Healthy Eating Tips

Healthy eating is eating the appropriate balance of foods and nutrients in your diet. The key to eating healthy is not to stop yourself from eating the foods you like but rather balancing what you eat with a combination of healthy foods.

There are five food groups you should be concentrating on. Fruits and vegetables should make up one third of your daily diet. You should be eating at least five portions of fruits and vegtables each day. There has been research shown that these foods will protect against cancer, obesity and heart disease.

Bread, rice, potatoes and pasta should also make up about a third of your diet. You want foods in this category that are unrefined because foods that are refined contain all of the whole grain.

Milk and dairy foods need to be eaten in moderation because they are highly saturated in fat but at the same time they are a rich source of calcium which of course helps your teeth and bones. It is best to choose foods that are low-fat or reduced-fat.

Meat, fish, eggs and bean contain both animal and plant sources of protein which is a major necessity for the cells in your body. Protein proved the body between 10-15% of its energy and is needed for growth in children and teens. Fats, oils and sweets are foods that need to be eaten in very small moderation.

Eating an maintaining a balanced diet includes basing your meal on starchy foods like potatoes or pasta, eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetable, eat more fish and seafood, lower your intake of saturated fats and sugar, eat less salt and foods rich in sodium, do not skip breakfast which is the most important meal of the day, drink plenty of water and exercise at least 20 minutes a day five days a week.

When it comes to portion size, less is better. In today’s world, it seems everything in the grocery store is getting larger in portion. They have king size candy bars, family size bags of chips and super size ready to eat meals. Energy density is the amount stored energy in food. Just one gram of fat provides nine calories so it does not take long for the calories to add up.

Healthy eating may not always be fun but it is necessary for our bodies to run more smoothly and if we are healthy, we have more energy to do our everyday things in life.

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5 Healthy Eating Tips

Obesity, high cholesterol, and many other health issues are rapidly rising. With this information it is extremely important to maintain healthy eating habits.  Here are some useful tips for maintaining healthy eating habits.

1. Keep a Routine

Everybody knows that healthy eating habits falter under the pressure of holidays and other occasions.  That is why it is vital that a routine is in place and stuck to.  It is a good idea to have a backup plan in cases such as vacations or holidays.  Many restaurants provide special items that help to keep up healthy eating even outside the home.  Creating a menu or list of healthy meals will help aid in keeping and sticking to a routine.

2. Moderation

Sometimes too much of a good thing is bad.  Moderation is the key to eating healthy.  Some people view moderation as an enemy, counting calories, creating portions, etc seems time consuming to them.  But in truth moderation doesn’t necessarily mean counting every last calorie.  Moderation can still be maintained without the grueling effort of calorie counting and creating portions.  Avoid large amounts of fried, greasy foods and add more fruit and vegetables.  Instead of eating snack foods like cookies and chips, eat a banana or apple.

3. Fast Food Fixes

Everybody is tempted by the sight of fast food especially on road trips.  But not all is lost; it is actually easy to maintain your healthy eating habits, even at a fast food restaurant.  The key is to replace certain foods with healthier ones.  For instance, replace your soft drink with a diet soft drink or low fat milk, or replace fries with a salad or optional fruit items.  Avoid the greasy items like hamburgers and go for a more nutritional item like grilled chicken or fish.

4. Supplements

Most diets do not provide the minerals and vitamins needed to maintain a healthy diet.  Supplements such as Women’s One a Day provide the nutrition you need if your diet does not provide all of the vitamins and minerals needed.

5. Alternative Foods

A lot of people make excuses and in today’s world it is pointless with all the alternative options.  For lactose intolerance, soy milk provides the nutrition needed from milk.  Instead of pure sugar try the alternatives available such as sweet and low.  Water is essential to all people, but most complain of the lack of taste, but that is no longer an issue with the variety of flavored waters full of vitamins and minerals.

It is important to maintain healthy eating habits to feel good and live a healthy lifestyle.  Learning as much as possible and tapping into the vast resources on nutrition and healthy eating.

Healthy Eating Habits for Children

Childhood is the most important part of life in the growth and development stages.  That is why it is important for children to have healthy eating habits and stick to them.  Nutritional deficiencies can lead to a million different problems throughout life and even in to adulthood.  Starting from birth children rely on their parents to provide them with the nutrients needed for healthy growth and development. Formula and breast milk provide the supplements they need, but as children grow into the solid food stages their nutrition is based on a variety of foods.

The biggest problem children have with healthy eating is that most children are picky eaters.  That is why it is important to start young and never give up.  A parent may have to introduce a certain food to their children several times before they even try it and several times after that before they actually eat it.  Consistency plays a big role in healthy eating habits for children.  Parents need to be firm and consistent with the foods they provide for their children and never give up trying.

Having regular family meals where the family eats together around the same time will encourage a child to eat like the rest of the family.  It is also important that parents do not introduce foods or drinks high in sugar before a meal, as it will ruin the child’s appetite.

Stocking the house with a variety of healthy foods will encourage a child to eat them, while keeping the junk food in the household to a minimum.  It is also important to set an example for the child, if the child sees a parent eating junk food they will also want to do the same.  So it is important for the parent to maintain healthy eating habits as well as the child.

Parents should not force a child to eat everything on the plate.  This can lead to problems such as obesity or other eating disorders.  Children may be small, but they know when they are full and parents should respect their children’s feelings.  Involving a child in the cooking process is also another great way to set healthy eating habits.

The worst thing a parent can do when setting healthy eating habits for their children is to bribe them with sweets.  This is not a good example and it throws the balance of a healthy diet.  Parents should instead reward their children with praise when they eat their meals.

Doctors and dieticians are a great resource to tap into for finding out the best way to create healthy eating habits for a child. When the child is old enough introducing multi-vitamins is also a great habit to get into to ensure the child is getting as much nutrition as possible.

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Healthy Eating during Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a significant part of life for both mother and child.  The child benefits or doesn’t in some cases, by what a mother eats.  The mother is also responsible for taking in enough to sustain her and the baby.  Healthy eating during pregnancy is vital to growth and development of the baby, and health for both. That is why it is important for every mother to know what is best for the health of her and her child.

While prenatal vitamins are a great source high in vitamins and minerals, it is not enough to sustain full time.  These are mostly used as a supplement to ensure that all the needs are met, but having healthy eating habits is still the major factor in getting the proper nutrients for pregnancy.

Folic acid is needed for blood and protein production and is highly stressed by doctors. Sources rich in folic acid include; dark leafy vegetables, dark yellow fruits, peas, nuts, and beans.

Protein is needed for cell growth and blood production.  Valuable sources of protein include; meat, fish, eggs, beans, peanut butter, and tofu.

Calcium promotes strong bones and teeth, and is also needed for nerve function.  Sources rich in calcium include; milk, yogurt, cheese, spinach, and salmon. Some doctors may prescribe Vitamin D pills along with prenatal vitamins is there is a severe deficiency. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, and is found in some of the same sources, as well as cereal and bread.

Iron promotes the production of red blood cells and prevents diseases such as anemia.  Foods containing high amounts of iron include; spinach, red meat, and whole grain breads and cereals. Along with assisting iron absorption, vitamin C promotes healthy teeth, gums, and bones.  Foods rich in calcium include; broccoli, tomatoes, juices, and citrus fruits.

Along with eating food rich in vitamins and minerals, the mother also wants to intake more calories and antioxidants.  Healthy eating during pregnancy also means eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong foods. The foods listed above are just a few of the wide range of healthy foods available.

Healthy eating during pregnancy is the most important thing to do when pregnant.  While fats are important to the body’s energy, too much is not healthy for the mother or baby. Moderation is key, balancing a diet is the best practice and will help reap the benefits a healthy diet offers.

Is Food Irradiation Safe?

Food irradiation is a process that uses radiation to destroy microorganisms, viruses, bacteria, and insects that might be found in food.  It can also cause ripening to be delayed, reduce sprouting, increase juiciness, and other uses.  Not only can it kill certain contaminants, but it extends the food’s shelf-life by stopping the ripening process.

The process is currently legal in over 40 countries, and it is in wide use currently.  Over 500,000 metric tons of food are currently irradiated each year around the world.

The USDA has approved the process as an alternative to pesticides, and the FDA has given it approval for processing ground beef in order to eliminate E. coli.  Other agencies around the world have agreed that they believe the technique is safe.

Others are skeptical.  They believe there could be far-reaching consequences that haven’t yet been discovered.  The technique hasn’t been in wide use long enough yet for any long-term effects to be apparent, and there haven’t been enough studies conducted into these long-term effects.

There is also concern over the safety of the workers who work at irradiation facilities.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions investigate issues regarding the safety of these techniques.  Most facilities are safe, but the technique has not been performed completely without incident.

For example, in Decatur, Georgia the water soluble caesium-137 was accidentally leaked into a storage pool and NRC had to intervene.  Because of this incident, caesium-137 has been replaced by the non-water soluble cobalt-60, even though cobalt-60 is more costly.

Overall it is believed that the technique is safe, because the radiation used isn’t in sufficient quantities to harm a human being.  But there is no way to tell whether this radiation might build up in the body over the years, or if there are effects that haven’t yet been discovered.

Organic Food Health Benefits

Organic food is quite a bit more expensive than standard produce, so a lot of people wonder if it’s even worth it to spend the extra money to get organic.  The truth is, it’s very important to buy organic produce whenever you can.

Just 100 years ago deaths from cancer were very rare.  One major factor in this may be the use of more chemicals, from pesticides to food additives.  When you buy organic, you know you’re getting food that is free of those potentially carcinogenic chemicals.

Pesticides were made to kill insects that harm crops, but they also have far-reaching environmental impacts outside of this use.  These chemicals can kill other insects that are beneficial to us.  They can also seep into the groundwater, travel into lakes and harm aquatic animals, and harm other animals that may eat the animals that have been poisoned by them.

Pesticides have been shown to cause all kinds of effects, including:

• Cancer
• Infertility
• Birth defects
• Endocrine system failure
• Mutagenic effects (causing mutations)
• Miscarriage

These are just a few of the devastating effects that can be caused by pesticides.   Unfortunately many of the pesticides in current use haven’t yet been tested enough to determine just how safe they are.  And when you think about it, can any chemical designed to kill insects really be safe for human consumption?

It wasn’t so many years ago when DDT was thought to be safe.  It has now been banned because it was discovered that it potentially cased liver and biliary cancer, and potentially pancreatic cancer.  The ban on DDT is thought to be integral in bringing back the population of the American Bald Eagle.

Always buy organic if you can possibly afford to do so.  Even those pesticides that are currently considered “safe” may be shown to be dangerous in the future, and it’s just not worth taking a chance like that.

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Dark Chocolate Health Benefits

You’ve probably heard on the news that chocolate is now considered to be good for you, but you may not know the details about why, and what type of chocolate you should be consuming.

First of all, only dark chocolate is considered to be “good for you”.  Milk chocolate doesn’t contain enough of the beneficial flavonoids, which are a type of antioxidant.  Dark chocolate contains almost eight times the number of antioxidants found in strawberries!

You should look for dark chocolate that is at least 65-70% cocoa.  These will have the highest flavonoids levels, and will also contain less sugar.  You can also buy sugar free dark chocolate if you’re a diabetic or you’d like to cut down on your sugar consumption.

There are two main benefits that have been shown to come from dark chocolate.  First of all, it has been shown to lower blood pressure.  Secondly, it can lower LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) by up to 10%!

It also has a few additional benefits:

• It stimulates endorphin production, which give you pleasure.
• It contains serotonin, which is a natural antidepressant.
• It contains stimulants which can make you feel more alert.

You should note that you shouldn’t drink milk with your dark chocolate.  Research has shown that milk can prevent the antioxidants in the chocolate from being absorbed properly, thus negating their effect.  You might consider washing your dark down with green tea or red wine, both of which also contain high levels of antioxidants!