American physicians who stated in the Journal of American Academy of Asthma and Immunology, came to conclusion on observation that the use of probiotics along with Chinese medicinal herbs like Gan Cao, Ku Shen and Linh Zhi had some positive role in the treatment of asthma.

Yet another good example for the same is the role of probiotics again for Chinese medicine by TCM practitioners who found the use herb Dong Quai with probiotics including the microbes like Lacotbacillus acidophilus, Lactobaacillus delbreukii, Saccharomyces boulardii and Saccharmyces cerevisiae is an effective tonic against the digestive distress that this herb usually causes. The role of this herb is to relieve PMS, menopausal symptoms and hormonal imbalances in women and support fertility and prostrate health in men.

Probiotics for Treatment of Colicky Infants:

Recently Nestle Nutrition Institute has released a press release stating about a medical breakthrough in the treatment of colic in children by Dr. Flavio Indrio. His group found that colicky infants are a condition that is not very often easily recognized, when the healthy baby keeps crying causing distress to the parents and the doctors. They not only standardized the diagnosis of finding out whether the infant is colicky or not, they also found out how effective is the use of the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri. This non-profit independent organization, found that 96 % of the infants reduced their crying time by 50 percent while under the treatment with this probiotic, which was not the case of other infants. This probiotic is available only in Singapore to date and could be administered to the infants via easy to use droppers as prescribed by the doctors. They are now looking for a scientific backing as to how this helps in reducing the condition of colicky, but this can happen only when more knowledge is obtained on how and what are the root causes for colicky condition by itself?

Probiotics for Treatment of Osteoporosis and Scolosis:

This has been one of the latest topics and an upcoming field of scientific discussions that probiootics can aid in the treatment of bone related diseases like osteoporosis and scolosis. One of the main culprits that has been identified in causing the above two diseases is the happy chemical "serotonin", which in excess amounts has been the root cause for these two diseases. Keeping this in mind, Dr. Kevin Lau, in his book "Your plan for natural Scoliosis prevention and treatment" has highlighted how maintaining a healthy gut can cure scoliosis. This he finds to be a well-known fact that the much renounced medical practitioner of the earlier days, Hippocrates said, "All diseases begins in the gut". He recommends in his book traditional fermented food to be included regularly in your daily diet, which seemed to help in the treatment of this disease along with a well-planned exercise routine. Some of the common traditional fermented foods that are not found in the shelves of supermarket or a medical shop, which he finds very highly helpful for his method of treatment practice, involve the use of kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi and natto. In his book, he details on how these foods are being prepared as a short note and focuses on how and why they are very helpful for his practice in treating scoliosis and relieving and alleviating the symptomatic conditions of this disease.

Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack.

Dr Kevin Lau D.C. is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health in USA.

In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: Health In Your Hands website.

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Sunday, September 04, 2011

3 Steps to Lose Calories

By Darragh Holland

Learning how to lose calories and weight can be a daunting task and for many people, it is a continuous struggle. Although you may think that the process of how to burn calories is a complicated one, it is quite simple. If you eat fewer calories and do more exercise the numbers will add up, and you will lose weight.

You do not need to starve or deprive yourself of the foods that you enjoy; you simply need to understand what you are eating. There are some very simple steps that you can take that will help you to learn how to lose calories. Learning about portion control and what foods can be snacked on is essential. The more that you know and understand about the food you are consuming the better it is for your overall health.

Step #1 - Eating out of smaller bowls and using smaller sized plates will ensure that you are eating fewer calories. Some people feel the need to finish everything on their plates no matter how big it is and whether they are full or not. No matter what food is put in front of them, they will clean the whole plate. Although this always seems great, it is not the ideal thing when looking to burn calories.

People are often in fact unaware of the quantity of food they are consuming, and predict how full they are by the meals on their plates and bowls they are using. Therefore, by using smaller plates and bowls you can ensure that you are learning how to lose calories without even trying. You will simply need to serve less food, therefore, eating less food and needing less exercise to burn off the calories.

Step #2 - Although we have been brought up to believe that three meals a day is ideal, in fact eating five or six smaller meals throughout the day is the right way to eat. Breakfast is still the most important meal of the day, followed by small, healthy snacks throughout the day. Eating protein, fruits and vegetables in small meals throughout the day will help you to learn how to lose calories.

Step #3 - Eating slowly is also another ideal way to ensure that you learn when you are full and when to stop eating. Far too many people eat too quickly, and this can cause you to consume too many calories and overeat. Learning how to burn the calories is a great idea; however, not putting the calories in your body in the first place also helps. Chewing your food slowly and taking the time to digest every fork full of food that you place into your body is recommended.

Learning how to lose calories will not happen overnight; however, with very simple steps you can begin to change your bad habits. By ensuring that you have a healthy lifestyle, eating fewer calories and doing exercise, you will guarantee that the weight will fall off you. You will burn calories without even realizing that you are doing so. This is a pleasant surprise when you have worked so hard in the past and got nowhere.

Darragh Holland is a Cavan Personal Trainer and also runs his own Bootcamps.

He has helped people to lose weight and get toned so be sure to check out his Cavan personal training studio.

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