Les Health Blog

A healthy diet helps you to maintain a healthy lifestyle. However, it takes lots of efforts to maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine. Many people think that they can eat whatever they want if they exercise regularly. But, it’s simply a myth. Your diet is reflected on your body and physical and mental health. Neglecting your eating habits may prove fatal to you. In fact, your poor eating habits or tendency to overeat may result in becoming obese and prone to various physical or psychological situations such as depression, cancer, diabetes, and poor digestion. Therefore, it is important that you follow guidelines as listed below to maintain a healthy lifestyle:

1) Know your calorie intake

An average person should have at least 2,000 calories in a day. However, this count should go up if you are a sportsperson or go to the gym in order to meet your energy requirement.

Your exact calorie intake is directly dependent on you gender, weight, height, and physical activity.

2) Eat different types of foods

Eat different types of foods including whole grains, proteins, fruits, and vegetables. Inability to have good amount of fruits and vegetables in your diet may result in various deficiencies.

3) Be a cautious buyer

Remember to check the food labels carefully when you shop for essential commodities. If a food item contains low amount of fat or sugar, it doesn’t mean that it is a healthier option for you. Many food manufacturers add various unhealthy ingredients to reduce fat, carbohydrates or sugar. Even a seemingly healthy food item may have been manufactured using a less healthy ingredient.

For example, you should check whether whole wheat flour is the first ingredient in a whole wheat or whole grain bread. Also, you can ask for nutritional facts of your meal when you order food in a restaurant.

4) Eat smaller meals

If you eat 2-3 larger meals a day, your blood sugar level increases, which is likely to cause weight gain. On the other hand eating 5-6 smaller meals everyday helps you boost your metabolism and get required energy and nutrients to meet energy requirements.

5) Avoid eating junk food

Junk food is bad for your physical as well as mental health. People having junk food are often reported to feel more depressed. Other than this, they are likely to face lots of health problems in their life. So, avoid eating junk foods just for their taste. If you find it difficult to curb your temptation to have junk food, you can indulge in occasional pleasures, but never allow it become a habit!

Other than following these five tips, you can research on Internet to get tips on developing a healthier regimen. You can even seek online health guidance to devise healthier eating plans. Inform you family and friends and seek their support in order to follow by a healthier dietary routine. Your eating habits will surely be reflected on your health, so plan your diet carefully.

Diabetes is a very serious illness and proper care is essential in remaining healthy. People with diabetes have to beware of what they eat and when they eat it. This particular illness is very sensitive and any little mistake can cause the blood sugar levels to go up tremendously. Very often, people who suffer from this disease are also stricken with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or obesity. Taking all of these things into consideration, a healthy diet for a diabetic is a must.

One healthy food habit for diabetics is to monitor their intake of carbohydrates. The proper carb intake is as important as the proper sugar intake. Carbs are simply a different type of sugar and they can impact the blood levels just the same as sugar in a cake or in candy. Some foods that should be served in controlled portions include pastas, potatoes, and breads. These foods along with other carb rich products raise blood sugar levels. A good diet for someone suffering from this illness should be low in sugar, fat, and carbohydrates.

Another thing to consider when you are a diabetic is to be consistent with meal times. Try not to let your blood sugars become too low by not eating or too high by eating too often. Also, when making a meal, be sure to understand what is written on the food label. Be aware of the ingredients, serving sizes, and any additives that a product may contain. Certain products may contain ingredients that will unknowingly add to your daily sugar intake. Therefore, it is important to be aware of what you are consuming. And for those people who are overweight and suffer from diabetes, it may be beneficial to consult with a doctor regarding any all natural supplements which aid in weight loss and blood sugar control. Natural supplements, along with all of the other tips presented earlier in this article, may aid in reducing the unpleasant side effects of diabetes.

Weight gain is a huge concern for many individuals today, especially for women. There are so many diets around, but yet it is difficult to maintain a healthy weight without starving yourself. This is mainly due to the fact that we have been led to believe that certain foods are good for us, and thus we fill up on those foods. But in reality these so-called healthy foods contribute to weight gain just like junk foods do.

Here is a short list of so-called healthy foods that contribute to weight-gain.

Meat

All meat is high in protein. But new studies have shown that a lot of these proteins can not be used by the body. Thus they become toxic in the body, and have to be neutralized before they can leave the body. If the body does not have enough antioxidants to neutralize these toxins the body simply stores them away in fat cells so that they cannot harm the body.

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Dairy

The dairy industry is correct when they say that milk contains a lot of calcium. But did you know that milk also contains a lot of fatty acids which need to be neutralized by calcium? And the calcium that it uses comes from your bones. Thus in the end you could end up losing more calcium as a result of drinking milk than you can obtain from it.

In order for you to absorb calcium you need lots of vitamin D. According to studies the majority of Americans are deficient in this essential vitamin. This basically means that if you are deficient in vitamin D, you will not be able to absorb enough calcium for strong bones or, to help neutralize the acids.

And guess what happens to all the acids that do not get neutralized and eliminated from the body…they get wrapped up in fat cells which the body stores away from the organs, so that they cannot harm the body.

Eggs

Eggs are touted for being rich with all the essential omega fatty acids. But did you know that they are also very high in cholesterol which contributes to weight gain, poor circulation and heart disease.

The good news is that you can obtain all the essential nutrients, proteins, calcium and healthy oils from a raw plant-based diet. Lots of leaf vegetables will provide you with proteins as well as calcium. Nuts and seeds will also provide you with proteins as well as all the essential fatty acids.

Copyright (c) 2010 Alison Withers

As if food labelling was not already confusing enough for consumers a group of experts on nutrition has recently called into question the basis on which many of us, particularly those concerned about their weight, choose what to buy and eat.

Calorie counting has been the main measure for assessing a food’s impact on weight loss for more than 200 years.

A calorie is the energy people get from food and eating more calories than our bodies can process increases our weight.

However, some nutritionists have suggested recently that the calorie counts in the food we buy could be up to 25% inaccurate, because the food’s texture, fibre content and how it is cooked all affect the amount of energy we get from it.

We also have to consider how our bodies process the food we eat. For instance, the body has to work harder to digest protein and fibre.

One solution that has been suggested by a company that specialises in helping people to lose weight is a system based on a daily allowance, taking into account a person’s gender, age, weight and height.

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Dietician Gaynor Bussell, of the British Diatetic Association, however, suggests that the most important thing is to eat healthily and that it is not a precise science to calculate this.

For some time nwo there has been disagreement about food labelling and the EU eventually earlier this year rejected the “traffic light” system that many consumers and food suppliers in the UK favour as being the easiest to understand.

Matters are now even more complicated since the UK’s new coalition government has shifted some of the responsibilities formerly carried out by the Food Standards Agency to Defra (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). The FSA remains responsible for nutrition and food safety, while Defra takes over responsibility for labelling policy on issues other than these two.

So how are shoppers to make decisions especially when the weekly food shop is likely to be done under some time pressure?

More information is available on the FSA website – of particular interest is the regulation of labelling of GM (Genetically Modified) ingredients, which advises that products such as meat, milk and eggs from animals fed on GM animal feed don’t need labelling, nor do products produced with GM technology.

It also warns consumers to be careful of terms like “farmhouse” and “traditional”. For example, it advises that “farmhouse” should only be used when the product has been made in a house on a farm or in the main dwelling of the farmer.

If the main issue for consumers is choosing healthy foods it is possible that the work of the Biopesticides Developers may in the future give some grounds for confidence.

The low-chem agricultural products these organisations are developing include biopesticides, biofungicides and yield enhancers that leave no residue in food or the land and help farmers produce healthy food in a sustainable way.

All of which would be better for the environment, the land and for human health.