Showing posts with label healthy food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthy food. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

What You Should Eat For Optimum Health

We often wonder what we should eat for optimum health and even the government has recently flip flopped its food pyramid which you can see at MyPyramid.gov.

Here’s an overview of the 2005 dietary guidelines from the government.

First off, according to the new government guidelines a healthy diet is one that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk products and will include lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, and nuts.

The diet will also be low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt, and added sugars.

The main theme the government is proposing now is to eat a diet rich in grains and to make half of the grains you eat whole grains. Whole grains contain the entire grain kernel -- the bran, germ, and endosperm, some examples would be:

• whole-wheat flour
• bulgur (cracked wheat)
• oatmeal
• whole cornmeal
• brown rice

Next you should “vary your veggies” and in general buy fresh vegetables in season, stock up on frozen vegetables and buy vegetables that are easy to prepare.

For the best nutritional value, choose vegetables with more potassium such as sweet potatoes and spinach and limit sauces which can add fats, sodium and additional calories.

Prepare more of your foods from fresh ingredients to lower sodium. Most sodium comes from packaged and processed foods.

One suggestion for a healthy diet is to try using a salad as the main dish for lunch and go light on the salad dressing.

Focus on fruits. To help you keep focus, have a bowl of fruit always available on the table, counter, or in the refrigerator. Keep cut fruit in the refrigerator and buy fresh fruits in season whenever possible. Buy frozen, dried, and canned fruits as well so you will always have some kind of fruit on hand.

Choose whole fruits or cut fruits over juices whenever possible for the fiber benefits. Choose fruits high in potassium such as bananas, apricots, and cantaloupe. Put cut fruit on your breakfast cereal. At lunch, take a tangerine, banana, or some grapes. For dinner, add crushed pineapple or mandarin oranges in a tossed salad.

Get calcium rich foods and include low fat or fat free milk as a beverage at meals. Have fat-free yogurt as a snack. Use low-fat cheeses on salads and casseroles.

For those who cannot consume milk products due to lactose intolerance choose lactose free alternatives to get your calcium such as cheese, yogurt, and lactose-free milk.

Go lean with protein. The suggestions for your protein intake are to use the leanest cuts of meats such as top sirloin and pork loin and whenever choosing ground beef go with extra lean that is identified as at least 90% lean.

Buy skinless chicken parts as the fat is in the skin. Choose lean turkey and all kinds of fish.

To keep your meat intake lean and as free of fat as possible, broil, grill, roast, or boil your meat choices instead of frying and drain off any fat that appears during cooking.

Choose dry beans such as kidney beans and use them as the main part of a meal often. Make use of nuts for snacks and use them to sometimes replace meat or poultry.

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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The Easiest Nutrition Guidelines Ever


The Easiest Nutrition Guidelines Ever





1)Eat For Your Goal-



If needing to lose weight eat below your caloric needs. No more than 30% cut.



If needing to gain weight then eat above. Increase by 15% as needed.





2) Eat for Balance-Get at least 30% of every nutrient in a day (protein/carbs/fats). The other 10% is to do whatever you want with it.





3) Eat the right foods-This goes as follows.



Protein-Lean and Complete (chicken, turkey, egg whites, whey)



Carbs-Fruits and veggies should make up the majority of your diet and be paired with every meal.



Fats-Poly/mono fat balance high(fish oils, nuts, olive oil);Low Saturated fats





4) Eat Often- Eat 4-6 meals a day.



Each meal should contain 1 complete protein.



Each meal should contain 1 carb source of either fruit/veggies.





5) Eat 1 ingredient items-85% of your meals should be of one ingredient items.



An apples ingredients are an apple. An egg is an egg. You can certainly mix and match on ingredient items, but other than that your items 85% of the time should only be 1 ingredient items.





6) Drink Water-1/2 to 1 gallon a day for women who exercises, 1 to 1 1/2 gallon for men who exercise.





That's it. If you stick to that you will get results, plain and simple.



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