The Benefits of Eating Cucumbers

The #1 Spice You Need in Your Diet

Discover How To Easily Read Nutrition Labels

 

There are so many nutrients in food, so many ingredients, so many facts to know about what’s supposedly good for you and what’s supposedly not? Fortunately for all of us, the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) created a standardized format for the nutrition label that all processed and/or packaged consumer foods must affix to the outside of their product. So, no matter what the food, you can easily compare its value to you with that of any other food.

There are 3 fundamental areas to look for first on a nutrition label, and they’re all conveniently grouped together near the top, just under the title “Nutrition Facts”.

What is the Serving Size: standardized amount (like cups or tablespoons or pieces) followed by the equivalent amount in the metric system (such as grams). In general

How Many Servings Per Container: Most packaged foods contain multiple servings in a single package, making it easy to double, triple, quadruple, etc. the caloric intake from that of a single serving.

What are the Amount of Calories Per Serving: Typically, a single serving of around 40 calories is considered low-calorie, around 100 is considered moderate, and 400 is considered high-calorie.

Keeping tabs on the amount of servings you take in, based on the caloric intake per serving, is one great way to manage your weight. Another is to balance out eating high-calorie foods with some low-calorie foods earlier or later in the day.

The next step to using nutrition labels to help control your weight is to get the most nutrition out of the calories you take in.

Use the Percentage Daily Value to tell you how rich in each of the required nutrients the food really is. Daily values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. 5% or less of a nutrient’s %DV is low, 20% or more of a nutrient’s %DV is high. Limit your amount of Total Fat, Cholesterol, and Sodium. No daily requirement exists for Trans-Fats (the most dangerous kind), though their quantity per serving does appear on the label; so just be sure to keep them to an absolute minimum. Make sure to get plenty of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, and Iron.

Once you have gathered all the information you need, you simply ask yourself if a food choice is a wise choice for you in terms of both calories and nutrients, and whether it makes more sense for you as part of a meal or as a standalone snack. If the answers to these questions don’t satisfy you for a particular food, then the next question to ask yourself is whether you can find a suitable alternative. The answer that question is almost invariably, ‘Yes’.

The Role of Choline in Health Support

To learn about the role of choline in health support, click here: choline

Four supplements that will benefit almost everyone

Four supplements that will benefit almost everyone - NaturalNews.com

Low-Carb Diets: Are They The Best Way To Lose Weight?

Low-carb, starch-free, no bread – there’s a lot of hype around low carbohydrate diets following an investigation by ABC TV’s Catalyst program last week – but are they any good for weight loss? LiveLighter campaign manager and dietitian Alison Ginn takes a closer look.

 

Low carbohydrate diets often help you lose weight initially because they restrict the amount of energy (kilojoules) you eat. While following a low carb diet you’ll probably skip the office treats, reduce some meal sizes (because there is no bread, potato, rice or pasta) and possibly have fewer snacks, too.

But long term, a low-carb diet is pretty hard to maintain. All of the restriction can lead to binge eating. So while you may lose weight initially, there’s no reliable evidence to say it lasts.

Are they safe?

In a word, no. Carbohydrate foods break down into glucose (a simple sugar) after we eat them. Our body needs glucose to power the brain and many of our organs. 

There is variation across low carb diets in severity of carb restriction and total amount of food. Starchy foods may be replaced with either protein or fat. Fruit and milk may be permitted, limited or forbidden. 

While severe carbohydrate restriction can be dangerous, the main safety issue is missing essential nutrients when skipping an entire food group (or two or three if fruit and dairy are limited).

Apart from energy the other benefits of carbohydrate foods are

• Fibre: you will get some fibre from fruit and veg but wholegrain foods are the highest source.
• Antioxidants: from wholegrain foods and from a variety of colours of fruit and veg.
• Calcium: yoghurts and milk (dairy or fortified alternative) are some of the best sources of calcium in the western diet.

Complete nutritionally balanced meals reduce the need for frequent snacking which can lead to unintended overeating.

The consensus?

Instead of a low-carb diet include vegetables, fruit, wholegrains lean dairy and protein foods every day to help you lose weight and while ensuring you get all the nutrients you need to keep your body healthy.

How to eat a balanced diet
Balanced meals: Try to have some carbohydrates, vegetables and a protein food (such as lean meat, fish, eggs, tofu and low-fat dairy) with each meal. Eating a balanced meal every time you eat will ensure you get all the nutrients you need and help you feel fuller.
Livelighter.com.au has a meal and activity planner and many delicious recipes to help you achieve your goals.

Move more: Regular exercise will help you feel energised and shed those extra kilograms.

Eat less processed food: Though strict carbohydrate restriction is unnecessary, and even dangerous, it is beneficial to watch the amount of processed sugar you’re eating (and drinking) and also limit added fats. Pay attention to limiting sugary drinks, processed snacks and white starchy foods (opt for wholegrain). Eat more vegetables, fruit, wholegrain foods, low fat yoghurt, eggs, nuts and fish. Water is the best drink for your waist and your teeth. 

http://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/weight+loss/diets/low+carb+diets+are+they+the+best+way+to+lose+weightr,34411

Top 4 Ways To Improve Liver Function

Wednesday, November 12, 2014 by: Derek Henry

(NaturalNews) Living in a world that has toxins at every turn has left our liver function in a hot mess. Everyday touches with toxins in our food, air, water, personal care, and household products has slowly but surely created a burden on this hard working organ that has compromised our ability to detoxify properly on a day-to-day basis.

In order to reverse those consequences and optimize your liver function going forward, keep these 4 factors in mind.

Incorporate proper foods and eating habits

To safely begin detoxifying the liver, you don't want to run out and get the ingredients for the master cleanse or buy a potent herbal liver detoxification kit. Rather, you want to focus first on your diet and proper eating habits first.

You need to rest your digestive tract by eating smaller and lighter meals that are nutrient dense and easily assimilated and always stopping when you feel around 80% full. Some good options that fit this bill are low sugar smoothies, juices, salads, soups, and fermented foods like sauerkraut and coconut kefir. Stay as raw and low sugar as possible so as to rest your liver function and provide it with the necessary enzymes to properly do its job of detoxification.

Eliminate foods, products, and daily habits that hurt your liver

On the flip side, you need to eliminate or largely avoid foods and habits that will slow down or compromise liver function. This includes eating fats from animal meat, butter, dairy, and vegetable oils. Refined flour products, sugar, alcohol, and caffeine will also weaken the liver, primarily due to digestive distress and excessive sugar/starch handling that is required. Avoiding any foods that are GMO is also incredibly important.

Also, do your best to avoid chemicals in your food supply by making cleaner choices, and purify your water and air appropriately. Take note of personal care and household products that contain unrecognizable ingredients and substitute them with natural products.

Finally, realize that any prescriptions or medications are especially damaging to the liver and will always compromise its function. Lack of sleep and negative thoughts also contribute to its decline, so improving your sleep patterns and mindset are a must.

Consume liver detoxifying foods and herbs

To crank up your liver detoxification a bit more, focus on foods and herbs that are noted as being especially cleansing to the liver, including:

• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Beets
• Garlic
• Onions
• Walnuts
• Avocados
• Apples
• Grapefruit
• Leafy green vegetables
• Sauerkraut
• Coconut kefir

Popular herbs that are well known to clean up liver function include:

• Milk thistle
• Dandelion
• Burdock root
• Artichoke
• Turmeric

Consuming these foods and herbs on a consistent basis will help support, detoxify, and nourish your liver so that it can become healthy again and remove toxins on a day-to-day basis.

Improve your digestion

The gastrointestinal tract serves as the first line of defense once toxins have entered the body. If it becomes compromised, it allows disease causing agents to take root, often to the point that they break through the intestinal membrane and get into the bloodstream.

Once the bowels have become toxic, the rest of the body will soon follow. If the intestines keep on letting toxins through, the liver will bear most of the burden of eliminating these toxins by filtering and rendering these substances harmless and excreting them out of the body through the urine and stool. This is why improving your digestion is critical, to ensure there is not an excessive and consistent stream of toxins for your liver to deal with, or it will eventually become severely compromised.

If you're looking for an easy detox plan, see the first source below. To learn more about the extent of your liver damage, visit Signs of Liver Damage. To clean up your digestive system, check out Top 5 Plant Based Foods That Improve Digestion.

Sources:

http://www.organiclifestylemagazine.com

http://www.organiclifestylemagazine.comhttp://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.healingthebody.cahttp://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.healingthebody.ca

http://www.organiclifestylemagazine.com

http://truthwiki.org/Turmeric

http://truthwiki.org/Garlic

http://truthwiki.org/ginger

http://truthwiki.org/Vitamin_D

http://truthwiki.org/Oregano

About the author:
Derek Henry, B.Kin, is a highly revered holistic health coach and world renowned natural health blogger and educator who created Healing the Body to help people understand the fundamental principles to exceptional health so they can overcome their own health challenges.

In this pursuit he created proven protocols and guides in the Ultimate Reset personal coaching program, the THRIVE online holistic health program, and his very popular Wellness Transformation

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