Monthly Archive for August, 2008

How Much is Enough?

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on August 31, 2008
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As you study the food pyramid published by the USDA, we can examine some of the better foods, and try to decide what particular formulas make us the healthiest on average. The average person needs an hour of physical exercise, six to eleven servings of grains, two to four servings of fruit, three to five servings of vegetables, two to three servings of meat, two to three servings of milk, and enough water to make it all work.
The foods of the food pyramid are necessary for our optimal health. But in what quantities and which ones are the best? These are questions that must be tailored to our individual needs. And the answers will benefit our unique needs. Healthy for me, is not the same as healthy for you. Everyone's nutritional needs are different, and everyone's level of calorie consumption is different
The guidelines found on the general chart of the pyramid are as listed above, and this could be the formula for an eighty year old man, or a fifteen year old girl. The recommended daily calorie intake is just as vague and generalized as the daily food intake pyramid. Can you see how this might not work for either one? When a guideline published is this general, it is up to the individual to determine what food regimen will keep them at their healthiest, provide the caloric intake necessary, but not excessive.
According to the guides published by the USDA, calorie needs vary from one age group to another, one gender to another. So how do you determine what your individual needs are? You can setup a journal for recording your daily caloric intake for about a month. Make a note of your weight each day. If you don't gain any weight during the course of that month, you're eating your recommended calorie level in order to maintain your weight. Now, take that calorie information, use the food pyramid and comprise a combination of foods that will help you achieve this recommended daily intake, and still be enough to be filling and please the palette. You now have an individualized healthy eating plan.
Once the importance of a particular food plan is understood by us, it is a simple as learning our multiplication tables. We simply memorize the food requirements, and incorporate it into our daily intake as needed. As you take the time to incorporate a healthy food plan, don't' forget the necessity of exercise in our daily lives. In order to keep our bodies healthy and functioning as expected, we need to keep it fit. This comes through proper amounts of exercise
This guide will not work for Cousin Kelly, or Aunt Tilley, but it is the unique blueprint for you. It is at this point in the process that we seem to lack the direction to finish what the government started. Maybe we need to incorporate these techniques into a class taught at school. Maybe this would give our young people the direction and tools they need in order to begin such a process, make it a lifetime habit, and pass it along to their children. Whatever the formula, your food intake and level of calorie content, will affect your general overall health everyday. Overeating can bring on obesity, under eating can bring about anemia; you need to find that one right guide for you, and plan, plan, plan.

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What About Salads?

Published
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on August 30, 2008
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In case you're not a salad lover, let me be one of the first to tell you that you're missing one of the most delicious foods a person can consume. Salads come in all sorts of styles, combinations, and are served with so many various toppings, that you could probably find a different salad for every day of the month.
One of my most favorite choices in dining is to go to the local buffet (they have a fabulous salad bar) and eat till my heart is content of the salad choices offered.
If you're going to build a great salad, you have to start with a great lettuce. There are more types of lettuce than automobiles, but my personal preference is iceberg and romaine. Once you have the proper foundation, your salad is a breeze. All sorts of toppings can be added, to build the gourmet salad. Fit for even the most discriminating taste.
Usually you find onions, tomatoes, green pepper, jalapeno pepper, banana pepper, ham, eggs, turkey, and cheese. Mushrooms, olives, pickled okra, bacon bits, and macaroni salad. Pepperoni, salami, croutons, and crackers. Cottage cheese, three bean salad, broccoli and cauliflower. If at this point, you haven't already filled the plate too full, you might want to consider simply adding another.
Now we approach the salad dressings. There are so many choices here, that it is often quite difficult for me to choose. I love blue cheese and ranch. I also love balsamic vinaigrette and Italian. Catalina is another favorite of mine.
Alright, we've built the perfect salad. Now would you like to hear about the wonderful health benefits of a salad? You might have to seek a little further than this article. The dismal truth here, is that although you would like to believe all that wonderful produce has provided you with the healthy eating award of the week, it simply is not so. Salads can be as high in calorie and fat content as a cheeseburger from the local McDonalds. That's quite disheartening news isn't it?
How can you eat a salad and still eat healthy? Lay off the cheeses, the meats, the cream based salad dressings. Stick to the pickled, the fresh produce, and the vinegar based dressings. Then you will have provided yourself with a wonderfully nutritious and healthful meal.
It is interesting to note here, that although the salad of your dreams may not be quite a healthful as you first thought, it is still a much better alternative than some of the other lunch options. For instance, pizza and pasta are worse than cheeseburgers for calorie content, and much higher in fat. The salad won't leave you feeling sluggish and sleepy as the cheeseburger would have done, thanks in part to the many vegetables you consumed along with the fat and calories.
So, go ahead, look forward to that next wonderful salad, and maybe don't pat yourself on the back quite so quick for your healthy choice, but you can be satisfied that you made a better choice than many of your peers.

How Does Our Food Intake Affect Our Health?

Published
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on August 29, 2008
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.
We can examine some of the better foods, and offer advice as to what particular formulas make us the healthiest on average. On average, you need an hour of exercise and enough servings from all the food groups to completely cover the food pyramid.
This could be the formula for an eighty year old man, or a fifteen year old girl. The recommended daily calorie intake is just as vague and generalized as the daily food intake pyramid. Can you see how this might not work for either one? When a guideline published is this general, it is up to the individual to determine what food regimen will keep them at their healthiest, and then implement such a plan.
The foods of the food pyramid are necessary for our optimal health. But in what quantities and which ones are the best? These are questions that must be tailored to our individual needs. So must the answer to what foods make us healthy be a unique one.
Healthy for me, is not the same as healthy for you. Everyone's nutritional needs are different, and everyone's level of calorie consumption is different
Once the importance of a particular food plan is understood by us, it is a simple as learning our multiplication tables. We simply memorize the benefit, and incorporate it into our daily intake as needed. As you take the time to incorporate a healthy food plan, don't' forget the necessity of exercise in our daily lives. In order to keep our bodies healthy and functioning off of healthy food, we need to keep it fit. This comes through proper amounts of exercise.
According to the guides published by the USDA, your calorie needs are as individual as you. So how do you determine what your individual needs are? There's one simple way to determine your calorie needs, simply keep a journal of your daily food intake. Now, take that calorie information, check with a nutritionist about the recommended daily allowances of vitamins and minerals that you need. Take both pieces of information, calorie intake and nutritional requirements, use the food pyramid and comprise a combination of foods that will help you achieve these recommended daily intakes, and still be enjoyable food. You now have an individualized healthy eating plan.
What those foods might be, are entirely dependent upon the unique guideline you have just established. This guide will not work for Cousin Bob, or Aunt Tilley, but it is the unique blueprint for you. It is at this point in the process that we seem to lack the direction or the discipline to finish what the government started. Maybe we need to incorporate these techniques into a class taught at school. Maybe this would give our young people the direction and tools they need in order to begin such a process, make it a lifetime habit, and pass it along to their children. Whatever the formula, your food intake, types and level of calorie content, will affect your general overall health everyday. Overeating can bring on obesity, under eating can bring about anemia; you need to find that one right guide for you, and plan, plan, plan.

Food Labels: Fact or Fiction

Published
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on August 28, 2008
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It's a proven fact that a manufacturer is in business because they make a profit off the items they sell to the consumer. This has been a known fact since the inception of manufactured food.
And up until the last twenty years or so, manufacturer's weren't held accountable for their process, or the additives they put into your food. Then we began the health revolution, and suddenly everyone wanted to know what was in their food, and if what healthy for them to consume. In fact, had the consumer been aware of the level of sugar being added to manufactured cereals during the early part of the 20th century, they might have refused to purchase or eat something so poor in nutrition and high in tooth decay.
As soon as the manufacturer's began to deal with that situation, along came the claims of "fat free" and "reduced fat" and the manufacturer's were forced to prove their claims. The FDA ruled that if they were going to claim those facts, they must label so that proof could be established.
But are the labels really true and accurate? Or do the labels simply tell us what we want to hear. Are they accurate about the fat content? Well, let me ask you, when was the last time you took your bottle of ranch dressing and had it analyzed for fat content? Exactly. You the consumer aren't going to analyze anything. You're going to believe whatever those label states as fact.
Food labeling and accuracy are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, but that doesn't always keep everyone honest, or true to a simple process of determining what the product you're buying contains. Many times, the product will provide two to three servings per package. The obvious take, on the consumer's part, when buying a snack cake or candy bar, is that the single package should constitute a single serving. This is not the case many times. The manufacturer in order to appeal to the consumers sense of sight, makes it appear as though the contents of the package would be a single serving, simply by the way the package is sold. In reality, the serving size is 1/2 the package or a third of the package. This is a deceit times two. Naturally, as you read the calorie content, you don't stop to check the serving information, because a product sold for a single serve consumer, should naturally be a single serving, right? Wrong.
This is where we must carefully watch our food labels, read between the lines, and check the fine print. Quite often, we only see what we want to see. We don't notice that we're being deceived until much later, or sometimes not at all.
To a consumer just concerned with the calorie content because of weight issues, this is not a life threatening situation. For the diabetic patient, the improper reading of the package contents can mean the difference between normal healthy functioning, and a dramatic increase or drop in blood sugar levels. As you can see, the manufacturer's who are regulated do their very best to benefit themselves, not the consumer.

Vitamins, The Forgotten Element

Published
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on August 27, 2008
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Vitamins and minerals are more readily available to us than ever before, and we're still no better equipped to actually determine what we need to take, than we were forty years ago. Just because we see the latest advertisement about a particular vitamin and decide the symptoms of deficiency apply to us, does not mean we need to rush out and purchase the product. The symptoms of deficiency for lots of vitamins and minerals are the same or overlapping. What we need is a way to detect, on an individual basis, what our body's lack, and then plan a suggested nutritional solution.
The complete lack of unity between our medical field and the herbal field, (this is the field that vitamins and minerals belong to) is a disgrace in a country so forward thinking as the United States. But it is also where we fall short in providing our citizenry with the tools they need to make better, informed decisions. The medical field has long resented any contact that patients might make with herbalists, vitamins and minerals, or any other proposed health aid, that wasn't directly related to medicine.
Thanks to this prevalent attitude among most all doctors, we have missed great opportunities to advance a generation's health. If you were to take a cross section of the population, and check for adequate levels of the most used and fortified vitamins and minerals, you would probably find the as high as 80% or the population is lacking in a least one of the vitamins and minerals. Now, that doesn't sound too bad, until you stop to think, what if it's calcium? A calcium deficiency brings on osteoporosis, a deteriorating of the bone. This disease alone costs millions in medical expense to the population.
Nutrition as it applies to our daily lives means that we take in what we need to maintain our body's healthy state. Nutrition has become an important word thanks to the involvement of the USDA in our daily food requirements, and the FDA's involvement in determining what is and is not dangerous for us to consume.
But what is our responsibility in the nutrition game? Do we understand what our nutritional requirements are, how to fulfill those requirements, and how to look for real nutritional value in our foods? I'm not sure that nutrition has been successfully addressed in its own right. We hear nutrition in relation to our vitamin intake, our fortified cereals and milk, and in the context that we need "nutritional value" from our food choices. But we don't often stop to think, what do we really need in nutritional supplements?
Can you see how a little more cooperation and open-minded participation on the part of our medical field could result in far fewer health problems? It would also have provided the general population with a viable way to discern their vitamin and mineral needs, accurately. Blood tests, urine tests, and other simple office procedures would provide the vast majority of the information needed for us to arm ourselves, and head off to the health store. Preventive medicine comes in all shapes, forms, and tablets!

Vegetables: The Best and The Worst

Published
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on August 26, 2008
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As a teen, most of us don't even care if we're eating right, or begin to understand the implications of poor eating habits. As we age, however, we do begin to notice the effects of improper exercise, poor eating habits, and how they affect our health. Today, as the baby boomers begin their retirement years, health concerns and questions are on the rise. These aging boomers are more concerned than any previous generations about their good health, their ability to keep their good health, and how their diet affects their health.
The easiest place to affect our health is through our eating habits; in fact it's the most effective solution to better health, sharing the spotlight with exercise. What about our food intake? What choices do we have to make eating a healthier occurrence?
Vegetables are a great place to start. There are so many choices in the filed of vegetables, being picky isn't even a problem here. It does not matter where your location, the time of the year, or the method of preparation, there are vegetables to suit the most discriminating taste.
The choices in vegetables run the gamut in color preference, leafy versus bean, fresh and raw, or freshly picked and cooked. There are vegetables high in beta-carotene, high in flavonoids, anti-oxidants, or just plain high in flavor.
Do you prefer consuming your vegetables in a salad? On a sandwich? Or in a simmer pot? Maybe you would prefer a fresh salsa to eat with your main course? As I stated earlier, it matter not about your individual taste, there is a vegetable to suit.
Exotic vegetables from Asian countries, tried and true vegetables from the backyard, or the latest from the Farmer's market, the choices can seem at times overwhelming. We should never run out of new recipes to try, new dishes to put before our families and friends, or just simply to fix and eat for our own enjoyment.
Summertime brings a rich bounty of vegetable choices, so many in fact, that most people preserve some in canning, freezing, and pickling. As a child growing up in the south, summertime meant fresh vegetables straight from the garden. Fresh peas, corn, and tomatoes on the dinner table with cornbread is a feast fit for a king! I will have to admit here, that cornbread would not be the healthiest choice in bread, but it's unbeatable in the taste department.
What about wintertime? Thanks to greenhouse growers, and improved methods for winter crops, we now have many choices for vegetable consumption even during the winter months. Soups and stews that abound during the colder weather are filled with wonderful vegetables to add just the right flavor and texture to a snowy, cold afternoon.
So, you see, healthy doesn't equate to a lack of taste, or zestful appeal. Healthy just means that while we're enjoying the wonderful Cobb salad, we can also delight in the fact that we did a double whammy, good and good for you!

Fruit, Vegetables and Health

Published
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on August 25, 2008
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As a teen, most of us don't even care if we're eating right, or begin to understand the implications of poor eating habits. As we age, however, we do begin to notice the effects of improper exercise, poor eating habits, and how they affect our health. Today, as the baby boomers begin their retirement years, health concerns and questions are on the rise. These aging boomers are more concerned than any previous generations about their good health, their ability to keep their good health, and how their diet affects their health.
The easiest place to affect our health is through our eating habits; in fact it's the most effective solution to better health, sharing the spotlight with exercise. What about our food intake? What choices do we have to make eating a healthier occurrence?
Fruits and vegetables are a great place to start. There are so many choices in the filed of fruits and vegetables, that being picky isn't even a consideration here. It does not matter where your location, the time of the year, or the method of preparation, there are fruits and vegetables to suit the most discriminating taste
The choices in fruits and vegetables run the gamut in color preference, leafy versus compact, fresh and raw, or freshly picked and cooked. There are fruits and vegetables high in flavonoids, anti-oxidants, or just plain high in flavor.
What about as a snack? Do fruits and vegetables meet the snack requirement for taste? We already know that they're good for us, but if we're going to snack, we want something that tastes really good.
There are fruits and vegetables that fill that bill, quite successfully. What about celery? Celery with pimento or peanut butter is quite delicious. Or, you have the broccoli and cauliflower combination with ranch dip. That's a snack that any other snack would be hard pressed to surpass. In the fruit section, you have so many snack choices it would require you to spend hours debating which one is best. Apples, oranges, mangos, bananas, peaches and pears, and this just begins the list.
One of a southerner's favorite snacks would be baked sweet potato. Now, this is normally consumed with large amounts of butter, but doesn't have to be, in order to be good. The baked sweet potato can simply be peeled and eaten straight from the oven and it's still delicious.
Back in the fruit section, you still haven't covered plums, grapes, raisins, watermelons, cantaloupes, or honey dews. My, my, I didn't realize there were so many.
We haven't even discussed fruit options that would require us to cook. These are just the fresh and raw options available, most year round. By the time you run the gamut with these ideas, you should be ready to start all over at the beginning.
You should have enough options now for snacking, that healthful snacking can become a standard, not an exception for you. These ideas do not by any means encompass all options; these are just simply the most popular local favorites if you live in the South and in Alabama.

Our Daily Food Intake Requirements

Published
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on August 24, 2008
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What do we really need as far as daily food intake? Are we determining this need based on calorie needs alone, or do we factor in our vitamin and mineral needs? If you were to ask the average person, the only consideration given would be to his or her calorie needs. Vitamins and minerals are still a fairly new topic for everyone, and not really considered when determining food intake needs.
Calorie consumption on the other hand, has obsessed our nation for the last several years, and is the only factor we consider when determining our food intake requirements. This factor will probably not be changing anytime soon, since most everyone in the medical, health, and fitness professions equate food requirements with calorie needs, also.
So, what contributes to our determination of our daily food intake requirements, from a purely caloric standpoint? What do we use as our guide to determine these levels? Most everyone looks at your current body weight, your physical activity, your age, and your gender. There are established guidelines for combining each value from each category, and then being able to configure your needs. It's amazing that this much effort has been given to calorie and food intake alone. Could you imagine the possibilities if as much time was dedicated to deterring vitamin and mineral values as well, and then working with each person to accomplish these levels.
Since obesity is marching aggressively to the front of the "current epidemics" line, we should take a moment to address the number one cause of obesity. It isn't the improper functioning of the thyroid gland, or any other system in the body. It is our problem of overeating. We simply eat too much.
In the area of medical inventions, an arm band has been created that can tell you your caloric burn, through every daily activity. Wouldn't it be wonderful to take that one step further, and be able to distinguish caloric intake, caloric burn, how many calories you actually need, and how many you have left to consume. If you had such an instrument, persons wearing them would be more conscious of their food intake, and if it were equipped with loud sirens if you were to overeat, do you think anyone would overeat? No. You can bet they wouldn't. Who wants to be accused of overeating, especially if they know that they have reached their limit?
It's the regulation of our food intake, the provision of tools we need to make healthy decisions, and preventive education that would prohibit many of the health problems we are experiencing today. A population that is health conscious and controls their daily food intake is not an obese population. Nor are they a population with extreme hypertension, diabetic, and cardiac problems. All of these problems can be associated with obesity and nutritional abuse.
Can you imagine, however, how many doctors and prescription drug companies would have far less income, if our nation were healthier, leaner, and had fewer diseases? As our baby boomers age, and strive to retain their youthful looks and health, more and more emphasis will be placed on educating ourselves about our food intake and what we do and do not need. Maybe at some point, someone will say, "hey, what about an armband to help control caloric intake?"

What Foods Make Us Healthy?

Published
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on August 23, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

The foods of the food pyramid are necessary for our optimal health. But in what quantities and which ones are the best? These are questions that must be tailored to our individual needs. So must the answer to what foods make us healthy be a unique one. Healthy for me, is not the same as healthy for you. Everyone's nutritional needs are different, and everyone's level of calorie consumption is different.
We can examine some of the better foods, and offer advice as to what particular formulas make us the healthiest on average. The average person needs an hour of physical exercise, six to eleven servings of grains, two to four servings of fruit, three to five servings of vegetables, two to three servings of meat, two to three servings of milk, and enough water to make it all work.
This could be the formula for an eighty year old man, or a fifteen year old girl. The recommended daily calorie intake is just as vague and generalized as the daily food intake pyramid. Can you see how this might not work for either one? When a guideline published is this general, it is up to the individual to determine what food regimen will keep them at their healthiest, and then implement such a plan.
According to the guides published by the USDA, calorie needs vary from one age group to another, one gender to another. So how do you determine what your individual needs are? You can setup a journal for recording your daily caloric intake for about a month. Make a note of your weight each day. If you don't gain any weight during the course of that month, you're eating your recommended calorie level in order to maintain your weight. Now, take that calorie information, check with a nutritionist about the recommended daily allowances of vitamins and minerals that you need. Take both pieces of information, calorie intake and nutritional requirements, use the food pyramid and comprise a combination of foods that will help you achieve these recommended daily intakes, and still be enjoyable food. You now have an individualized healthy eating plan.
What those foods might be, are entirely dependent upon the unique guideline you have just established. This guide will not work for Cousin Bob, or Aunt Tilley, but it is the unique blueprint for you. It is at this point in the process that we seem to lack the direction or the discipline to finish what the government started. Maybe we need to incorporate these techniques into a class taught at school. Maybe this would give our young people the direction and tools they need in order to begin such a process, make it a lifetime habit, and pass it along to their children.
Once the importance of a particular food is understood by us, it is a simple as learning our multiplication tables. We simply memorize the benefit, and incorporate it into our daily intake as needed. As you take the time to incorporate a healthy food plan, don't' forget the necessity of exercise in our daily lives. In order to keep our bodies healthy and functioning off of healthy food, we need to keep it fit. This comes through proper amounts of exercise.