Healthy Eating Habits

I believe good health is the most important thing in life - because it gives you freedom. Freedom to pursue your dreams and do all the things that poor health won't permit. Any significant health problem, chronic or acute, will bring your life balance out of order. Not just your own bodily balance but everything and anybody you normally interact with will be affected. Many of your relationships and activities will suffer in some way.

I think anybody who seriously tried living healthier through a better diet, proper physical activity, adequate rest, and by addressing mental and spiritual factors have experienced a vast range of natural health benefits. Common benefits are overall better health and a sense of well being, better sleep, improved physical endurance and strength, sharper mental abilities and lower sleep requirements.

What constitutes a healthy diet?

Unfortunately, there are more opinions about this than there are health experts. To further complicate the matter, dietary concepts change over time, leaving most people confused and uncertain about what or whom to trust. Along with personal experimentation, such approach will enable you to establish healthy eating habits that work especially well for your body. This takes time and energy, but considering the long lasting benefits a healthy diet can provide, the effort is more then well worth it.

For 99.9% of human existence, our species lived on foods that were either raw or minimally processed. The technology needed to increase food processing did not exist until very recently. It is therefore reasonable to assume that our bodies are best adapted at utilizing and dealing with the raw or minimally processed foods which sustained us, and our predecessors, for millions of years: fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts and seeds.

A good diet is based on natural, whole or minimally processed foods. A large portion of it should consist of foods that can be eaten raw, such as fruits and vegetables. Fermented or cultured, unpasteurized foods such as kefir, yogurt, cheeses, miso, sauerkraut and pickles are considered highly beneficial in many cultures. Cooking should be minimal and only applied to foods that must be cooked in order to be edible. Ancestral heritage also plays an important role as certain foods may need to be excluded or emphasized.

Maintaining healthy eating habits can make enormous improvements to ones health, it's only one essential part of healthy living. The other parts are proper and adeqaute physical activity, mental and spiritual well being, and adequate rest. All need to be addressed in order to achieve better health.

An important thing I learned while experimenting with diets and other health related approaches is to always pay attention to the signals from the body. It's essential to do this - in order to maintain good health - and adjust accordingly. As one gets better at reading the body, it becomes natural to self diagnose a lot of minor problems (which can become major if not paid attention to) and remedy them by simply adjusting the diet or other aspects of life. Finally, we are all different - what works for one person may not work for another - thus it's important to learn about and experiment with nutrition to find out what works and what doesn't.

Guide To Vegetarian And Natural Food --------------

Tomatoes Promote Robust Health

The tomato is now grown worldwide for its edible fruits, with thousands of cultivators having been selected with varying fruit types, and for optimum growth in differing growing conditions.

Tomatoes are a great addition to a healthy diet—low-calorie, fat-free and a good source of Vitamin C. But what propels them to nutritional superstar status is their abundant amount of lycopene, an antioxidant in the carotenoid family with cancer-fighting properties. In this instance, the cooked product is better for you than the raw—lycopene is concentrated in cooked products, like tomato sauces, soups and ketchup. Add a little fat, like olive oil, and our bodies absorb lycopene even better. For lycopene-rich fresh tomatoes, choose the reddest ones you can find, make sure they haven't been refrigerated, and drizzle them with olive oil or add or a slice of fresh mozzarella.

Botanically, a tomato is the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant: a fruit or, more precisely, a berry. However, the tomato is not as sweet as those foodstuffs usually called fruits and, from a culinary standpoint, it is typically served as part of a salad or main course of a meal, as are vegetables, rather than at dessert, as are fruits. As noted above, the term "vegetable" has no botanical meaning and is purely a culinary term.

A simple tomato salad is so delicious.

Ingredients:

1/4 red wine vinegar,

3 rounded tablespoons brown sugar,

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, eyeball it,

1 teaspoon coarse black pepper, eyeball it,

1 cup canned tomato sauce,

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, eyeball it,

3 tomatoes, sliced 1/2-inch thick,,

large Vidalia onion, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch thick slices,

Salt,

2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves, to garnish.

Method:

In a small saucepan over moderate heat combine vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire and pepper. Allow sugar to dissolve in vinegar and liquids to come to a bubble. Remove sauce from heat and whisk in tomato sauce, then extra-virgin olive oil. Let dressing stand.

Arrange sliced tomatoes and onions on a serving platter. Season tomatoes and onions with salt, to taste Pour dressing over the tomatoes and onions and garnish with chopped parsley.

Lifestyle Changes to Improve Your Health

As part of a complete prevention and treatment program for managing your cholesterol and lowering your risk of heart disease and stroke, your doctor may suggest that you make some lifestyle changes.



Eat a heart-healthy diet:
A diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, high-fiber foods, lean meats and poultry, fish at least twice a week and fat-free or 1 percent dairy products — and low in saturated and trans fats and cholesterol — is a delicious way to help your cholesterol levels.

Get moving:
Enjoy at least 30 minutes of physical activity more days than not. Walk, bike, swim, jog, dance — whatever you love to do, do it.

Avoid tobacco smoke:
If you smoke, your cholesterol level is one more good reason to quit. If you don't smoke, avoid exposure to secondhand smoke.

Diabetes meal plans & a healthy diet

Whether you need to lose weight, gain weight, or stay where you are, your meal plan can help. A healthy diet is a way of eating that that reduces risk for complications such as heart disease and stroke.

Eat lots of vegetables and fruits. Try picking from the rainbow of colors available to maximize variety. Eat non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, carrots, broccoli or green beans with meals.
Choose whole grain foods over processed grain products. Try brown rice with your stir fry or whole wheat spaghetti with your favorite pasta sauce.
Include dried beans (like kidney or pinto beans) and lentils into your meals.
Include fish in your meals 2-3 times a week.
Choose lean meats like cuts of beef and pork that end in "loin" such as pork loin and sirloin. Remove the skin from chicken and turkey.
Choose non-fat dairy such as skim milk, non-fat yogurt and non-fat cheese.

Tips for Success:
Following a healthy diet and lifestyle can give you the edge in the fight against heart disease and stroke — take an active part. Follow your doctor's advice carefully, and if you don't understand something, ask. Let your doctor be your coach in combating heart disease and stroke. It's your health. It's your heart.

Probably, but even very small changes can improve your health considerably. The key is to keep trying to eat the right foods and stay in touch with your doctor and nutritionist, to let them know how you're doing. Here are a few suggestions to help you improve your eating habits------------

~~~~~~~~Find the strong points and weak points in your current diet. Do you eat 5 to 7 servings of fruits and vegetables every day? Do you get enough calcium? Do you eat whole-grain, high-fiber foods regularly? If so, good! You're on the right track. Keep it up. If not, you can learn the changes you need to make.

~~~~~~~~Make small, slow changes, instead of trying to make large, fast changes. Small changes will be easier to make and stick with.

~~~~~~~~Keep track of your food intake by writing down what you eat and drink every day. Use this record to help you see if you need to eat more from any food groups, such as fruits, vegetables or dairy products.

~~~~~~~~Think about asking for help from a nutritionist if you haven't already done so -- especially if you have a medical problem that requires you to follow a special diet.