Get Your Baby Off to a Healthy Start–Begin Before It’s Born!
Larry Denton

Did you know that every year nearly one million American women deliver babies without receiving adequate medical attention? Or that babies born to mothers who received no prenatal care are three times more likely to be born at low birth weight, and five times more likely to die, than those whose mothers received prenatal care?

If you are pregnant, there are programs in your state, that can help you deliver a healthy baby. These programs offer medical care, support and advice for pregnant women, and information about health insurance and other services you and your baby may need. For information about prenatal services in your community call (toll free) 1-800-311-BABY (1-800-311-2229). For information in Spanish, call 1-800-504-7081. Or to gain the information you need to have a healthy baby contact your state or local health department.

There are five vitally important things you can do to have a healthy pregnancy and deliver a healthy child. First, see a doctor or other health care provider from the start of your pregnancy. Prenatal care is medical attention given to the expectant mother and her developing baby. It also involves the mother’s caring for herself by following the health care provider’s advice, eating nutritious meals, getting plenty of rest, exercising sensibly, and avoiding things that could harm her or her baby.

Secondly, don’t drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or take drugs during your pregnancy. There is simply NO safe level of alcohol consumption if you are pregnant. One drink may be too many, since any alcohol you drink enters both your and your baby’s bloodstream. Alcohol usage during pregnancy may cause fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), in which babies suffer from physical, behavioral, and mental problems.

As for drugs, even some legal, over-the-counter medications–antihistamines or pain medications that contain ibuprofen–can be harmful to a developing fetus. Don’t take ANY medication without first consulting with your health care provider. Be careful of vitamins, as well. Although you may need more iron, calcium, or folic acid, too much of other nutrients can harm your baby. Again, consult your doctor.

A pregnant smoker is at higher risk for problems during her pregnancy. Babies born to mothers who smoke have a lower average birthrate, an increased rate of premature birth, and are at greater risk of death from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), than babies born to non-smokers.

Studies have shown that women who quit smoking early in their pregnancies can reduce the risk of damage to their baby. Even quitting in the last month of pregnancy can help your baby by increasing the amount of oxygen available to him/her at the time of delivery.

The third crucial thing you can do to have a healthy baby is to eat healthy foods–particularly fruits, vegetables, low-fat milk, eggs, cheese and whole grains. A healthy baby really starts with healthy foods. When you are pregnant, everything you eat or drink nourishes your baby as well. That is why it is so very important to eat a healthy diet. A pregnant woman only needs about 300 extra calories a day to meet her needs and provide her baby the necessary nutrients. Therefore, your goal should be to highly nutritious foods while avoiding excessive calories, fat, sugar, and sodium.

A fourth way to help have a healthy baby is to take care of YOUR health and exercise sensibly and regularly. Exercise promotes muscle tone, strength and endurance–three qualities that can help you better carry the weight you gain during pregnancy,
prepare you for the stress of labor, and make it easier to get back in shape after your delivery. You can’t beat walking or swimming or overall fitness during pregnancy. Again, as with most pregnancy related topics, check with your doctor before starting any exercise routine.

Finally, have your baby checked by a doctor or health care provider right after birth and throughout childhood. It is important to keep your health care appointments for both you and your baby, to get the proper medical attention you may both require.

Best wishes for an uneventful, healthy pregnancy and a happy, healthy new “bundle of joy” in the near future.

About the Author

Larry Denton is a retired history teacher having taught 33 years at Hobson High in Hobson, Montana. He is currently V.P. of Elfin Enterprises, Inc., an Internet business providing valuable information on a variety of timely topics. For a ob/gyn office full of advice, resources and suggestions about delivering a healthy baby, visit http://www.PregnancySense.com

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General Guide to Healthy Ethnic Dining Out
Dr. John Rumberger

Chinese:
Look for: stir-fry or steamed dishes with lots of vegetables, steamed rice (brown if possible over white), poached fish, and hot and sour soups
Avoid: fatty spareribs, fried wontons, egg rolls, shrimp toast and fried rice

French:
Look for: steamed shellfish, roasted poultry, salad with dressing on the side, and sauces with a wine or tomato base
Avoid: high-fat sauces (bchamel, hollandaise, barnaise), croissants, pate, and rich pastries

Greek:
Look for: plaki (fish cooked with tomatoes, onions and garlic) and kabobs (broiled on a spit with vegetables)
Avoid: dishes with large amounts of butter or oil and baklava

Italian:
Look for: marinara, marsala, clam sauce and past primavera with vegetables and a small amount of oil. Simply prepared fish and chicken dishes are also good choices
Avoid: pasta stuffed with cheese or fatty meat and dishes with greasy or butter sauces

Japanese:
Look for: steamed rice, soba or udon noodles, yaki sobra (stir-fried noodles), shumai (steamed dumplings), tofu, sukiyaki, kayaku goban (vegetables and rice)
Avoid: shrimp or vegetable tempura, chicken katsu, tonkatsu (fried pork), shrimp agemono and fried tofu

Mexican:
Look for: fish, shrimp, and chicken with salsa made of tomato, chilies and onion. Order corn or flour tortillas as long as they are not deep fat fried.
Avoid: dishes with large amounts of cheese, sour cream, guacamole and refried beans cooked in lard.

Americans eat out now more than ever and this is likely not to change. Here are some tips in eating out:

Don’t skip a meal on the day you are going out to eat
Eat a light snack (e.g. an apple, an orange, or a slice of low fat cheese) an hour or so before the meal thus avoiding overeating
Choose a restaurant that offers a variety of food including low fat options
Order more plant based foods – pick salads and deserts that emphasize fruits or vegetables; look for whole-grain pasta, bread, rice, and cereal
Order baked, not fried; grilled, not greasy
Ask about substitutions of lower fat, lower carbohydrate food as side dishes
Taste your food before adding salt, butter, sauces, or dressings
Order dressings on the side of your salads
Substitute healthier condiments such as mustard for mayonnaise, or pepper or lemon juice instead of salt
Resist the desire to “supersize” your meals
Make the salad your fist course with plenty of veggies and fruit
Eat slowly
Order food that requires work such as crab legs
Order water, sparkling water or mineral water with a twist of lemon – it’s filling and has no calories (most diets insist on at least 8 glasses of water per day for a reason!)
Finish the main disk before you think about ordering desert
For dessert consider lower-fat, lower-calorie options such as fresh fruit, angel food cake or sherbet

About the Author

I have dedicated my life to studying the heart and the blood that pumps throughout the human body. I have spent much of the last thirty years doing research and spending valuable time with patients, trying to better understand the heart.

My experience in the field is extensive, and includes achieving my doctorate in 1976 (Bio-Engineering/ Fluid Dynamics/ Applied Mathematics) from The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio.

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Fruit for Breakfast The Secret to a Healthy Life
Robb Ksiazek

Do you want more energy? How about more of the vitamins, minerals and enzymes that your body craves? Try eating fruit for breakfast! Fresh fruit apples, grapefruit, strawberries, cherries, oranges, kiwi, melon, and grapes all count. In fact, any fruit works and there are so many to choose from. Eating fruit for breakfast will get you on the road to having a healthier body right away without having to pump a lot of iron at the gym or take sketchy supplements.

Why diet on fruit for breakfast you ask? Well, to make it simple, fruit in its raw form is exactly what your body needs for energy. It is easy to digest and the sugar from fruit (glucose) is in the form that your body can easily turn into energy. Instead of your body putting a lot of energy towards digestion and turning the food into a useable form of fuel, it is already in an easily digestible form. The energy goes straight to you. Eating nothing but fruit until lunchtime however much you want, is a sure fire way to lose weight and become more healthy, almost immediately.

How about a glass of juice is that the same as eating an orange? Not really and here is why. Most juice that you purchase at the grocery store is pasteurized. This means that it is heated to a high temperature to kill any bacteria and make the shelf life longer. During this process of heating, many of the wonderful enzymes in the juice are destroyed. Not to mention that many juices are filled with preservatives and sweeteners and are made from concentrates not the same as eating a fresh orange to your stomach or body! Youre better off with the real thing!

Try making a smoothie here is a recipe that I find very refreshing.

• 5 to 6 fresh strawberries
• 1/3 fresh cantaloupe
• 1/2 cup of fresh pineapple
• 1 fresh kiwi (peeled)
• About 1 cup of orange juice not from concentrate

Blend all ingredients until smooth and then enjoy! Making these delicious treats are a healthy way to start the day, improve your health, and lose weight!

If youre not sure about eating fruit for breakfast try it and see how wonderful you feel. If you arent convinced, eat a normal breakfast eggs, pancakes, or a bowl of cereal and see how you feel after eating fruit for a week. It will probably shock you with how tired and lethargic this food makes you feel in the mornings. So, get your metabolism started the right way in the morning enjoy a bowl of fresh fruit and start to feel better the old-fashioned way! Bon Appetite!

About the Author

Robb Ksiazek is a successful author and publisher for the informative Body-Mass-Index-4U.com. He believes in simple solutions in the quest for a fulfilled life through mind, body, and soul.

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For A Healthy Living: Just Enjoy A Variety Of Vegetables
Rene Graeber

Eating healthy is important for everyone – and I bet: you know
that already…

Plus: one of the most important keys to eating a better diet is
eating more fruits and vegetables. I bet again: you knew that
too. But:

Many people are unsure how to use vegetables more effectively as
part of their diet, but it may be easier than you think to
provide yourself and your family with healthy, nutritious meals
at a great prices!

One way to create wonderful meals that are healthier than ever
is to take a stroll through the produce section of your local
grocery store.

Most major grocery store chains have huge produce sections,
containing a wonderful variety of fruits and vegetables from all
corners of the world.

Trying a variety of different fruits and vegetables is a great
way to keep your meals interesting and exciting in addition to
nutritious. It is all too easy to become bored when trying to
follow a healthy diet, and boredom can lead people to abandon
their healthy habits.

Avoiding diet burnout is important to the long term survival of
even the most sensible eating plan.

So if you’ve never had vegetables like collard greens, asparagus
or kale before, why not give them a try. Not only can trying new
things allow you to make great new discoveries, but it can
increase your level of fitness as well. Leafy green vegetables
like spinach, broccoli and kale are rich sources of many
important vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients.

Another great way to increase the variety of vegetables you
enjoy is to combine fresh, frozen and canned vegetables. While
fresh vegetables are generally better and healthier, frozen and
canned vegetables can be great alternatives for when the fresh
varieties are out of season.

One of the best things about fresh fruits and vegetables is the
great variety of flavors, colors and textures available. Eating
a variety of different colored vegetables and fruits does much
more than provide much needed variety. It also provides a great
variety of nutrients.

For instance, yellow and orange fruits and vegetables tend to be
very high in beta carotene, while green leafy vegetables are
often great sources of calcium and other important nutrients. So
why not spice up your plain old green salad with a splash of
color in the form of yellow peppers or orange carrot slices?

Many people wrongly think that they can make up for a crappy
diet by using vitamin and mineral supplements. This mistaken
belief is apparently very widespread, since sales of these
supplements continue to break records.

When considering vitamin and mineral supplements, however, it is
important to remember that foods contain many different
minerals, trace elements and other micronutrients.

That means that for every nutrient that has been discovered and
synthesized, there may be ten, twenty or more of these
micronutrients that have yet to be fully understood. That is why
no vitamin supplement, no matter how complete, can truly replace
a healthy, balanced diet.

In addition, vitamin and mineral supplements are quite a bit
more expensive than a good selection of vegetables and fruits,
and not nearly as tasty.

When changing your diet and eating for a healthier lifestyle, it
is important to educate yourself about eating right, and go
choose the right fruits and vegetables for your tastes. After
all, the best diet is the one you can follow for the rest of
your life.

One of the best ways to start eating a healthy diet is to choose
the freshest fruits and vegetables. Not only do fresh fruits and
vegetables taste better, but they are less expensive and more
nutritious as well. Choosing a variety of in season fruits and
vegetables every week is a great way to enjoy healthy and varied
meals.

Of course your favorite fruits and vegetables will not always be
in season, so it will sometimes be necessary to supplement those
fresh fruits and vegetables with canned and frozen varieties.
When choosing canned fruits, try to avoid those packed in syrup;
choose canned fruits packed in fruit juice or water instead.
They will be healthier and contain less sugar.

Adding fresh fruit, such as apple slices, mandarin oranges,
nectarines and the like is a great way to make plain salads more
interesting and more delicious. Combining fruits and vegetables
is a great way to enhance your nutrition as well.

About the author:

When it comes to vigorous energetic youthful health your very
first challenge is to separate the hype, theories, and outright
‘BS’ from proven strategies and tested programs – just visit
Rene Graebers website at http://www.gesund-heilfasten.de

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