Steven N. Muller asked:


In order to optimize your health a good diet is essential. But, with all the fad diets around it can be difficult to know what is ‘good’. Nutrition science to the rescue! Though some things are still controversial, numerous studies reinforce the following basic information.

A healthy diet requires not just items from the four basic food groups, but in the proper proportion. The average person will need about 2000-2500 calories (sometimes more for larger men, less for women and those looking for rapid weight loss). About 50% of those calories should come in the form of carbohydrates, with 30% from fats (yes, fat is good!) and 20% from protein.

Carbohydrates are the main source of compounds needed for energy. Simple sugars, such as glucose and fructose, are rapidly broken down in the intestine and absorbed. Some processing starts the minute they hit your tongue. Complex carbohydrates – starches, such as those found in potatoes – take longer, but are also healthy in moderation.

Fats are chemically similar to carbohydrates, and contain fatty acids essential to health. Proteins are lysed (split) to make amino acids, that are then recombined to form proteins used in muscles and other structures.

Meat is a valid and healthy source of protein for almost everyone. About 3 ounces per meal is about right for the average sized person. A cup of pasta is a good source of carbohydrates. Two cups of leafy green vegetables supply fiber, minerals and vitamins.

A balanced meal can be made up of a serving of meat or other protein source, starchy carbohydrates such as pasta, rice, corn or potatoes, and fruit. Easy on the butter or margarine, go light on cheese, sauces and anything high in sugar or fat.

Though you could get the basics from a variety of sources, when considering weight control in addition to getting the proper balance, it’s important to know which sources are high in what.

Fat contains nine calories per gram, which is double than other energy sources. Thus, you need to keep those foods high in fat down to modest levels. That also helps control cholesterol levels.

All sources of carbohydrates have four calories per gram. But healthy sources also contain needed minerals, vitamins and fiber. Some examples are fruits (apples, pears, peaches), nuts (walnuts are lower in fat than peanuts or cashews, for example) and grains (for fiber and minerals).

Why is candy bad, unless consumed in very modest portions? Because they are designed to be high in fat, high in sugar with much lower amounts of helpful nutrients. Neither fat nor sugar are harmful in moderation. Indeed, they’re essential to good health. But when consumed in a form that contains an excessive proportion, they provide enormous calories and fewer other nutrients.

A single Snickers candy bar, for example, contains 63g, with 53g of sugar, but only 2g of fiber. This kind of snack, especially at the beginning of a new diet of nutritional regimen, can be hard to resist. A cup of broccoli (something that you probably don’t often crave) has, by contrast, only 6g total, of which 2.5g are fiber, 1.5g are sugars. A cup of sweet corn has 31g total, 21g are starch (complex carbohydrates), 3g of fiber.

Unfortunately, listing the good and bad traits of the foods you eat doesn’t help healthy foods to sound more appealing, or unhealthy foods less tasty. Fortunately, there are ways to help control unhealthy cravings. One of the best ways to curb cravings for sugary, salty, and unhealthy foods is to have a clean and healthy digestive system. A short-term cleansing program, such as Isagenix 9-Day Cleansing and Fat Burning System, is a great way to jumpstart a lifetime of new eating habits, as it re-trains the body to crave healthful foods.

In the end, the best way to being a launch a true lifestyle change is to change the way your body sees food. Visit www.loseweightandcleanse.com for details on Isagenix’s 9-Day System, and how it can jump-start your health and weight loss goals.



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Doug G White asked:


Healthy Diet: 3 Easy Steps to a healthy diet. Learn easily what health nutrition can do for you

Are you currently living a healthy lifestyle? Do you follow a strict healthy diet? If not then starting such a healthy eating plan can be very difficult. But it is important to remember that such a plan is exactly what you need to maintain vital bodily functions. It might be difficult to break your bad habits, but it is necessary to do so if you want to lead a healthy life, and reduce your risk of disease. Below are three easy steps you can follow to healthy eating.

Three Steps to healthy eating

Step1

A good place to start your healthy diet would be in your own kitchen! Start by getting rid of all the unhealthy beverages, sweets, snacks and other foods which fall into the “unhealthy” category. This is done to curb your temptation to snack unhealthily as it will be a lot more difficult to get your hands on such snacks when it is not readily available. Replace these unhealthy foods with more healthy snacks such as carrot sticks, fresh or dried fruit, yogurt or whole wheat crackers.

Step2

Simply put, knowledge is power! Take your first week of eating healthily and take notes of all the foods you have been eating. Then go and learn about their nutrients, and how they affect your body. This is one of the most important steps, because if you know the actual function of the different nutrients in your body, you are much more likely to make healthy eating choices. We all know that fresh fruits etc are healthy, now go learn why! It might also be worth noting the nutrients and their effect of your old, unhealthy diet!

Step3

The next step is to take a conscious decision on your eating times. Do not eat randomly as you will be much more likely to eat fast, junk food. Plan ahead! Grabbing something quick for lunch is out of the question! Consider taking a healthy packed lunch to work which includes a fresh fruit. When you get home at night, do not eat within3 hours of going to sleep. Give your body at least 3 hours to burn off dinner before going to sleep; else this will just get turned into fat!

Eat breakfast, then a light snack at about 10am or 11am then have Lunch, then again a light snack at about 3pm or 4pm then dinner at about 6.30pm. It’s important to note that your snacks could simply be an apple, or banana or even some dry fruits or nuts. The idea with this way of eating is to keep your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) as high as possible. This is the rate at which your body burns calories while not being active. When you wait too long between meals, your body instinctively goes into “Starvation” mode and lowers its BMR to store energy for future use and survival. Think of it as stoking a fire.

If this all seems too much to jump right into, start with baby steps and slowly ease yourself into the above mentioned situations. Replace just half of the soda you drink with water. Or instead of eating fast food every day for lunch, eat it just half the week; this alone will drastically reduce your calorie intake. This method will not take such a knock on your body and you will not feel like you are replacing all the foods your love. It might take some time for you to get used to the new foods, and to learn about their nutrients and its effect on your body (Remember, knowledge is power!) It is VERY important to remember though; that you must slowly better you’re eating habits and move towards the above mentioned steps.

It might also be worth checking out a professional’s eating plan, like the 10 day master cleanser diet from Raylen Sterling. His plan was mentioned on Oprah Winfrey’s show, and Beyonce Knowles used his method to loose 20 pounds.



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Cole Carson asked:


Modern science is quickly turning to a subject that was once only held by healers, mystics, and herbalists. Natural health has, in recent years, very quickly become its own branch of science, due to the extensive research that has been done on its effects on the human body. All around the world there have been people who have claimed fantastic health by natural means, and now nutritionists understand why. Scientists are becoming more aware of the power of the human body, and how, with the right nutrition, it can do amazing things.

The optimal health of your body is something we all should be working toward, as the condition your body is in plays a huge role in your quality of life, happiness, and personality. Because of this, your health obviously is a huge part of how you go about your daily routine. – How you handle problems, how productive and effective you are at the workplace, even how friendly you are to others, can all depend on the way your body feels. A good, healthy body not only allows you to be more productive mentally and physically, but it also reduces your likelihood for getting any sort of sickness or disease. Very few people really understand how amazing your body really is at repairing itself and fighting off problems. – But to do this, your body needs the proper fuel to burn and be in good enough shape to burn it!

Unfortunately, people today are as unhealthy as they have ever been. How is this possible, when modern medicine is so advanced, and vastly superior to anything seen before in history? The answer lies in the fact that medicine is not related to health. Medicine is designed to attempt to solve a problem once it has occurred. This does not help a person to be healthier, only gives them further options once they have been inflicted with an illness that their body cannot handle. Health is much larger than a bottle of pills – it is something that is acquired from eating the right things that will allow your body to burn pure, premium fuel and operate at its optimum level. The food commonly consumed by people today, however, does the opposite. It is a poor fuel, and when burned by the body, damages it and causes it to be unable to fix itself.

How, then, can a person obtain what they need to fuel a healthy body? Where can these substances be that can make such a drastic change in health for the body? Nature. That’s correct – all of the things your body needs to operate at its ultimate efficiency occur naturally, and are found in natural foods and plants. Modern research done on seemingly ordinary natural foods like strawberries, blueberries, eggs, and broccoli is returning surprising results. These, and other foods like them, contain ingredients that help the body do amazing things, such as helping to prevent cancer, improving cardiovascular health, preventing premature aging, helping with weight-loss, and countless other benefits. Studies are showing that when the body has all of these ingredients present on a daily basis, it is able to do extraordinary things and protect itself in a very efficient manner.

It has never before been so important to maintain a healthy diet, and fortunately, it really isn’t that difficult to get your body the things it needs. More advanced studies are showing what ingredients help the body, and in what amount they should be taken daily. Natural health is emerging as a means by which to fight all of the illnesses that have become so prevalent in today’s society, and the more scientists research, the more aware they are of how beneficial a natural, healthy diet can be.



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Organicpetfood asked:


Dogs, just like people, need vitamins and minerals in their diet to help provide them with the best overall health.  Good nutrition for your pets is just as important as it is for humans.  As well, your dog is an individual, just as you are, and no one singular dog food answer is going to be the same for every dog.  Each has different needs, but there are some basic assumptions you can rely on.

Pet food labels are required by law to list the ingredients of the food by weight.  The first ingredient listed should be responsible for making up the primary source of the product.  A meat ingredient should be listed first, with possibly a meat or fish meal listed as a secondary source.  Meat, fish, and eggs offer a high percentage of digestible protein and essential amino acids.  Some of the percentages can be misleading, though, as they may not take into account the moisture factor.  All types of pet foods have different moisture levels, from canned foods that can range up to 80 percent to dry foods that can have as low as 6 percent moisture.  The amount of moisture contained can interfere with the actual percentage of food ingredient that your pet will receive.

Many think a good option to offer the right amount of nutrition for dogs is food that is dehydrated in its raw stages and then re-constituted with water upon meal preparation.  Dehydration is a method of food preservation that has been around for centuries, and it actually keeps the nutrients in foods in better condition for consumption.  In fact, the nutrients can even become more concentrated and richer when dehydrated in their natural state.  This method is also advantageous for storage, and it is easy to prepare fresh for each of your dog’s meals.  Meats using the dehydration method are dried at high enough temperatures to ensure that any bacteria that might be present are killed off during the process.

Dog nutritional information suggests that vegetables, fruits, and herbs are important to include in your pet’s daily diet.  Many people include home-cooked healthy foods in their dog’s meal plans.  Herbs and veggies to include as nutrition for dogs comprise yams, pumpkin, carrots, spinach, kale, dandelion, parsley, and rosemary.  Vegetables that are known as “root veggies” should always be steamed lightly or pulped in a fashion to aid in your pet’s digestion process.  Fresh fruits, such as blueberries, peaches, and melons, and dried cranberries can also be helpful to essential nutritional needs.



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James Peterson asked:


ware that you could also get it when you are in your late 30’s. Are you surprised? Why not? You must be eating too much of food that contains saturated fat or your body is not able to handle the stress you are under. Therefore, here are some heart healthy diet guidelines that will help you cut down the risk of a heart attack. First of all you should cut down on fats by cutting down on the amount of oil used in food preparations. Try to eat grilled, baked, or boiled food which requires very little oil or no oil for cooking. Also, instead of using butter for toppings, use yoghurt to reduce saturated fats.

Instead of butter, margarine can also be used. If you cannot prepare vegetables without oil, try using olive oil. Olive oil contains unsaturated fats and antioxidants. Eat fresh fruits and avoid canned fruits, as they are high in sodium, which increases the blood pressure. Instead of drinking full fat milk, drink skimmed milk. Eat daily meals in moderation. Avoid over eating of your favorite foods. You can follow these guidelines as well as consult your family doctor to prescribe heart healthy diet programs.

A healthy heart diet for heart patients is a must. If the diet is accompanied by regular exercise, then nothing like it. However, often this is not the case. Heart patients find it difficult to perform their daily chores. So most of them may not be able to exercise. However, if heart patient eats low carb foods and also cut down on excess calories then they can surely cut down on medication and drugs. A healthier lifestyle will ensure their speedy recovery and less reliance on modern medicine. Instead of fat rich food, the patient can switch over to protein rich food.

Again, monounsaturated oils might be used for cooking food. Skip the yellow part of the eggs and eat egg whites only. Also, remove that part of meat, which contains fats. Eat more of nuts, fruits, and raw vegetables. Include cereals in your breakfast and eat brown bread instead of white bread.

If you have heart problem related to weight, then here are some heart healthy diets for quick weight loss. Do not over eat. Eat four to six snacks everyday. Eat small portions of food and keep counting the calories. In your breakfast, eat cereals and skimmed milk. Then have a snack between lunch and breakfast, consisting of fruits. During lunch, eat brown bread, salads, and white meat. For the afternoon snack have black tea with less sugar and some nuts.

In dinner you can have, brown rice, boiled vegetables, half-boiled sprouts, salad, and soup. A useful tip for heart healthy diets for chicken haters is that they can switch to seafood. Do not eat red meat because it is said to be harmful to the heart.



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