Fitness and Health

Maximizing Your Wellness

Archive for September, 2009


Diabetes is one of the main health problems not only in the country but also in the world. And it is not something that can be ignored both in financially and health wise. When left on its own, diabetes can spell a helluva of complications, from heart disease to liver problems.

It is perhaps the disease that causes the most number of complications in the body. Money wise, it is not cheap to have diabetes. In fact in studies conducted, 1/10 of the spendings of United States in Healthcare goes to Diabetes and its complications.

Because it is expensive and difficult to treat diabetes when it is already in its complications stage, patients are advised to nip the problem in the bud as soon as they can. If they can prevent diabetes from occurring with a few lifestyle changes especially in eating habits, all the better. This need for change spurned the creation of various kinds of diets that are designed to help diabetic patients and would be diabetics cope with the problem.

Although it was primarily conceptualized for people with heart problem, Atkins Diet is also being used as an alternative diet for people with diabetes. In fact, many diabetic patients have actually testified to its effectiveness. Atkins diet is primarily a low carbohydrate diet that aims to cut pounds by forbidding people under the program to eat carbohydrate-rich food.

These include rice, potatoes, bread and pasta. According to Dr. Robert Atkins, who created the diet for patients with heart problem in his clinic, the diet can also benefit diabetic patients because the decrease in caloric intake can reduce fats in the body; thereby reducing the risk for Type 2 diabetes.

The diet, however, is only effective with people who have a Type 2 diabetes or those whose diabetes is brought on by lifestyle of the person and his or her eating habits. It cannot do much for people who are already born with a problem in insulin secretion. These are the people with Type 1 diabetes. They depend solely on regular injections of insulin.

Still, there are critics that say that Atkins diet is not effective and in fact can lead to further complications. According to experts, the metabolism involved in the burning of fats instead of carbohydrates can cause problems and complications. Also, the intake of animal fat which diet does not restrict can increase cholesterol to dangerous levels; resulting in diabetes and even heart disease.

Gout is a type of rheumatoid arthritis. A lot of pain will be felt in the joints making the person less flexible.

This problem is often referred to as the “disease of kings” since it only affected members of royalty. Studies have shown this has now affected a lot of rich folk especially those who are obese.

Studies reveal that there are over 3.5 million Americans who have this problem which often occur after the age of 50. This is perhaps because of eating too much and the lack of physical activity.

People who eat a lot of beef, calamari, caviar, pork and poultry will begin to experience this problem because of the accumulation of uric acid in the bloodstream. Studies reveal this happens more often to those that are obese.

There is no known cure for doubt. In fact, there is no known cure for more than the 100 different types of arthritis. The best doctors can do is give medication that can be purchased over the counter or prescribe one if it is very severe to be able to alleviate the pain.

The most effective way to fight gout is to change one’s eating habits. This means cutting down on meat, poultry and certain sea foods and changing this with fruits, green vegetables, brown rice, cereals and bread. This is because these things contain vitamins and minerals which are needed to maintain a balance in the body.

Instead of consuming dairy products that are rich in fat, this should be replaced with those that are non fat. The individual should also drink plenty of water since this is known to ease the symptoms of gout and help the kidneys eliminate the surplus amount of uric acid in the system.

A dietitian can make a plan so the person can keep track of the food being consumed daily. It is also advisable for those who are obese to exercise to be able to lose weight since there is a high chance that someone overweight will also be diagnosed with this disease.

Both diseases can happen to anyone regardless of gender and sex. Taking the proper steps now by eating right and exercising can prevent this from happening.

Low Jeremy
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/the-right-diet-for-diabetic-and-gout-patients-98361.html

Several may remember learning about the five food groups when elementary school. We knew from all of our superiors that it was important to eat right in order to get the right amounts of nutrients everyday. Of course, the intentions of the pyramid of food changes as one grow older and begin to go through several changes in their body. If you are trying to figure out exactly how to use the five food groups now, you can consider how it will help with anti-aging.

If you aren’t getting exactly what you need from the food groups, you might want to find different ways to balance out. This isn’t just good for your health; it’s also good for other things that your body needs. By having the right food supplements, anti-aging can be supported along with the other needs that your body can have met. Knowing exactly what food supplements to take can help you improve your health and slow down aging.

The food supplements that you find should contain a variety of ingredients that come from the break up of the food that are strongest in the supplements. One of the most important parts of this is to make sure that anti-oxidants are included in the formula. This is one of the major ingredients to help with cell regeneration and to balance out different areas of the body that contain supplements that they shouldn’t. You might also want to make sure that the anti-aging food supplements contain alpha hydroxyl acids, which will also help to balance out the levels of pH and other nutrients in your system.

With any of the anti-aging food supplements that you find, you will also want to make sure that they are high in specific vitamins. Vitamins A, C, and E for example are a beginning to helping with anti-aging. There may be other secondary vitamins that are in your food supplements, but these will be the main that you want to find for anti-aging. You will want to find something that is strong in these vitamins as well as others in order to help you to begin to combat against the years.

From here, you can find the right supplements that will best fit what you are missing from your diet. For example, you may be able to find specific supplements for raspberries or darker greens. This will give you the nutrients you need for anti-aging without you having to eat the greens that you always used to throw underneath the dinner table. These are all known for containing anti-aging ingredients, and are effective both by chewing or taking in a supplement.

The benefits of anti-aging food supplements won’t stop at helping you to stay younger longer. The supplements are designed to work on specific areas of your body effectively. Some parts of the supplement will be designed to boost your immune system and your metabolism. Other parts of the supplement are designed to help your cells begin to reproduce faster, which will help your skin to stay looking younger and will also help to boost different parts of your system that need more cells and less of the other types of ingredients that are in your system.

If you want to make sure that your skin and body has the right nutrients from food, why stop at eating the pyramid? You can also use anti-aging food supplements in order to ensure that your body is getting exactly what it needs. If you can’t eat all five every day, then it will be important to find an alternate way to balance out your body. By doing this, you will have the ability to continue to feel young and look great.

Julie Health
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/eating-younger-with-antiaging-food-supplements-96943.html

Myths About Healthy Eating

Posted on: 23, Sep

As you may know, not fueling up with the right nutrients can affect how well your body performs and your overall fitness benefits. Even though
healthy eating is important, there are myths that hinder your performance if you listen to them.

Below, you’ll find some myth busters on healthy eating.

1. Working out on an empty stomach.
If you hear a rumbling noise in your stomach, the rumbling is trying to tell you something. Without listening to them, you are forcing your body to run without any fuel. Before you exercise or do any physical activity, always eat a light snack such as an apple.

2. Relying on energy bars and drink.
Although they are fine every once in a while, they don’t deliver the antioxidants you need to prevent cancer. Fruits and vegetables are your best bets,as they are loaded in vitamins, minerals, fluid,and fiber.

3. Skipping breakfast.
Skipping breakfast is never a good idea, as breakfast starts the day. Your body needs fuel as soon as possible, and without it, you’ll be hungry throughout the day.

4. Low carb diets.
Your body needs carbohydrates for your muscles and the storing of energy.

5. Eating what you want.
Eating healthy and exercising doesn’t give you an all access pass to eat anything you want. Everyone needs the same nutrients whether they exercise or not, as well as fruits and vegetables.

6. Not enough calories
Although losing weight involves calories, losing it too quickly is never safe. What you should do,is aim for 1 - 2 pounds a week. Always make sure that you are getting enough calories to keep your body operating smoothly. If you start dropping weight too fast, eat a bit more food.

7. Skip soda and alcohol.
Water, milk, and juice is the best to drink for active people. You should drink often, and not require on thirst to be an indicator. By the time you get thirsty, your body is already running a bit too low.

Changing how you eat is always a great step towards healthy eating and it will affect how your body performs. The healthier you eat, you better you’ll feel. No matter how old you may be, healthy eating is something you should strive for. Once you give it a chance, you’ll see in no time at all just how much it can change your life - for the
better.

Gaetane Ross
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/myths-about-healthy-eating-98339.html

Nowadays people eat a lot of junk food and to not think about the consequences this food has upon the heart. With a right diet everyone can eat a good food and keep their heart healthy.

It seems that saturated fat is not good for us so we should consider eating more fruit, vegetables and whole grains and less saturated fat. The cholesterol is not good for the blood vessels as it blocks the way the blood flows. Doctors recommend a low cholesterol diet and some of the suitable aliments are the egg white and the food from plant.

Foods which contain fiber are good for our body so we should eat more bread, grains, cereals, pasta, fruits and vegetables in order to bring the right amount of fiber for our organism.

When buying an aliment you should always check out the label and you should pick only those aliments which are “low fat”, “low saturated fat”, “fat-free” and “low calorie”.

In order to protect the heart system, try to eat less salty foods, drink less alcohol, eat more vegetables, pasta and grains than meat and make sure your protein intake assures 15% of your calorie needs.

When eating meat it is best to avoid frying it so try to broil, bake, steam or poach the fish, poultry or other meats as these procedures protect your heart. Also, when ordering a desert try to keep away from those that are very sweet and eat only low fat deserts like fruit juice, low fat yoghurt or fruit ice.

You should not eat what you do not like, try to make a list of the good aliments you enjoy eating and you will see that you can hold on to a right diet. Also, by keeping an active lifestyle, by exercising, by keeping your weight under control, and avoiding stress you will also keep your heart healthy.

The right diet for a healthy living is that which contains low fat aliments. Try to keep that in mind when going shopping and always check the labels to see if they correspond to this criterion. The most indicated aliments are fruits and vegetables and whole grain foods. Try to avoid aliments which contain saturated fats and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils as they will only raise the level of bad cholesterol in your blood.

If you like cooking then you should prepare turkey or chicken meals instead of red meat meals and so you will keep the cholesterol away from you and your family. The best oils to cook with are the olive and canola oils as they are high in monounsaturated fats and keep the level of cholesterol in blood low.

If you want to find great information about many cholesterol subjects like low cholesterol recipe, low cholesterol food or many more please visit us at http://www.cholesterol-info-guide.com/

Groshan Fabiola
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/keep-your-hart-healthy-by-eating-healthy-131443.html

Diet For A Eating Healthy Plan

Posted on: 21, Sep

If you’re like many people who just don’t have the necessary willpower to eat right on your own, don’t feel bad - you’re definitely not alone. You probably know what you should and should not be eating, that you should be exercising, drinking enough water and getting enough rest, but that still doesn’t mean you’re adhering to those guidelines and maybe it’s just too challenging to accomplish those feats on your own. If so, you may want to consider getting some assistance in developing a diet for a healthy eating plan - your own personal road map to a healthy lifestyle. No shame in that. That’s what places like Weight Watchers and Nutra-System are there for.

The decision comes down to which method is right for you. So, your best course of action is to start by doing some research because remember the old, true saying - knowledge is power. There are the long-standing, proven systems like the two mentioned above, but there are also many more online as well. So browse around, weed out the ones that are not appealing to you and see what and how many you are left with. Once you’ve settled on a few that you’re interested in, contact the organizations and start asking questions. To help you set up a diet for an eating healthy plan, most places will want to begin by doing a one-on-one consultation to assess you and that’s fine. A supportive and professional diet center will want to get to you know as a person, before they make decision about your dietary destiny. Just don’t sign on the dotted line until you are completely sure that the choice you’re making is the best one for you. And make sure to alert your customer representative if you have any existing, chronic health issues and/or food allergies.

You can base your decision on several factors. Pricing, food options, an accessible support system and length of contract are the main things you’ll want to take into consideration. And of course, you should feel very comfortable and at ease with the people in the organization that you decide upon. Once you have all of your ducks in a row and your diet for an eating healthy plan in place, you should be good to go!

You can also consult with a professional, private nutritionist. Or if you’d rather go with someone you already know and trust, consider talking to your personal physician. Either way, these people are medically trained in nutritional requirements and are already in the business of caring for your well-being. They should be able to give you a good diet for an eating healthy plan, although it most likely won’t include pre-packaged food.

A good tip to get you started at home while you’re scoping out prospective methods is to go through your entire fridge and freezer in addition to every kitchen cabinet and drawer and throw out any unhealthy and junk food items that may be residing in those places. Out of site - out of mind - believe it because it works. If the temptation isn’t there, you’ll be much better off in your effort to follow your diet for an eating healthy plan.

Kelly Johnson
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/diet-for-a-eating-healthy-plan-120137.html

For individuals struggling to lose excess pounds, studies have shown a direct correlation between eating healthy and weight loss.

Instead of trying to lose weight, your focus should be put on increasing your overall sense of health-the lost pounds will be a great side effect.

Since your physical weight and your overall health run hand in hand, you will quickly see a dramatic difference in how you feel and your energy levels as the weight begins to go.

Regardless what pills, drinks, and diets may promise, the real weigh loss secret is eating right and exercising.

Although those two things are not as appealing as a simple cure-all pill, they will guarantee results.

Exercise, eating healthy, and weight loss can literally turn your life, your self image, and your self esteem upside down.

The best way to show the correlation between eating healthy and weight loss is to evaluate what you eat in a given day.

Start a food journal and write down every meal and snack to consume in a 24-hour period.

After one week, you will be able to truly see the impact of your current way of life on your body.

In addition to zapping your energy, your diet can be detrimental or even dangerous to your health.

It will be easier to begin a healthy way of life after you see the results on paper, so work diligently to be true to yourself in documenting every crumb you eat.

Once you have determined what you are eating, look at how much you are eating.

An occasional cookie, candy bar, or ice cream cone is certainly not going to make fail in your mission, but eating an entire box of cookies, bag of candy bars, or half-gallon of ice cream can certainly set you back.

Learn moderation in everything you eat and strive to control your portions.

Look for healthier alternatives for your favorite foods and consider using recipes that are lower in fats, sugars, and carbohydrates.

With the amount of low-fat, low-sugar, and other “diet” food on the market, finding suitable alternatives should not be difficult.

Mike Herman
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/direct-correlations-between-eating-healthy-and-weight-loss-12425.html

Was Popeye Right?

Posted on: 19, Sep

The other day I was doing some research on discovering which raw foods have the highest alkaline mineral content. The major alkaline minerals are calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. Any raw foods that are high in those minerals will be alkaline forming.

As you may or may not know, it’s very important to keep your body properly mineralized and at the same time functioning at the proper blood pH level of about 7.4.

Eating a cooked food diet will make you more acidic. Also eating too much fat in the diet will make you more acidic, because fat interferes with the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to the cells. Also nuts and seeds tend to be higher in the acid forming minerals of chlorine, phosphorous and sulfur. A high protein diet will also make you more acidic.

Keep in mind that it’s also possible to be too alkaline. The key here is the proper balance.

A Common Dietary Mistake:

A mistake almost all people make is in not eating enough raw and mineral rich leafy green vegetables. This is vital to your health. When you consume a high quantity of mineral rich foods, you’ll notice that your cravings for junk foods will go down dramatically.

We must eat lots of fruit to fuel ourselves, but fruit alone is not enough for us to thrive in the long term. We also need a food that is like a supplement, it’s not high in calories but it is high in nutrients. Dark, leafy green vegetables are high in minerals, vitamins, fiber etc.

Finding a way to enjoy eating leafy greens and even more important, finding a way to properly absorb the nutrients from these foods is vitally important.

Victoria Boutenko and her “Raw Family” started seeing their health deteriorate after many years of being raw. It turns out they didn’t really like eating greens. After extensive research she eventually realized that the lacks of greens in their diet was why their health was less than optimal.

In her book, “Greens For Life,” Victoria talks about a way in which anyone on any diet can improve their health. By simply adding a quart of delicious green smoothies to their diets.

Learn All About Popeye’s Super Food:

The first food I analyzed for its alkaline mineral content was celery. Then I analyzed spinach and found it was much higher than celery in alkaline minerals.

In fact, spinach was high not just in minerals but in virtually every major beneficial nutrient as well. Maybe that is why Popeye was so strong when he ate his spinach.

Let me give you a quick rundown of the alkaline minerals in 25-calorie servings of celery, spinach, kale, romaine lettuce and banana.

Celery

Calcium: 62.0 mg
Magnesium 17.0 mg
Potassium 403 mg
Sodium 124.0 mg

Spinach

Calcium: 109 mg
Magnesium 87.0 mg
Potassium 614 mg
Sodium 87.0 mg

Kale

Calcium: 68.0 mg
Magnesium 17.0 mg
Potassium 224 mg
Sodium 22.0 mg

Romaine Lettuce

Calcium 48.0 mg
Magnesium 20.0 mg
Potassium 358.0 mg
Sodium 12.0 mg

Banana

Calcium: 1.0 mg
Magnesium 8.0 mg
Potassium 100 mg
Sodium 0.0 mg

As you can see, all of these green vegetables are alkaline forming foods, but spinach is the overall winner. Even celery is higher in alkaline minerals than kale is. That was a surprise to me.

Spinach also has a better than perfect amino acid score of 119. Thirty percent of the calories from spinach come from protein.

It’s high in dietary fiber and its sodium is of course in the organic form, which our bodies utilize naturally. It’s the inorganic form of sodium which is toxic to us and every cell in the body.

Sea Salt Is Not A Health Food, No Matter What You’ve Read About It:

Sea salt or rock salt is not a health food no matter how many unabsorbable trace minerals it has. If you drink a glass of seawater you are going to get severely dehydrated, drink enough of it and you’ll die.

Why would consuming the salt, minus the water make it any healthier for you? This is just another marketing gimmick to get you to buy something which actually damages your health.

Spinach is also very high in these vitamins: A, C, E, K, B6, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and folate. Spinach is quite high in these other minerals as well: iron, zinc, copper and manganese.

What many people don’t realize is that per calorie, spinach has over six times more potassium than bananas do. In fact, most of the green vegetables I tested had a higher potassium level per calories than bananas.

This is not to say you shouldn’t eat bananas, it’s just to point out that we’ve been taught to think of bananas as the highest source of potassium when they really aren’t. In fact, there are a number of other fruits that are much higher in potassium than bananas.

** No Need To Worry About The Oxalic Acid In Raw Spinach **

Some people are concerned that they’ll leach calcium by eating spinach. It turns out this is quite unlikely to be a problem for most people.

Here’s a quote from Dr. Gabriel Cousens book “Conscious Eating,” on this very point.

“In one extensive study on children put on a high-spinach diet and other high-oxalate foods, no evidence of any alteration of calcium, vitamin D, or phosphorous metabolism was found. It is possible, however, if a person has a low calcium intake or poor calcium metabolism, that a high-oxalate diet could cause a calcium deficiency.”

Another factor is whether the spinach is cooked or raw. In the raw form it’s believed the oxalic acid will not bind with the calcium. In other words, eat as much spinach as you want as long as it’s raw.

Did you know that many other raw foods naturally contain oxalic acid? Foods like sesame seeds, nuts, citrus fruit, tomatoes, asparagus, beets, Swiss chard, dandelion greens and cranberries. So if you haven’t been worrying about the oxalic acid content in these foods, I don’t think you need to worry about it by increasing your consumption of spinach.

** How To Add More Spinach To Your Diet And Enjoy It **

I’ve been adding more spinach to my diet by putting it in my smoothies. I’ve found that it doesn’t change the taste very much at all. And by blending the spinach in my Vitamix, I make the nutrients from the spinach more absorbable.

Most people don’t take the time they need to chew properly. Even if you are eating big salads, you are likely not absorbing the nutrients from the vegetables well enough, unless you’ve chewed every mouthful down to its liquid form.

Banana, Blueberry and Spinach Smoothie:

3 ounces water. Add more or less depending on how thick or thin you want your smoothie to be.

3 or more bananas

4 ounces of fresh or frozen blueberries

3 or more ounces of raw spinach

This makes for a delicious smoothie and at the same time you are making sure to get extra mineral and nutrient rich food into your body.

It doesn’t matter what diet you are on, adding green smoothies to your diet will improve your health and happiness.

Roger Haeske
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/was-popeye-right-88464.html

Is Atkins Right for you

Posted on: 18, Sep

The Atkins diet is very popular, but is it right for you? Before you start down the low carb road, you should take some time to decide whether low carb is the right way for you to lose weight. Just because it has been effective for others doesn’t mean it will be right for you. No specific diet works for everyone, and you may even find that a type of low carb diet that works better for you than another. There are many things to consider before you start the Atkins diet.

First, evaluate your past dieting history. If you’ve been trying to lose weight for a long period of time, you’ve no doubt tried a wide variety of diets. Take note of the different diets you’ve tried over the years. Write down the basics of each diet, what worked and what didn’t. Also, write down why you didn’t stay on the particular diet. Evaluate your experience with high carbohydrate diets. These types of diets include most low-fat and calorie controlled diets. How did you feel while on these types of diets? Were you hungry, obsessed with food or experiencing negative reactions? Or did you feel full of energy and generally good?

If you’ve had experience with low carb diets, write that down as well. Past the negative effects of the first week, how did eating low carb make you feel? Why did you stop using the low carb diet?

The answers to these questions will help you decide whether Atkins is right for you or not. If you’ve had good experiences with low-fat diets and bad experiences with other low carb diets, then Atkins is probably not for you. If other low-carb diets have worked but not without difficulty, then you may have been on the wrong type of low-carb diet and Atkins might work better. If you’ve had bad experiences with both types of diets, then you may have better success with a modified Atkins diet.

Your food and eating behaviors can also give you a clue to whether or not Atkins is a good choice for your weight loss efforts. Carb sensitivities are indicated by a certain set of behaviors. You may be carb sensitive if you feel like eating right after you’ve finished a meal. You will also feel strong urges to eat throughout the day. You may feel dizzy, fuzzyheaded and fatigued without getting a boost from sugar or another carbohydrate. Carb sensitivity is also shown when you feel sluggish after eating. This occurs especially after you eat a meal rich in sugars and carbohydrates. If you experience these symptoms frequently, you may have carb sensitivities. Try paying close attention to how carbohydrates affect you and if you continue to experience these symptoms, try doing a low carb diet.

Your success on the Atkins diet can also be determined by your medical and family history. If you have any pre-diabetic symptoms, or diabetes itself, a reduced carb diet like Atkins may be right for you. Significant weight gain can also be helped by the Atkins diet. Normally, the more overweight you are, the more likely you are to have high blood pressure, high triglycerides and high blood glucose.

If any member of your family has diabetes or is significantly overweight, this can also put you at risk for these conditions. Your tendency toward these conditions on a genetic level can mark a necessity for a low carbohydrate diet like Atkins. The Atkins plan has been shown to improve weight and control blood sugar issues. If these are problems in your family history, then you may want to consider the Atkins diet.

There are a lot of good reasons to try the Atkins diet. Whether you have responded well to other low carb diets in the past or you have a medical history that warrants a controlled carbohydrate diet, the Atkins diet can meet your needs.

John Ugoshowa
http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/is-atkins-right-for-you-81874.html

With the fast-paced, technologically driven world people are now living, who would have the slightest idea that the most important rampart of normal living is being neglected?

Undeniably, because of the busy courses of people’s lives, people tend to forget some of the vital fragments in maintaining a healthy lifestyle diet and nutrition.

THE CONVERGENCE

The terms “diet” and “nutrition” are defined into two different sentences but are greatly connected. By definition, “diet” refers to the food and liquid intake of a person while “nutrition” pertains to the science of dealing with food and nourishment. When these two are combined, an entirely new meaning can be derived. More than the issues of food and liquid intake and the science of food and nourishment, diet and nutrition can revolve around nutritional information on various dietary supplements and the benefits vitamins and minerals to a person’s body.

Making yourself familiar with latest diet and nutrition topics, trends, and tips can lead you to the renewal of your health and well being commitment inside your home. You must remember that it’s never too late to redirect your eating habits, but before you take that drastic change, learn what are the common diet and nutrition mistakes so you can avoid them.

1. Careless assumption that the food choices you have are better than they actually are. Experts say that people who are very particular about diet and nutrition have larger tendencies of thinking and believing that their food choices are healthier than they really are. Make sure that you eat whole, fresh, and unprocessed foods whenever possible.

2. Confusion over carbohydrates. Although many people say that low carb diets are effective, experts say that there are excellent carbs that make people eat less. So before you cut down on carbs totally, make sure that you have consulted your dietician if this diet will be good for you.

3. You think you’re eating too much when you’re not. Experts say that one of the most common mistakes people make is that they overestimate and underestimate the amount of food their body needs. Make sure that you monitor the portion sizes of your food.

4. Not eating enough food or not eating often. Overeating and under eating may put the person at risk because it disrupts disrupting blood sugar and insulin levels. Make sure that you eat something every three hours and don’t starve before eating the next meal.

5. Neglecting the value of regular exercise. Making exercise a regular part of your life can definitely contribute to great diet and nutrition.

6. Taking in a lot of dietary supplements. A vitamin or dietary pill is a supplement that is meant to complement a person’s diet; therefore it should not be considered as substitutes for the foods you’re supposed to be eating. Experts say that one all-purpose multivitamin a day is enough to complement the nutrients you don’t get from the foods you don’t eat.

7. Following nutrition and weight loss guidelines by the book. Since people are different, it is only natural for them to have individual needs. Although diet and nutrition plans work for the majority of people, not everything can help you improve you overall diet and nutrition.

One of the major reasons why people get overweight or suffer from minor and major health risks is that they don’t practice having a healthy diet. Healthy diet which include eating balanced amount of food from all food groups along with exercise or regular physical activity can lessen people’s inclination to health problems.

PLANNING ON A HEALTHY DIET

Experts say that though basic principle of healthy diet is simple, most people are having a hard time sticking to it. Major reasons may include a super busy lifestyle, work that causes a lot of stress or even an environment that is not conducive to having a healthy diet.

Although it is hard to start and maintain a healthy diet, nothing is impossible if you really want to achieve a healthy mind and body. For starters, it is advisable to mix up food choices from each food group. Eating a large variety of foods and veggies can also serve as a warm up in avoiding the foods that contribute to drastic weight gain. Having a balanced intake of calcium-rich foods, whole grains, and protein-rich products will also keep you in track.

To be able to maintain eating a healthy diet, you must also know your restrictions of fats, salt and sugars levels, and intakes. Lastly, you must monitor your body weight regularly for you to know if your body is absorbing all the nutrients it needs.

Here are more tips for eating well and achieving a healthy diet:

1. Meals based on starchy foods are a good start to a healthy diet. Experts agree that people should eat more starchy foods such as bread, cereals, rice, pasta, and potatoes because they are a good source of energy not to mention being the main source of a range of nutrients of a person’s diet like fiber, calcium, iron, and vitamin B.

2. Load up a lot of fruits and veggies. Eating at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day is an ideal way to maintain a healthy diet. But, it is sometimes hard to achieve because people do not want to waste time peeling or chopping certain fruits and veggies. The best way to keep up with the recommended fruit and veggies intake if to eat a variety of fruits that are either fresh, frozen, canned or dried and picking out veggies that can be finger delights such as celery, broccoli, carrots, beans and peas.

3. Be more “fishy” Despite of the so-called “high mercury content” of fish, nutrition experts say that eating more fish especially oily fish is an important component of a healthy diet because it is a good source of protein, vitamins, and minerals.

4. Try to cut down on saturated fats and sugars. Do not totally cut down on fats because your body needs it to stay healthy. Basically, fats are categorized into saturated and unsaturated fat. The former has high amount of cholesterol and the latter has lower amounts that lowers blood cholesterol. Cut down only on foods that are high in saturated fat such meat pies, sausages, hard cheese, butter and lard, pastry, cakes and biscuits, cream and the like. Also monitor your sugar intake because aside from causing decay, sugary foods can also be high in calories that contribute to weight gain.

5. Eat less salt. Too much salt can raise your blood pressure.

6. Drink lots and lots of water to keep your body well-hydrated.

Low Jeremy
http://www.articlesbase.com/nutrition-articles/all-about-healthy-diet-and-nutrition-how-to-eat-right-101361.html

Many people believe that eating less throughout the day will help them lose weight. The question is, ist that a smart way to go about losing weight?

QUESTION:

If I eat one meal a day, and go walking 20-60 minute almost everyday of the week, can I loose weight. Could I loose a lot by this? It is what I’ve been doing for three days now, and I wanted to know if it will work?

ANSWER:

Your answer simply put is No. You may experience a brief initial weight loss of a few pounds, but during the long run you will not. You will however force your body to change its natural functioning habits to accommodate you new life style.

Decreasing the amount of times you eat each day begins to interfere with your body’s natural internal functioning. You may lose a few pounds short term, but you are not necessarily losing fat, or becoming healthier.

The first problem you have is your diet. Eating only one time, whether physically active or not will put your body into “starvation mode”. This happens when the body loses its regular energy source obtain through the diet and a new system is adopted with less frequency.

When regular eating patterns are established the body will become accustomed to using all of the energy from meals as sources of energy.

When people adopt a 1 or 2 meals per day diet, the body goes on the defensive. During this time the body does not know where its next meal is going to come from because of the few times its being fed. Just like humans when our natural resources run low, we begin to conserve those resources. The body does that same thing.

At this point instead of utilizing all of the carbohydrates, fats and proteins for necessary bodily functions, the body goes on starvation mode and decides to use some for energy, and save some for later. What this means is that you don’t get the full benefit of your diet, no matter how great your diet may be.

Considering that most people who eat only 1 or 2 times a day do not actively make sure that those meals are healthy, eating less really loses its benefits. Imagine consuming a bunch of grapes.
During starvation mode, your body will you use over half of that bunch for energy, but then store about a handful of grapes right on you hips (thighs, arms, rear, neck etc.) in the form of fat, as a reserved energy source until its next meal.

In essence, eating only one meal a day can actually increase your body fat percentage. Your body may store more fat, and switch to other sources of energy like muscles (protein). Decreasing your amount of muscle will automatically increase your body fat percentage.

My advice to you is to adopt a regular diet. Try eating 3 meals and 3 snacks throughout the day. First, start with eating about 3-6 times per day, then focus on portion control, and finally content.
Eating a regularly on a balanced diet will increase your metabolism. This happens the body has no reason to create reserved energy sources since it knows it will automatically be fed throughout the day.

It can burn calories without regard for its next meal, and this is what helps you to loose body fat, which is more important than just pounds. A larger amount of calories burned means, more fat lost, which means a leaner healthier you.

Add this to your regular workout, and you have a great starting point for achieving your fitness goals.

Donny Fonseca
http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/will-eating-less-frequently-help-me-loose-weight-88615.html

Recent Posts


Recent Comments


 

Too Busy To Exercise

Pick up your FREE copy of

Too Busy To Exercise,

Fitting Exercise In Your Schedule

Too Busy To Exercise

 


 
   
     
   
   
     
   
 

     


 color="#ffff00" face="Impact">Free

     
 face="Impact">$17.95

     
 face="Impact">Value

     

     
 face="Impact">www.MakingExerciseSimple.com


     

 width="310">
     

 

 align="center">

      Get Your

"Too Busy To Exercise"
     

Book For Free
with

"No Strings Attached"

 


     

 

 align="center">
     
 src="http://makingexercisesimple.com/members/images/mesecover-150.jpg"
 align="left" border="0" height="222" width="203">

 


     

 

 align="left">
     

To get your FREE copy Too Busy to Exercise . A
$17.95
value.

 


     

 

 align="center">
     
 href="http://www.makingexercisesimple.com">Click Here to Get
It Now

 


     

 

 

 

Pages