9 Points About Fiber

Thursday, November 08, 2012

If you've been looking for a way towards a high octane diet, you'll find fiber to be exactly what you need. Even though research has shown fiber to be powerful, many people aren't taking this nutrient seriously.

To help you fuel your health with fiber, here are 10 facts to help.

1. Fiber fights diseases. A diet high in fiber can help to prevent colon cancer and heart disease. High fiber helps the body to eliminate cholesterol by binding it in the digestive tract. For thousands of years, fiber has been used to stop constipation.

2. Fiber can actually help with overeating. All high fiber foods will take longer to chew and digest, making you feel satisfied longer

3. Most popular foods don't have enough fiber. If you like the more popular foods, you probably need to increase your intake of fiber.

4. Grains offer the most fiber. Dietary fiber is actually plant matter that we cannot digest. The best sources are whole grains and concentrated grain products.

5. Kids need fiber as well. Children that are older than 2 years of age should consume a daily intake of fiber. Kids are most receptive to fiber found in fruits, vegetables, and even fortified breakfast cereals.

6. More fiber needs more water. In order to keep fiber moving through your digestive tract, you'll need to consume a lot of water. With your diet of fiber, you'll need eight or more glasses of water every day.

7. Fiber cannot be cooked out. When you cook your fruits and vegetables, don't worry about cooking the fiber out, as it stays. The fiber found in fruits and vegetables aren't just in the skin or in the peel.

8. You can get enough fiber. If you eat more than 50 grams of fiber in a day, you can get diarrhea and bloating, which can interfere with your body's absorption of other key minerals.

9. Getting the right amount of fiber in your diet doesn't have to be hard. Even though you may think so, getting the amount of fiber you need isn't very hard to do. All you have to do is eat the right foods and you'll be well on your way to a fiber rich lifestyle.

As one of the key ingredients to healthy eating, fiber is something you don't want to skip. Fiber can serve many different purposes, which were covered above. If you aren't getting enough fiber in your diet - you should do something about now instead
of waiting until it is too late.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

VICKI-B- 3/20/2013 5:38PM

Thanks for the great information. I do appreciate it. Report Inappropriate Comment

MORTICIAADDAMS 11/8/2012 2:45PM

I love fruits and veggies and eat at least 4.5 cups of veggies a day plus some fruit. I consider them the healthiest sources of fiber. Report Inappropriate Comment

BOOKWORM27S 11/8/2012 1:30PM

Great blog! Report Inappropriate Comment

Adding Vegetarianism to Diabetes Diet

Friday, July 20, 2012

Diabetics must choose any food they eat very carefully, as each food choice they make has a profound impact on their overall health on a meal-to-meal basis. Diabetes affects people of all ages, both genders, from all walks of life and backgrounds. Untreated, it can cause wounds to heal slowly, infections take longer to cure, blindness, and kidney failure. Diet is one of the most important ways of controlling diabetes, and a vegetarian lifestyle with its emphasis on low fat, high fiber, and nutrient-rich foods is very complementary.

Affecting more than 30 million people worldwide, this disease inhibits the body from properly processing foods. Usually, most of the food we eat is digested and converted to glucose, a sugar which is carried by the blood to all cells in the body and used for energy. The hormone insulin then helps glucose pass into cells. But diabetics are unable to control the amount of glucose in their blood because the mechanism which converts sugar to energy does not work correctly. Insulin is either absent, present in insufficient quantities or ineffective. As a result glucose builds up in the bloodstream and leads to problems such as weakness, inability to concentrate, loss of co-ordination and blurred vision. If the correct balance of food intake and insulin isn’t maintained, a diabetic can also experience blood sugar levels that are too low. If this state continues for a prolonged period of time, it can lead to coma and even death.

Though incurable, diabetes can be successfully controlled through diet and exercise, oral medications, injections of insulin, or a combination. Instead of counting calories diabetics must calculate their total carbohydrate intake so that no less than half their food is made up of complex carbohydrates. Many diabetic vegetarians have discovered that as a result of their meatless diet, they’ve had to use insulin injections less, which gives them a feeling of power and control over their disease.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

MORTICIAADDAMS 7/20/2012 4:32PM

The veggie basket looks very tasty. I think I like everything that was in there that I have tried. I still have a small list of veggies and fruits I have yet to try. I have not had eggplant if that is hiding in there. I'm not sure how I would fix it as it is often pared with tomato sauce which upsets my stomach. Most of the new fruits and veggies I have tried lately I have liked. I tried kale not too long ago. I liked the taste but not the texture so I need to try it a different way. I usually try the ones I don't like from time to time to see if my tastes have changed. I tried some guacamole again not that long ago and liked it a lot better than the first time. Probably a better recipe. I still don't much care for tomatoes - too acid - but my hubby has convinced me I might like rhubarb if it is prepared right and my friends think I should revisit parsnips which tasted to me like stale waxy carrots. LOL. I don't think I will ever like strong white raw onions but can eat a little of them. Okra is okay if it is breaded but that isn't the most healthy way to eat it. My MIL's 86 year old best friend, who has become our adopted mom, is a lifelong vegetarian of sorts but she dislikes more fruits and veggies than me and a lot more then hubby and my son. She is kind of different. She isn't a vegan. She eats eggs and occasionally beef broth. Cheese and milk. No meat. Especially poultry - she hates it. I wonder what you would call her. LOL. Well, I'm rambling and am getting off topic. Hopefully this means you are using less meds. Comment edited on: 7/20/2012 4:34:37 PM Report Inappropriate Comment

Benefits Of Juice

Sunday, July 08, 2012

Eating raw foods is a way to give your body some of the nutrition it desperately needs. Many of us are at least slightly overweight, and even the morbidly obese are starving for essential proteins and amino acids. All the processed, cooked foods we eat give us only a small percentage of what we need. Consequently, we eat and eat and yet we’re still not nourished. Psychologists try to tell us we’re eating to make up for an emptiness in our souls. Wrong! Our bodies our empty and trying to tell us so.

Eating raw foods is good for us on so many levels. It’s satisfying to eat them. They take more time to chew and swallow, so we don’t eat as fast. And we’re getting so much more in the way of nutrition by consuming fruits, vegetables, nuts and sprouts.

It can take time to prepare raw foods, however. Which is why a juicer is an important addition to your kitchen once your start to be serious about raw foods. A good juicer can process an entire apple – seeds, stems, peel, pulp and all – and turn all that into a healthy, nutritious juice.

Buying apple juice is NOT the same thing!!! Don’t even look at apple juices or even ciders in the grocery store. Put that $2 or $3 aside and save up for a juicer. Buy bags of apples, orange, bananas, carrots and make your own juices to get everything from the fruit that you’d get by eating it raw. Now you’re getting juice that’s as fresh as the fruit or vegetable you made it from. No preservatives, no processing that strips most of the energy from the fruit. And think of all the delicious combinations you can make with the many tropical fruits that are available now in most grocery stores. You can customize your fruits and add non-typical ingredients like pumpkin to an orange juice.

Now that’s a powerhouse of a juice!

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

MORTICIAADDAMS 7/8/2012 11:14PM

I eat several raw foods every day. I aim for a minimum of 4.5 cups of veggies a day. And at least 3 fruits. I don't do juice though. I don't really like it. Report Inappropriate Comment

ARTJAC 7/8/2012 11:05PM

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Healthy Foods To Keep You Fit

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Healthy eating and physical fitness go together, but there are no magic foods that cause you to be one hundred percent healthy by just eating the one food. No, you need a variety of foods from each of these food groups each day. It’s also important to watch the portion size so as not to overeat. Make your mealtimes pleasant and relaxed occasions and your healthy foods will work effectively with your healthy emotions to give you a healthy body.

Berries

You may like all types of berries or just one or two favorites, but you can never go wrong by adding a few fresh berries as a quick energy snack or frozen berries made into a luscious smoothie in place of calorie laden desserts. Berries are high in vitamin C across the board, but some are high in other nutrients as well. Choose ripe blueberries for vitamin C and heaps of anti-oxidants for the health of your circulatory system. Gogi berries are less well-known but are wonderfully rich in many of the nutrients your body needs to be nutritionally and physically fit.

Citrus

The foods of the citrus family are widely recognized as a valuable source of vitamin C. Choose fully ripe citrus fruits for the best nutritional value and choose citrus as near to the tree as possible. Tree ripened fruits picked at the peak of perfection and consumed with hours of picking give you the top nutritional rating. Try grapefruit for breakfast. Add a dash of fresh squeezed lime to your salad as a dressing and enjoy slices of orange with coconut in a light honey dressing for dessert.

Vegetables

The variety of vegetables is amazing. For people who are vegetarian or vegan, choosing vegetables to be part of a nutritionally sound diet is a way of life. Your vegetable group provides many of the minerals required in a good diet. For example, you may realize that potassium is necessary for healthy nutrition. Many people claim the benefits of potassium found in a single banana. But did you know, you can also get adequate potassium in your diet by eating a stalk of broccoli? Try a salad of fresh young spinach topped with pine nuts and stirred with lightly cooked penne’. Feta cheese and a light vinaigrette dressing to create the perfect light luncheon meal.

Whole Grains

Like many other of the best foods, choosing only one type of whole grain for your meals doesn’t provide all the variety you need to be nutritionally sound. Often, mixing two or more whole grains together will give you complete proteins. For example, brown rice and wheat kernels with a spicy seasoning are a popular dish in many countries.

Legumes

A legume is the name for a variety of fruits with a single dry seed. Legumes are sometimes called pods. Examples of edible legumes are soybeans, peas, dried beans and peanuts, among others. Legumes are rich in iron and high in fiber, making them excellent nutritional choices. Peanuts are a type of legume that have been used to make hundreds of different products some edible and others with various types of helpful uses.

Nuts and seeds

Nature has packed a lot of goodness into small packages. Most everyone has heard of walnuts and pecans which are very good nutritional products, but did you realize that flax seeds are brain food–containing critical non-meat sources of the Omega-3 oil.

Lean proteins

The keyword here is lean. Americans eat far too much protein compared to the rest of the world. Cut down of portion sizes–three ounces will provide all the needed protein needed for your day. Also, trim all visible fat from your protein source. Alternatively, use non meat substitutes such as the complete proteins found in vegetable dishes like beans and brown rice.

Tea

Depending on the type of tea you prefer, you can get an energy boost from a cup of green tea, or the calming effect of chamomile tea. Get going with mint teas or start your day with Earl Grey Breakfast Tea. Herbal teas are soothing, tasty and good for you. Non herbal teas will help you to stay alert when you need help to function.

Olive oil

Olive oil is probably the healthiest substance you can use to keep fat in your diet. You can use it on your salad, mix it with a little vinegar to create your own, or fry other foods in the hot oil. Just make sure that the temperature is not too hot so that the oil is broken down.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

DENISE474 5/15/2012 9:25AM

Good Morning, I love reading your tips on nutrition, it is so helpful, so i wanna thank you for that. I learned i was prediabetic 3 mths ago, and have been trying to eat a "clean" diet filled with all the fruit, vegetables, whole grains, good fats, that i can. I am actually starting to LOVE the food i eat. Never thought that was possible! But hearing that diagnosis scared me enough to know what i was eating, was killing me slowly, and i didn't want the scary complications they talk about with diabeties. So hear i am, actually enjoying this new healthy way of eating. I added you as my spark friend feel free to add me also. Hope you have a great day! Denise Report Inappropriate Comment

MORTICIAADDAMS 4/29/2012 8:25PM

I love variety and feel so blessed that most of the goods that like are healthy and most of the ones I don't like aren't. I love berries - they are one of my favorite foods. And I eat an orange or clementine every day. I love grapefruit too. I don't usually honey but I love decaffeinated tea and drink it every day and use good olive oil. I love nuts and seeds and legumes. I can only eat a few whole grains but love the ones I can have. No pasta for me but love most veggies too. My MIL's best friend who is 86 and a life time vegetarian just gave me some of her recipes so I'm going to try them soon. Report Inappropriate Comment

MORTICIAADDAMS 4/29/2012 8:25PM

I love variety and feel so blessed that most of the goods that like are healthy and most of the ones I don't like aren't. I love berries - they are one of my favorite foods. And I eat an orange or clementine every day. I love grapefruit too. I don't usually honey but I love decaffeinated tea and drink it every day and use good olive oil. I love nuts and seeds and legumes. I can only eat a few whole grains but love the ones I can have. No pasta for me but love most veggies too. My MIL's best friend who is 86 and a life time vegetarian just gave me some of her recipes so I'm going to try them soon. Report Inappropriate Comment

LIFEWALK 4/27/2012 6:56PM

Yum! U have me droolin here! Report Inappropriate Comment

MOEE45 4/26/2012 11:28PM

Thanks that is good advise! Report Inappropriate Comment

Do $ Dictate How Green U R ?

Friday, March 30, 2012

Do dollars dictate how "green" a person or family is? To start off this blog, I am saying NO right off the bat. I do know that it takes alot of money for a family to get and install solar panels or a windmill. It also takes alot of money to get an electric car or hybrid car.

But being a person that was hit hard by the recession with loosing a job and being unemployed for almost 2 1/2 years, we as as a family, always tried our hardest to be green.

We planted our own garden and grew alot of the vegetables we purchased at the grocery store. Not to mention, all of our garden was organic with no pesticides that the stores use or sell.

We have cut out the dryer. Which is a big electric waster. Using a line to dry our clothes saves the energy but also lets our clothes last longer without the wear and tear from the dryer.

We no longer use our dishwasher. We bought a bamboo dish dryer that is utilized almost 24/7. Along with that, we cut the use of paper plates and use our regular dishes. And also cut out using paper towels and/or napkins at the dinner table. We now use cloth napkins which has saved us alot more money than the average person would think. Have you ever sat down and really thought about how many paper towels a family uses in 1 month? We have cut this expense out.

At WalMart, we bought a blue trash can that we keep in the kitchen and recycle almost all plastic, paper, cardboard, glass and most styrofoam. As we recycle, we use the "Triangle System" for the plastics and styrofoam.

To keep our old truck out of the landfill, we sold it to a junkyard to recycle all the metal and usable parts.

Clothes was a big thing to us so we frequented all the Goodwill's and thrift stores. I have always been told that "one man's junk is another man's treasure". This is so true when you buy from thrift stores. Why pay $30 - $40 dollars for a pair of Docker's at the superstore when you can get almost new ones for less than $5 at Goodwill.

And you can make your own house cleaners for almost nothing. You save the environment from all those harsh chemical and save on your wallet. It is a win - win situation.

All I am saying, is that money does not DICTATE how green me or my family can be. I am a "Moniless Greenie" and proud of it.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

MORTICIAADDAMS 4/2/2012 9:00AM

I would love to have solar panels, a windmill, electric car and hybrid car. Great wish list. We have almost always been green to some extent and over the years have gotten greener. I think it started as a personal issue as my husband and I both abhor waste. We grow as much of our own fruits, vegetables, and fruits as we can and we use biological controls. I have a clothes line as well but where I live I can't dry clothes outside for a lot of the year. Actually according to a lot of studies, depending on how you wash dishes using a dishwasher can actually save money even with the energy consumption if you wash full loads, don't pre-rinse which isn't necessary, don't have the temp set real high, and have an energy efficient model. If you wash your dishes by hand in cold water or luke warm water and don't rinse it can save money but I found it impossible to get the food off and it's not sanitary as far as killing bacteria which is something I have to worry about. I cooks 3 scratch meals a day and have a lot of dishes too compared to most people. I'm not a fan of paper products either out of concern of what contaminants are in them but I'm not convinced you actually save money laundering cloth napkins. I've seen studies to contradict this as well but to me it's a health issue which is worth the extra money if that is the case to avoid carcinogens and toxins which may be in paper products. We don't have trash pick up so we have to plan to have minimal trash and have always recycled . We have a trash compactor and use a bag every few months. I love Goodwill and thrift stores but I don't buy much period. Everyone has too much stuff. I subscribe to the idea that if something comes into your home something else needs to leave. I started as a minimalist and was one when my hubby and I met but over the years too much stuff has crept into my life and I need to weed a bunch of it out. Report Inappropriate Comment

ORGANIC811LFRV 3/30/2012 9:45PM

I am the same in the area of health for me and the environment. I cut out chemicals in my cleaning business and at home. I did a buzz cut on my hair and hardly use anything on my body at all. Of course I am 100% organic raw and juice feasting to clean out the internal toxic load which cleans me up. I am looking at hybrid cars right now. I won't go all electric. That's just an exchange from gas to electricity. No savings there. I buy quite a bit of my clothing at thrift stores. I cut out the dishwasher. I switched to a very inexpensive and environmentally friendly natural clothes washing "nut shell". It costs me pennies a load for a vibrantly clean laundry. Great blog and congrats on your successes. Report Inappropriate Comment