Healthy Eating and Weight Loss

By Mary Wynn Lewis



As long as there have been people, there has been weight loss. It is just in the past few decades that we have linked healthy eating habits with weight loss.

Today you will see ads promising that a pill will aid you in weight loss, fad diets and eating certain foods. It seems we all want a quick fix for weight loss and we want to continue our bad eating habits instead of trying healthy eating. This obesity problem has now begun affecting children as well as their parents and many health concerns have arisen because of this growing problem.

The key to proper weight loss is healthy eating. In the past, we did not know as much about nutrition and how the body works as we do today, so it is no wonder people in the past died early because of weight loss problems and other health issues. A farmer of the past thought nothing of eating eggs, bacon, toast with butter, everyday for breakfast. He wasn’t aware of the health risks involved in eating these foods on a regular basis.

In the past, to promote weight loss, you were cautioned against eating too many calories. Healthy eating was not a priority until recently. Many weight loss plans that work for other people, may not work as well for you. You need to find out the best way for you to begin your weight loss and this should begin with healthy eating.

Eating healthy is not at all difficult and is not as limiting as one may think. Fresh fruits, whole grains, and lean proteins are one way of healthy eating that will aid in weight loss. Cutting out sugary drinks and replacing it with water is another healthy alternative that will hasten your weight loss. Not only is water empty of calories, but it can help flush out toxins and the water weight you have accumulated by not eating healthy in the past.

Healthy eating is not the only factor when you decide to begin a weigh loss program. You will need to add exercise and be committed to the long and hard road ahead. It won’t be easy to cut out unhealthy foods that have long been your favorite, but once you do and you begin to feel the benefits of healthy eating, weight loss will seem like an extra bonus.

Your skin and energy levels improve vastly when you begin a healthy eating plan for weight loss. You will be proud of how clear and glowing your skin becomes and how much more energy you have to do things you were too tired to do before.

Healthy eating for weight loss can help you break the bad habits you had before. It may be difficult at first, especially when you cut out the sugar and sweets that have long comforted you, but in the end, it will seem as if healthy eating is the only way of life for you now. You can enjoy variety, different cooking methods (as long as they contain no or low fat) and new foods you may have never tried before. Begin a healthy eating regime and see how quick weight loss becomes part of your new routine.

Mary Lewis, director of

M and L Promotions Ltd.

website: http://www.losingweighteasily.com

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All the Health Risks of Processed Foods -- In Just a Few Quick, Convenient Bites

Every day, 7 percent of the U.S. population visits a McDonald's, and 20-25 percent eat fast food of some kind, says Steven Gortmaker, professor of society, human development, and health at the Harvard School of Public Health. As for children, 30 percent between the ages of 4 and 19 eat fast food on any given day. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Americans get processed food not only from fast-food restaurants but also from their neighborhood grocery stores. As it stands, about 90 percent of the money that Americans spend on food is used to buy--that's right--processed foods. Think about it ... if it comes in a box, can, bag or carton, it's processed. The fact that these foods are so readily available, and, often, of such poor quality, has led some, like associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard David Ludwig, to say that they're actually discouraging healthy eating and leading to a "toxic environment." "There's the incessant advertising and marketing of the poorest quality foods imaginable. To address this epidemic, you'd want to make healthful foods widely available, inexpensive, and convenient, and unhealthful foods relatively less so. Instead, we've done the opposite," says Ludwig. Processed foods have, indeed, been implicated in a host of chronic diseases and health conditions that are currently plaguing the nation. What follows is just a taste of the risks processed foods may present to your health. Obesity The World Health Organization (WHO) says processed foods are to blame for the sharp rise in obesity (and chronic disease) seen around the world. In one study by Ludwig and colleagues, children who ate processed fast foods in a restaurant ate 126 more calories than on days they did not. Over the course of a year, this could translate into 13 pounds of weight gain just from fast food. "The food industry would love to explain obesity as a problem of personal responsibility, since it takes the onus off them for marketing fast food, soft drinks, and other high-calorie, low-quality products," Ludwig says. However, "When you have calories that are incredibly cheap, in a culture where 'bigger is better,' that's a dangerous combination," says Walter Willett, M.D., D.P.H., professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. Diabetes "In the last 50 years, the extent of processing has increased so much that prepared breakfast cereals--even without added sugar--act exactly like sugar itself ... As far as our hormones and metabolism are concerned, there's no difference between a bowl of unsweetened corn flakes and a bowl of table sugar. Starch is 100-percent glucose [table sugar is half glucose, half fructose] and our bodies can digest it into sugar instantly," says Ludwig. "We are not adapted to handle fast-acting carbohydrates. Glucose is the gold standard of energy metabolism. The brain is exquisitely dependent on having a continuous supply of glucose: too low a glucose level poses an immediate threat to survival. [But] too high a level causes damage to tissues, as with diabetes," he continued. Heart Disease Many processed foods contain trans fatty acids (TFA), a dangerous type of fat. According to the American Heart Association, "TFAs tend to raise LDL ("bad") cholesterol and lower HDL ("good") cholesterol ... These changes may increase the risk of heart disease." Further, most processed foods are extremely high in salt, another blow to the heart. One-half cup of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup, for instance, has 37 percent of the daily-recommended amount of sodium. "Probably the single fastest way to reduce strokes in this country is to halve the amount of salt that's added to processed food," says Tim Lang, professor of food policy at the City University, London. Cancer A seven-year study of close to 200,000 people by the University of Hawaii found that people who ate the most processed meats (hot dogs, sausage) had a 67 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer than those who ate little or no meat products. A Canadian study of over 400 men aged 50 to 80 found similar results. Men whose eating habits fell into the "processed" pattern (processed meats, red meat, organ meats, refined grains, vegetable oils and soft drinks) had a significantly higher risk of prostate cancer than men in the other groups. Men who ate the most processed foods had a 2.5-fold increased prostate cancer risk. Yet another study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Mile Markers, and Prevention found that refined carbohydrates like white flour, sugar and high fructose corn syrup is also linked to cancer. The study of more than 1,800 women in Mexico found that those who got 57 percent or more of their total energy intake from refined carbohydrates had a 220 percent higher risk of breast cancer than women who ate more balanced diets. Acrylamide, a carcinogenic substance that forms when foods are heated at high temperatures, such as during baking or frying, is also a concern. Processed foods like French fries and potato chips have shown elevated levels of the substance, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). "I estimate that acrylamide causes several thousand cancers per year in Americans," said Clark University research professor Dale Hattis. Food Additives: Unknown Effects The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains a list of over 3,000 chemicals that are added to the processed food supply. These compounds do various things to food: add color, stabilize, texturize, preserve, sweeten, thicken, add flavor, soften, emulsify and more. Some of these additives have never been tested for safety--and require no government approval--but instead belong to the FDA's "Generally Recognized as Safe" (GRAS) list. An item is "safe," as defined by Congress, if there is "reasonable certainty that no harm will result from use of an additive." Some compounds that are known to be toxic to humans or animals are also allowed, though at the level of 1/100th of the amount that is considered harmful. Potential side effects from the additives vary, and are controversial. For just one common food additive, monosodium glutamate (MSG), for example, the following symptoms have been reported:

* Numbness
* Burning sensation
* Tingling
* Facial pressure or tightness
* Chest pain
* Headache
* Nausea
* Rapid heartbeat
* Drowsiness
* Weakness
* Difficulty breathing for asthmatics

As is the case with most food additives, some people have no side effects, but others may become ill.

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Nutrition Supplementation

Nutrition Supplement – nutrition.

Nutrition supplement is a term familiar to most of us. So what is nutrition supplement and why is it so important? Nutrition, by dictionary definition, is the sum of the processes by which someone takes in and utilizes food substances. One of the main advantages of utilizing food substances is the intake of vitamins, amino acids, minerals, herbs, etc. These are the things that make our body healthy.

Nutrition Supplement – what is it?

When people don’t get enough of nutrients through food and when a well-designed diet doesn’t work, people turn to the help of some type of nutrition supplement or supplements. A nutrition supplement is added to the diet to make up for a nutritional deficiency. The supplement increases the intake of vitamins, amino acids, minerals, etc. But you have to careful when purchasing some supplement, since supplements are not required to meet FDA standards.

Nutrition Supplement – the usage?

Many people nowadays use some type of nutrition supplement. In 1996 alone, consumers spent more than $6.5 billion on dietary supplements, according to Packaged Facts Inc., a market research firm in New York City. Nutrition supplement or supplements can be found in many forms: nutrition bars, tablets, capsules, powders, liquids, etc. A lot of supplements do not require any prescription. You can purchase them in health food stores, grocery stores, drug stores, or through mail or Internet.

Nutrition Supplement – nutrition supplement bars.

Some of the most popular types of nutrition supplements currently available on the market are nutrition supplement bars. There are many questions people have about nutrition supplement bars. Are they good? What are you getting with them? According to advertising of major nutrition supplement bars’ manufacturers, their bars contain high levels of protein and low levels of carbohydrates.

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Quick Cooking Tips - 2 Basic Recipes to Create Unlimited Amounts of Healthy Meals Fast

By Bettina Berlin

We all have days where we don't have much time to cook, and then it can be a challenge to still provide healthy and tasty food for our loved ones. I love using my recipe books and trying new recipes, but I figured out that cooking with a recipe takes more time. When I'm in a hurry, then I'm simply faster without using a recipe because this saves me the time of reading and memorizing the recipe, or going back at times to check what to do next.

So, I've developed a few very basic recipes that I can easily remember and adapt in any way I need. When I'm in a hurry, then all I do is open my fridge or check my pantry, grab some vegetables or cans and throw a nice healthy meal together within half an hour. No need to follow a complicated or long written recipe.

Here are 2 of my secret cook-in-a-hurry recipes. Both make four servings and are quick and easy to make, especially the pasta

Basic recipe #1: Vegetarian Stew

Use foods that only have a short cooking time and are quick to prepare, for example marrows, aubergines, mushrooms, tomatoes. You can also use canned or frozen vegetables which will make it even quicker.

Ingredients

* 2 tbsp. oil
* 1 onion, chopped
* 1,5 kg mixed vegetables, cut into small pieces or thin slices
* 250-500 ml water or vegetable stock
* 300 g starchy foods (rice, pasta, potatoes, couscous) or 4 rolls


Steps

Cooking the vegetables:

1. Heat the oil in a large pot and fry the onions until golden.
2. Add the vegetables and half of the water.
3. Cover and allow simmering for about 15-20 minutes until the veggies are done.
4. Season with your favourite spices and serve.


Starchy foods:

* If you are using rice, start cooking it before cooking the vegetables.
* When cooking pasta, start after adding the water in step 2.
* Potatoes can be added with the other vegetables in step 2.
* Couscous can be prepared about 5 minutes before the vegetables are done.
* If you decided on rolls, simply serve them with the vegetables


Basic recipe #2: Pasta with Tomato and Mixed Vegetable Sauce

Ingredients

* 300 g pasta
* 2 tbsp. oil
* 1 onion, chopped
* 4 cans of various vegetables, e.g. 2 cans of peeled chopped tomatoes and 2 of mushrooms (add peeled tomatoes and baked beans with the sauce, but drain all other vegetables)
* 50 g grated cheese


Steps

1. Start cooking the pasta.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onions until golden. Add the canned veggies, mix well and warm it until everything is hot.
3. Season, sprinkle with cheese and serve with the pasta.


As you can see, these recipes are very basic and can be prepared with nearly everything you find at home. They allow you to create a wide variety of different meals, so you could use one of these recipes seven times without eating the same food every day. That's what makes them so great. You don't even have to think a minute about what to cook, you just decide on one of your basic recipes, grab some ingredients and go. Half an hour later, dinner is ready.

Bettina Berlin is a health professional specializing in healthy nutrition even on a tight schedule. Eating healthy and thus maintaining a healthy weight can significantly improve your health and help prevent many diseases. Is your life so hectic that preparing healthy food often seems impossible? Then visit http://www.elishas-quick-recipes.blogspot.com today and get your FREE fast cooking tips and much delicious quick easy recipes!

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Healthy Eating and Why You Should Develop a Healthy Eating Plan

Now firstly, I do not wish to get people yawning at the thought of another boring piece of text that preaches doom for anyone who actually enjoy eating. In fact, I hope to dispel the widely held but totally false belief that healthy eating and enjoyable eating are completely incompatible.

There is so much media hype concerning food and how to control what and how we should eat that we lose sight of the fact that ... FOOD IS THERE TO BE ENJOYED.

In fact, Healthy Eating is not about strict dietary regimes, or depriving yourself of the foods you really enjoy in order to attain a body shape that is quite unnatural. Rather, it's about feeling really good by having more energy, and keeping yourself as healthy as possible so that you can enjoy life to the full.

This can all be achieved by learning some simple nutritional basics and incorporating them in a way that works for you. Then it is all about choice.

It is not difficult to choose between foods that can increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes and even cancer and foods that will actually improve your health. Then by choosing from an extensive range of healthy options and by following some simple guideline, you can create and maintain a healthy and satisfying diet that will include a wide variety of delicious foods.

In the past healthy eating might mean "bland, tasteless and boring" but today, with all the choices we have available, it really can be both "delicious and enjoyable". It is important that we adopt a positive attitude to our food and ensure that food really is one of life's pleasures.

It is not within the scope of a short article to explore all the ways in which we can ensure that we really are enjoying a diet that is both healthy and satisfying. But there are three basic components that any healthy eating plan should be built around and these are Variety, Balance and Moderation

• Variety - it is extremely important that every diet should include foods of all types, as no one type of food can supply all the essential nutrients that the body needs to grow and remain healthy.

• Balance - means that you eat the correct amounts of food from each food group in order to obtain the nutrients and calories essential to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

• Moderation - it is obvious that any guide to a healthy diet would warn against eating too much of any one particular type of food. Too much is as bad as too little in any Healthy Eating plan.

As variety is one of the basic components of a healthy eating program, then there is absolutely no reason why anyone should feel unduly restricted in their choice of food. There are certainly sufficient options to choose from so as to ensure that their diet is completely healthy, varied and satisfying.

Furthermore, as we now have easy access to foods from all around the world we can benefit from a huge variety of tastes and flavors that were not available in days gone by. More importantly, many of the cultures in places such the Near and Far East have developed cuisines, over the centuries, which are recognized as being particularly health promoting, where variety and balance are vital components of their dishes.

So you can now combine the healthiest dishes from around the world to ensure that your healthy eating plan is completely well balanced and varied.

There are many books, articles and websites devoted to Healthy Eating that provide important guidelines which will help to ensure that the correct choices are made when deciding to adopt a completely healthy way of eating. So there is no reason why you cannot enjoy your food and maintain the healthy lifestyle that you know is so important.

So, go ahead, enjoy your food, enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

If you would like to learn more about the benefits of Healthy Eating and acquire many healthy eating tips that could help you develop your own healthy eating plan then a great place to begin is Complete Guide to Delicious Healthy Eating. Discover how to make Healthy Eating enjoyable, delicious and fun CLICK HERE.

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Nutritional People - How Can You Tell Who is the Real Deal?

There are often many nutritional people appearing on the TV, radio, internet and newspapers. These people may be nutritional scientists, reporters or possibly even just a person who has a new theory about nutrition. Some of these crazy theories in the past would have lead us to believe that Vitamin C gives you hives, artichokes cure cancer and not to eat berries and cheese in the same meal.

So how do you know which nutritional people to trust?

There are several groups of people who will provide you with nutritional information that you can use with confidence. The best information comes from nutrition scientists. These people have degrees, usually in biology, chemistry, biochemistry or physics and are primarily engaged in conducting research relating to the effects of food on humans and animals.

Nutrition information can also come from nutrition researchers. There are people who are professionals in their field, such as sociology or medicine and study the effects of food. There are also nutritionists who focus on the study of nutrition. In most places, a nutritionist must have a degree in a basic science course related to nutrition.

There are also dietitians who can provide accurate nutrition information. These are people who have degrees in food and nutrition and science. If the person has R.D. after his or her name, that person has completed a dietetic internship and passed an American Dietetic Association licensing exam.

Finally there are nutrition reporters and writers. These people are likely to provide you with information on the medical or scientific aspects of food. For example, a reporter who concentrates on sports medicine.

Regardless of the source of your nutrition information, it should always pass the reasonable test. Which basically means that if something is too good to be true, or if it sounds ridiculous is probably is.

James has been a nutritionist for 18 years. Please visit his website on rubber car mats which will help you find the best prices on rubber car floor mats for your vehicle.

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Diners: Healthy Eating Survival Guide

Have you ever wondered how in the world you can practice healthy eating while dining out? Wonder no more as I share with you my 9 surefire ways of mastering your dining experience so you not only walk out feeling satisfied, but lean too.

No wonder why people today are more concerned about healthy restaurant eating. A recent study of 300 American chefs showed that 50% didn't even consider the caloric content of the foods they served. As a matter of fact, only 1 out of 6 American chefs feel calorie content is important. Therefore, as expected, a typical chef's main goal is to provide you with an excellent, but not necessarily a healthy, dining experience so you will tell your friends, and come back wanting more. Healthy eating is not on the top of chefs to-do lists. With that said, loading the dishes up with fat, salt, and sugar is of very little concern to most chefs. They are simply willing to do whatever is necessary to show the customer extreme value focusing on the main goals of making their food taste and look great, even if it is at the expense of our health. This extreme perceived value goal has lead to our "super size portion generation" as we sadly see today.

Do to the fast pace seen in today's society, Americans are now getting over one third of there calories from dining out. How many of those calories are actually healthy dining calories? Probably not too many.

In today's society we, as diners, must take on more of a personal responsibility than ever before focusing on healthy restaurant eating. The chefs, restaurants, and our friends are not going to look out for our health. Thus, it is our personal responsibility to preserve our health by eating right while dining out.

Here are 9 surefire health eating tips to help you take personal responsibility by eating right while dining out.

1. Don't arrive ravenous. It is best to have a small snack a couple of hours prior to dining out. This will ensure that you don't enter the restaurant ready to eat the whole bread basket. Don't worry about spoiling your dinner. It is a bad healthy eating habit to come into a restaurant ravenous.

2. Box it up. When an extra large portion comes to the table request a doggy bad immediately before putting a bite of food in your mouth. Cut the extra large portion in half, take it home, and enjoy it tomorrow.

3. Dine at healthy eating establishments. Patronize healthy dining restaurants so you won't be caught in a situation of not being able to find anything healthy on the menu. Don't set yourself up for failure.

4. Tell servers what you want. Be specific to the server about what you want to substitute. It never hurts to ask about getting your food prepared in a healthy dining manner. An example would be replace the mayonnaise with mustard. It never hurts to ask.

5. Dressing on the side. Another healthy eating tip is to order your salad dressing on the side. Be a dipper. You will save yourself added fat, and calories.

6. Beware of the beverage. As you know, wine, beer, and regular sodas all have calories too. Look at the water option to conserve calories. Why drink your calories when you can eat them.

7. Healthy eating means avoid these terms: alfredo, au gratin, breaded crispy, french fried, pesto, hollandaise, light cream sauce, sauteed, or pastry.

8. Don't clean your whole plate. A good healthy eating exercise is to always leave a bit of food on your plate. You don't have to clean your plate. If you follow the doggy bag rule, of course, this may not apply.

9. Eat slowly. Eating slowly is proven to decrease the amount of food you eat. Thus, the caloric content will be less.

By following each of these 9 healthy restaurant eating rules you will have a better chance of taking responsibility of eating right for the preservation your overall health.

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Jim O'Connor is an Execise Physiologist, and celebrity fitness trainer who publishes a popular health and fitness multimedia newsletter called Wellness Word. He is passionate about empowering people with the absolute fitness truth. To discover the secrets of obtaining greater fitness results in less time sign up for his FREE multimedia email minicourse by clicking fitness program.

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