Use Portion Control to Determine Your Serving Size

In a society where super sizing your meal is acceptable, its no wonder that 34% of adults over the age of 20 are overweight based on the 2007-2008 CDC obesity survey.  The American mentality of increasing your portion size for a few more cents is gravely off balance to maintain a healthy body. However, fast food has become a main staple in our diets because it’s fast and easy. The problem is it isn’t nutritious and it doesn’t fill you up so people continue to eat and eat which just causes us to pack on the pounds. Diets don’t help either because they include eliminating certain foods, restricting calories or avoiding food altogether. Deprivation kicks in causing you to over indulge when it comes time to eat. For anyone who is looking to become healthier, fitter and eat more nutritiously it all boils down to portion control and sticking to serving size. Read more...

Reduce Premature Aging Through Foods That Fight Wrinkles

As we age the collagen which keeps our skin taunt and firm begins to breakdown, which causes the appearance of wrinkles and sagging skin. These signs of aging normally don’t start to occur until after age 35. However premature aging and wrinkles can still occur. This is due to stress, toxins, sun exposure, weight gain, disease and damaging free radicals. To minimize the affects of these stressors on the skin you need to eat foods loaded with antioxidants to counteract the damage of free radicals, which cause cellular damage and disease. Proper nutrition prevents signs of premature aging, wrinkles and sagging skin. So throw out all of your skin creams, anti-aging lotions and moisturizers that promise to reverse your skins signs of aging. Fill up your refrigerator with foods that are loaded with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties to not only protect it from aging but to keep it looking soft, healthy and youthful. Don’t wait until you start to notice fine lines and wrinkles on your skin, consume these foods now to prevent them from ever appearing. Read more...

Changing Your Unhealthy Snacking Habits

Snacking- it’s something we all do but it’s not always what we need to be doing. Snacking can contribute to weight gain, especially if you aren’t snacking on the right types of food. For many overweight individuals snacking is a coping mechanism, which in turn causes them to eat more due to added weight gain. The problem with snacking isn’t the actual snacking itself. The problem is what you are snacking on. Traditional snack foods, such as potato chips, soda, candy, cookies, and crackers are loaded with fat, sugar and preservatives. These types of foods are filled with empty calories, which turn into excess fat in the body. Unfortunately we all crave specific fattening or sugary foods at some point in our lives and eating these types of foods sparingly won’t kill us, however when you continually eat them on a daily basis they can do damage to the body. Changing what you snack on cannot only stop added weight gain; it can help you lose weight. Eating healthy food can be tasty and satisfying which will fill up your stomach faster, making you feel fuller for longer. Read more..

Naturally Lower Your Cholesterol Through the Food You Eat

Cholesterol is measured in three ways, LDL (bad) cholesterol, HDL (good) cholesterol, and total cholesterol. Cholesterol is determined by a couple of different factors genetics, diet and exercise. One’s diet is the easiest factor to control. However, peoples eating habits have declined over the years and diets are filled with highly processed, high fat, and high sugar foods. This raises the bodies LDL bad cholesterol and lowers the HDL good cholesterol. High LDL cholesterol levels are bad because it raises blood pressure, increases plaque build up in arteries and increases the risk for heart disease and heart attack.  Lowering your bad cholesterol should be a major concern and by eating these foods you can start reducing your LDL levels today. Remember to eat a variety of these foods on a daily basis to get the maximum cholesterol lowering effects. Read more...

The Best Snack Foods to Help Lose Weight

Snacking is a way to keep your appetite under control in between meals. When you go without food for long periods of time your metabolism slows down, your body craves carbohydrates to use for a much needed energy boost. When it comes time to finally eat it’s hard to consciously choose healthy foods and a proper portion size. Although snacking can seem like your worst nightmare it’s more about controlling what types of foods you snack on and how much you choose to consume. It is these two principals that make snacking a dieter’s best friend. When trying to lose weight, most people cut out snacking to reduce their calories, however this can actually lead to over consumption later on. Rather, you should eat smaller meals throughout the day to help control appetite, ward off cravings, and regulate your blood sugar. Read more...

Foods for Beautiful Looking Skin

What girl doesn’t want to have smooth, soft, glowing skin? Well the perfect remedy is as easy as what you put in your mouth. Food is an important part of one’s health, especially to one’s beauty. The phrase “You are what you eat,” describes exactly how the food you eat affects your body. When you don’t drink enough water, your skin becomes dry and flaky; when you don’t eat enough vitamins and minerals your skin loses its elasticity and its color fades. The food we eat is a powerful tool in keeping your skin looking beautiful. What you eat can improve your skin tone, texture, evenness and clarity. Therefore it’s important to pack your diet filled with foods to keep your skin soft, smooth, and glowing. Read more...

Use Lemons To Lose Weight

Although lemons have a long history of use as ornamental plants, an antiseptic, in cooking and for flavoring, the use of lemons today spreads much wider. As a fruit most people don’t think of using the lemon outside of kitchen purposes however its abilities spread much farther than one would think. The lemon contains so many elements that it makes it a great tool to help during weight loss. Once these ingredients are in the body they work their way throughout ones system to assist in absorption, digestion, detoxification, and alkalizing. By adding lemons to your diet you can increase your weight loss substantially and help to burn fat. Read more...

Go Ahead Have Another Cup of Coffee

For over the past 100 or so years coffee has gained a bad reputation for being an unhealthy addition to the human diet. However, coffee stands, chains, stores, and cafes have popped up all over the world that are flooded by customers everyday. But for all the hype, people continue to drink coffee day in and day out regardless of the stigma.  Maybe that’s because coffee in and of itself isn’t bad for you at all. Read more...

What's All The Hype About Smoothies?

Smoothies are the new health craze on the market today. Smoothie shops are opening up on every corner while fast food joints and coffee shops are offering their own signature smoothies just to compete. Smoothies are marketed as a healthy blended drink usually made of fruit and vegetables that fill you up but without all the extra calories. However, the smoothies available today aren’t necessarily all that healthy. Many have high calorie additives, flavoring and ingredients, which make the smoothies not so healthy any more. Read more...

How to Boost Your Immune System Through the Foods You Eat

The food you eat helps to protect your body inside and out, therefore its best to fill your diet with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants from fresh grown and raised foods. Unfortunately, fast food, high fat, and high sugar foods have taken over the American diet. These foods wreak havoc on the body and lower the immune system. When the immune system is weak its easier for disease, bacteria and viruses to penetrate the bodies defenses, making it more likely that you will get sick. However if you eat the proper combinations of immune boosting foods you can avoid the yearly flu, or the common cold that goes around. Read more...

Boost the Immune System Through Antioxidants

Our immune system is an intricate system of defenses that distinguishes between foreign substances within the body from healthy cells, when properly functioning. However a weakened immune system can be overpowered by pathogens, bacteria and viruses leaving the body vulnerable to disease, infection and illness. Additionally, our body is affected by free radicals, atoms with unpaired electrons that are highly reactive and cause damage to healthy cells. Free radicals are believed to be involved in degenerative diseases, the aging process and cancers especially when allowed to run free in the body. Free radicals can cause a breakdown in the body’s immune system leaving it susceptible to infection.Read more...

Eat These Foods To Boost Immunity

People eat and do things they know aren’t good for their bodies. Unfortunately we don’t know how unhealthy habits can affect our body on the inside. Unhealthy eating, smoking, and drinking habits all weaken the immune system, our body’s defenses against pollutants, pathogens and toxins. A weakened immune system can cause disease. To boost the immune system you need to start by supplying the body with the proper nutrients through a healthy diet. By eating immune boosting foods on a regular basis you can keep your immune system strong to ward off the cold and flu. Read more...

Coconut Water- The Newest Natural Health Drink

Coconut water is the newest natural sports drink on today’s market, however  it has been around a long time. It is a popular drink in the tropics where coconuts are readily available and sold fresh on the streets cut right in front of your eyes. Like its predecessors the acai berry, smart water and green drinks, coconut water exploded onto the health food market as if out of thin air. Touting its many health benefits coconut water has become available in many brands and flavors. For those in the health industry its just the newest, natural health drink, however for the public it’s the latest in a long line of highly marketed sports drinks that we have gone crazy over. However, with its newfound popularity, comes some skeptism. For up to $3 a bottle not everyone believes in all of coconut waters hype. Read more...