For anyone who is trying to eat healthier it is important that what you do eat is the best choice. Sometimes products may look healthy but are actually packed in sugar syrup or high in salt. Here are some tips to help make sure what you are eating really is healthy.
Yogurt is a good source of calcium but double check how much sugar is in each serving. Many types of yogurt are packed full of sugar so that the nutritional value is lost. Fresh fruit versus canned fruit. Fresh fruit is always the best choice. Canned fruit has be boiled, canned and processed most times canned with heavy syrup. Stick with fresh fruit for the best option. Frozen fruit would be second best. Fresh vegetables versus canned. Again go with fresh as much as possible as the canned variety has been processed and lost some nutritional value. Avoid boxed meals or frozen meals. They may seem like a quick and easy meal but are high in calories and salt. By preparing your own version at home it will be healthier and better for your family. Fruit juice. When buying fruit juice make sure it is 100% juice. Some juice is actually only 30-40% juice and the rest is sugar, corn syrup and water. Read the label before you buy.

A great general tip for buying healthy food is to avoid the middle aisle of the grocery store. This is where you will find processed foods. The outside walls of the store are where you will find the healthiest and freshest selection of food. We all want to live healthy and happy lives and making sure what we eat is the best quality, is a great start.

By: Debbie Madson

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Chinese food. It’s certainly tasty enough, but is it healthy? In these modern days of looking good and feeling good this is a question that might often be on the lips of anyone who has just devoured an egg fu yung. Well the answer to the question is that, yes, authentic Chinese cooking is very healthy. In fact the Chinese diet might be one of the healthiest in the world.

Sadly the same can not be said about the meals prepared at some Chinese restaurants or take-aways, where the food is often prepared with highly saturated fats and the meat used in the preparation of the recipes is not exactly of the leanest cut. The meals prepared in establishments like this are neither authentic, or healthy. Although they might very well be extremely tasty. But at what cost to the diners health?

Good, authentic – and healthy – Chinese food is prepared and cooked with poly-unsaturated oils and has no use for dairy ingredients such as cream, butter, or cheese. Meat is included in the recipes but is not of an abundant quantity. So lovers of authentic Chinese cooking are easily able to avoid the dangers associated with the intake of too much animal fat in their diet.

So in answer to the question: ‘Is Chinese food healthy?’ the answer is a very definite yes, but you must be sure that the Chinese meal that you are eating is an authentic Chinese meal prepared in the traditional manner and using only traditional and healthy ingredients. You can have your cake and eat it; just as long as you know that it is the right kind of cake you are eating.

By: Melanie R. Craig

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The dog food that is commercially sold in stores may not be always safe and it is always a good thing to feed your pet with healthy homemade dog food. All that you need to prepare such food is a simple mix of vegetables, starches and meat. Preparing healthy homemade dog food is not a difficult proposition at all, if you were to go by the following proven tips.

Tip #1: Before you switch to homemade dog food, it is always preferable that you talk to your vet. They will be able to offer you valuable tips on your pet’s diet.

Tip #2: Healthy homemade food is all about providing your dog with a balanced diet. The diet for your dog should consist of around 40 percent meat, 30 percent starch and 30 percent of vegetables. The diet should basically be able to provide your pet with all the essential nutrients for good health.

Tip #3: Cut slices of organic or raw meat are considered one of the best sources of nutrition for pets.

Tip #4: Frozen vegetable juices are known to be excellent sources of nutrition for pets. You can give them to your dog especially during summer.

Tip #5: A simple mixture of carrot, rice and ground turkey can make for a good healthy homemade food. You can also try a mixture of brewer’s yeast, carrot, brown rice and ground beef as meals for your pet.

Tip #6: Repeating the same type of food may become boring for your pet after some time. You should make it a point to rotate the foods that you give them in order to keep them interested in healthy homemade dog food.

Tip #7: Make sure that you include potatoes, rice, oatmeal and pasta as part of your dog’s daily diet. They are essential for fulfilling your dog’s starch requirement.

By: Ashish K Arora

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Many people, even body builders, have often overlooked the fact that any attempt to build the body and get your body all bulked up without the support of required diet will not suffice. Training must be leveraged on proper nutrition otherwise your thrust at building your body into a bulk muscle pack will remain a pipe dream. Training and nutrition is the only successful combination otherwise your effort will yield nothing and you will get your self frustrated. Following a body building diet does not necessarily mean that you have to starve yourself. Many people have always mistaken dieting with the warped notion of foregoing food in order to lose unwanted body fat. All you need is to be guided on how to select and make good use of healthy food.

One of the chief principles of a body building diet is eating many frequent meals in the course of the day. As a body builder you have to abandon that traditional routine of guzzling down three meals a day. There are two basis reasons for this. The first one if that when you eat frequently you boost your metabolic processes and this results in the burning of a lot of fat as well as muscle gain. The second reason why you have to abandon the three meals a day routine is that the spacing of the meals in the breakfast, lunch and supper only framework results in overeating which in turn results in fat accumulation. This is the last condition you would want to find yourself in as a body builder.

What you need to understand about the dears of spaced eating intervals is that your body naturally turns on the catabolic state after three hours of no food. This state is bad news for you as it entails the loss of muscle and gaining of fat. This results from the fact the body will be sensing, falsely so that you are starving and starts implementing self-sustaining measures which in fact are retrogressive to your to your objectives. The working solution in the frequent feeding schedule is to have about 6 meals a day instead of three and make sure that your meals are spaced at 2 and a half hour intervals.

Upon the matter of nutrition the other important factor to consider is the matter of ensuring that your body building diet is balanced a balanced diet especially for a body builder means that you have carbs in your diet as well as proteins and healthy fats. If your diet is not balanced you body will be forced into a condition of storing carbs into fat and this is the condition that you do want to find your self in as a body builder. The other critical principle in body building dieting is to ensure that your calories are cycled. This simply entails that you have to follow routine of two days of lower calories followed by a five days of higher calories, this will help you increase your muscle gain while the five days of lower caloric intake in two days will the ideal routine in cases where fat has to be to be lost.

By: Richelle A Rily

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Healthy soul food recipes continue to grow in popularity and demand. With this nations rising health problems, especially among African Americans, the need for healthy alternatives continue increase. As tasty and filling as the traditional down-home meals our great grandma used to make were, we now know some of the ingredients and methods of cooking were bad for us. Many of the traditional recipes contained high levels of cholesterol, fat and sodium. These ingredients in-turn ignited high cases of high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity as well as other health ailments.

To offset the negative results, traditional soul food recipes continue to go through a transformation. As a result it’s making a strong comeback among today’s health conscious adults and seniors. To help you make the transformation in your own home and family here’s a short list on how to cook healthier soul food meals. This list will help you to adjust your cooking methods easier, if you haven’t started already. If you’ve started cooking healthier, these tips will act as your inspiration to continue using healthier alternatives in preparing soul food. These healthy changes allow you to eat healthier without sacrificing taste. It may surprise you how little the original taste is sacrificed. Of course it may not taste as good as your grandmas, but you’ll find your taste buds applauding.

Here’s a short list of healthier alternatives for cooking soul food.


1. Instead of using whole milk:

Use reduced 1 or 2% milk when a recipe requires milk. For example, use in cornbread, custard, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato pie, etc.

2. Instead of using table salt:

Use Kosher salt. It has less sodium than regular table salt. But the healthiest alternative is using lime juice, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and other various herbs and spices instead of salt.


3. Instead of deep fat frying:

Fry, bake, broil or roast your meats.

4. Instead of flavoring vegetables or beans with fat back, bacon or ham hocks:

Flavor them with smoked turkey necks, turkey ham or turkey bacon.


5. Instead of frying your chicken or fish in lard or vegetable oil:

Use peanut oil or at least canola oil.

6. Instead of pan frying in oil:

Use cooking spray.

7. Instead of cooking chicken with the skin:

Consider removing the skin from chicken before cooking and marinate to add flavor and moistness. By removing the skin you eliminate artery clogging cholesterol.

These are a few examples of using healthier ingredients in your soul food recipes. As you use them you’ll discover how little taste you’re sacrificing. In addition, your health won’t have to suffer like our ancestors may have had to. Because of these healthier cooking tips now you can have your soul food … at eat it too!

By: Roy Primm

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If you want to improve your health and fitness it is important to exercise and eat a well balanced diet. You also need to make sure that the diet you select is one that is considered heart-healthy. Today heart disease and high blood pressure problems continue to climb, and a main factor is the poor food choices that are being made. Healthy eating food choices are necessary to lessen the likelihood of developing heart and circulatory problems.

A large percentage of the US population believes that a healthy diet must be boring and bland. This is certainly not the case because healthy eating food choices include a wide variety of delicious options. These ingredients are used in healthy food recipes to create tasty dishes that are every bit as refined, savory and appealing as those richer, less healthy menu offerings served at 5 star restaurants anywhere in the world.

When it comes to healthy eating food decisions the guiding principal is to follow a balanced diet program. In fact the most perfectly balanced diet is one that your heart can appreciate as much as the rest of your body. A healthy eating food diet contains fresh vegetables and fruits; natural whole grains; high-fiber foods; protein rich poultry and other lean meat products; fish and seafood; and dairy products that are either 1% or fat-free.

Sodas, Candy, Potato Chips, these are what Gave You Big Hips

Those addictive sodas and snack foods are some of the unhealthiest dietary choices possible. In addition to the sugars and sodium many of them contain they also provide your body with hundreds of excess calories. For the best results here are 2 tips to make sure that your healthy eating food diet plan stays on track.

* If the label contains sucrose, corn syrup, glucose, maltose, fructose, dextrose, honey or concentrated fruit juice the product contains sugar. If the sugar is one of the first four ingredients listed on the label, the amount of sugar is very significant. These are the ones that you want to avoid.

Understand Fats and Know How to Use Them
Unsaturated fats don’t contribute to your cholesterol level the same way that those saturated and Trans fats do. You should continue to use limited amounts of unsaturated fats as part of your healthy eating food program.

Select Meats Wisely

Learn how to choose the leanest cuts of meat and make certain that you use skinless, trimmed poultry products. A healthy eating food plan requires that preparation of meats should be done without using saturated or trans fats.

- 3 ounces of cooked meat contains approximately 70 mg of cholesterol.
- A maximum of 6 oz of meat, fish, seafood or poultry is recommended by the AHA (American Heart Association).
- Beef graded as “choice” or “select” will be leaner than the ones graded “prime”.
- Sirloins, chucks, rounds and loins are the leanest cuts of beef and should be used in healthy food recipes.
- Always choose the lean or extra lean varieties of ground beef.

- The leanest cuts of pork are the loin chops and tenderloin sections.
- Remove any visible fat from meat and poultry products before cooking.
- If you are using poultry in your diet your healthiest choice is to eat the white meat instead of the dark meat.
- Processed meats have large amounts of chemicals, sodium and saturated fats and should be eliminated from your diet.
- Duck and goose have a much higher fat content than chicken and turkey meat.
- Restrict your meat preparation methods to grilling, baking or broiling.
- Avoid organ meats on your healthy eating food program because of the high cholesterol content.

One if by Land and Two if by Sea

You need to include fish or seafood in your healthy eating food diet at least twice a week.

* Fish is low in saturated fats; even the fatty fish still have low levels of saturated fats.
* Oily fish such as herring, salmon and trout have high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega 3 can lower the risk of heart disease and heart attacks.
* Exchange those breaded fried fish recipes for healthy food recipes that include baked, grilled or broiled fish instead.

Now you can get wild seafood delivered right to your door. It is much healthier for you than farm grown seafood.

Dairy Products without the Fat

* Restrict the amount of whole-fat dairy products and 2 percent full-fat dairy products in your diet.
* Make a gradual transition from whole or 2 percent milk to lower fat, or fat free products.
* Use fat-free or low-fat cottage cheese in your healthy eating food selections. You can also use other fat free or low fat cheese products such as ricotta or mozzarellas made from skim milk.

Decreasing your use of Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils Decreases your Trans Fat Consumption

* Liquid vegetable oil should be used instead of shortening when you are designing any healthy eating food program.
* Healthy food recipes should use heart healthy soft margarine substitutes instead of those sticks of butter.
* Restrict cakes, breads cookies, crackers, pies, muffins, and French fries that have partially hydrogenated or saturated fats listed on the package label.

Cut the Cholesterol Counts in your Healthy Eating Food Diet

* Your total daily intake of cholesterol should be no more than 300 mg.
* Free ranch chicken eggs should be chosen instead of other varieties.
* Substitute egg whites for whole eggs when preparing healthy food recipes. There is no cholesterol in egg whites.
* that you most need to avoid.

Lower the Sodium, and Lessen the Risk of Stroke and Heart Problems
Too much salt, or sodium, increases the chance of high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes.

The maximum amount of salt in your healthy eating food diet should not exceed 2300 per day.

* Choose grocery products with the lowest sodium content on the label.
* Look for items marked “reduced-sodium” or “sodium free”.
* Restrict your use of regular soy sauce, steak sauces, pickles and olives which contain high sodium levels..
* Your table salt can be replaced with salt-free seasoning mixes or natural herb seasoning.
* Chili peppers and citrus fruits can add salt free, zesty flavor to foods.
* Rinse and drain feta cheeses, capers or the tuna and salmon you remove from cans. This will help eliminate excess sodium.

Use Fiber and Oat Bran to Chase Away High Cholesterol

Soluble fiber added to the diet can help you lower blood cholesterol levels. It will also help lower the chance that you will develop colon/rectal cancers and diabetes. 25-35 grams of dietary fiber (both soluble and insoluble) each day is recommended. A good rule of thumb is to allow 14 grams of dietary fiber for each 1,000 calories in your daily diet.

* Oatmeal, oat bran, barley, peas, beans, rice bran, citrus fruits, berries and peeled apples all contain high amounts of soluble fiber.
* Insoluble fiber is available from whole-wheat breads, cereals and bran products; cabbage; apple skins; beets; Brussels sprouts; turnips; carrots and cauliflower
* Replace low-fiber foods with those that are rich in fiber. For example you could exchange your usual white bread for a whole-grain variety and replace white rice with brown rice.
* There is more healthy fiber if you eat raw vegetables and fresh fruit instead of cooking them first.

Read Package Labels for a Healthier, Happier Heart

If you practice reading those package and food labels it will soon become a regular habit. Then you will be able to make informed decisions about what you are selecting to include with your healthy food diet. When you choose your foods wisely you will be on your way to a new and healthier lifestyle.

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By: Ken Hansen

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Puppies are like small humans; they grow like weeds and have enormous appetites! And what we feed them determines how they will grow and how healthy they will be when they’ve grown up. Determining which puppy food to give them can be done by a small amount of research and even asking a few questions. The major manufacturers of dog food each spend millions on studies and research into what works best for dogs at various ages. You don’t want to feed your two month old pup the same diet as that given to a ten year old adult.

Age and lifestyle determine the type of food

Similar to people’s diet, pet foods are separated into various categories which are meant to be the appropriate combination of vitamins, minerals, supplements, and fats needed for that particular age group. Working dogs, hunting dogs, as well as show dogs each have different daily requirements for optimum health, weight, and coat quality. Puppy food requirements are amplified due to the fact they are growing rapidly throughout their first year of life.

Dry versus wet dog food

Among the choices to be made when selecting a quality puppy food is whether to feed kibble, which is a dry bite sized dog food, generally made by compressing ingredients in its original dry form, or soaking it in warm water or even milk in the case of puppies. The dry food is excellent for maintaining healthy teeth and gums in adult dogs; however it may be too difficult for puppies to crush with their smaller puppy teeth. Soaking for a few minutes can create a much softer food, even mushy in consistency which might be more appealing to very young pups. Another alternative is feeding canned food which is already high in moisture content. A combination of dry and moist might be a good alternative on occasions, but feeding dry food only from about the age of six months on will provide all the necessary vitamins as well as mineral additives needed as long as the food is balanced and nutritious.

Researched, studied, tested, approved

Today the dog food industry is put through rigid testing and must be approved nearly as stringently as foods prepared for human consumption. The dog food industry does their own researching and performs studies to assure its products are healthy and well liked by not only the canines who eat it but their owners who do the purchasing. If it were left up to the dogs their food would most likely have a far different appearance and odour than it does after meeting the approval of the humans who choose it. Dogs eat most anything and often the smellier it is, the more apt they are to consume it. Dog food is manufactured to be pleasing in appearance and texture to us, the buying public, but the dog would most likely eat it in any form.

Sanitary and free from bacteria

Even though dogs may eat any road kill or offal they come across in the wild, we want to protect them from food poisoning and diseases when we feed them. Dog and puppy food go through strict manufacturing processes before they are bagged or canned and sold for consumption by our pets because we love them and wish them good health the same as we do our two legged loved ones.

By: Vincenet Violet

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