Choosing Healthy Snacks

The hottest thing in the snack food industry today is portable, healthy snacks. Even when time is short, we can enjoy 100-calorie pre-portioned snacks like wrapped stringed cheese, individually packaged vegetables with low-fat dip, or Go-Gurt. If we want to stay at a healthy weight and avoid cancer and heart disease, it is necessary to make mindful choices when eating. Our diets should be filled with nutrients while our calorie consumption should be monitored. Fortunately, manufacturers are making more healthy snacks in response to this demand. Simultaneously, there are a lot of good blogs that can provide advice and tips on healthy snacks and fast meals.
Do you ever have time to sit down and enjoy your breakfast? Luckily, there are lots of good things you can have in the morning to jump start your metabolism and get you going with good nutrition. Here are some good ideas: Instant oatmeal with sliced peaches, half a peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread, dried fruit and high fiber cereal, a cup of low fat yogurt, or a low-sugar whole grain granola bar. Your breakfast choice should provide you with at least three grams of fiber.
Nutritious snack items at lunchtime are excellent for enhancing mental and physical function. You can eat a banana a lot of ways: Have a peanut butter & banana sandwich on whole grain bread. Blend your banana in a smoothie, cut it up on your cereal, or just enjoy it as-is! You will get 460 mg of potassium, manganese, fiber, and vitamins C & B6 from this healthy diet snack. Check out your dairy foods section for yogurt, a great healthy snack. You could try the new, portable Go-Gurt snack, or just get good old yogurt. Eat it right out of the carton, spoon it on some cereal, or use it as a fruit dip. It provides healthy nutrients such as protein, calcium, and potassium. Additionally, probiotics will improve your gastro-intestinal health and support immune system functioning.
If you don't overdo it, nuts are a great healthy snack. Along with the salt and richness your body wants, you'll also get plenty of the antioxidants selenium & vitamin E, as well as fiber, plant sterols, omega-3, and phytonutrients. All nuts lower LDL cholesterol and decrease the occurrence of heart disease. This is a scientific fact. So choose pecans, peanuts, walnuts, or any nuts for a healthy snack. Some of the more delicious nuts are pistachios, pine nuts, hazelnuts and almonds. A moderate handful is a good snack. Snacking is definitely not something that should be boring!
Be sure to choose snacks that have healthy carbohydrates and fats as well as some protein. Be sure to eat slowly so that you will be satisfied. Remember to keep track of your calories as you sample healthy snacks throughout your day! You can join a free community website where you can enter all the food you have eaten, and the database will add up all the calories, fat, protein, and so forth to help you achieve your weight loss goal.

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4 Benefits of Carrot Juice You Didn't Know

When it comes to the benefits of carrot juice, there is really only one thing to remember.
Carrots are a goldmine of nutrients.
Yep, carrots are wonderful and with the plentiful nutrients you find inside, they are essential to maintaining great health. You've probably heard that carrots are good for your eyes, and they are, but do you know why?
It's definitely worth understanding why the benefits of carrot juice are great, so let's have a look.
1. Vitamin A.
It's one of the highest sources of vitamin A you can get for use in your diet. You can get it from eggs and butter, but that would mean consuming the saturated fats that comes with them. Instead, carrots give it to you in its healthiest form.
But does this mean for you? Here is what happens when you don't get enough vitamin A: acne, dry hair, dry eyes, fatigue, insomnia, loss of taste, night-blindness and in severe cases blindness.
2. Goes with everything.
Another of the benefits of carrot juice is that it goes with almost everything. Whether it's mixed with spinach, apple, cabbage, or even kiwi fruit, carrot goes down a treat. This means less organizing recipes, and more time juicing.
3. Liver cleansing.
Liver cleansing is often thought to be the domain of beetroot juices, though it's also one of the benefits of carrot juice. It's extremely beneficial as it gets rid of the bile and fat which has accumulated.
4. Reproductive health.
Another benefit of carrot is the large amount of vitamin E it contains. This is wonderful, because it contributes to good reproductive health.
5. Strong bones.
Most people think of milk and dairy when it comes to strong bones, but the carrot has a strong beneficial effect here too, due to (once again) its high vitamin A content.
To really experience the benefits of carrot juice, you need to drink it consistently. The liver actually stores the vitamin A, so the more you drink, the more you'll notice the liver cleansing effect.

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How to Eat More Fresh Foods

Research and common sense shows you that fresh foods as opposed to processed foods contain vital nutrients to safeguard your health.
What are the health benefits of fresh vegetables and fruit and other foods? The vitamins and minerals in fresh foods may help reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure and Type II diabetes.
Diets rich in fresh foods give people more energy and help support weight loss and weight maintenance. Fresh vegetables and fruits can also slow the aging process. Choosing organic fresh foods is healthy not only for you and your body, but for the environment as well.
How can you eat more fresh foods?
The old adage is "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." This is so true. For those who are taking responsibility for their health care before they have to rely on the medical world for help, eating fresh foods can cut your risk of disease-caused-early-death by cancer, heart disease or other disorders by 20%.
Most health publications and research imply that individuals should eat five portions of vegetables and fruits per day. During your day, fresh vegetables should be the highest consumed fresh food, then fruits, then fresh fish and other lean meats, then fruits and then whole grains. The key is to make sure they're at their peak of freshness.
Shopping for fresh foods
Super markets today offer many fresh foods that are locally grown, organic and healthy. Keep this in mind when developing your shopping list. You'll be going through the vegetable and fruit aisle, deli section with fresh whole grain pastas and locally produced cheeses; the refrigerated fresh juices aisle, the dairy and egg aisle choosing organic products and the fresh meat and fish aisle. Almost every other aisle in the grocery store offers unlimited processed foods however you can stay clear of those products and focus on whole fresh foods only. If you have access to a farmer's market, take advantage of gathering local farmer's fresh produce and even whole grain breads and occasionally fresh meats.
Have you noticed how many commercials on television are now hawking digestion enhancing products? The reason these products are so popular is because our diet has been taken over by processed foods that do not aid healthy digestion. In our race for efficiency, we've given up our health. Creating your own fresh pastas, yogurts and combining them with fresh vegetables and fruits will delight your digestion and improve your health immensely.

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5 Fantastic Health Benefits of Cabbage

The health benefits of cabbage go a long way to enhancing the health of human and animal alike. It's believed by some that cabbage has few equals when it comes to healing power.
As you can see already, cabbage is wonderful. There are many health benefits of cabbage, but those that follow are five of the best.
1. Prevent cancer, specifically colon cancer. These days, most people are aware that fruits and vegetable have the power to prevent cancer. When it comes to cabbage, the high fiber content contributes to good digestive health. This means regular trips to the loo and a healthy colon. Large studies have also found that consumption of cabbage correlates to fewer instances of colon cancer.
2. Slow aging. Cabbage is loaded with vitamin C and beta-carotene (comes from vitamin A), which makes one of the health benefits of cabbage a resistance to aging. If you'd rather look younger for longer (which is practically everyone), find a way to consume more cabbage.
3. Lower serum cholesterol. The combination of good and bad cholesterol in your body is known as serum cholesterol. Whenever it's at a high level, you are understandably at a higher risk of heart-related disease. Luckily, doctors believe another of the health benefits of cabbage is its ability to lower serum cholesterol.
4. Relieve muscle soreness. This is one for you gym-junkies. All those sore muscles after a heavy workout can be relieved with cabbage. It does this by giving you a good supply of lactic acid which disinfects the colon and energizes you.
5. Boost energy. As the vitamin B is assimilated by your body, you will receive a natural hit of energy. It's time to get more done and enjoy life like there's no tomorrow.
Cabbage is super-powerful, and can be likened to a warehouse of nutrients. It has the ability to do a world of good for your body. You can eat cabbage, whether in salads and soups; however an easier way is with juicing.
Cabbage goes great with apple and spinach, and juicing is a great way to experience the health benefits of cabbage in concentrated form.

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Get Inspired About Vegetables Again

I've still got vivid memories of dinners when I was a child. These were the days when olive oil was an exotic substance sold only at the pharmacy in a tiny bottle, and the only dried pasta available was spaghetti. 'Meat & 3 veg' was the dinner of choice for most Australian families. Potato was almost always included; usually mashed with milk and butter; sometimes, on roast night, it would be baked in oil. Also on the plate would be an orange vegetable - usually carrot or pumpkin; and a green vegetable. You could almost predict the selection. Looking back, it was such an uninspiring approach to food - but everyone ate that way, so it seemed right.
Fortunately our culinary horizons have expanded since then. We have access to an amazing array of seasonal fruit and vegetables. But even with this, some of us are still sitting down to mashed potato and steamed veg night after night. Why not try something different, and start getting enthused about vegetables again? Here are some ideas that will help you look forward to your five-serves-of-veg-a-day:
- Make them into a stew, like a ratatouille, or a vegetable-rich lentil stew, and serve your meat or fish sitting on top of the stew
- Serve crunchy steamed veggies in a natural container - like a capsicum half or a mushroom cap. Sprinkle over some fresh herbs to serve.
- Vegetable soups are always popular on cold nights
- Use a starchy vegetable like potato with some corn and fish to make up patties that can be used for dinner and the leftover patties included in tomorrow's lunch box.
- Fill a baked potato with colourful finely diced tomato, red onion, cucumber, mashed avocado. Leave out the sour cream and the cheese, you don't need them.
There are endless ways to use vegetables; but if you're going to prevent boredom, you'll have to think ahead. Not many of us can be creative when the pressure is on to produce an innovative meal after a busy day (I don't think I would last long in Masterchef!) So when you discover a new way to eat veg, write it down in your kitchen book for next time. And when you're planning your meals for the week, flick through some cookery books from other countries for ideas. Get inspired and really enjoy those vegetables!

Olwen Anderson is an accredited naturopath based on the north coast of New South Wales, Australia. Visit her web site for free health information, subscribe to her monthly Health e-News for up to date natural health information; and read more articles that can help you take control of your health.

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