Healthy Food Choices

Healthy Food Choices

Eating healthy is something we all would like to do, although it can be hard. In order to eat healthy, youmust first make the right food choices. Eating healthyis all about what you eat, which makes the choices very crucial to your results.

Grains
You 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 kidneybeans.

Fruits
Fruits are very important. You should try to eat 2 cupsof 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 golean 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, youshould 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 healthywill help you keep your active lifestyle for years and years - even help you and your health in the long runas well.

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Tips For Healthy Holiday Eating

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 areserved 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.

If at all possible, avoid alcohol. Having toomany 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.

Be flexible with your healthy eating, as one badmeal won't ruin your diet. Try to balance your calories over a few days and don't just look atone meal or day.

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Tips For Healthy Eating

Tips For Healthy Eating

Healthy eating is a way of balancing the food you eat to keep your body in great health. With healthy eating, you'll have energy all day, get the vitamins and minerals you need, stay strong for activities you enjoy, and maintain a healthy weight.

Below, you'll find tips designed to help you with healthy eating.

1. Don't skip any meals

Eating 3 meals with snacks in between is the ideal way to maintain both energy and a healthy weight. When you skip meals and get hungry, you're more than likely to choose foods that aren't very good for you.

If you are eating away from home, take food with you or know where you can buy healthy food from.

2. Learn about how to prepare foods

Instead of deep frying, try grilling, stir frying,microwaving, baking, and even boiling. You should
also try fresh or even dried herbs and spices to add flavor to your food. Before you eat any type
of meat, be sure to trim the fat and skin off of it.

3. Avoid a lot of sugar

Drinks that contain sugar are a major source ofempty energy. What this means, is that the drinks contain a lot of energy that your body may not need, and it doesn't contain any vitamins or minerals. If you plan to drink sugary drinks,don't go overboard - limit yourself to 1 a day.

4. Avoid thinking about diets

There are no good food nor any bad foods. All food can be a part of a healthy diet, when eaten in moderation. You don't need to buy any low carb, fat free, or even diet foods, as these foodsnormally have lots of other added ingredients to replaces the carbohydrates or fat.

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Facts About Nutrition Labels

Facts About Nutrition Labels

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 readerfriendly. Fear not, as it's actually easier than you think.

Serving Size This size is based on the amount people eat. Similar food items will have similar serving sizes, thus makingit 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 foodhas 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.

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Fight Stress With Healthy Eating

Fight Stress With Healthy Eating

Whenever we get too busy or stressed, we all tend to make poor food choices that will actually increase stress and cause other problems. To getthe most of your healthy eating and avoid stress, follow these simple tips.

Always eat breakfastEven though you may think you aren't hungry, you need to eat something. Skipping breakfast makes it harder to maintain the proper blood andsugar levels during the day, so you should always eat something.

Carry a snackKeeping some protein rich snacks in your car, office, or pocket book will help you avoid blood sugar level dips, the accompanying mood swings, and the fatigue. Trail mix, granola bars, and energybars all have the nutrients you need.

Healthy munchiesIf you like to munch when you're stressed out, you can replace chips or other non healthy foodswith carrot sticks, celery sticks, or even sunflower seeds.

Bring your lunchAlthough a lot of people prefer to eat fast foodfor lunch, you can save a lot of money and actually eat healthier if you take a few minutes and pack a lunch at home. Even if you only do this a fewtimes a week, you'll see a much better improvement over eating out.

Stock your home As important as it is to get the bad food out of your house, it's even more important to get the good food in! The best way to do this is to plan a menu of healthy meals at snacks at the beginning of the week, list the ingedients you need, then go shop for it. This way, you'll know what you want when you need it and you won't have to stress over what to eat.

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