Healthy eating tends to be much easier at home because you have more control over how your food is prepared and portioned. When it comes to eating out, keeping your habits healthy is not always as easy.

Here are a few tips for eating healthier at restaurants. All you frequent travellers will appreciate these:

1. When asked for your drink order, choose water or tea over sugar-laden or alcoholic drinks. If you insist upon having soda, opt for diet over regular in order to save on calories and sugar.

Read the rest of this entry »

For many people, the first step in eating healthier is choosing good foods like fruits, vegetables, lean meats, cheeses and nuts over bad foods like frozen pizzas and fast food. However, not all foods which appear to be healthy are all that great for you. Many have hidden dangers like high sugar content, or more fat than is necessary.

The following are a few tips on choosing the right options when it comes to healthy snacks and foods, to ensure that you truly are eating healthy, rather than simply being deceived!

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Here are 5 nutritional powerhouse foods:

1. Oranges - packed with vitamin C, potassium, B6 and B12. Vitamin C is commonly know to help prevent and cure the common cold and helps aid in iron absorption. Vitamin B6 aids your metabolism as well as other vital bodily functions.

2. Salmon - Salmon and other oily fish such as sardines, herring and trout are rich in omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins A, D and B vitamin. These vitamins are known to support your immune and reproductive systems.

3. Carrots - Carrots provide carotenoids (like beta carotene) and are all a good source of Vitamin A, calcium and vitamin C. The best way to eat them is fresh since cooking destroys most of the nutrition.

4. Spinach - Folic Acid is abundant in spinach. This is important for women of child bearing age since folic acid can reduce the risk of birth defects in newborns. Spinach also contains vitamins A, C and E. You’ll get the most nutrition if you eat it raw.

5. Broccoli - Broccoli is full of cruciferous compounds, which have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer. It also contains Vitamins K, A, C, calcium and fiber.

Here’s a recipe for guacamole that uses cottage cheese to reduce the amount of avocado needed. Even though avocados are full of healthy fats, they also have a high calorie count.

Ingredients:

1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 ripe avocado, peeled and cut in chunks
1 tomato, peeled and chopped

Instructions:

In a blender or food processor mix onion, salt, lime juice, cottage cheese, garlic, cayenne pepper, and avocado. Blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl and gently fold in the chopped tomato.

Cover with plastic wrap allowing the plastic to actually touch the entire surface of the guacamole. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and serve. If storing for more than 2 hours, keep the avocado pit in the bowl to help the guacomole stay fresh looking.

Best served with reduced fat, baked tortilla chips, carrot sticks or celery.

Are you picky about the foods you put into your body? Moss Greene, the BellaOnline Nutrition editor, says that we need to be.

In fact, she says that healthy eating will make a difference in your happiness, appearance and even your intellect.

By reading her article, Fish, Vegetable and Brown Rice, you can see that she really knows what she’s talking about. Here’s a little of what she has to say…

Benefits of Fish, Vegetables and Brown Rice

We’ve all heard vegetables are good for us. But new research published in Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology, shows that elderly people who eat more vegetables have much less cognitive decline – that means more awareness, perception, reasoning, understanding and better judgement.

Healthy eating can be that simple and the results that important.

Other studies show that those who eat more whole grains, such as brown rice, have less diabetes and are able to maintain a lower weight.

And there’s tons of research proving that the fish oil from cold water fish provides all of the above benefits (better brain development and cognition, less diabetes and obesity) plus a whole list of other health benefits, including lower risk of heart disease, stroke, arthritis and some cancers.

Make Time for a Healthy Diet

Now, I know you’re probably a very busy person. You have limited time to plan and fix meals for healthy eating. And there are so many convenience foods available these days that it’s difficult to resist taking the easy way out and just going with fast food for dinner.

But, it’s a trap. Don’t fall for it!

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art47825.asp

Are there any health benefits of eating cranberries?

Here’s the nutritional breakdown:

• Serving size 1/2 cup (48g)
• Calories 20
• Calories from Fat 0
• Total Fat 0g
• Sodium 0mg
• Total Carbohydrate 6g
• Dietary Fiber 2g
• Sugars 2g
• Protein 0g
• Vitamin A 0% of daily value
• Vitamin C 10% of daily value
• Calcium 0% of daily value
• Iron 0% of daily value

As you can see, cranberries are low in calories, have zero fat and are a good source of Vitamin C.

Here are some of the health benefits of eating cranberries:

• prevent bacteria in the bladder, kidneys and prostate
• supports optimum urinary tract health
• may prevent kidney stone
• deodorize urine
• have both antiviral and antibacterial properties

Here are some fun facts about cranberries:

• More than 85% of the weight of cranberries is water!
• Native Americans used a brewed cranberry mixture to draw poison from arrow wounds
• Native Americans used cranberries as a natural meat preservative.

My neighbor just visited and left us with a great big bag of fresh cucumbers. He didn’t realize how much each plant would produce and he planted way more than his family could possibly eat. So, we were the lucky recipients of the overflow.

I love cucumbers, especially mixed with some fresh tomato, vidalia onion and a little italian dressing. That’s just a perfect summer salad for me.

Anyway, I thought I’d do a little research into cucumbers and find out what they’re all about. Here’s what I found out:

• Cucumbers were first introduced into North America in the 16 century. It’s thought that they originated in India.
• Cucumbers belong to the squash family along with pumpkin, zucchini, yellow squash and watermelon.
• There are different varieties of cucumber with the most popular being English, Persian, and Pickling. (Persian is the variety usually offered in our grocery stores)
• Cucumber skin is usually waxed to seal in moisture.
• English cucumbers are sometimes known as “burpless” or seedless since their seeds are very small and don’t need to be removed.
• The best cucumbers are firm and have a rich green color with no soft spots.
• Cucumbers should be stored in the refrigerator and keep well for up to a week. Unwaxed cucumbers will store longer if wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.

Did you know that one of the best ways to relieve constipation is by eating prunes or drinking prune juice?

Prunes are actually dried plums and are approximately 6% fiber in content. Prune juice has no fiber, but the simple sugars it provides draw fluid into the intestine. This additional fluid can soften the stool and help relieve constipation.

Prune juice is also being studied right now as a natural way to lower cholesterol and as a possible preventive measure against breast cancer.

So it’s possible that drinking prune juice (or eating prunes) on a regular basis can be a great way to improve or maintain your good health.

And, prunes are delicious. My wife has bad memories of being given prune juice as a child and now won’t go anywhere near them. But, she’s really missing a treat. They’re sweet and chewy and I love them as a snack.

If you haven’t tried prunes since you were a kid, I recommend that you give them a try - you’ll be pleasantly suprised.

Just because something is called a “snack” doesn’t necessarily make it unhealthy. You have lot of snack choices that fall well within “healthy” diet guidelines.

So what can you use to substitute for the chips and candy? Here are some healthy snack ideas.

Whole grain crackers and pretzels are a good place to start. Whole grains are an excellent source of complex carbohydrates and fiber. This combination will help give you lasting energy and keep you feeling full longer.

The next foods on my list are fresh fruits and vegetables. They’re also good sources of complex carbohydrates and fiber and also have varying amounts of certain vitamins and minerals. Fruits and veggies are good choices when you’re watching your weight since they’re low in calories and have no fat.

Another choice would be nuts and seeds. They’re both good sources of protein and healthy fats, but they’re also pretty high in calories. As long as you eat them in moderation, they make an excellent snack.

The last choices on my list (but definitely not the least) are reduced fat cheese and yogurt. There are tons of things you can do with these foods - cheese and crackers or yogurt and berries are some of my favorites. Just be sure to stay away from the flavored yogurts. They’re very high in added sugars.