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.

Health And Nutrotion

Maintaining a healthy diet is the practice of making choices about what to eat with the intent of improving or maintaining good health. Usually this involves consuming necessary nutrients by eating the appropriate amounts from all of the food groups. Since human nutrition is complex a healthy diet may vary widely subject to an individual's genetic makeup, environment, and health. For around 20% of the planet's population, lack of food and malnutrition are the main impediments to healthy eating.


Water Needs For Health

About 50-70 percent of the human body is composed of water. The exact amount of bodily water varies according to age and the proportion of muscle-to-fat (muscle contains more water than fat.) Although water contains no calories and may have no nutrients, it is essential for life. We can survive for weeks without food, but only a matter of days without water. Because we do not store excess water, we must ensure that our daily diet contains a sufficient supply to maintain adequate health. It's extremely difficult to take in too much water. If we drink too much, our body simply adjusts by increasing the amount of liquid we urinate. However, if our water level inside our body falls too low, we experience several symptoms that warn us we may be dehydrating. The principal symptom is thirst, a reaction influenced by a group of nerve cells located in the hypothalamus, located at the base of the brain.

How Much Water Do You Really Need To Drink ?

The vast majority of healthy people adequately meet their daily hydration and fluid intake needs by letting thirst be their guide. General recommendations for women at approximately 2.7 liters (about 8 glasses) of total water - from all beverages and foods - each day, and men an average of approximately 3.7 liters (about 12 glasses) of total water.

About 80 percent of people's total water intake comes from drinking water and beverages - including caffeinated beverages - and the other 20 percent is derived from food.

Health Benefits of Water :

Although water contains no calories and may contain no micronutrients, it is an indispensable aid to digestion, nutrient absorption and waste-elimination. It also helps regulate circulation, body temperature and a host of other biochemical reactions. Water lubricates joints and maintains healthy skin. It's worth remembering that we can exist without food for months, but without water for only a few days.

What type of water should we drink?

For optimum health, experts recommend clean, spring water, or filtered water, and some experts advise against drinking tap water, fluoridated or distilled water. For health reasons, some experts advise us all to check the safety of our tap water supply, in order to ensure it is free from heavy metals, bacteria and other contaminants.

Choose Healthy Foods to Fit your Lifestyle.

Healthy Foods and a Healthy Lifestyle.


Eating at home usually involves more meal preparation time, this is important because preparing a good meal takes a lot more time than simply eating some junk food. If you can afford to prepare your meals at home, this can dramatically increase the quality of your meals, not only can you choose exactly what you eat, but you can choose how it is prepared and pick out the quality of the items yourself.

Any meal you eat, whether at home or while out should consist of all the basic food groups, balancing proteins, starches, greens and vegetables is a key factor to a healthy diet. Your body needs all the different food groups in order to function properly, by balancing your meals you are ensuring your health and the quality of your life.

Assess Your Lifestyle.

Once you learn which foods are good for you, you need to look at your eating habits. If the foods you eat are not healthy, you might want to work within your habits and current lifestyle conditions, since they are usually tough to change. Consider these questions, then read on for tips to help you add healthy foods:

Do you eat because you are bored, sad, or happy? Do you snack in front of the TV without even giving it much thought?
Are most of your meals eaten at home or in restaurants?
How often do you eat fast food?
Do you like to cook?
How often do you grocery shop?
Do you skip breakfast or lunch, then overeat later in the day?
How big are the portions you consume?
Do you crave sweets?
Are there foods you won't give up?

Healthy Foods to Eat.

The closer a food is to its natural state, the better it is for you. Fresh fruits and berries are great and will satisfy a craving for sweets. Whole vegetables have lots of vitamins and minerals, so choose more green, orange and yellow vegetables. Steam them to retain the most nutritional value and be careful with sauces, they may be high in calories and fats that aren't good for you.

Stick to water as your main beverage and limit soft drinks. If you get tired of plain water, add a slice of lemon or lime to add a touch of flavor. For kids, try some fruit juice jazzed up with carbonated water. Some herbal and green teas may add great benefits to your health, but avoid too much caffeine.

Great ideas for real life

Maintaining a healthy diet is the practice of making choices about what to eat with the intent of improving or maintaining good health. Usually this involves consuming necessary nutrients by eating the appropriate amounts from all of the food groups. Since human nutrition is complex a healthy diet may vary widely subject to an individual's genetic makeup, environment, and health.

A balanced diet comprising of healthy and diverse foods is key to promoting good health. After all, we are what we eat - Research continues to prove that eating healthy food promotes good health and unhealthy food habits lead to a diseased body.

When it comes to cooking for vegetarians, it is the red rajma with soya nuggets recipe that makes the top score. It makes a very nutritious dish, as it does an excellent blending of kidney beans and protein rich soya nuggets. Talking about the nutritional value of red rajma with soya nuggets recepie, it contains about 35 calories, 0.2-gram fats and 10-gram carbohydrates.


Red Rajma with Soya Nuggets ( Indian style).


Ingredients:


120 gm red rajma,
4 green chili,
40 gm soya nuggets,
80 gm tomato finely chopped,
15 ml cooking oil,
3 gm coriander seeds,
10 gm ginger juliennes crushed,
15 ml lemon juice,
50 gm green onion,
Sea salt.

Method:

Wash rajma and soak for 5 hours or overnight.
In a pressure cooker, boil rajma for about half an hour, or till they become tender and water gets absorbed.
Take the soya nuggets and wash them properly. Keep them aside, so that they get soaked.
Take white and green onions and chop them separately.
Roast green chilies and cut into half. Soak ginger julienne in lemon juice, for 1 hour.
Take a pan and heat some oil in it. Add crushed coriander seeds and sauté for a minute, until it starts giving a pleasant aroma.
Add chopped white onions into the pan and sauté for 3-4 minutes, or till the color turns light brown.
Add soya nuggets and toss for 1 minute on moderate flame.
Add tomatoes. Stir frequently. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, till they become like thick tomato sauce.
Add rajma and 5-6 spoons of rajma stock if available, or add water.
Bring the mixture to a boil and when it gets cooked, take it off the gas.

Garnish with roasted green chilies, green onions and ginger julienne and your delicious red rajma with soya nuggets dish is ready to be served.

Everyday chemicals can be damaging your health.

Hygiene is really important but what do we know about all the chemicals we all readily use.

Chemicals come in many forms, such as pesticides that are sprayed on food, and that is one of the main reason it is so important to wash all foods well before eating, or removing the peel.

This I cannot stress enough, especially with imports. We seem to be unaware and overlook many chemicals such as the ones used in the production of everyday goods like perfumes, deodorants, even carpets and soft furnishings, the list is endless.

But studies have shown that with all the chemicals we are using health problems are increasing, predominantly asthma and eczema.

Scientists say that from the onset of pregnancy, all use of chemicals should be kept to a bare minimum, “as it is known that some environmental risk applies in the early developmental history of the brain in the foetus and baby”.

The use of deodorant has been linked with cancer, and worryingly, teenagers seem to be continually spraying their bodies with hair spray, body spray, perfume or deodorant. Scientists say they have yet to see what other complications this will cause them in the future.

Good food is good health

A proper intake of healthy food and essential nutrients is necessary to maintain an overall level of fitness


What are nutrients exactly, and why do we need them?


Nutrients are substances provided by food that are necessary for growth and survival. They fall into to categories, organic and inorganic. Organic nutrients include proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and vitamins. Inorganic nutrients are usually minerals. Nutrients that our bodies require in larger quantities are called macro-nutrients and those needed in fairly small quantities are called micro-nutrients.


Vitamins :


A vitamin is an organic substance required in tiny amounts essential for the human metabolism to work properly. Vitamins are found in foods or produced by our bodies. They can also be manufactured commercially as health vitamin supplements. Insufficient vitamins in our diet, can cause serious ailments.