Diet and Nutrition

Dieting Together: A Roadmap For Couples

By Jennifer Gregory

Oftentimes couples gain weight together because of sharing unhealthy eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle. And many people find it challenging to lose weight when their other half continues to live the couch potato life.

The good news? Couples who diet together, benefit together. Here are some ways couples can start out and support each other on their mutual weight loss journeys.

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Posted on August 31, 2024 by Health Buzz

Healthy Cholesterol Can Be Achieved Through Healthy Fats

High nutrient and whole foods: FOR THE WIN! A recent study was conducted to evaluate the effects of diet on cholesterol. It was observed that people who ate food such as nuts, soy, avocado, olive oil, and oats saw a greater drop in cholesterol than those who maintained a low-fat diet.

A 6-month study was conducted in four different locations in Canada. Two groups of participants were selected and all had elevated cholesterol levels. One group was put on a diet that included foods believed to improve heart health, yet were high in healthy fats. The other group was placed on a diet that emphasized low-fat foods, including whole grains and high-fiber options.

The first group obtained their food list from a US Food and Drug Administration list. This list contained approved suggestions for better heart health. Foods on that list included olive oil, avocado, oatmeal, soy, tofu, beans, lentils, almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, and walnuts. Many of these foods contain high fat levels. However, they are natural and healthy fats.

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Posted on August 30, 2024 by Lacy

12 Healthy Tailgate Recipes for College Football Parties

This week marks the beginning of the college football season and after a summer of cookouts and picnics, most healthy eaters are tired of grilled vegetables and black bean burgers.

If you want to socialize without blowing your diet during football games this year,  stick to fresh, simple recipes to boost your team spirit, whether you’re in the stadium parking lot or watching on your neighbor’s flat screen TV.

As you plan your menu for the next big game, consider some of these healthy tailgating recipes – all just as delicious and crowd-pleasing as their fattening counterparts.

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Posted on August 30, 2024 by Maris

Freegan Diet Food Safety Tips from Registered Dietitians

They call themselves freegans: people who live almost entirely on what others throw away, from furniture right down to the food they put in their bodies. Freegans reject the idea of a capitalist system and take pride in their limited participation in a conventional economy.

According to Freegan.Info, freegans live based on “sharing resources, minimizing the detrimental impact of our consumption and reducing and recovering waste and independence from the profit-driven economy.”

While trash touring or dumpster diving may not sound like reliable methods for sourcing food and nutrition, freegans rarely go hungry, as the Environmental Protection Agency states that Americans dump approximately 38 million tons of garbage daily.

One commenter on a Huffington Post article about a week in the life of a freegan said “While I personally can not see myself dumpster diving, I have seen the waste that restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores discard…it’s good food that can provide meals to the poor or unfortunat­e.”

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Posted on August 29, 2024 by Maris

7 Recipes to Enjoy the Juicy Health Benefits of Grapes

Matthew Kaplan is the Editor for FaveDiets.com, a free online resource featuring hundreds of free healthy recipes, healthy cooking tips and loads more. Be sure to check out FaveDiets on Facebook and on Twitter.

Is there any fruit as ubiquitous as grapes? From the ancient Greek gods to California farmers, I think everyone loves grapes. I mean, what’s not to love about those little round orbs of sweet goodness?

But are they healthy? Compared to other fruits like apples or bananas, grapes definitely do pack quite a sweet punch. However, grapes are actually incredibly healthy for you. A cup of grapes does have about 14 grams of sugar, but it also has about a gram of fiber. In total, a cup will only set you back about 60 calories without any fat.

On top of all that, grapes are a nutrient powerhouse. They are a great source of manganese, vitamin C and potassium. For additional health benefits, grapes are loaded with cancer-fighting antioxidants. So are grapes healthy? In short, absolutely! (more…)

Posted on August 29, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Your Dating While Dieting Survival Guide

By Jennifer Gregory

While dieting at any time requires planning and willpower, dating while on a diet can pose some extra challenges. Many dates revolve around dinner or drinks, and once you hit it off with someone it can be easy to spend time with your new partner instead of heading to the gym. If you aren’t careful, you can quickly gain back the five pounds you spent the last month working so hard to lose.

But don’t despair, it is very possible to both date and continue to lose weight by following a few simple tips:

Plan Active Dates

Instead of meeting for a meal, suggest a date where you both get moving. “Dieting is not all about food, it’s about being active, too,” said Kenzie Harrick, Certified Health Coach at KHolistic.com. Some ideas include a bike ride, kayaking, hiking, roller skating or even throwing football in the park together. “Active dates are a creative date idea, a way to exercise and a way to test your connection with more than dinner conversation,” said Harrick. During dates where you do eat out, suggest an after dinner walk to work off the calories and get some fresh air.

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Posted on August 29, 2024 by Health Buzz

Woman Determined to be Fattest in the World

Susanne Eman wants the definition of beauty to expand.

Eman, weighing in at around 727 pounds, wants one day to be the fattest woman in the world, beating the current record of 1,600 pounds. To reach her goal, Eman is consuming over 20,000 calories per day.

Although the obese woman consumes an absurd amount of calories and has to use a motorized scooter in the grocery store, she insists she is perfectly healthy.

“I go for a waddle and do stretches and exercises every day. My muscles need to hold up to my weight, so I have to stay strong,” Eman told the Daily Mail. “I take my blood pressure once a week, and every day, after I exercise, I take readings of my other vitals. I use a pulse oximeter to measure the concentration of oxygen in my blood stream.”

If any of Eman’s readings were abnormal she would call her doctor immediately, she said. She truly believes that what she’s doing is healthy, but has arranged for her sister to take care of her two sons, Brendin and Gabriel, if anything were to happen.

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Posted on August 29, 2024 by Jamie

How to Survive Falling Off the Wagon

Maruchy Lachance is president of Running Ninja!, a lifestyle brand for runners by runners. Running Ninja! offers a wide variety of apparel and gifts for runners to keep you happy and inspired while you’re on the run.

It’s happened to the strongest and most willful of us all. We haven’t just fallen off the weight management and fitness wagon, but we’ve stayed off. While we are saturated with information on how to lose weight and tone our bodies, we rarely get the help we need when the inevitable lapse occurs.

My rule of thumb to work my way back onto that wagon is to begin by remembering that “To err is human, to forgive YOURSELF divine!”

Once you have accepted that this is a temporary set back you will realize that there are benefits to falling off the wagon. For starters, it will give you an opportunity to revisit what you were doing and why you didn’t stay motivated. A lot of times it could be that the system you were using was either too challenging or not challenging enough. Or perhaps you are dealing with stress that is derailing your efforts. Whatever the reason, here are some ways to help you get back on track: (more…)

Posted on August 28, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Foods With Naturally Occurring Antibiotic Properties can Ward Off Illness

By Delia Quigley for Care2.com

“Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.” Hippocrates

In herbology they are called astringent meaning foods and herbs that are natural blood cleansers and antibiotic in nature. The word anti (against) – biotic (life), refers to a list of pharmaceutical antimicrobials designed to kill harmful bacteria in the host body. Problem is, these synthetic forms of antibiotics kill off both the good and bad bacteria leaving the body depleted of living microflora that support immune function.

Including foods and herbs that contain antibiotic properties in your diet can support your immune system and help to defend you from certain infectious bacteria. This can also be said for organisms such as the Lymes spirochete and Candida Albicans, an overgrowth of yeast. There are many foods and herbs known to have natural antibiotic qualities; and with an increased resistance to pharmaceutical antibiotics in people today, it is wise to eat foods that work in your defense on a daily basis.

This is not to imply that you should not take antibiotics when deemed necessary by your medical doctor. However, knowing how to use certain foods as medicine can help you to cut down on over using synthetic antibiotics for minor health conditions. Naturally, consult your physician before proceeding.

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Posted on August 28, 2024 by GuestBlogger

How to Cook Healthy Moroccan Food at Home

Moroccan food, which borrows inspiration from Mediterranean and Middle Eastern culture, is exotic and diverse, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it in your own home as part of a healthy diet.

Moroccan food uses very distinct flavors and spices, such as cumin, coriander, saffron, chiles, dried ginger, cinnamon, and paprika, all of which give a flavor boost without adding fat or calories.

Start Your Meal with Mint Tea

You’ve probably heard diet tips that tell you to drink a full glass of water or eat an apple before beginning a meal to curb your appetite. In Morocco, green tea is a cultural sign of hospitality, friendship and tradition. People drink it throughout the day, so why not begin your meal with a calorie-free cup of tea?

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Posted on August 27, 2024 by Maris

5 Foods That Will Help You Snooze

By Lise Turner for Care2.com

It has been a sleepless several nights for me, mainly because of troubling events. But it made me start thinking about food, and how it’s intimately connected to our patterns of sleep. If you can’t sleep, and life is calm and happy, maybe it’s something you ate–or didn’t. The foods we eat can dramatically affect how much, and how well, we snooze. Some foods calm and relax, some wake up the nervous system, and some just downright wire you for the night.

What you should eat for deeper sleep depends partly on your patterns. If you toss and turn before drifting off but then doze soundly for the rest of the night, you might benefit from adding slow-burning carbs (beans, sweet potatoes, berries) to your evening meal to prompt the production of serotonin, a brain chemical that promotes calm. If you zonk out quickly but wake up a few hours later, you might be suffering from blood sugar fluctuations. I’ve tried a high-protein snack before bed–a handful of walnuts, a spoonful of almond butter, a small cube of cheese–and these tend to keep blood sugar levels steady throughout the night.

Focus on foods with soothing nutrients, like magnesium, which help relax muscles and calm the body, and B vitamins, key in the production of serotonin and other brain chemicals necessary to sleep. Trytophan, an amino acid that’s needed to make sleep-inducing serotonin, is especially effective when it’s paired with complex, slow-burning carbs.

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Posted on August 27, 2024 by GuestBlogger