Reaching any weight goal will require taking in less calories than you are working off. However, if you want to improve your health, you’ll have to incorporate a little more work into it than that. You should aim for optimum nutrition by eating meals that are full of nutrients. This is the key to getting a balanced diet.

Good nutrition is just giving your body what it needs on a daily basis. And, when you do that, you’ll be amazed at how well your body treats you. You’ll have more energy, you’ll maintain a healthy weight, your blood pressure and cholesterol will stay within the normal guidelines and you’ll just feel good overall.

The key is to know what to eat. I do my best to eat a whole food diet. That means no processed foods, fast foods or junk. I’ve eliminated refined sugar and eat only whole grains. I also stay away from red meat, but that’s another conversation. I eat a lot of fish (usually salmon) and chicken or turkey and fresh fruits and vegetables.

If you’d like to eat healthier you can start just by adding one of two servings of fresh fruit each day. Remember that canned fruit is usually swimming in a sugary liquid, so it’s not a substitute.

Once you manage to get some fruit into yourself on a daily basis, then start adding fresh vegetables and whole grains. When you start adding more whole foods, you’ll notice that you’re consuming a lot more fiber than your body is used to, so it’s a good idea to take it slow. Also remember to drink plenty of water or you may find that you get slightly constipated.

Give it a try for 30 days and then see how you feel. I think you’ll be amazed.

If you’re tired of trying this diet program and then that one, stop and take time to learn the lbasics on what diet, nutrition and weight loss are all about.

You can start your education with the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) website: http://www.mypyramid.gov. You’ll want to check out the USDA Food Guide Pyramid and their physical activity level assessment tool. These two guides can give you a pretty clear picture of where you are right now.

The Food Pyramid is basic outline of the foods you should eat every day and is based on the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It will show you that your diet needs to be varied - there are many different food groups that you should be eating for your body to get the necessary calories and nutrients it needs to be healthy.

The physical assessment tool will give you an idea of how much activity you should have in your day. It might be more than you think.

Once you’ve done your research and have a plan, go ahead and get started. You’ll feel better right away.

If you’re interested in healthy living, you need to pay attention to your cholesterol level.

According to the American Heart Association, a total blood cholesterol level of 200 or below puts in your in the low risk category for heart disease. A reading of 200 - 239 would be classified as borderline high and a level of 240 or above is high risk for heart disease.

A good place to start when you’re looking to lower your cholesterol is by making changes to your diet. Just like the saying goes “you are what you eat”.

Here are some other tips:

• Keep your weight at the recommended level for your height
• Make sure you get at least 30 minutes of exercise three times a week
• Eat foods that are rich in nutrients (stay away from junk food)
• Eat high fiber foods
• Get 5 fruit and vegetables every day
• Reduce sodium
• Avoid alcohol

You should always check with your health professional before making any drastic changes to your diet or exercise. They can help you create a safe and effective program.

Links for more info:

• What Your Cholesterol Levels Mean
• Healthy Living
• High Fiber Food Chart

If you are trying to speed up your metabolism, then you need to have some basic understanding of what it is. Your metabolism is usually the first to be blamed if you put on weight or lose weight.

Increasing your metabolism does mean you’ll burn calories fasterr and lose weight quicker. But, having a great metabolism is not something that’s only available to those who are born with it. Anyone can learn what they need to do to speed things up for themselves. And, a fast metabolism will burn fat, increase muscles and give you more energy to get through the day.

Your metabolism is actually an arrangement of physical and chemical
processes called anabolism and catabolism, jointly these distribute
nutrients, which are absorbed into the blood after digestion.

One way to speed up your metabolism is to eat more often during the day. Many people find that eating six small meals spread out through the day works well for them. It also helps you to maintain a consistent blood sugar level.

Another effective way to raise your metabolism is with exercise. Once you start exercising regularly, you’ll notice that your body temperature will increase. It’s almost like you’ve lit a fire. And, your fat burning metabolism takes over and gets started doing its job - even when you’re not exercising.

So, if you want to lose weight and increase your metabolism, try eating more frequently and moving more often. It’s a winning combination.

From all the research materials that I’ve read, I’ve come to the conclusion that the best diet for someone with osteoarthritis is a whole food diet. Now I now that may seem simplistic, but let’s look a little closer.

When I refer to “whole food”, I mean food that isn’t processed. When natural food is processed many of the important nutrients are removed or rendered useless.

For example, whole grains contain protein, carbohydrates and essential fatty acids. When they’re made into bread, pasta or flour, the fatty acids are removed – not because they aren’t good for you, but because they can become rancid and spoil. Leaving these oils in the food would shorten the “shelf life” of the product.

So now that you’re clear about what “whole foods” are, which ones should you choose for osteoarthritis?

Here’s a basic list:

• whole grains
• vegetables
• fresh fruit
• lean meat
• low fat dairy

Now within these categories, you’ll want to focus on the specific foods that prevent inflammation, improve collagen and promote healthy cartilage and bones.

These foods are:

• oily fish
• blueberries
• red and black grapes
• beets
• citrus fruits
• garlic

Now I know it’s not always easy to eat as well as we know we should. If you’re committed to handling your osteoarthritis naturally, through diet and nutrition, you should also be willing to consider whole food supplements.

The best supplements to help prevent and relieve symptoms of osteoarthritis are omega 3 fatty acids from fish and glucosamine hydrochloride from shrimp and lobster. They will help relieve inflammation and protect your joint cartilage.

Also consider supplementing with calcium and vitamin C complex, especially if you’re a woman. Both are important for your bones and C complex gives you the added benefit of supporting healthy collagen.

Get your diet back to basics and you’re bound to see and feel a difference in your health.

There’s a great article at diet-blog.com called “7 Ways The Food Companies Fool You”. According to the article, most people take only 4 seconds to read and digest the information on food product packaging.

What can you read and comprehend in 4 seconds? Not much - and that’s what food manufacturers are counting on.

The article lists 7 ways these slick marketers are pulling the wool over your eyes:

1. Put something wholesome and natural on the front (of the packaging)

2. Buzzword of the month - “whole grain” or “omega 3″

3. Big wrappers (or packaging)

4. Keep changing the product design

5. Ticks and bullet point lists (taking your attention away from other, less desireable ingredients)

6. Bite-sized. Mini-sized. Snack-sized.

7. It’s organic (and taking your attention away from less desireable ingredients like sugar)

I especially enjoyed the comments people left on this post. They really seem to understand that the foods we should be eating are “whole” foods - foods that have not been processed and sold to us in a cardboard box or metal can.

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2007/02/28/7_ways_the_food_companies_fool_you.php

Once someone has diabetes, they need to be very careful about every piece of food they put into their mouths. If they are, their diet can control their blood sugar, stimulate normal insulin production and help them manage their weight.

So what should they be eating? Here are some of the best choices:

• Whole grains
• Beans
• Nuts
• Fresh fruits
• Fresh vegetables

All of the above foods are nutrient dense. That means they’re low in calories and high in nutrition - vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytonutrients. All of these factors will help lower blood glucose and cholesterol levels.

Foods that should be avoided are:

• Starchy vegetables like potatoes
• White breads
• White rice
• Donuts
• Bagels
• Refined cereals

All of these foods produce spikes in blood sugar levels, while offering very little nutritional value in return.

Another factor to consider is that obesity doubles your risk of diabetes, as well as increasing the chance of diabetic complications. If you need to lose weight, eat a diet that is low in fat (no more than 25% of your total calories should come from fat). Cut out all high fat foods like French fries, chips, baked goods and candies. You should also eliminate sodas and fruit juices. Once again these foods provide no nutrition and will incease your blood glucose levels.

Did you know that most cases of heart disease can be controlled? In fact, the majority of heart disease is a direct result of poor food choices and excessive weight gain. What’s most important is that if you take good care of your health before heart disease rears its ugly head, you can reduce your chances of it ever appearing.

Some other things that contribute to heart disease are Type 2 Diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Obviously, these also stem from weight issues.

Here’s the problem. The average American eats way too much fat and doesn’t exercise. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why so many people in this country are obese. Actually, it’s reached epidemic levels. And all this extra weight puts extra strain on the heart, causing major health problems.

So if you’re overweight, do something about it now - before it’s a problem. And if you’re already having problems with heart disease, cholesterol and high blood pressure - remember that it’s not too late. Making changes to your diet and exercise can only help. You’ll be amazed at what the body can do when you treat it right.

There are numerous schools of thought that suggest that “dominant” glands will effect our body shape. These ideas are promoted by some fitness trainers and diet gurus. The four glands that are most commonly talked about are:

• pituitary (generalized thickening)
• thyroid (narrow/streamlined)
• adrenals (large upper body/small pelvis)
• gonads or ovaries (pear shaped with large hips and pelvis)

Along with these theories are numerous diet recommendations that will supposedly help people to reshape their body.

What I find interesting is how varied the diet recommendations are from the different proponents of these theories. A “dominant” pituitary gland in one person would still produce the same hormones as those in another person, so why the different recommendations?

AND, the other thing I find fascinating is why men are excluded by many of these theories. Men have body shapes and glands so why is all this marketed to women?

Like a lot of faddish solutions, there may be a glimmer of truth behind this sort of thing (they are somewhere in the ballpark). Even though body shape can tell us a lot about a person’s overall health, the “eat for your body shape” fad has drawn the wrong conclusions.

For example - and this is just one of many - a woman who has Polycystic Ovarian Disease will often times have a pear shaped body, but this isn’t caused by a “dominant” gland. It’s caused by an unbalanced gland that’s either producing too much or too little of the necessary hormones.

And, I suspect that this is the case with all of these theories and all of these glands. They aren’t “dominant.” They’re unbalanced from poor nutrition in the first place! AND, unbalanced glands can have a multitude of effects on the body, including body shape. But I’m not so sure the solutions being promoted by fitness people are accurate or healthy.

What a person needs to do more than “eat for their body shape” is to be sure they’re getting the proper amounts of all the essential nutrients - mainly the essential fatty acids. It’s also wise to eat whole foods (instead of processed foods), fruits and vegetables (instead of high glycemic carbohydrates), drink more water and EXERCISE regularly.

Sometimes I think it’s human nature to make things more difficult than they really need to be. The whole “eat for your body shape” movement is one of these examples. Whether a person is A shaped, V shaped or O shaped makes no difference when they’re exercising and following basic, simple and sound nutritional principals.

After all, no one was meant to eat ice cream and chips, white bread and lattes, sit in traffic, at their desk or on the couch everyday for their entire life. These habits have more of an effect on our body shape than anything else.

If you were going to get everything your body needed to function from the foods you eat, you’d make sure to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean protein from fish, meat and eggs, plenty of clean water and fiber.

But do you have any idea how much of these you’d need to eat to get the “minimum” amounts of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids and essential fatty acids?

You’re going to be suprised by this. And, I hope you’re good and hungry.

Here’s what’s on your daily menu:

5 to 9 optimal servings of colorful fruits and vegetables (apples and potatoes don’t count) to get the minimum amount of antioxidants to protect you from illnesses, cancer, heart disease, aging and much more.

One entire cow every day (hooves and all) to get all 22 amino acids, the building blocks of protein. They help you build strong healthy tissue, repair damaged tissue and provide the optimum amounts of hormones, antibodies, and enzymes.

A half pound of whole grains - brown rice, whole wheat or soy - to get the amount of essential fatty acids, or lipids, your body uses up daily. These lipids help to keep the body’s battery, the glandular system, functioning optimally.

124 slices of whole wheat bread to get 30 IU (the minimum daily requirement) of Vitamin E. That’s over 7,500 calories just to get enough Vitamin E! And whole wheat breat is one of the best food sources there is for Vitamin E. You need E for your heart, circulatory system, skin and many other things.

I could go on and on with the foods you need to get all the Vitamin C, calcium, minerals, etc. that your body needs every day, but I think you get the picture - it’s just not possible to get everything you need nutritionally from your food.

With our fast paced lives, on-the-go diets and constant health challenges, getting help from whole food nutritional supplements will go a long way towards keeping you healthy.