Advice on choosing health food and healthy foods and reading nutrition labels
Chris Robertson

Health food doesn’t need a definition, does it? We all know what
health food is it’s yogurt and granola, whole-grain cereal and
organically grown vegetables and fruit. It’s 100% natural, no
preservatives or dyes, unadulterated, pure. When you put all
that together, you should have healthy food, yet all too often,
what’s marketed as health food these days barely classifies as
food, let alone health food.

Take a look at one of our favorite health food choices – yogurt.
It hit supermarket shelves in the early seventies, though it had
been available before that in health food stores and
restaurants. Real yogurt has two ingredients: milk (whole, skim
or low fat) and live yogurt cultures. That’s health food –
calcium, vitamin D, vitamin A, protein. Next time you’re at the
supermarket, take a look at the dairy case. You’ll find row
after row of hyper-sweetened brightly colored rainbow swirled
and candy-sprinkled yogurt packaged in ways that appeal to our
littlest consumers – children. Millions of parents buy the
enticing packages, secure that because it’s yogurt, they’re
buying food that’s healthy for their children.

One look at the label, though, and it’s clear that these kiddy
yogurts (as well as most of the yogurt that’s marketed to
adults) are a far cry from heath food. Some of the most popular
yogurts for children contain anywhere from 3 to 10 added
teaspoons of sugar. Considering how many teaspoons of yogurt are
in a single serving, you might as well hand your child the sugar
bowl. In addition, most yogurts include “natural” ingredients
that have little to do with health food. Ingredients like pectin
(to thicken yogurt), carrageenan (a seafood extract that gives
some yogurts their body, and annatto (for color) add little
nutritionally to yogurt. They’re in the mix to serve one main
purpose: to help yogurt survive its trip from the factory to
your table.

You’ll find the same situation with other foods that originally
made their debut as health foods in the seventies. Granola has
become granola bars with chocolate chips and gooey caramel.
Whole wheat flour is bleached and denuded of its flavorful
kernels. Sunflower seeds are roasted in oil and salted. Even
brown rice comes in the instant variety.

Healthy food not health food

The secret to feeding your family (and yourself) a healthful
diet of healthy food is to read the labels. The United States
Food & Drug Administration has laid out strict guidelines for
nutritional labeling of all food products. The nutrition label
will tell you all you need to know to choose real health foods.
Some things to keep in mind when reading nutrition labels for
health foods:

* In the ingredient’s portion of the nutrition label,
ingredients are listed in order by amount. The ingredient that’s
listed first is the main ingredient, followed by the next
largest amount, etc.

* The nutrition facts label must list each of the required
nutrients even if the food provides 0% of the recommended daily
value.

* The nutrition facts label must list what portion of the food’s
calories is derived from fat, from sugar, from protein and from
carbohydrates. It will also break down the fat into saturated
and unsaturated fat.

Reading labels on everything you feed your family is the best
way to tell whether a food is really a health food – or just
masquerading as one.

About the author:

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon
International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on
the web. Visit this Food Website
and Majon’s Food
directory.

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If you want to help your teenage kids to lose weight, here are some tips that may prove helpful:

1. Make losing weight a family affair. Rather than just concentrating on your teen, try to adopt healthy habits as a family. Eating healthier foods at home and getting more exercise is good for the whole family. Try to encourage family members to eat more fruits, veggies and whole grains.

Prepare menus that contain healthy food groups to ensure that your family is getting all the nutrients that they need. Practice leaving junk food when you do your shopping at the grocery store. Healthy foods may sometimes cost you more, but it’ is worth investing in as it concerns the health of your whole family.

2. Allow occasional treats as a break from the usual. That late-night pizza with friends or nachos at the mall doesn’t need to be totally excluded from your teen’s healthy-eating plan. Suggest a healthier alternative instead such as breadstick and marinara sauce instead of garlic bread dripping in butter and cheese.

You can also opt for ordering a shared snack instead of a full-size order to lessen the portions. You can let your teen know that he or she can also have control over his or her eating choices and an occasional indulgence is acceptable. A trend towards developing healthier habits is what really matters rather than banishing your kid’s favorite food totally.

3. Plan fun and highly active family outings, such as regular walks at the park or weekend visits to a local recreation center. Such activities can greatly help keep your kids stay active. And not only that, such activities can also be a great way for the whole family to bond and enjoy each one’s company.

4. Be positive. With your kids being overweight, their feelings should also be put into consideration. How they feel about themselves can affect their motivation to lose weight. As a parent, you can actually influence how your kids will feel about themselves.

You must help them realize that being overweight doesn’t inevitably lead to a lifetime of having low self-esteem. Your acceptance of their condition is critical. Try to listen to your teen’s concerns. Provide positive comment on his or her efforts, skills and accomplishments. You must always make it clear that your love and concern is unconditional and that it is not dependent on weight loss.

This will make them more secure as well as confident in trying to motivate himself or herself from losing weight. You can help your teen learn healthy ways of being more open in express his or her feelings.

5. Eat breakfast. This is usually a thing that is lightly taken in many families. But breakfast can really help your teen from keeping off those extra pounds. It may take some constant urging for your teen to get up early for breakfast, but always bear in mind that it is important.

A well-balanced nutritious breakfast at the start of the day will jump-start your teen’s metabolism. This meal will be able to give him or her energy to face the day ahead. Even better, feeling full each morning before going out of the house may keep your teen from eating too much during the rest of the day.

These are just a few of the many things that you can do to help your teen from getting rid of excess pounds and keeping it off. It may take a bit of work on your part. But the rewards can be seen in knowing that your kids are learning to live a healthier lifestyle and grow and develop into healthy adults.

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Healthy eating is a way of balancing the food you eat to keep your body in great health. With healthy eating, you’ll have energy all day, get the vitamins and minerals you need, stay strong for activities you enjoy, and maintain a healthy weight.

Below, you’ll find tips designed to help you with healthy eating.

1. Don’t skip any meals
Eating 3 meals with snacks in between is the ideal way to maintain both energy and a healthy weight. When you skip meals and get hungry, you’re more than likely to choose foods that aren’t very good for you.

If you are eating away from home, take food with you or know where you can buy healthy food from.

2. Learn about how to prepare foods
Instead of deep frying, try grilling, stir frying, microwaving, baking, and even boiling. You should also try fresh or even dried herbs and spices to add flavor to your food. Before you eat any type of meat, be sure to trim the fat and skin off of
it.

3. Avoid a lot of sugar
Drinks that contain sugar are a major source of empty energy. What this means, is that the drinks contain a lot of energy that your body may not need, and it doesn’t contain any vitamins or minerals. If you plan to drink sugary drinks, don’t go overboard – limit yourself to 1 a day.

4. Avoid thinking about diets
There are no good food nor any bad foods. All food can be a part of a healthy diet, when eaten in moderation. You don’t need to buy any low carb, fat free, or even diet foods, as these foods normally have lots of other added ingredients to replaces the carbohydrates or fat.

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Fast food is a big part of modern life these days, making it very hard to teach a child how he or she should eat healthy. The cheapest and easiest foods are those that are normally the least healthy. If you give your child the choice between healthy food
and junk food, you normally won’t like the results.

Even though it isn’t possible to get a child to like all healthy foods, there are some ways to get your child to try and hopefully like at least a few of them. You can be as creative as you like, as getting kids to eat healthy foods can be a little harder than
you may think.

– Sneak the healthy food in. Even though it would be great if your kid understood the importance of fruits and vegetables, this isn’t always possible. If you can’t get them to eat good food willingly, there are ways to sneak them in, such as making
muffins out of bananas or apples, or pizza with spinach on it.

– Call fruits and vegetables by funny names. You can refer to broccoli as “trees”, making them more fun to eat. There are many different names you can call fruits and vegetables, even making up your own if you prefer. Most kids prefer to eat foods that sound fun.

– Make the foods taste better. Ranch dressing is great for broccoli, while peanut butter is a great topping for celery. There are several combinations for vegetables that can make them taste much better. You can let your child pick a topping for a vegetable, even if it’s something you wouldn’t normally like yourself.

– Dress the vegetables up. Just as much as calling them names help kids eat healthy foods, making them look funny also helps. You can do this by making funny designs on the plate, or setting them up to look like people. Although some parents don’t like
their kids playing with their food, sometimes it helps to get them to eat healthier.

There are several ways to make your kids eat healthier, but to make them enjoy it also has to be fun as well. This isn’t always an easy task, because kids normally don’t like foods that are good for them. It can however, be done with a bit of creativity. Hopefully, doing this will help your child develop a love of healthy foods for the
rest of their lives.

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