Important Tips On Eating Right And Getting Proper Nutrition

By Kristy Walker

There are a lot of health-food nuts out there, always pushing their organic and microbiotic products on you. But is this food really nutritious? The truth is that nutrition is a wide-ranging issue, and you need to be informed about every type of food. Read this article for some great nutrition tips.

If you're almost full, don't eat anymore. This will stop your body from overeating, and let your body know it can begin the process of digesting. Eating until satisfied also helps you be the boss of your food, instead of the other way around.

Nutrition is a science with some objective elements. But there is also a subjective aspect to nutrition. While studying nutrition, you need to be mindful of your individual needs as well as rules that apply generally. For instance, a person with celiac disease needs to avoid certain grains, while these grains may be fine for other people.

Make healthy substitutions in your favorite recipes. If there are certain meals you love to eat, try modifying instead of eliminating them from your diet. Skim or 1 percent milk in place of whole, low-fat cheese and butter substitutes all can allow you to keep your favorite foods on the menu.

Eat dark leafy greens. These super foods, which include spinach, kale, chard, collards, and others, are extremely low in calories and high in vitamins and minerals. Among the many ways they improve your health, the vitamin-rich greens help maintain vision, reduce blood clotting, and strengthen bones. These highly-versatile greens can be eaten raw, sautd, or added to a soup.

Regularly consume foods containing calcium. Nuts, dried beans, soy milk, sardines, cheese, dark green vegetables, cheese and milk are all healthy foods that contain calcium. Bone and teeth strength are among the many benefits of consuming calcium. If your body does not get enough calcium, it can develop osteoporosis, which causes brittle bones. Osteoporosis develops slowly, and can be extremely painful. As the bones get softer and more brittle there is a risk of fracture.

Buy frozen vegetables to use in your meals. While fresh vegetables are great they can spoil quickly and some have very short growing seasons. Frozen vegetables are processed immediately after picking and freezing them keeps their nutritive value intact. Since frozen vegetables are already washed and cut you can easily add them to recipes.

Trying out healthy new recipes is a great way to keep your nutrition quest fun and interesting. You can learn to make your own protein bars with just a few simple ingredients such as protein powder, milk, and natural peanut butter. You can also make something like oatmeal pancakes, much more nutritious than traditional pancakes.

When considering your nutrition, do not over do it with vitamins and supplements. Multivitamin pills can never replace the amount of nutrients that you receive in eating food. While they are good to compliment your meal with, never substitute a pill for real food. Your body might not react well to a large intake of concentrated vitamins.

Part of getting good nutrition is eating your fruits and vegetables. You should be eating around 5 servings every day. Fruits and vegetables are loaded with fiber, vitamins and beneficial antioxidants. Eating like this will fill you up fast, and they are low in calories, so if you are watching your weight, they are also the perfect food.

Believe it or not, salad is not always your best bet when it comes to dining out. Fast food restaurants and chain eateries often offer up side salads that reach into the thousand calorie range - and that's before you add dressing and croutons. If you are at a restaurant and the salad still looks like your best bet, ask your waiter to bring out the dressing on the side. This ensures that you will not be forced into consuming an unnecessarily generous amount of dressing. Better yet, opt for fat-free dressings.

As you can see, good nutrition is easy to incorporate into your lifestyle if you make a few simple choices. You may need to tailor these tips to your personal needs. Begin today to make the positive choices you need to make. You must develop a plan to give yourself the nourishment your body and mind deserve, and stick with it. You will notice a difference.

About the Author:

Are you interested in healthy eating? Then check out Kristy's blog called Kristys 101 where you'll find more help and suggestions for living a healthy lifestyle!

How Can Banana Nutrients Help Your Health?

By Rachel Greene

Bananas are considered to be one of the most nutrient rich fruits that you can eat -- they are also one of the most popular fruits eaten today by people of all ages all over the globe. This combination means that few foods can have such a regular and positive impact on our health and well-being. So, let's take a closer look at how banana nutrients can help your health.

Bananas are a great source of vitamins for a start, including vitamins A, B and C, and we all need plenty of those. They are also rich in a variety of minerals including calcium, magnesium and potassium. The calcium content here, for example, is a great way of helping promote healthy bone growth for both children and in adults.

It is, however, the potassium content of the average banana that is considered to be the nutrient of most value in the opinion of most nutritionists and diet experts. Bananas contain such high levels of potassium that some doctors will even recommend eating them if their patients have low potassium levels and need a natural boost here. They are also a good source of fiber which is also important to your general health and everyday fitness.

You should also remember that the potassium boost that you can get from eating bananas regularly can also help keep you physically healthy in other ways. It is, for example, good for your heart and for your blood pressure. The potassium content in a banana also makes them the snack of choice for many athletes and fitness trainers. Potassium can go a long way to avoiding cramps and muscle spasms after exercise, for example.

Bananas are also an easily digested fruit which means that this can be an acceptable fruit to eat if you suffer from certain stomach problems such as ulcers. The way that a banana breaks down in your system helps protect the stomach and causes few problems. For this reason many people swear by eating bananas after a stomach upset or bout of diarrohea as the stomach can accept and digest bananas very easily without further problems.

Finally, bananas can be one of the greatest snacks that you can eat when you are on a diet. They are rich in natural healthy sugars which will immediately deal with any cravings you have for sugary foods. You will also get an immediate energy boost with a banana that is similar to the sugar rush that you will get from eating a sugary snack. The difference here is that a banana is good for you!

You will also find that your body processes the nutrients from a banana slowly and steadily. This means that most people will feel fuller for longer and they will not need the energy boost of sugary snacks as there will be a steady flow of natural sugars and carbohydrates going through their bodies. So, as you can now see, bananas can help you keep healthy in all kinds of ways!

About the Author:

Rachel Greene helps people find out about the nutritional value of bananas at her website on banana nutrition.

Managing Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) or Chron's Disease Through Your Diet

Individuals who suffer from Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) or Crohn's Disease benefit from eating certain foods and watching out for others. IBD and Crohn's disease involves inflammation of the intestines. Ulcers form and become inflamed which can cause scarring and bleeding.

The symptoms of these diseases include diarrhea, acute abdominal pain, cramping, fever and fatigue. It's very important to receive good nutrition in order to manage the symptoms of IBD and Crohn's Disease. It is also important to receive proper nutrition in order to avoid extreme weight loss.

If you have IBD or Crohn's Disease you ought to stay well-hydrated by drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water every day. Staying hydrated helps prevent constipation. You may also have been advised to take a daily multivitamin by your doctor or dietitian. A daily multivitamin and mineral supplement helps replace lost nutrients which can be lost due to your condition.

It's also very important that your diet be one that's high in fiber during times you are not experiencing a flare-up of IBD or Chron's Disease.

High fiber foods include whole grain breads, bagels, buns, and muffins. There are also whole grain cereals such as Bran Flakes, All Bran, bran buds, corn bran and Shredded Wheat, as well as 100% Bran and fiber 1. You can eat cooked cereal such as Oat Bran and whole-wheat pastas, and whole grains including popcorn, barley, corn and brown rice.

Fruits can also be high in fiber such as dried fruits, oranges, berries, apples with the skin, avocado, mango, kiwi, and also pear.

Vegetables which contain high amounts of fiber include spinach, dried peas, broccoli, Swiss chard, green peas and other leafy, green vegetables, and beans (such as kidney beans and lima beans, black-eyed beans, chickpeas and lentils).

Seeds and nuts such as almonds, whole flaxseed and soy nuts are also very good for you to eat .

When you're experiencing an IBD flare-up it's crucial to limit the amount of fiber in your diet and to adopt a low-fiber diet or even switch to a low residue diet in order to rest your intestinal tract and reduce symptoms you experience. Your doctor or dietitian can give you more information about these types of diets.

You'll also need to avoid lactose-containing foods such as dairy products if you are lactose intolerant.

Even with following a low-fiber diet, it is important to continue to receive adequate nutrients during flare-ups. Eat smaller meals and eat foods high in protein such as lean meats, fish and eggs. You may also be told to drink some recommended nutritional drinks such as Ensure in order to rest your bowel. Always follow your doctor or nutritionist's instructions.

To help minimize and control IBD flare-ups, limit the caffeine in beverages or foods, the alcohol that you consume and any sorbitol (sweetener) as these can make your symptoms worse.

Try also to limit or avoid gas-producing foods because these can intensify your symptoms. The major gas-producing foods include broccoli, dried peas, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and lentils as well as onions, chives, and peppers. Limit your ingestion of carbonated drinks as these can also make your symptoms worse.

Reducing your fat intake will also help due to the fact that foods with fat can cause diarrhea and gas. There has been some research which shows that taking fish oil and flax seed oil may be beneficial for treating IBD or Chron's Disease.

Dee Braun, a single mom of 6, is a Cert. Aromatherapist and natural health practitioner. Click now to visit Health or High Water at http://www.healthorhighwater.com/ where you'll find info to improve your health using to battle the ravages of time, poor nutrition, & toxins.

Fiber Benefits: All This and Weight Loss Too!

By Gail M. Davis

With so much talk now about the many fiber benefits and the importance of fiber to weight loss, it's hard to imagine that just thirty years ago, fiber was completely ignored by the medical community as being beneficial to our health! Fiber is found only in plants and is indigestible, which means it passes through the human digestive system unchanged.

Fiber is considered a carbohydrate and is categorized as either soluble or insoluble. Soluble fiber can be dissolved in water and is found in beans, apples, carrots, oats, and peas. It is responsible for lowering blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

Insoluble fiber, found in many vegetables, nuts, wheat bran, and whole-wheat flours, is an excellent laxative. It cannot be dissolved in water.

25-35 grams of fiber are recommended each day, but most Americans only get about half of that in their diets. Men typically need more fiber than women.

One interesting fact is that Americans only consume about 10% of the fiber found in typical diets 100 years ago! When you consider the many advancements in wheat processing, that statistic makes more sense.

Wheat bran is the single best source of fiber, although other good sources include whole-grain breads, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Fiber supplements, such as Metamucil and Citrucel, can be useful, but these products provide a restricted type of fiber. Some fiber benefits can only be utilized if eaten naturally.

Take advantage of the many fiber benefits but don't move from a low-fiber diet to a high-fiber diet overnight! It's important to drink plenty of water when adding fiber to your diet. Cramping, bloating, and other gastrointestinal problems can result from adding too much fiber too quickly.

The fiber benefits are plentiful! For one thing, fiber requires you to chew, thus slowing down the eating process. Fiber provides a sense of fullness and makes food more satisfying. Fiber slows down digestion and absorption and enables glucose (sugar) to enter the bloodstream more slowly, causing fewer spikes in blood sugar. Fiber lowers blood cholesterol levels and produces organic acids that provide fuel for the liver. Probably best known for preventing constipation, fiber also offers the benefit of aiding in weight loss.

The benefits of fiber are obvious in a weight loss program. With that sense of fullness and texture, the dieter will feel satisfied longer and have more energy. In addition, fiber allows more "bang for the buck" since foods high in fiber tend to be lower in calories.

With all of these wonderful fiber benefits, why wouldn't you want to make fiber a major part of your diet? Make sure that the next meal you plan includes a healthy portion of high-fiber foods to meet all your daily needs!

About the Author:

Gail M. Davis provides more information on fiber benefits along with easy suggestions for getting more fiber in your diet. You can benefit from high-fiber, healthy recipes and much more on her weight loss advice site, Easy Weight Loss Tips.