Professional Diet

Posted on Monday, 28th December 2009 by admin

The old adage ‘You are what you eat’ is so very true. To become healthier in all areas of well-being, the most important change you can make to your lifestyle is to stop eating junk and start enjoying super foods!

Essential Food Pyramid Hints

The old adage ‘You are what you eat’ is so very true. To become healthier in all areas of well-being, the most important change you can make to your lifestyle is to stop eating junk and start enjoying super foods! In the business of everyday life, it can be a daunting challenge to maintain healthy nutrition, especially when fast-food and take-outs makes meal preparation so much easier. But, it is not all that difficult to achieve healthier eating habits when you start with the basic knowledge of good nutrition. We all recall the basic food pyramid from our health classes in grade school. Most of us know we need a balance of essentials in the categories of Grains, Vegetables, Fruits, Milk and Meats/Beans. With these food groups in mind, make a trip to the grocery store and stock up on the basics for a healthy diet.. Keeping your pantry and refrigerator full of the right foods and making a concerted effort to consume them will empower you with the energy and self-esteem to tackle a physical fitness regimen to your lifestyle!

Grains

Grains: 6- 11 servings per day, depending on activity level. Buy whole wheat bread or crackers instead of white bread. Substitute brown rice for white rice. Try whole wheat pastas for a change; some brands actually taste better than the white pasta. Tortillas can be used in making breakfast sandwiches. Just add scrambled eggs and cheese and you hit 3 food groups! Breakfast is very healthy and easy with oatmeal or whole wheat cereal. Even snacking can be nutritious with popcorn or tortilla chips dipped in hummus. Grains provide complex carbohydrates, which are essential in giving your body fuel for energy. Be sure the label reads ‘stoneground whole wheat flour’.

Vegetables

Vegetables: 3-5 servings per day. Eat a wide variety of dark green and orange vegetables. The brighter the color the more beneficial. Planning meals around vegetables such as soups and salads is a sure-fire way to incorporate a healthier diet, and could actually save money. A pot of vegetable soup is economical and can be enjoyed for days. Throw fresh spinach in your salad mix or simply sauté spinach with olive oil, season with parmesan cheese and lemon juice for a super side dish. A vegetable stir-fry can be a complete meal when served over whole grain brown rice. Carrots can be shredded into meatloaf or muffins. Sprinkle cheeses over your vegetables too, getting your diary requirement. Keep raw vegetables at the ready in the frig, making them more tasty with ranch dip or hummus.

Fruits

Fruits: 2-4 servings per day. Start the day with a piece of fruit added to your whole grain cereal, such as a banana. Or toss in a fistful of frozen blueberries in your oatmeal or on top of your whole wheat pancakes. Apples are an amazing super food, easy to transport and eat on a break. Dried fruit may not sound too appealing, but try dark chocolate covered cherries for a mid afternoon pick-me-up. Amazing and guilt-free snack! Canned fruits are a healthy alternative. Sprinkle pears with cinnamon and a spritz of whipping cream or yogurt to satisfy your craving for dessert. Fruit cobblers count too.

Milk/Dairy

Milk: 2-3 servings per day. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should have 3 servings. Start and end your day with dairy to provide protein, vitamins and minerals. Add low-fat or fat-free milk to your oatmeal and cereal. Drink milk for a nightcap. Yogurt makes an excellent breakfast, mix in 2 tablespoons of ground flax for your grain requirement. Cheese works with every meal. Sprinkled in salads, soups, over vegetables, sliced on sandwiches, even served with fruit for dessert. Cottage cheese mixed with canned pineapple or other fruits is an excellent breakfast. Try to avoid high fat cheese and ice-creams.

Meats/Beans

Meat/Beans: 2-3 servings per day provides protein, iron and zinc. Use a variety of beans and meat to get your daily requirement. Lean meats are important, such as chicken and fish. Trim away visible fats from poultry and meat. Stay away from frying meats; instead grill, roast or bake. Eat more fish. Tuna for lunch is an easy, healthy substitute to processed lunchmeats. Toss tuna in your salads. Beans are the perfect food, they are full of protein, fiber and economical. With such a huge variety of beans, the possibilities with recipes are endless.

SOURCES:

http://www.lifeclinic.com/focus/nutrition/food-pyramid.asp

http://www.mypyramid.gov

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Posted on Friday, 25th December 2009 by admin

Travis Saunders at the Obesity Panacea blog notes that average weight gain in adults over the Thanksgiving (U.S.)–Christmas–New Years’ season seems to be on the order of 0.8 pounds or 0.37 kg. 

Data are from a 2000 article in the New England Journal of Medicine.  Researchers weighed 195 Americans throughout the year.  My quick search at PubMed.gov found no better or more recent studies.

I mention this because I had written somewhere that average holiday season weight gain is about five pounds (2.3 kg).  I stand corrected.

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Posted on Friday, 25th December 2009 by admin

I thinks it’s a forgone conclusion that many of us will overeat during the holiday season – but after the holidays end, we then have to pick up the pieces and get back to reality.

Most new years resolutions include some form of weight loss or exercise regime, so here’s some high tech weight loss tips to help get you started.

Losing weight is simply about doing the math. You must be burning off more calories than you consume – nothing earth shattering there! In order to lose one pound of excess fat, you need to consume 3500 calories fewer than your body needs. 3500 calories can be quite a lot of food, so a weight loss goal of 1 or 2 pounds a week is easily achievable and ideal.

The best to lose weight is to burn off these 3500 calories through a combination of exercise and reduce food intake. One hour of walking burns off between 300 and 400 calories, so if you can exercise for 30 minutes a day and reduce your calorie intake by 500 calories a day, that’s the equivalent of about 6000 calories a week, or close to 2 pounds weight loss.

A great tool I found to help you determine which exercises you want to perform is the Physical Activity Selector. Another of my weight loss tips is to keep a nutrition diary. This means you should write down everything you eat every day, and use this handy online calorie calculator to see how many calories you are eating each day.

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Posted on Wednesday, 23rd December 2009 by admin

This article offers some temptingly fresh and attractive all-on-one-plate cold dishes to whet your appetite. Cold roast beef on potato salad could be just as tasty as some hot roast with baked potatoes.

All on one plate

Salads are the first to come to mind when we think of a cold dish, and these can be very attractive, tempting and tasty. Apart from salads, however, you can make other tasty cold plates especially for hot summer days.

All on one plate meals, especially cold ones can include fruits, vegetables, and salads and can be quire nutritious. Try some of the following combinations and you will have your family or friends calling for more.

Try some ham rolls with banana-celery salad on pineapple. Top this off with a piquant mayonnaise made with lime juice.Sounds tasty, doesn’t it?

How about some Crab Louis. This dish is named for the spicy dressing that adds character to chunks of crab meat, grapefruit wedges and avocado slices; another good one.

Antipasto plate combines tastes textures and colors with fish, fruit, cheese, meat, eggs and vegetables. Add some stuffed eggs to slices of prosciutto, some olives, melon slices, anchovy fillets, artichokes and blue cheese. Top off with a few capers and lemon slices. You can let your imagination run wild on this one.

Cold roast beef with potato salad is simple and tasty and can be served with onion rings, chopped parsley and Boston lettuce.

Curried Cottage Cheese with fruit can comprise black olives, strawberries apricots and mint leaves. You can use any combination of fruits you desire; or try a Chicken, Fruit and Green-Bean Plate. This is a tantalizing plate of crisp, tender beans topped off with orange rinds.Add some shredded chicken breast, sliced strawberries and apricots, and garnish with some curly parsley. Once again you can combine fruits according to your taste.

Salads

If you are considering salads, meat or fish is excellent in salads. Mix lobster, prawns or crab with mayonnaise and serve on a bed of lettuce or serve crab and lobster in their shells. Remove the stomach form the crab, as well as the grey fingers; and the intestinal vein and stomach from the lobster.

If you use white fish, be careful not to overcook. Use large flakes and blend with mayonnaise, then pile into pyramid shapes on a green salad. Herrings and mackerels are also excellent in salads; they can be grilled or fried; then blend the flakes with a little oil and vinegar and seasoning in a salad.

Meat Salads

Any cooked meat like ham, salami or joints of beef are delicious in salads. For special occasions you can have large dishes with a selection of different kinds of cold meat arranged on a bed of mixed salad. Do not leave sliced meat exposed to the air too long, however. The meat dries easily and will lose both taste and attractive appearance.

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