Choosing Fruits and Vegetables For A Healthy Diet
Dave Saunders

The new food guidelines issued by the United States government recommend that all Americans eat about nine servings of fresh, raw fruits and vegetables each and every day. This is important to provide your body with the minimal levels of essential nutrients and antioxidants needed by each and every cell in your body to support optimal health. When you first hear that number, it may seem like a lot, but it is actually much easier than you think to fit that many servings of fruits and vegetables into your healthy diet plan. Shelves of the grocery stores are bursting with fresh fruits and vegetables. Uncooked, these provide essential nutrients, fiber and even a portion of the water you need every day of your life. In addition, vegetables and fruits are some of the least expensive, most nutrient rich, foods in the supermarket. With all these fruits and vegetables to choose from, it is very easy to make these nutritious, delicious foods part of your daily meals and snacks.

Adding nine servings of fruits and vegetables to your healthy diet plan is not as difficult as it sounds. Seek a variety of foods; choose foods with different colors because those colors are indicators of different nutrients inside the cells of the food. As a general guideline, the nine servings come out to two cups of fruit and two and a half cups of vegetables every day. Most people who add this to their diet quickly find that they no longer have cravings during the day and save money on other snack foods which typically provide no nourishment of any kind. So not only do you improve your diet, you can save money and experience the health benefits of a diet, high in whole foods and low in sodium, fat, simple carbs and preservatives.

As your wean yourself from a life of snack foods to better foods, you may experience some changes as your body uses the improved fiber and higher levels of nutrients to deal with your biological “to do list.” This is normal so keep at it and eventually you should experience more energy, better sleep and a variety of other benefits reported by people who share a better diet.

When shopping for fruits and vegetables, choose a variety of different colors. This is for more than purely aesthetic reasons. Different color fruits and vegetables have different types of nutrients, and choosing a variety of colors will help ensure you get all the vitamins and minerals you need each and every day.

New recipes can also provide you the important opportunity to try out some fruits and vegetables you have never tried before. Be sure that you’re cooking things lightly to preserve as many of the essential nutrients as possible. Try to avoid putting any of your food through the microwave because the penetrating radiation heats water, sugar and fat molecules inside the food as well as on the surface and will damage even more of the essential nutrients than conventional cooking practices.

Many people mistakenly believe they do not need to eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day if they just take a vitamin supplement. Nothing could be further from the truth. Supplementation should be a means to supplement, not substitute, the benefits of a healthy diet. Fruits and vegetables contain far more than micronutrients. They also contain the more complex phytochemicals, phytosterols and essential fiber that you need to support proper cell function and optimal health.

While fresh fruits and vegetables are not the only component of a health diet, they are an essential one and are typically left out of the Standard American Diet (which is S.A.D.). Choose optimal health and choose a healthy diet. By adding fresh, raw fruits and vegetables to your daily diet, you too will discover the benefits that others do when they choose a healthy diet.
About the Author

Dave Saunders is a professional lecturer, and certified nutritional educator. He enjoys creating interconnections through his writings and lectures to help others create context and see new discoveries and technologies in more a practical light. You can find out more about new discoveries how to benefit from a Healthy Diet at www.glycoboy.com

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Childhood Obesity & Parents’ Healthy Food Confusion
Cheryl Haining

Many parents struggle to know which foods are healthy for their children. When they are able to opt for healthy choices, about two-thirds struggle to get their children to eat healthily, a poll of nearly 800 parents found. Developing Patient Partnerships (DPP), which commissioned the survey, said that parents need more support to tackle the growing problem of childhood obesity. Childhood obesity has tripled in the past 20 years, official figures show.
Recent studies suggest that parents do not know what good nutrition is. Perhaps advertising of fast foods, and busy life styles has contributed to this. Nutritional meals can be prepared quickly and simply at home.

Of the parents of children aged 15 years and younger questioned by the DPP, 45% said they found it difficult to work out which foods were healthy for their children. When parents did select healthy foods, 65% said they struggled to motivate their children to eat it. Three-quarters of parents blamed advertising and marketing of unhealthy snacks and drinks for making this job so difficult. Another 87% believed that schools should play a big role in teaching children how to be healthy.

When more than a thousand children aged seven to 16 were questioned about their lifestyles, 70% said they would be more likely to eat healthily and get active if their parents were doing it. Only 16% said they ate the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. This suggests that parents are not making healthy food choices themselves. There are strong links between obesity and ill health. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare lists the following increased risks of cancers in obese people:-
MenWomen
Cancer% Increase RiskCancer%increase Risk
Prostate23Uterus178
Leukaemia43Kidney110
Bowel53Bowel35
Liver128Liver48
Gallbladder76Breast71

Statistics such as these are a stark reminder of the importance of maintaining a healthy weight level. Children must be given every opportunity to have a healthy body. In order to get their family on track to a healthy lifestyle parents need to learn how to feed themselves and their family good nutrition.
A simple way to improve nutrition is to add raw fruit and vegetables to family diets. These are foods that have no preservatives or added color. They provide plenty of vitamins, mineral, antioxidants, fiber, water and trace elements. (All necessary for good nutrition.) They look appetizing and have high water content. They have a firm texture which means we need to chew them well. This aids the digestive system. The body quickly and easily processes them. This means less work for the digestive system.
They are natural, that is, not processed and pre-packaged with extra chemicals. They are pure energy – living foods. Look for different colored vegetables and fruits when you shop. Experiment with ones you have never tasted. Visit a market for more variety and fresher foods. Eat at least one from each group every day.

Red/Purple Group includes tomatoes, watermelon, berries, cherries, and grapes
Orange/Yellow includes carrots, sweet potato, squash, mangoes, cantaloupe, apricots, oranges, mandarins pineapples and many stone fruits
Yellow/green among this group are avocado, spinach, beans, peppers, corn, beans, broccoli, green leafy vegetables,
White/green some in this group asparagus, celery, garlic, leeks, mushrooms, pears
For more information read, “What Color is Your Food” by Dr D Heber.

Experiment with adding these to your daily diet. Of course a balanced diet must also include daily servings of dairy, whole grains and protein. Start with the simple idea of adding more fresh fruit and vegetables to the family’s daily food intake. This simple step will have fantastic and long lasting impact on your health.

About the Author

Cheryl Haining is a skin care, body shape and nutrition coach. She has her own successful business. Her mission statement is to ensure everyone reaches his or her optimum body shape, size and condition. Contact Cheryl at www.uloseweight.net To learn how to create an income stream from home visit
www.keybusinesstips.info

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Carrots : The master key for healthy living!
Jasdeep Singh

It slows ageing, promotes healthy vision, has anti-cancer properties, increases immunity towards various chronic diseases. Yes, carrot does it all for you. This natural health booster enhances your health on various grounds and fills in the essential vitamins to your body like pro-vitamin A, B3, C and E. Other important advantages of carrot besides those mentioned above includes preventing various gastrointestinal complaints like colic and ulcers and it also prevents heart attacks and cancer by reduces cholestrol levels as it has high soluble fibre levels.

. Tip: Carrots are more nutritous when eaten cooked. The valuable nutrients lie either in or just beneath the skin.

See how Carrot works?

Beta-carotene, the main content of carrots, is maily responsible for improving your vision. The vitamin A forms a purple pigment called rhodopsin the eye needs to see in dim light. Hence, if we dont get adequate vitamin A, it can lead to night blindedness.

Beta-carotene also acts as an anti-oxidant which prevents free radicals responsible for cancer and heart attacks. A study at Texas and Chicago states that men with higher content of Beta-carotene are 37% less prone to heart related diseases. Carrot has one more anti-oxidant called alpha-carotene which reduces the risk of lung cancer.

. Tip: Cut off the leafy tops of the carrot before storing them. The leafy tops suck the vitamins from the main body robbing its nutritions. You can make best use of carrots by adding it to your favourite juices.

Wow, see the magic of carrot which is so easily available and cheap too. So start having atleast 50 gm of Carrot daily to fill in the required amount.

Get More Diet Tips at http://www.weightloss-health.com/Diet%20Tips.htm

About the Author

About the Author

Jasdeep : for http://weightloss-health.com/ your complete and most comprehensive family guide on Health.

Also get free tips and tricks on weight loss and a chance to go through other informative articles targetting various health issues at http://weightloss-health.com/Articles.htm

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Can Pizza Actually Be Healthy For You?
Ryan Cote

This article may come as a surprise to you, especially if you
follow a healthy and nutritious diet…

It’s about pizza, the weakness of many people including me. I
love pizza- always have. I make sure I eat it in moderation, but
it’s still one of my favorite foods.

Now there’s good news for pizza lovers.

According to Men’s Health magazine, research concludes that
pizza can be good for you. It’s important to point out, however,
that we’re talking about real pizza- not the kind you get from
Pizza Hut, Dominoes or the frozen food section of your
supermarket. By real, I mean pizza made with real crust, real
tomato sauce and pure olive oil.

According to Men’s Health, scientists writing in the European
Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating pizza can reduce
your risk of a heart attack. In a 4-year study of nearly 1,000
Italians, those who ate pizza at least once a week were 30
percent less likely to experience a heart attack than the folks
who didn’t partake of the pie.

This is contributed to pizza’s cardio protective ingredients,
including olive oil and tomato sauce. And here’s a way to make
the pizza even healthier: top it with vegetables, part-skim
cheese and use whole wheat crust. You’ll then have a meal that
is actually good for you.

Can you get this kind of a pizza in a pizzeria? You might be
able to find some that offer whole wheat crust, but I doubt
you’ll find any that offer part-skim cheese. What you can do is
buy the ingredients at your local grocery store and make the
pizza yourself. Speaking from experience, this can be a fun
thing!

Enjoy the experience of making your own pizza and savoring a
nutritious meal. After all, feeding your body with nutritious
meals is the number one thing you can do for better health.

About the author:

Ryan Cote is the owner of SimpleHealth123.com, a website
supplying aging
healthy products and a free 4-day health e-mail course, and
GetHealthyReport.com, home of the anti-aging product,
Get Healthy!

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