Tuesday 11 October 2011

Top Nutrition Tip No. 6 - Meals: What, When and How

I strongly recommend cooking your own meals versus take-out and pre-packaged meals. This may not always be possible given various lifestyle issues. However, when you cook your own food you know what is in your food. If you can't cook, check out your local bookstore and browse the cookbooks for something with pictures that are geared to the 'new' cook and offer simple, easy-to-follow recipes. You can also enrol in a cooking class at your local college.

When to Eat

Eat five to six smaller, balanced meals throughout the day. Be it meals or snacks, the key is balance - an adequate balance of protein, healthy fat and carbohydrate to fuel the body and maintain a healthy and steady level of insulin. If you are eating to lose body fat you may choose to eat your starchy carbohydrates over the first three meals of the day.

If you want to gain muscle you need to eat five to six meals per day. If you want a lot of muscle you need to eat every two to three hours, up to eight times per day.

The saying, 'don't snack between meals', does not apply if you are trying to manage your weight. The best way to lose body fat or maintain your body weight is to eat many small healthy meals throughout the day. By making smarter choices about the types of foods you choose to eat, you will have a healthier body weight and better insulin control. Some healthy snack food examples are: fruits and vegetables, lean meats and fish, whole grains, nuts and seeds. These foods are filling and satisfying, making it easy to naturally control portion sizes. They are also perfect for providing a slow and sustained release of energy, thus keeping your insulin more stable.

Sunday 9 October 2011

What Is a Centrifugal Juicer?

Generally speaking, a centrifugal juicer is typified by an extremely fast-spinning and powerful motor. It is how it chops or grinds the vegetables and fruits into smaller pieces, so a large amount of juice can be extracted. The centrifugal juicer is subdivided further into two types.

Non-Ejection

The non-ejection centrifugal juicer stores the pulp while the process of juicing is carried out, which compels you to stop at some point during the process to get rid of them. If this is not done, the juicer will not work as effectively as before or the pulp will get mixed in with the juice. This could prove to be quite time consuming.

The positive aspect, it is not very noisy and the motor has the capacity of working at very high speed so that you will be able to produce a large amount of juice in just a few seconds.

Wednesday 5 October 2011

5 Foods That Will Put Your Testosterone On Overdrive!

Testosterone is an essential hormone to have if you intend to build a lot of lean muscle. Numerous males suffer from low levels of testosterone and high levels of estrogen due to smoking, stress and most importantly, a poor diet. This is especially true for men who are older because not only do they have a lifetime of bad habits, but their age diminishes the testosterone levels in their body.

The result of a decrease in testosterone isn't just a loss of mass; it includes a loss of muscle strength, erectile dysfunction, lack of libido, depression, and weight gain. It's tremendously important to eat foods that are higher in zinc and B vitamins and below I will show you 5 foods that will rev up your testosterone levels to unbelievable highs.

Eggs

Eggs are rich in protein and cholesterol. Now I know most of you reading this believe that cholesterol is a bad thing; however, testosterone is synthesized from cholesterol and thus is essential to build high levels of this muscle-building hormone. In addition, eggs provide you with a rich source of protein and vitamins B5 and B6. Some people will take out the yolk and eat just the egg whites; however, eating the yolk is essential in ensuring that you get all of the nutrients in the egg.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Traditional Foods In The Prasouda Diet

The Mediterranean Diet contains lots of foods grown in and around the Mediterranean Sea; however, in today's contemporary society they are readily available almost everywhere. They comprise:

1. Grains, Fruits and Vegetables
Many of these should be consumed at practically every meal, seeing as they deliver important vitamins, minerals, energy, antioxidants, and fiber. Each of these things lead to excellent health and weight management in managed amounts.

2. Olives, and Olive Oil
Olives and olive oil usually are an essential aspect of the Mediterranean Diet. The Olives are frequently eaten whole and the Olive Oil is typically used to either cook with or to season things like salads. The fat provider of this kind of diet is also typically consumed with the particular use of olive oil within the cooking and the dressing of salads. Usually the perfect olive oil is undoubtedly extra virgin olive oil since it is highest in health-supporting fats, phytonutrients and other important micronutrients.

3. Nuts, Beans, Legumes and Seeds
Many of these happen to be all fantastic sources of nutritious fats, proteins, and fibers. They are able to indeed be eaten on their very own or even added to many different dishes to help enhance flavour, or maybe visual appeal to the dish.

Thursday 8 September 2011

The Effects of Animal Products From a Girl Who Loves Burgers

There are few things tastier than a big juicy burger with bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, onion rings, and a sloppy sauce of some sort on top. But sometimes we have to come to terms with the things we put in our bodies; and I say 'bodies' instead of 'mouths' because your body does essentially become that burger. Let me explain.

The truth here is that life in our food is what fuels the life in our bodies. Let's start at the beginning. You are made up completely of cells. These cells die and reproduce every day, and you need energy to give those cells in order to properly reproduce. Living enzymes in raw organic plants aid in the regeneration of new living cells. Instead when we put dead foods (dead animal flesh) in our bodies it results in weak cells, thus producing a weak body.

Friday 2 September 2011

Gluten Sensitivity?

Gluten intolerance and Celiac disease have recently been getting increased attention in the health media. Issues with gluten stem from the body's inability to break down the wheat protein gliadin. Reports state that in the last 60 years the incidence of gluten intolerance and Celiac disease has more than quadrupled. So why is that? The simple answer is that our wheat has been genetically modified from it original form so much so that the body now has greater difficulty processing the new structure and lectin content. Who doesn't love genetically altered / modified Frankenstein like foods!!?

So how do you know if you have a wheat sensitivity? Common symptoms of a gluten reaction can include headache, gastrointestinal issues such as: cramping, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, mal-absorption, fatigue, mental dullness, headache, ADD, autism and even joint pain (neck pain, low back pain, shoulder pain etc.). Gluten can also be a contributing factor in type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as well as truncal obesity and some would even argue miscarriage and the delay of puberty onset.

Monday 22 August 2011

Lose Your Love Handles Part Two: Nutritional Steps to Fight the Belly Bulge

Many people are unaware that insulin is the hormone of aging, and too much of it can cause a lot of problems in your body, starting with increased fat storage around your waist and progressing to accelerated aging of your body's cells and even diabetes. The good news is that you have complete control over this hormone based on what food you decide to eat each day. You want to strive to be insulin sensitive, so that your body can effectively utilize this storage hormone for it's intended purpose of driving blood sugar into the appropriate cells. One thing you may not know is that insulin sensitivity increases with the simultaneous lowering of body fat. That means that for each percentage point your body fat decreases, your body can utilize insulin more and more effectively. Generally speaking, if you are over 10% body fat for a male or over 16% body fat for a female, you are somewhat insulin resistant and need to work on controlling this ever-important hormone. Here are a few steps to help you manage your insulin, melt your love handles, and become more insulin sensitive:

   1. Eliminate Simple Carbs - This first step is the most essential of all in controlling insulin. Simple carbs, such as sugar causes a tremendous release of insulin, and if you're already a bit overweight, you can be certain that insulin will drive the sugar straight into your fat cells. The best way to avoid spikes in blood sugar is to avoid fast-acting carbohydrates altogether. You'll notice that you'll be less likely to have energy highs and lows during the day, you'll feel more alert, and have greater drive to tackle everything that life throws at you.

Tuesday 16 August 2011

5 Easy Ways to Drink More Water

Drinking water is one of the best ways to keep you healthy and also lose weight at the same time. It's a great way to protect yourself from a heart attack and digestive problems and it's also gives you more energy. So why don't you just start drinking more water? Well, maybe because it doesn't taste great and after a while you get sick of it. No worries, I have just compiled a list of the ways I used to drink more water each day.

So let's start!

Flavor your water

In case you don't like the taste of still water, you can flavor it to make it easier to drink. The options are limitless but here are some good tips:

· Put a mint leaf or two in the bottle of water and leave it for about half an hour, it should taste better and refreshing. Mint is also a great way to aid your digestion and to improve your mood.

· Squeeze a lemon and mix it with about 1,5 liters of water. It tastes better and the lemon juice is rich in vitamin C, so you won't catch a cold this winter.

· Before going to bed, leave some fruits (like apple slices) in a big bowl of water. When you wake up, the sugar of the fruits will be transferred into the water and it will definitely taste better. It's also an alternative to sugar if you want to sweeten your coffee. Just prepare the coffee with the obtained water.

Thursday 11 August 2011

5 Great Healthy Breakfast Tips

It is very important that you eat a healthy breakfast for maintaining health, energy and for weight loss. The key to eating a healthy breakfast and still achieving a weight loss, is to choose your food wisely. See our 5 tips to help you get the day off to a healthy start.

1 Make Sure You Eat Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and one that you should never consider skipping. A healthy breakfast is the meal that will kick-start your metabolism and get your body burning calories, skip it and all you are doing by skipping it is sabotaging your weight loss plans. You may think that it is a good idea to save on calories by not eating breakfast, but all you are doing is making it more likely that you will need to snack later on.

Sunday 7 August 2011

Regular Signs of Aging? Or Magnesium Deficiency? Don't Mistake One For The Other

Some of the most frequent complaints I hear from my patients, especially those older than 50, involves muscle cramps and spasms, notably those leg zingers that make them jump out of bed in the middle of the night; trouble sleeping and daytime stiffness or pain in their muscles. Most of my patients laugh these symptoms off as just "getting old", but they're surprised when I tell them these are more likely symptoms of a magnesium deficiency, which can easily be corrected. Read on and see if you have any of the common symptoms of low magnesium and what I recommend.

Symptoms of Low Magnesium

Magnesium is a "macro mineral", which means it is one of the 6 most important minerals for which your body requires large amounts. However, magnesium deficiency is fairly common in people over the age of 50 and can stem from a variety of things from dietary imbalances to certain health conditions. In fact, less than 30% of Americans get the RDA of magnesium, which is the absolute minimum recommendation for magnesium a day!

Magnesium deficiency is most common in menopausal women who usually start taking calcium supplements for bone health and may be on estrogen replacement therapy. If you don't take a magnesium balanced calcium supplement, you can become deficient in magnesium. Low carb dieting can also lead to magnesium decreases.

Tuesday 2 August 2011

A Fresh Take on the Subject of Vitamin B6

If you are unsure about what vitamin B6 actually is, then you may be surprised to hear that it is one of the most important vitamins that is required by your body, and is essential for your health and well-being.

With vitamin B6 being such an important issue, there has been many new websites emerging, with the main goal of educating visitors about every aspect of the B6 vitamin. The internet is a hub of extensive information, and if you are in any way concerned about how much vitamin B6 you are putting into your body, then you should definitely take the time to do some research as soon as possible, to get all of the latest information.

Vitamin B6, which also goes by the name of pyridoxine, is responsible for many important functions throughout your body, including turning the food that you eat into much valuable energy, forming red blood cells, and keeping your immune system performing at the highest possible level.