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.

This article was provided by the world's #1 most popular and trusted holistic living e-newsletter -- FREE to you right now at http://www.SixWise.com! The old way of thinking: "holistic living" pertains only to personal health. The new way of thinking: "holistic living" means prevention of the negative and adherence to the positive in all SIX practical areas of life: relationships, finances, career, home environment, safety and health. With the SixWise.com e-newsletter, you will get holistic wisdom from the world's top experts in all six of these areas -- completely FREE with a simple sign-up (and a guaranteed no-spam policy!) at http://www.SixWise.com

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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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Healthy Eating - Is This Practical in America?

United States of America. This is the nation of which one of it's former presidents publicly said, "I don't like broccoli," and another political figure misspelled the word potato. It's also the place where TV commercials make a mockery of buying healthy vegetables at the supermarket when you can get your nutrients from vitamin supplements.

What is healthy eating anyway? Aren't we confused yet? Consider the orange (fruit). We try to improve its health-giving properties as a food, by juicing it and reconstituting it from concentrates and additives. Where is the fiber?

Oh that? We buy fiber supplement pills. And where did the fiber from the orange go? Who knows... It might be fertilizer or landfill.

Invariably, anyone who seems to be encouraging your to eat healthy is trying to sell you something.

You don't even have to have good eyesight (nor have to like eating carrots) to see that our reasons for eating healthy in America have been tainted by our quest for making money.

We put out food guides that claim to encourage us all to eat healthy. But the messages are mixed. Maybe we should try to find out how "sponsors" influenced Harvard's designing of the Healthy Eating Pyramid. I often wondered why they put alcohol and red meat in a healthy dietary guide.

Count the benefits of eating healthy
There are many benefits to healthier eating, personally, nationally, and globally. One can readily think of

* Increased longevity
* Increased national and personal productivity
* Lower costs of national healthcare
* Spend less for drugs and medicines
* Cleaner environment, since we process less food
* Decrease shortage of medical care personnel
* ...and on, and on...

We need a healthy eating plan

There are many "healthy" eating plans sitting on thousands of wasted pages of health publications. We scarcely need more national healthy eating advice. What we need is more effort on an individual level.

I am advocating personal interest and responsibility for our own health. Most people already know that eating lots of fruits and vegetables, getting adequate rest, regular exercise, and avoiding the use of harmful substances are ways of maintaining good healthy. But how many of us find these things easy to do?

How many of us find it easy to resist the influences of fancy advertising instead of falling for the same junk food temptations every time? How many of us had a healthy eating plan that we have followed from youth?

It seems that by nature we are prone to be resentful of what has been scientifically and reasonably more beneficial and instead, inclined to adopt what is harmful.

It's an individual choice

One has to conclude that when it comes down to healthy eating, this is an individual choice. All the sayings, writings, and plans of government health agencies, research organizations, and any other interest groups amount to noise.

Healthy eating is an individual's choice made daily. Our habits are governed by tastes, environment, and what foods are readily available. We do have some control over those factors, though. Let's not wait until some health issues (sickness and disease) come our way. By then, we will be forced to make healthy eating a matter of survival. I know this from experience.

Copyright © 2006 by Bentley Thompson

Bentley writes about lifestyle-related conditions such as diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular diseases. He advocates the anti-diabetes diet which he describes on his website. You may visit his website and blog using the following URLs: http://www.anti-diabetes-diet-supplements.com/ and http://choosehealthtoday.blogspot.com

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Why Are Vegetables Losing Their Nutrition? Find out now and save your health!

by: Emily Morris


If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a zillion times. “If you want to be healthy, eat your vegetables!” Certainly, this is still good advice, but there’s a problem creeping in. Vegetables and fruits are losing their nutritious qualities. They may not be providing you with the healthy kick they used to. Sure they look the same, and they might even taste the same, but did you know…

“You’d have to eat 10 servings of spinach to get the same level of minerals from just one serving about 50 years ago.”

That’s what Elmer Heinrich found out when he did his research for his book “The Root of All Disease”. It’s amazing, but it’s also terrible because no one is ever going to eat 10 servings of spinach in one day. To get your ‘optimum nutrition’ according these new statistics you’d have to be an elephant! Or at least eat as much as one….

But why is all this happening?

It sounds rather far-fetched at first that a vegetable or fruit could look and taste the same, but be so lacking in nutrients you need. However, there are several reasons, which most people would never think of. It’s important to know the cause behind something as vital as your own nutrition. You try to eat right, you try to have your ‘required servings’ of fruits and vegetables each day—but what are they really doing for you?

Over-farming causes depleted soil-

Despite farmers’ best efforts with chemical fertilizers and crop rotations, the huge human population’s demands on the soil causes ‘over-farming’. Nutrients you need are depleted from the soil by 100s of previous crop cycles—and if they’re not there, the plants can’t absorb them. This is especially true for the trace-minerals we all need to maintain good health.

Crops are now being bred for the wrong thing-

Fruits and veggies are chosen for several reasons…none of which are their nutritional value. The important thing about them is how they look, how long they stay fresh, how much they weigh, and how they can resist weeds and pests. Are any of those factors helping YOUR health? No, they’re just helping the bottom line. These are no ‘franken foods’ either (genetically modified crops) they’re your usual 100% natural crops which have gone through selective breeding for money making, NOT nutritional qualities. Sure, some genetically modified crops like the black tomato are super-nutritious, but they’re still years away from a real market release.

An experiment for you:

If you look around on TV, do you see commercials for ‘grow at home tomatoes’? Have you ever enjoyed a tomato from a vine at a friend or neighbors’ house? These ‘home grown’ fruits (yes a tomato is a fruit) often taste MUCH better than the ones you find in the supermarket. That’s why kits and vines are so popular in gardens. Supermarket tomatoes are raised only to look good, stay fresh and make the high “weight grade”. They’re NOT bred for taste or nutrition quality.

It’s easy to demonstrate this with something like a tomato, because they have a specific flavor that everyone recognizes, and are easy to grow at home in many climates—unlike spinach or peaches. The point is, that this type of ‘all style no substance’ is afflicting more than tomatoes and affecting much more than flavor.

These statistics show various losses from 1975 compared to 2001. The USDA came up with the facts, and Life Extension Magazine is quoted on the following statistics:

Apples- Vitamin A is down 41%

Broccoli- Calcium and Vitamin A are down 50%

Cauliflower- Vitamin C is down 45%; Vitamin B1 is down 48%; and Vitamin B2 is down 47%

That’s a big drop, and other fruits and vegetables are also affected to varying degrees. So what can you do about it? You want to eat healthy to stay healthy so taking action in your diet is a step to take right away. Vitamin supplements are a great idea. Because vitamins are made, not grown, they are held to nutritional standards, and must contain exactly what you see on the label. But, one cannot live on pills alone! First, consider organic foods and using a home garden. Chances are, your yard was never the site of a huge company farm featuring depleted soil. The foods you grow at home can still pick up necessary minerals from your soil.

But what about apartment or condo dwellers in the city?

No time for a garden? Next, small farms and local growers are also more likely to be farming on land that is not nutritionally deficient, or using “Maximum shelf life” variety plants. Local farms don’t have to ship long distance, and they know you’ll be back for more if you like their produce’s FLAVOR.

Another easy solution is the Chia Seed.

This seed is packed with a full range of B vitamins, trace minerals such as Boron, and it even has more calcium by weight than milk. The seed of the chia plant also has omega 3 oil (the same as that found in fish) and complete protein, just like what is found in meat. These seeds also have both soluble and insoluble fiber and more magnesium than broccoli. They don’t spoil or go rancid like flax, and you can make them taste like whatever you want….but more on that later.

Why is the Chia Seed still a good option for you?

Chia plants only grow in areas most other plants hate. You couldn’t grow a peach or an apple where chia likes to grow. It only grows where it’s hot and dry all the time. This means the land used to grow it hasn’t already been stripped of nutrients. Worried about pesticides? Don’t be. The plant takes care of itself like no other—producing an oil in the leaves and stems that insects and other pests can’t stand. Chemical pesticides don’t even need to be touched when you’ve got chia growing. The plants are still pulling in all the nutrients you need while being free from toxic chemical pesticides.

So by looking to a food that’s unusual and new, you can still get the nutrients your body needs despite depleted soil in many areas. These seeds have no flavor of their own, so they’re not prepared like the food you’re used to. No one sits down to a pile of chia as they would rice. Instead, they’re super easy in an all-new way. You simply add them to food you already like to eat. The flavorless seeds then absorb moisture from that food (whether it be yogurt, salad dressing, cereal with milk, tomato sauce, or your favorite drink—almost anything will do!) and take on the taste of the food or drink. You won’t have any problems with “I don’t want to eat my vegetables” when these nutritious seeds can taste like anything from orange juice to chocolate pudding without ever diluting the flavor. There are even many easy and fun Chia Seed Recipes that you can use to make both new and familiar meals lower in fat and higher in nutrients by adding chia. All the nutrition is still there just waiting to be eaten in the way of your choice.

Don’t let these startling statistics stop you on your quest for greater health, energy and longevity. You can still take control of your nutrition and improve your health.


About The Author
You can learn much more about how the Chia Seed can help you with photos, videos facts and more at MySeeds Chia Seeds , plus, don't forget about our 2 free chia cook books and free shipping too! This article can be reprinted so long as it is not altered and the links are kept intact.

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Five Healthy Breakfast Ideas for Busy Families

You know the importance of serving your family a healthy breakfast, but there's often not a lot of time in the mornings. Here are a few simple and healthy breakfast recipes that you can have on the table in just 20 minutes and that will give your family the nutrition they need.

Cereal and soy milk

Soy milk is full of healthy protein. Choose a cereal that has high fiber content and is free of high fructose corn syrup. Sprinkling some organic sugar over some plain cereal is often preferable to eating pre-sweetened cereal. Read labels on the cereal carefully and then stock up on your family's favorites.

Whole wheat toast and natural peanut butter

Whole-wheat toast is full of fiber and good carbohydrates to get you through your morning. Children love the idea of eating peanut butter for breakfast, which makes this meal a winning treat in most households. Look for natural peanut butter that is made without hydrogenated vegetable oil. If you have to stir up the peanut butter before you can use it, it's a safe bet. Add a piece of fruit, such as a banana or apple, and you have a well-rounded and easy breakfast.

Yogurt and fruit

A tub of vanilla yogurt and some fresh fruit are all you need for this healthy and fun breakfast. You can buy frozen berries, thaw them in the microwave and then drizzle them over the yogurt. You can also pair yogurt with peaches, melon or bananas for a sweet breakfast treat. Add a handful of sesame seeds or walnuts into the mix for a fun and delicious crunch.

Breakfast smoothie

If you want to make the previous idea even easier, throw the yogurt and fruit into a blender with some juice and a few ice cubes. You can make large batches of smoothies to feed your whole family. You can even sneak in some spinach or celery in the mix to add to the nutrition of the drink. Experiment with different flavor combinations so you can always have something new.

Home baked goods

Donuts and muffins are definitely easy breakfast foods to get on the run, but they aren't very healthy. Look online for healthy and hearty muffin recipes that feature whole wheat flour and applesauce to replace some of the fat and sugar in traditional recipes. Spend some time on Sunday afternoon baking up the next week's breakfast. Children will love to get in on the baking process and you can make creating your breakfast for the week a whole family event.

These ideas don't take long to make, and your family will love starting their day with a healthy, hearty family breakfast.

About The Author

Jamie Jefferson writes for Susies-Coupons.com and Momscape.com, where you can find gift ideas, product reviews and online coupons. Get the latest $5 off $50 coupons: http://www.susies-coupons.com/tg.htm as well as Overstock coupons: http://www.momscape.com/coupon-codes/overstock.htm

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Healthy Eating – Eating Healthy On A Budget

By Dominic Milner

Healthy Eating is extremely important in order to have the best quality of life and eating healthy on a budget is a lot easier than you have ever though. Whether you live alone or are married with six kids you can still look after yourself through your diet. In today’s society with food being so cheap and obtainable even those that have a high salary are downgrading for the cheaper alternative.

As we are in a recession right now our trips to the local McDonalds have been replaced by eating at home, which I bet has devastated most kids. Just because you want the whole family to eat healthy doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have our treats once in a while. If we don’t have our treats the cravings will get way too strong and we would end up wasting time and energy on binge eating.

If you like to have a Mcdonalds and the budget now stops you from doing this create it yourself at home. For what it costs you at McDonalds for just one of you can cover the cost for four of you if made from scratch at home.

Make homemade cheeseburgers with chunky chips and make your own sauce to go with it so that you all feel extra special. Or when your next down the supermarket and the chicken pieces are on offer take the opportunity to purchase it and make your kids some homemade nuggets and they will love you forever for it.

There is a lot of salt in a McDonalds and this is not good for you but if you make it yourself from scratch you can control exactly what they eat. It is so much nicer to know what goes into your product that you sit down at the table and eat when you go to McDonalds you really don’t have a clue what is in it and this can be worrying sometimes.

Kids also adore making homemade milkshakes so why not take the plunge and make some with the kids that they would normally have at McDonalds and include extra fruit in it to make it extra healthy.

This is just an idea about adopting a healthy diet and still enjoying the food that a fast food establishment offers now I have given you some great ideas with McDonalds imagine what you could do with the other places you like.

Enjoy some home cooked KFC or a wonderful pizza that the kids have personally decorated that looks better than the ones on offer at PizZa Hut. Remember the ideas are amazing you just have to put them into practice!

About The Author Dominic Milner is a well-known Online Chef and the owner of simply foodndrink that gives free food tips to all: Head over to http://www.simplyfoodndrink.com to get your FREE advice now! Visit the author's web site at: http://www.simplyfoodndrink.com

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Nutrition 101

by: Carlos Regueira

We all know what healthy eating is all about. We just choose not to do it. Everybody knows that fruits and vegetables are better than cakes and chips or that a baked potato is better than french fries. Lots of people ask me for help with their diet and I go into a complicated explanation about nutrition. It doesn’t have to be complicated though. Just the other day, I was taking a sports nutrition class and the instructor, Mr. Stafford, broke down basic nutrition into five easy steps.

1. Drink water instead of sodas, diet sodas, alcohol, flavored water, sports drinks, etc. Water helps with digestion and cleansing–carbonated drinks do not.

2. Eat as many small meals per day as you can, every 2-3 hours. The stomach is a muscle and by eating small meals throughout the day your body has to work, which in turn burns more calories. By eating small meals everyday our bodies become used to our intake amounts and do not need to store fat–normally your body stores fat because it doesn’t know when it’s going to be fed again.

3. Eat protein in each meal. Specifically complete protein, which is anything that is or comes from an animal. Complete protein has all the amino acids needed to build muscle and the more muscle you have, the more calories are burn.

4. Try to eliminate starches and sugars (cakes, candy, pasta, etc.) from your diet and replace with dark grains and dark vegetables. This is what gets you fat–the simple carbs (non-fiber) are more easily stored in the body as fat. On the other hand, complex carbs are rich in fiber and are absorbed by the muscles and the liver. When looking at food labels, choose foods that have a sugar to fiber ratio of 5 to 1. This ensures that the food is high in fiber.

5. Limit carbs to twice the amount of protein in each of your meals. A good rule of thumb here is if the piece of protein is the size of your palm the source of carbs should only be the size of two palms.

So there you have it–5 easy steps that are guaranteed to make you lose weight, gain muscle and look good.

About The Author Miami-based and certified personal trainer, Carlos Regueira, is passionate about helping men and women achieve their ultimate body. It is through his over 5 years of experience working with clients where Carlos has developed his widespread expertise in advanced health, nutrition, and fitness strategies. Carlos earned his personal training certification from the National Federation of Professional Trainers. For more information, visit www.buildingbetterbodiesfitness.com. The author invites you to visit: http://www.buildingbetterbodiesfitness.com

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Advantageous Guidelines and Overview for Getting the Best Juicer

Do you recognize how to get the best juicer that is appropriate to your need? In reality, getting the best juicer is not as tricky as what you may think. What you need to do is simply figuring out the one that is appropriate with all your needs but still can be reached with your money without making you penniless. The following info is useful Guide and info in getting it.

Getting the best juicer can also mean that you economize your money. Think of all those vegetables and fruits you have let rot in your refrigerator. With a juicer and a bit of ice, you can alter that stuff into enzymatically-active flavorsome beverages!

What Do You Select? - Coffee or Juice?

You may be a drinker of coffee. You may also recognize that drinking coffee has been shown to block the absorption of particular nutrients. Undoubtedly coffee is a natural diuretic. Think the act of taking your vitamins with coffee. What does coffee do, other than make us jittery?

That is right! Coffee makes you have to go to the bathroom. When you do, speculate what occurs to lots of those vitamins you just took? That is true. They are all down to the toilet. Fix this problem by switching to juices and utilizing your juicer. You will have the most excellent days of your life.

Opting Your Best Juicer

Why purchase your own best juicer? The two big factors are cost and efficacy. Even if you have been healthy and have been keeping away from $3.65 lattes for the past ten years, a visit to the juice bar can set you back five or six dollars, no problem.

You don’t need to do any lavishness if you simply purchase the best juicer which is appropriate to your need. Buy simply the appliance which will give you loads of usefulness in one package. That is the notion to follow.

Which One Do You Require for Your Best Juicer?

The best juicer is naturally the one that is most excellent for you. Do you aim to use many citrus, with its high Vitamin C content? Do you wish it mainly for leafy vegetables or carrots? Or do you desire a quantity of mixtures of all of these?

Then you need to do a little research for getting your best juicer. For example, you can choose a juicer with free of electricity by using wheat grass and citrus juicers run this way with reamers or augers.

The Process of Juicing is Valuable to Select Your Best Juicer

On the electronic scale, you can find out the best juicer with its big or small size, inexpensive or pricey price. For example, if you don’t wish to have to deal with clean-up, you can choose a centrifugal juicer with a pulp chute. It will accurately scatter the pulp away from your juice, keeping annoying fibers out of your teeth.

You can also obtain one juicer with a marvelous engine by going to the commercial route. If you go around shopping for the best juicer, make certain that you are going to discover plenteous choices with their own usefulness and downsides. Be sure that you are going to choose the best and most appropriate one for you. Then if you choose the best juicer with powerful engine, you can get it as well. In the bottom line, you can get almost any kind of juicer that will be appropriate to your need. Do you desire to get it now? Happy hunting then!

Do you want to uplift your knowledge about best juicer? There is no better way for getting it unless finding it more here!

About The Author

Discover how, you can dig a lot of information about best juicer. Learn which guides are easiest to follow and give the best for you. Please Visit>>>best juicer.

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