Eating Healthy - Easy as ABC

Our bodies need a variety of vitamins and minerals to stay healthy! Fruits and vegetables contain essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber that may help protect you from chronic diseases. Compared with people who consume a diet with only small amounts of fruits and vegetables, those who eat more generous amounts as part of a healthful diet are likely to have reduced risk of chronic diseases, including stroke and perhaps other cardiovascular diseases, and even certain cancers.

Getting your proper level of vitamins is easier when you enjoy eating healthy foods! Here are just of few of the vitamins your body needs to stay healthy:

Vitamin A helps keep your skin healthy! It will also help keep your eyes healthy and able to adjust to dim light.

Its easy to get enough vitamin A eating dark green and deep yellow vegetables (such as broccoli, collards and other green leafy vegetables, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and winter squash). Whole milk also has some vitamin A!

The B Vitamins: Thiamin ( Vitamin B1) helps body cells obtain energy from food and keep your nerves healthy. It also promotes a healthy appetite and digestion.
Food sources include: meat, poultry, fish, dried beans and peas.

Riboflavin (B2) Helps keep your eyes healthy and your vision clear. Vitamin B2 is most easily found in milk, liver, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and green leafy vegetables.

Niacin (B3) Maintains health of your skin, tongue, digestive tract, and nervous system. You get vitamin B3 from liver, meat, poultry, and fish, peanuts and peanut butter, dried beans and dried peas, and enriched and whole-grain breads and cereals

Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) Helps form cementing substances such as collagen that hold body cells together - strengthening your blood vessels and hastening healing of wounds and bones. Vitamin C also increases your resistance to infections. It helps your body absorb iron.

We get vitamin C from the following food sources:
cantaloupe, grapefruit, grapefruit juice, honeydew melon, kiwi fruit, mandarin orange sections, mango, orange juice, papaya, strawberries, tangerines, asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, sweet green and red peppers, and sweet potatoes.

Eating Healthy Foods is as easy as ABC. Get enough of the vitamins your body needs when you enjoy eating a variety of healthy foods!

Eating Healthy Fats and Losing Weight!

Many of us fail to get enough healthy fats in our daily diet. Not the kid you'll find in the sack of fat you pick up at the drive-thru window. Healthy fats - like omega-3 fats are seriously lacking in the average diet.

University researchers reveal a moderate fat diet - with 30 percent of calories coming from healthy fats - can actually help you lose weight! Eat more healthy fats and drop those extra pounds for good! Heart healthy fats like those found in salmon, walnuts, and olive oil help you feel full longer. The trick is to eat the right kind of fat to both satisfy your appetite and boost weight loss.

To lose weight and get lean, you need to eat the right kind of fat. Avoid saturated and trans fats (which are found in red meat, full-fat dairy products, and many packaged foods). Instead, choose monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Read the food labels. If you see the words "partially hydrogenated" in the food nutrition label - put it back on the shelf!

Opt instead for foods with healthy fats. Use extra virgin olive oil ( a teaspoon or so will be plenty ) in your vinegar and oil dressing! Add some chopped walnuts on your salad for an extra bit of omega-3 fats! Add a quarter or half of an avocado to your salad. There are plenty of ways to sneak healthy fats into your daily healthy eating choices!

Fat has about 10 calories per gram. So, fat is a more concentrated energy source than protein or carbohydrates. Be careful and watch your total calories if you want to eat more healthy fats and lose weight!

SuperFoods for Feeding Your Brain

The old maxim - "You are what you eat," may be more truth than fiction! Scientific research on certain so-called "brain foods" reveals some chemicals in the foods we enjoy go right to work in our brains! Some compounds are known to produce a beneficial effect on our brain activity!

Chocolate can lift your mood! And cocoa - the good stuff in chocolate - can improve blood vessel function, boosting circulation throughout the body and blood flow to the brain. The good stuff in cocoa may even help reduce the formation of damaging clots, which can lead to heart disease or even stroke.

Walnuts are well known to feed your brain. The United States Food and Drug Administration agrees that eating just 1.5 ounces per day of walnuts as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease. Walnuts also help maintain elasticity in your arteries. Healthy arteries enable your heart to function more efficiently!

And no healthy brain-food story would be complete without some mention of cold water fish. Salmon - that wonderful and delicious source of healthy omega-3 fats - feeds your brain and nerve cells! Try some grilled salmon or tasty salmon patties at your next barbecue.

Flaxseeds are another healthy source of omega-3 fats. Flaxseed meal and flour also offers a good supply of fiber that can help lower your cholesterol. Sprinkle some ground flaxseeds in with your morning yogurt or add to a healthy breakfast shake!

The purple skin of eggplants contains a flavonoid compound that may help protect brain cells from free-radical damage. Other phytonutrients found in eggplants can help lower your cholesterol and keep your blood vessels healthy!

Give your brain - and your body - the healthy nutrients they need to perform at their maximum! Keep eating healthy foods and have a healthy, Happy 4th of July!

Summer is time for Eating Healthy

Eating healthy foods is easy in the good old Summer time! Summer brings out a colorful and delicious bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables to bless our palates! Enjoy your Summer with a healthy abundance of fresh vegetables and fruits!

The Southwest and Mexico are an excellent source of wonderful meals! This family favorite comes to us from our cousins out in southern California! These tasty veggie wraps offer up a full day's supply of vitamin C and over half of the fiber most of us need! The avocado delivers some healthy fat! These veggie wraps will fill you up!

Try this easy and inexpensive treat for your next gathering of friends and family -

Here's all you'll need -

2 seeded and chopped green or red bell peppers
1 peeled and sliced onion
1 can (15 ounce) drained and rinsed black beans, 50% less salt
2 chopped mangos
1 lime, juiced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 peeled and diced avocado
4 - 10 inch flour tortillas, fat free

In your favorite stainless saute pan, sauté bell peppers and onion for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add beans, stir well. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine mangos, lime juice, cilantro, and avocado. Reserve 1/2 mixture for topping.

3. Fill warmed tortillas with 1/4 bean mixture and 1/4 mango mixture.

4. Fold ends of the tortillas over. Roll up to make wraps. Top veggie bean wraps with remaining mango mixture.

Dieting is Easier When You Love the Food. Delicious meals shipped to your door. It's a proven strategy that works!

Cutting Calories with a Healthy Lentil Stew!

Lentils are inexpensive, nutritious, and very easy to prepare! Here's an easy lentils stew sure to satisfy your taste buds:

3 cups of lentils
2 cups of chopped potatoes
2 or 3 large carrots chopped
3 chopped tomatoes
1 hot pepper
1 small onion chopped
2 gloves garlic chopped
1 can (16 ounce) of tomato sauce
1 tsp cumin
1/2 cup of your favorite wine ( optional )
1/4 cup red vinegar
olive oil
1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach leaves
1 can low-salt baby peas
salt ( use sparingly - or to your taste! )
ground pepper

Soak and cook lentils till soft. Drain and rinse, set aside.

Sautee onions, garlic, hot pepper, and cumin in olive oil. Add in the wine if you like.

Add potatoes and carrots, cover with water, bring to boil.

Add tomatoes and peas and cook till potatoes are soft.

Add lentils and tomato sauce.

Salt and pepper to taste. Add more water if it's too thick, or a little red vinegar if it's too sweet.

Add more cumin or hot sauce if you like it really spicy.

Add in the chopped fresh spinach leaves and remove from the heat.

Enjoy with family and friends! They'll soon be asking for seconds!

Cutting calories is easy when you enjoy eating healthy foods!

Dieting is Easier When You Love the Food. Delicious meals shipped to your door. It's a proven strategy that works!

Picnic time

Summer means picnics and what family gathering would be complete without a nice bowl of cool potato salad! Here is an easy country potato salad sure to please your guests this Memorial Day weekend:

Here's All you need:

3 medium baking potatoes

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup minced onion

1 cup frozen peas

1 Tablespoon prepared mustard

1/2 cup mayonnaise, lowfat

1/2 cup yogurt, nonfat plain

fresh cracked black pepper to taste

lettuce and tomato

So easy to make:

Wash the potatoes, leave skin on and cut in bite-size chunks.

Place in pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, lower to simmer and cook uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 20 mintes.

Drain in colander and sprinkle lightly with cold water.

In the mean time, put the rest of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Drain potatoes well and add to the bowl.

Mix well and refrigerate until ready to use.

Garnish with fresh lettuce and sliced tomatoes.

Happy Summer. Keep eating Healthy!

The Skinny on Fat

There are several types of fat:

Saturated fat. This fat is usually solid at room and refrigerator temperatures. It is found in greatest amounts in foods from animals, such as fatty cuts of meat, poultry with the skin, whole-milk dairy products, lard, and some vegetable oils, including coconut and palm oils. Saturated fat increases cholesterol in the blood more than anything else in the diet. Keep your intake of saturated fat low.

Unsaturated fat. This fat is usually liquid at room and refrigerator temperatures. Unsaturated fats occur in vegetable oils, most nuts, olives, avocados, and fatty fish, such as salmon.

There are 2 types of unsaturated fat—monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. When used instead of saturated fat, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats help lower your blood cholesterol levels. Monounsaturated fat is found in greatest amounts in foods from plants, including olive, canola, sunflower, and peanut oils. Polyunsaturated fat is found in greatest amounts in foods from plants, including safflower, sunflower, corn, soybean, and cottonseed oils, and many kinds of nuts. A type of polyunsaturated fat is called omega-3 fatty acids. These are the "good" fats. Good sources of these healthy omega-3 fatty acids are some fish, such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel.

Enjoy wild caught, cold water salmon or other heart healthy fish several times a week! Or - if you just plain don't like fish - take a salmon oil or omega-3 supplement!

And lastly - the bad stuff - Trans fatty acids. If you want to lose weight or live longer - avoid these trans fats. Foods high in trans fatty acids tend to raise blood cholesterol. These foods include those high in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, such as many hard margarines and shortenings. Foods with a high amount of these ingredients include some commercially fried foods and some bakery goods. ( Yes, fellow donut lovers - that includes us! )

You can enjoy some fats in a healthy eating plan. Keep eating healthy foods and enjoy some of your favorite foods which serve up fat. Just try to stick to the healthy fats - the omega-3 fats. Use more Olive oil. Enjoy a handful of walnuts now and then. Eat more heart-healthy fish. Remember the quickest way to lose weight is keep eating healthy foods and get plenty of exercise!