Nine Facts About Fiber
Have you been looking for a way towards a high fiber diet, you know that’s exactly what you need. Research has shown fiber to be powerful, so why are many people not taking this nutrient seriously?
Here are 10 facts to help you get on track with your diet:
1. Fiber helps fights diseases. A diet high in fiber can help to prevent colon cancer and heart disease. High fiber helps the body to eliminate cholesterol by binding it in the digestive tract. For thousands of years, fiber has been used to stop constipation.
2. Fiber can actually help with overeating. All high fiber foods will take longer to chew and digest, making you feel satisfied longer.
3. Most popular foods don’t have enough fiber. If you like the more popular foods, you probably need to increase your intake of fiber.
4. Grains offer the most fiber. Dietary fiber is actually plant matter that we cannot digest. The best sources are whole grains and concentrated grain
products.
5. Kids need fiber as well. Children that are older than 2 years of age should consume a daily intake of fiber. Kids are most receptive to fiber found in
fruits, vegetables, and even fortified breakfast cereals.
6. More fiber needs more water. In order to keep fiber moving through your digestive tract, you’ll need to consume a lot of water. With your diet of
fiber, you’ll need eight or more glasses of water every day.
7. Fiber cannot be cooked out. When you cook your fruits and vegetables, don’t worry about cooking the fiber out, as it stays. The fiber found in fruits and vegetables aren’t just in the skin or in the peel.
8. You can get enough fiber. If you eat more than 50 grams of fiber in a day, you can get diarrhea and bloating, which can interfere with your body’s
absorption of other key minerals.
9. Getting the right amount of fiber in your diet doesn’t have to be hard. Even though you may think so, getting the amount of fiber you need isn’t very
hard to do. All you have to do is eat the right foods and you’ll be well on your way to a fiber rich lifestyle.
As one of the key ingredients to healthy eating, fiber is something you don’t want to skip. Fiber can serve many different purposes, which were covered
above. If you aren’t getting enough fiber in your diet – you should do something about now instead of waiting until it is too late.
Click Here to learn more: The 20/30 Fat & Fiber Diet Plan : The Weight-Reducing, Health-Promoting Nutrition System for Life (Harper Resource Book)
You can visit Editors of EatingWell Magazine to learn more about fiber
The Healthiest Foods You Can Get
Click For Details
The following is a list of the healthiest foods that you can get. This will help you get an idea as to what foods are the best for your body.
Fruits
Apricots
Apricots contain Beta-carotene which helps to prevent radical damage and also helps to protect the eyes. A single apricot contains 17 calories, l0w fat, and one gram of fiber. You can eat them dried or soft.
Mango
A medium sized mango packs 57 MG of vitamin C, which is nearly your entire daily dose. This antioxidant will help prevent arthritis and also boost your immune system.
Cantaloupe
Cantaloupes contain 117 MG of vitamin C, which is almost twice the recommended dose. Half a melon contains 853 MG of potassium, which is nearly twice as much as a banana, which helps to lower blood pressure. Half a melon contains 97 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 2 grams of fiber.
Tomato
A tomato can help cut the risk of bladder, stomach, and colon cancers in half if you eat one daily. A tomaton contains 26 calories, zero fat, and only 1 gram of fiber.
Vegetables
Onions
An onion can help to protect against cancer. A cup of onions offers 61 calories, 0 fat, and 3 grams of fiber.
Broccoli
Broccoli can help protect against breast cancer, and it also contains a lot of vitamin C and beta-carotene. One cup of chopped broccoli contains 25 calories, zero fat, and 3 grams of fiber.
Spinach
Spinach contains carotenoids that can help fend off macular degeneration, which is a major cause of blindness in older people. One cup contains 7 calories, zero fat, and 1 gram of fiber.
Grains, beans, and nuts
Peanuts
Peanuts and other nuts can lower your risk of heart disease by 20 percent. One ounce contains 166 calories, 14 grams of fat, and over 2 grams of fiber.
Pinto beans
A half cut of pinto beans offers more than 25 percent of your daily folate requirement, which protects you against heart disease. Half a cup contains 103 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 6 grams of fiber.
Skim milk
Skim milk offers vitamin B2, which is important for good vision and along with Vitamin A could improve allergies. You also get calcium and vitamin D as
well. One cup contains 86 calories, zero fat, and zerofiber.
Seafood
Salmon
All cold water fish such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna are excellent sources of omega 3 fatty acids, which help to reduce the risk of cardiac disease. A 3 ounce portion of salmon contains 127 calories, 4 grams of fat, and zero fiber.
Crab
Crab is a great source of vitamin B12 and immunity boosting zinc. A 3 ounce serving of crab offers 84 calories, 1 gram of fat, and zero fiber.
Learn More: Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual
Cooking with Oils
Learn More Click Here
Everyone knows the foods to eat that improve health, although how we cook the food can be just as important. With there being so many oils and butter products claiming to be the best, it can be quite difficult to know which ones to use and which ones to avoid.
1. Canola oil
Canola oil is a popular oil, with many physicians claiming that it has the ability to lower the risk of heart disease. The oil is low in saturated fat, high in monounsaturated fat, and offers the best fatty acid composition when compared to other oils.
You can use canola oil in sauting, as a marinade and even in low temperature stir frying. It has a bland flavor, which makes it a great oil for foods that contain many spices. Unlike other oils, this one won’t interfere with the taste of your meal.
2. Olive oil
olive oil offers a very distinct flavor with plenty of heart healthy ingedients. The oil is rich in monounsaturated fat, helps to lower cholesterol levels and reduce risk of cancer. It’s also rich in antioxidants and has a very long storage life.
Even though it can be used in cooking, it’s the healthiest when uncooked, such as with a salad or dipping sauce. When you use it with cooking, you should heat it on low to medium temperatures, making sure to avoid high heat.
3. Butter
Butter is one food that has been around for many, many years. Butter tastes good, and offers sources of Vitamin A and other fat soluble vitamins such as
E, K, and even D. Butter is also made from natural ingredients and not chemically or artificially processed.
You can use butter with cooking, baking, or even as a spread. You can also pair it with creamy sauces, marinades, baked dishes, or even bread.
4. Margarine
Margarine was first introduced as an alternative to high fat butter. When it was first created however, it was loaded with trans fat, a substance that we
now know raises bad cholesterol.
As a cooking oil, margarine tastes good, it’s lower in fat than most oils and butter, and it’s quite easy to spread. It’s available in a variety of different products and a good source of vitamin E.
When it comes to cooking with oils, there are several at your disposal. There are many more than what is mentioned here, although the ones above are
the most popular. Eating healthy involves cooking healthy food – which is where your cooking oil really takes center stage.
Learn more: Olive Oil: Sauces, Appetizers, & Entrees
Tips For Healthy Holiday Eating
When the holidays arrive, many people forget all about their diets and healthy eating. Weight gains of 7 – 10 pounds are common between Halloween and Christmas. To make the holidays easier, these tips will help you with healthy
eating through the season and not gaining weight.
Most traditional foods can be made low fat. Turkey is very lean without the skin, and gravy can be made without any fat. Potatoes that are served without butter can be very healthy. The beloved pumpkin pie is nutritious, although it can be made into a fatty dessert with the adding of whipped cream.
Even though the holidays are in, don’t forget about the exercise. Keeping weight off during the holiday season is burning off the extra calories. You should plan a walk after meals, park farther from stores when you shop, and take a few walks around the mall before you begin shopping.
During holiday parties and at family dinners, feel free to sample foods although you shouldn’t splurge. Decide on what you plan to eat in advance, then stick to your plan. Eat plenty of vegetables, fruit, low fat dressings, and
slices of lean meats. Before you go to a party, eat a small snack to help curb your appetite.
Learn More Click Here
If at all possible, avoid alcohol. Having too many drinks can cripple your will power, and also add excess calories to your diet. In the place of alcohol, drink water with lemon. Water can help to limit your appetite and keep you from binging. Also make sure to avoid eggnog, as each glass can have up to 300 calories.
Holiday Appetizers
Be flexible with your healthy eating, as one bad meal won’t ruin your diet. Try to balance your calories over a few days and don’t just look at one meal or day.
Healthy Food Choices
Learn More Click Here
Eating healthy is something we all would like to do, although it can be hard. In order to eat healthy, you must first make the right food choices. Eating healthy
is all about what you eat, which makes the choices very crucial to your results.
Jacques Pepin’s Chanukah Celebration
GrainsYou should consume 6 ounces of grains per day. To do this, you can eat 3 ounces of whole grain cereals, breads, rice, crackers, or pasta. You can get an ounce of grains in a single slice of bread, or 1 cut of cereal.
Vegetables
These should be varied, as you should eat 2 1/2 cups of them each day. You should start eating more of the dark vegetables, such as broccili and spinach. Carrots and sweet potatoes are good as well. You should also eat more dry beans such as peas, pinto beans, and even kidney beans.
Fruits
Fruits are very important. You should try to eat 2 cups of them each day. Focus on eating a variety, such as fresh, frozen, canned, or even dried fruit. You can
drink fruit juices as well, although you should use moderation when doing so.
Milk
Milk is your calcium rich friend. For adults, 3 cups is the ideal goal. For kids 2 – 8, 2 cups is where you want to be. When choosing milk products or yogurt, you
should go for fat-free or low-fat. Those of you who don’t like milk or can’t have it, should go for lactose free products or other sources of calcium such as fortified
foods and beverages.
Meat and Beans
Eating 5 ounces a day is the ideal goal, as you should go lean with your protein. When eating meat, always bake it, grill it, or broil it, as this will prevent grease from adding to the equation. You should vary your protein as well, with more fish, beans, peas, and nuts.
When cooking your food, you should also limit solid fats such as butter, margarine, shortening, and lard. These foods may add flavor to your dishes, although they can also help raise your cholesterol as well. Therefore, you
should try to add these foods and any foods that happen to contain them.
To help keep your saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium low, you can check the nutrition facts label. This label can be found on the food package and will tell you all the information you need to know about the food item.
By picking your foods wisely and watching what you eat, you’ll help control your lifestyle. Exercise is great as well, as it goes along perfect with a healthy eating lifestyle. No matter what your age may be, eating healthy will help you keep your active lifestyle for years and years – even help you and your health in the long run as well.
Jacques Pepin’s Chanukah Celebration
Facts About Nutrition Labels
Learn More Click Here
The nutrition label located on each and every food item, will tell you all the information about that food. For some however, this information isn’t exactly that reader friendly. Fear not, as it’s actually easier than you think.
Andrew Weil M.D.: Eating Well for Optimum Health [VHS]
Serving Size
This size is based on the amount people eat. Similar food items will have similar serving sizes, thus making it easier to compare 2 foods of the same category.
% Daily Value
This indicates how food will fit in a 2,000 calorie diet. This will help you to understand if the food has a lot, or just a little of the important nutrients.
The middle section
The nutrients you’ll find listed in the middle section are the ones that are most important to your health. This information can help you to calculate your daily
limit of fat, fiber, sodium, and other nutrients.
Vitamins & minerals
The percent daily value found here is the exact same as the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance for vitamins and minerals.
Now that you know what the nutrition label actually means, it’ll be a lot easy to eat healthy. Eating healthy is a great thing – especially when you use the nutrition label to assist you with your food choices.
Becoming A Healthy Eater
Blood Pressure Monitor
Being a healthy eater requires you to become both educated and smart about what healthy eating actually is. Being food smart isn’t about learning to calculate grams or fat, or is it about studying labels and counting calories.
Healthy eating is all about balanced and moderate eating, consisting of healthy meals at least three times per day. Healthy eaters eat many different types of foods, not limiting themselves to one specific food type or food group.
Eating healthy requires quite a bit of leeway. You might eat too much or not enough, consume foods that are sometimes more or less nutritious.
However, you should always fuel your body and your brain regularly with enough food to keep both your mind and body strong and alert.
A healthy eater is a good problem solver. Healthy eaters have learned to take care of themselves and their eating with sound judgement and making
wise decisions. Healthy eaters are always aware of what they eat, and know the effect that it will have on their bodies.
When someone is unable to take control of their eating, they are also likely to get out of control with other aspects of life as well. They could end up spending too much, talking too much, even going to bed later and later.
You should always remember that restricting food in any way is always a bad thing. Healthy eating is a way of life, something that you can do to enhance your body or your lifestyle. If you’ve thought about making your life better, healthy
eating is just the place to start. You’ll make life easier for yourself, those around you, and even your family.
iHealth Blood Pressure Monitoring System for iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad
To Go or Not to Go Herbal, that is the Question…
Learn More Click Here
Many people nowadays are turning to “organics” and “naturals” otherwise known as herbals. The rising popularity of herbal supplements has created a new fad if not a new health lifestyle. But before you join the bandwagon, here are some things you need to know about this mean, “green” dietary supplementing machine.
What is the difference between a drug and a dietary supplement?
According to the definition set by food and drug administrations in different countries, drugs are chemicals that can prevent, prolong the life, treat other effects of a health condition, improve the quality of life, and/or cure ailments and diseases, or alter the function of any part or chemicals inside the body. These drugs have approved therapeutic claims. For example, paracetamol is a drug given to bring down the body temperature in fever. Ascorbic acid is indicated for the treatment of scurvy. Iron supplements are given to treat mild cases of anemia.
Herbal supplements are not classified as drugs but as dietary supplements. The main difference is that they do not have approved therapeutic claims unlike in the case of drugs. Moreover, dietary supplements could either contain vitamins, minerals, herbals, or amino acids, all aimed to add to or supplement the diet of an individual. They are not intended to be taken alone as a substitute to any food or medicine.
Most of the manufactured medicines we now have once came from animals and plants. Through the years, chemists isolated the life-saving or life-curing components and separated them from the harmful ones. This lead to the further drug research and drug development that lead to the production of a different variety of drugs for many ailments and conditions from synthetic sources. But still we have semi-synthetic drugs, as well as drug that more or less approximate more natural composition. Since herbal supplements are made from a mixture of crude herbs reduced into powder or gel form, and later on packaged as tablets and capsules, there is a possibility that life-threatening or at least body chemistry-altering components are still present, thus the expression of concern from the medical community.
Is there a growing concern with the use of herbal supplements?
Learn More Click Here
Yes. With the rising popularity of using and consuming anything herbal or organic is the proliferation of fake herbal supplements that threaten to endanger lives. If that’s the case, then why are herbal supplements given drug administration approvals? One way of ensuring the safety of the people is to have all candidate drugs, food, drinks, and dietary supplements registered with the proper authority. Otherwise, they would pose more risk with these things being sold in the black market for a hefty sum. We could ensure the quality and safety of herbal supplements if they get proper classification with the food and drug administration. Moreover, people may be able to file the proper complaints in the event a worsening of health condition is proven to be linked to the use of a particular herbal supplement.
Is using herbal supplements worth the risk?
Yes. It cannot be discounted that many who have tried herbal supplements experienced an improvement in their health—whether this is due to the herbals themselves or due to a placebo effect, as long as they do not worsen the condition of an individual, then using them is worth the risk. But of course, certain things must be considered before taking those herbal supplements:
Your doctor knows best.
First of all, clear your condition with your doctor. Ask him/her if taking a particular herbal supplement is safe given your health condition. People with heart, liver, or kidney trouble or malfunction, are usually not advised to take these, or at the minimum is to take these herbals in minimum amounts. All substances pass through the liver and kidney to be processed and filtered respectively. Kava, which is used to relieve people from stress, has been pulled out from the Canadian, Singaporean, and German markets because it contains substances that cause liver damage. Certain herbals such as Ephedra used for losing weight, contains chemicals with heart-inducing effects that can increase heart rate, which in turn can exhaust the heart and cause heart attacks in several documented cases by the American Medical Association.
Follow the directions for use.
Never take more herbal supplements than what is directed by the doctor or as instructed on the bottle. Each individual reacts differently to the components of herbal supplements. While it is perfectly safe for one individual to take in a supplement of primrose oil capsules, another person may be allergic to it. So, do not even think about downing one bottle of
It has no approved curative effect.
No matter how the product pamphlet or the label of the bottle sounds about how it has been found to be helpful in certain health conditions, these herbal supplements are not therapeutic. So do not substitute these for the medications prescribed by your doctor for the treatment of certain diseases, or for the maintenance of blood pressure, lowering of blood sugar and cholesterol, and fight off infections.
Fighting Obesity
Fighting Obesity to Live through Healthy Aging
Learn More Click Here
Being over weight will hurt you if you let it and do not do something about it. It is not good to be over weight, obesity can cause your body harm.
What are something that can happen to me if am overweight? If you are over weight there is many things that can happen to you. Obesity is responsible for heart attacks. Obesity is behind sleep apnea, strokes, diabetes and so on. When a person is overweight, they often hurt all the time. Sometimes it makes it difficult to breath. Obesity causes the heart to work harder. You may have a hard time walking across the floor. Obesity can make you feel depressed and not want to go anywhere or do anything. Being over weight is bad on your health. The Dukan Diet: 2 Steps to Lose the Weight, 2 Steps to Keep It Off Forever
What can I do to help myself?
You have several options, yet the first is to gain willpower to take control of your body. The next step is to start eating the right foods, getting some exercise and so on. If you can exercise like you want to that is great, take it slow and do a little at a time. Do not overdo it. If you over work your body, the body will let you know. Obesity prevents many from staying active. A persons emotions and mental state is affected by obesity, since you start thinking I don’t want to do anything. You have to do something. Get out of the house and take in a movie. Perhaps you could visit some friends that you haven’t seen in awhile. The more active you are, you will start feeling better about you and maybe you will lose some weight. You need to go see your family doctor to see if its ok to do this before you start. Your family doctor may give you a diet to go by and maybe recommend the exercises that will benefit you.
What should I eat?
I cannot tell you what to eat. I can however give you a few pointers. Instead of frying your food, bake it. Baking meats, veggies, etc will help cutback grease. Baking will help drain the fat out of the food rather than if you fried the food. Fried foods mean fat, fat, fat and can harm your heart. Eat three times a day breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Eat plenty of raw vegetables, and salads. If you enjoy chocolates or sweets, find substitutes. Yogurts may offer you a new taste as well as reduce your risks, especially if you choose the fat-free groups. Try to stay away from fast foods. Fast food has obesity written all over its menu. Heart attacks follow. If you enjoy dining out, then find family owned restaurants, since the family will serve you healthier dishes. When you sit down to eat at home, avoid eating in front of the television. You should avoid seconds as well.
Being over weight is hard on you both mentally and physical. If you have, will power then try to lose weight? Start out by taking it slow. Don’t go hog wild since it will only make your heart race. You need to learn your limits to help you lose weight and take control of your health. If you find it still too hard to lose weight then maybe you should see if there is a local support group around so that you can join it and get the support that you need. You might want to stay away from people that do not give you support. You will need lifted up not let down.
Global Healing Center
