What Happens To Your Body Within An Hour Of Drinking A Coke?

The first rule of healthy eating is to stop eating processed sugar.  One of the major sources of sugar in the diet is sugary beverages and sodas.

Don’t drink cola if you want to be healthy. Consuming soft drinks is bad for so many reasons that science cannot even state all the consequences. But one thing we know for sure is that drinking Coke, as a representative of soft drinks, wreaks havoc on the human organism. What happens? Writer Wade Meredith has shown the quick progression of Coke’s assault.

The main problem is sugar. It’s an evil that the processed food industry and sugar growers don’t want people to know about. Even dietitians, financially supported by sugar growers and sugary product manufacturers, are loathe to tell us the truth.

Read More Here

Is Aquaponics the Future of Farming?

To enjoy sustainable healthy eating in the future we will need to explore new farming technologies.  One such new technology is called aquaponics.

Aquaponics — a combination of aquaculture, or fish cultivation, and hydroponics, or water-based planting — utilizes a symbiotic relationship between fish and plants. Fish waste provides nutrients for the plants, which in turn filter the water in which the fish live. Cuttings from plant are composted to create food for worms, which provide food for the fish, completing the cycle.

“Aquaponics is a method of delivering multiple crops with minimum input, through a closed-loop method of farming,” said Charlie Price, founder of Aquaponics UK, the nonprofit organization that runs the farm.
Read More Here

Americans Can't Meet Easy Healthy Eating Goals?

Is it so hard, as a healthy eating goal, to eat fruit at least twice a day and vegetables three times or more?

Evidently, yes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed hundreds of thousands of people to see how Americans were doing on some remarkably modest goals for better eating.

The findings? When it comes to fruit, we're actually eating less than we did in 2000. Vegetable consumption is flat. The results appear in the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Read More Here

Whole Grains for Healthy Eating

What Are Whole Grains?

Adding more whole grains to your diet for healthy eating will benefit you in many ways. I'm sure you've heard that you should eat more whole grains, but what are they, how much should you eat, and where can you easily get them? Eating at least three or more one-ounce equivalents of whole grains daily can reduce the risk of many diseases and help you achieve a healthy diet. Whole grains are hearty, healthy, and tasty. If you are earnest about seeking optimal health, whole grains provide a one-stop source for nutrients, antioxidants and phytochemicals vital to your well-being.

Whole grains are the entire seed (or kernel) of the plant. A single seed of grain contains three distinct parts: the bran, the endosperm and germ. If all three parts of the grain are included, the food is considered a whole grain.

• Bran. The outer seed layer: full of fiber, B vitamins, 50 percent to 80 percent of the grain's minerals, plus other health-promoting plant substances called phytochemicals.
• Germ. The inner embryo: full of B vitamins, vitamin E, trace minerals and small amounts of healthful unsaturated fats, phytochemicals and antioxidants.
• Endosperm. The starchy middle: contains carbohydrates, some protein and smaller amounts of B vitamins.These whole grains are ground, cracked, or flaked kernel, which includes the bran, the germ, and the inner most part of the kernel (the endosperm).

Some examples of whole grains include whole wheat, oatmeal, Corn (including whole cornmeal and popcorn), Brown Rice, Wild Rice, whole-grain Barley, whole Rye, Amaranth, Millet, Quinoa, and Buckwheat.

 Health Benefits of Whole Grains

Medical evidence has clearly proven that eating whole grains on a regular basis reduces the risks of heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes. Regularly eating whole grains reduces your risk of obesity, as measured by body mass index and waist-to-hip ratios, and will also lower your cholesterol levels. Few foods can offer such diverse health benefits. Whole grains also contain valuable phytochemicals and antioxidants. Eating only three daily servings of whole grains have been shown to reduce their risk of heart disease by 25-36%, stroke by 37%, Type II diabetes by 21-27%, digestive system cancers by 21-43%, and hormone-related cancers by 10-40%.

Eating the right types and amounts of whole grains can:

• Lower triglycerides
• Lower blood pressure
• Improve insulin control
• Ease constipation and other digestive disorders
• Help with weight management
• Slow the buildup of plaque in your arteries

How do I identify Whole Grains?

The ingredient list on a food label shows ingredients in the order of the most abundant by weight. When selecting products that contain whole grains, look for those that show whole grains listed first on the ingredient list. For products such as bread or pasta to be labeled whole grain, the grain can be ground, cracked, or flaked, but it must retain the same proportions of bran, germ, and endosperm. Any label that says 100% whole grain is the best product you can buy. It is really easy and fun to get three servings of whole grains a day and they are a great filler for meats.

Examples of one whole grain serving include:

• 1/2 cup cooked brown rice or other cooked grain
• 1/2 cup cooked 100% whole-grain pasta
• 1/2 cup cooked hot cereal, such as oatmeal
• 1 ounce uncooked whole grain pasta, brown rice or other grain
• 1 slice 100% whole grain bread
• 1 very small (1 oz.) 100% whole grain muffin
• 1 cup 100% whole grain ready-to-eat cereal

Here are more easy ways to incorporate whole grains into your daily diet:

• Substitute half the white flour with whole wheat flour in your regular recipes for cookies, muffins, quick breads and pancakes or add up to 20% of another whole grain flour such as quinoa or amaranth.
• Replace one third of the flour in a recipe with quick oats or old-fashioned oats.
• Add half a cup of cooked bulgur, wild rice, or barley to stuffings.
• Add half a cup of cooked wheat or rye berries, wild rice, brown rice, bulgur or barley to your favorite canned or home-made soup.
• Use whole corn meal for corn cakes, corn breads and corn muffins.
• Add three-quarters of a cup of uncooked oats for each pound of ground beef or turkey when you make meatballs, burgers or meatloaf.
• Stir a handful of oats in your yogurt, for quick crunch with no cooking necessary.

Start adding whole grains to your diet on a daily basis and reap the health benefits of whole grains.

Berries Help the Brain Stay Healthy

Scientists today reported the first evidence that eating blueberries, strawberries, and acai berries may help the aging brain stay healthy in a crucial but previously unrecognized way. Read More Here

Lack of Healthy Eating Habits can lead to Digestive Problems

Is your lack of healthy eating habits causing intestinal discomfort and leading you to poor health?

 Do you ever have a bloating feeling in your stomach or annoying gas and pain that give you discomfort? There are many causes of these symptoms and they should be a red flag to you that you need to monitor your eating habits and change those eating habits. Antacid tablets are not the answer, they only treat the symptoms, and you need to attack the cause, which is your bad eating habits

Here are a few quick tips you can follow to improve your digestion and start eating healthier:

Chew your food well. Start with the practice of chewing each bite of food 30 times. It may seem excessive at first but, saliva starts the process of digestion in your mouth and chewing well mixes the saliva with the food so it gets a start before it gets to your stomach.

One of the causes of bloating and indigestion is excess stomach acid which is partially caused by your stomach working overtime trying to digest large pieces of food. Chewing your food well necessitates slowing down and taking your time when you eat.

Do what I call “eating mindfully”. Eating mindfully is planning enough time for your meal so you are not eating in a rush. Sit down, relax, and enjoy your food. Chew each bite thoroughly, paying attention to the colors, flavors and textures of what you are eating. For some, this may be a difficult task, but you need to do it until it becomes a habit. It takes 21 days of doing something before it becomes a habit but once it does, you never have to think about it again, it will be just like walking or driving a car.

You will receive several benefits from this new habit of chewing your food well:


1) You will get enjoyment from eating, actually tasting and enjoying your food.
2) In our fast-paced lives we all need habits of slowing down during the day. Stopping yourself and slowing things down several times a day will allow you to re-energize and re-focus.
3) You will have a healthier digestive system which will lead to better long term overall health. A lot of disease starts with the foods you eat and your digestion system.
4) You will have more energy because digestion takes a lot of energy especially when your food is not well chewed.

Eat foods that are rich in fiber. Fiber flushes bad toxins out of your body, absorbs and flushes out fat, and helps keep your intestines clear of buildup. Think of fiber as scrubbers that clean the insides of your intestines keeping them clean of buildup. Good fiber foods are whole grains, fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, legumes and vegetables. Eating plenty of these foods will keep you “regular” and regularity is a key indicator of intestinal health. Here are a few more tips to aid you in maintaining your digestive health:


· Avoid processed food, fatty foods and fried foods. Fats are hard to digest and they leave residues in your intestines leading to constipation and other digestion problems.


· Eat smaller more moderate meals 5 times a day. Do not feast for each meal, eat just enough to fill your stomach for the next several hours. Smaller, well chewed meals will keep your stomach acid at a good level and you will avoid over-working your digestive system.


· An easy habit to start is to plan your daily snacks ahead of time. Eating light snacks of dried fruit, nuts or whole wheat biscuits in between meals will get you in the habit of eating healthier, fiber rich foods and you will not reach for the easy processed snacks


· Drink plenty of Water. Water is essential to good digestion and it is essential your overall well being. Water helps flush toxins out of the body through urination and is critical to the health of every cell in the body especially your brain cells. Since our bodies are made up of about 70% water, staying fully hydrated is key to maintaining good health. By the time you feel thirsty, you are already in a state of mild dehydration. You should aim at drinking one eight ounce glass of water every hour of the day.

Remember, poor digestive health is a sign of poor overall health, so follow these simple steps to better digestive health.

Breakfast: The most important meal of the day?

What role does breakfast play in healthy eating and a healthy diet?

Mom was right, as scientific research is now affirming, when she told us, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Researchers from the National Weight Control Registry, a database of more than 3000 people who have lost at least 60 pounds and kept it off for an average of six years, found that eating breakfast every day was a weight control strategy for 78% of the people in the registry.
The word breakfast simply means to break the fast our bodies have been on since we ate the night before. When you get up in the morning your blood sugar and metabolic rate are low which means there is no glucose in your body for energy. Glucose is the main source of you body's energy and is required to fuel the muscles for physical activity throughout the day.

When you eat breakfast your metabolic rate increases and your blood glucose levels rise. The boost in your metabolism from eating breakfast signals your body to burn fat and calories giving you the energy you need for better performance. When, after not eating for 10-12 hours, you skip breakfast, your body thinks it is being starved and goes into energy conservation mode, slowing down your metabolism and storing fat. Eating a healthy, balanced breakfast will help you maintain your normal healthy body weight, give you energy for your day and insure long-term health and vitality.


When you skip a meal your metabolism slows down to conserve your energy. The reason most "diet" plans do not work is because of what I call the "Diet Metabolic Cycle." Most diet plans have you losing a lot weight right away so you feel that they are working. When you lose weight too fast, after a few days, your body quits because it thinks it is threatened with starvation and goes into survival mode. It fights to conserve fat stores, and any measurable weight loss is mostly due to the elimination of water and muscle tissue. The result is that you have to keep eating less and less to keep losing weight. You then become discouraged, give up, and start eating like you used to. But now, because of the diet metabolic cycle, you have a slower metabolic rate and you are burning less fuel so you regain all the weight you lost, plus some!


When choosing a healthy breakfast, always include a variety of foods. A complete breakfast should have some whole grains, some lean protein and some fresh fruit. Whole grains can include wholegrain breads and breakfast cereals, wheat germ, amaranth, quinoa and oatmeal. Whole grains will provide fiber, are rich in B-vitamins and digest slowly releasing glucose slowly through the day to keep blood sugar levels steady. Lean protein can come from dairy like yogurt, low-fat/no-fat milk, cheese, eggs, lean meat, legumes, nuts, or peanut butter, and your super whole grains like quinoa and amaranth. I always try to get in two servings of fruit for breakfast for a quick energy boost. Stay away from high fat and high sugar for breakfast as that will slow you down after a couple of hours.


A traditional breakfast with eggs is a great way to get some high quality protein and may even help with weight loss. In a study presented at the 2007 Experimental Biology meeting, researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center compared weight loss of women who ate either two eggs or a bagel for breakfast. The two breakfast meals were identical in calories and volume. "Compared to the bagel eaters, overweight women who ate two eggs for breakfast five times a week for eight weeks as part of a low-fat, reduced-calorie diet, lost 65% more weight, reduced waist circumference by 83%, reported higher energy levels, and had no significant differences in their blood cholesterol or triglyceride levels," reports researcher Nikhil V. Durhanhar, PHD.


You do not need to get on a diet program, purchase special foods or dietary supplements, or use diet pills to succeed at weight loss. In fact, the only intelligent thing to do is to start eating healthy every day starting with breakfast!


Now that you know mom was right, start eating a healthy breakfast every day in her honor!


Change your Diet, Change your Life

Market Fresh Food

A day in the life of a restaurant in France. 


RESTAURANT GUY SAVOY from Jesse Salto on Vimeo.

Ten tips to Healthier Eating Habits

Healthy eating habits lead to long term health and well being.  The answer to poor health, excess body weight and poor physical condition lies in a healthy diet. Bad eating habits are hard to break -- but it can be done. Healthy eating habits are the answer.

Everyone knows diets do not work and if they do, they are only a short term fix. Quite simply, almost no-one can stick to a diet because diets are out of sync with their normal eating habits and patterns. It is tough to break long-term eating habits because they are inter-connected to so many other patterns and habits.

You have physical habits of when and how much to eat, mental habits telling you to eat what you have always eaten and what you like and dislike, and emotional habits that trigger desires for certain foods for specific emotional states. So, in essence, you have to break physical habits, emotional habits and mental habits to change your diet. The only real long term answer is to adopt healthy eating habits and habits take repeated efforts to stick. Healthy eating needs to become a way of life.


The thing to remember is that it takes 21 days of practice for a habit to stick. Pick one or two of these practices at a time and do them every day for 21 days until you can do them with minimal or no effort then try another one or two. With a little effort, in no time at all, you will be feeling and living healthier!

Here are some Healthy Eating Habits you can adopt for Optimal Health and Well Being:
1. Eat balanced meals
Eat a little lean protein, nutrient-rich whole grains, fruits and vegetables (good carbohydrates) and non-saturated fats (olive oil, nuts, avocadoes) at every meal. The protein will build and repair muscle; the carbohydrates replenish energy stores without elevating blood sugar; and healthy fats assure your body that there's more fuel coming in, giving it the thumbs up to burn stored fat.
2. Eat breakfast every day
Don't skip breakfast, it really is the most important meal of the day and it will jump start your metabolism giving you the energy you need to power through the day. Researchers at Harvard University found that those who ate breakfast every day were 44 per cent less likely to be overweight. I can attest to that because I have eaten a large breakfast all my life and my weight has barely fluctuated.
3. Drink water
Plenty of water will help you lose weight because it flushes out the waste products your body makes when it breaks down fat for energy or processes protein. You will also find you have more energy when you are fully hydrated.
4. Eat more fiber
High-fiber foods make you feel fuller, take longer to digest and cause a slow, gradual rise in blood sugar along with keeping your gastro intestinal tract clear. Choose whole fruit over juice, whole-grain bread instead of white, high-fiber cereal or oatmeal instead of refined sugary cereal, and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables which not only have fiber but many nutrients and phytochemicals for optimal health.
5. Control your portions
Over the years, our perception of what constitutes a normal size meal has grown considerably and as a result so have our waistlines. Your meal portions should leave you satisfied, but not feeling stuffed. Chewing your food until it is completely broken down will not only aid in digestion and save you indigestion but help your body feel full before you eat too much. Your body takes 20 minutes to tell your brain that it is full, so eat slowly.
6. Don't skip meals
Waiting more than four or five hours between meals causes your blood sugar to bottom out, leaving you weak, irritable and tired and you will tend to overeat or eat fast food which is unhealthy. Try to eat three balanced meals and two snacks per day.
7. Nourish your brain
Feed it with a steady supply of the right nutrients throughout the day. The brain needs a continuous supply of glucose to fuel it. Glucose, vitamins B, C, E, and iron, have all been shown to positively affect our memory, attentiveness, ability to react and respond. Eat foods high in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, flaxseed oil, and omega-3 eggs. Try raisins and prunes, which are loaded with antioxidants, for snacks.
8. Eat at home more often
When you eat at home, you have control over what you are eating and can choose less processed or non-processed healthy low-fat meals. Huge portions high in fat and calories make it hard to eat healthy when dining out. When you do eat out, avoid fast food, fried foods, heavy sauces and dressings, and skip the mega-calorie desserts.
9. Boost your immune system naturally
Vitamin C from citrus fruits and foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids will help build a strong immune system. Omega-3 eggs are an rasy way to increase fatty acids as they are easy to digest, quick and easy to cook. To keep fat content lower, use a combination of whole eggs and egg whites. Fish oil capsules are also great and easy to obtain.
10. Learn about the nutritional content of the foods you eat
If you have to eat processed foods always read the labels. Learning about what's in the foods you eat will help you make decisions on choosing the right foods and how much to eat. Reading food labels, food guides and online sites are all resources for building your knowledge.

The great thing about habits is, we do not have to think about them or expend extra energy on them.  They are like a computer program that runs in the background.  So, it is very worth the extra effort to adopt lifelong healthy eating habits now so you can enjoy optimal health and well being in the future which is a major component of true happiness.   

Kids Eat Healthy

Students at the University of Alabama Birmingham made this video to get kids interested in Healthy Eating.



Fresh Grown by Anna Lloyd from Digital Community Studies on Vimeo.

Healthy Eating to Avoid Chronic Inflammation

Healthy eating avoids foods that lead to chronic inflamation.

Inflammation implicated in all chronic degenerative diseases.
Modern medicine is now starting to admit, due to recently uncovered scientific data, the fact that chronic inflammation is the root cause of all degenerative disease. Indeed, the main contributing factor of everything from hay fever to heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, depression, and diabetes can all be traced back to chronic inflammation.

What is Chronic inflammation?
Chronic inflammation is a process whereby the immune system becomes off balance and persists unnecessarily in its efforts to repair the body and repel pathogens. A poor diet is the main contributor of excess pathogens in the body and the prolonged process of trying to deal with them results in damage to healthy tissue. Stress, lack of exercise, genetic predisposition and other lifestyle factors can all promote inflammation, but eating a healthier diet is the ideal place to begin addressing chronic inflammation in the body.


What foods promote inflammation?
The foods that promote inflammation are the usual suspects, chiefly, high glycemic processed foods that cause a jump in blood sugar levels and unhealthy fats. Here is what you need to avoid:

• Saturated fat: Found in red meat, fried foods and high fat dairy products like cheese or ice cream. To reduce saturated fat eat low-fat or no fat dairy, eat less meat, choose lean meats like skinless poultry, and trim red meats thoroughly.
• Other unhealthy Oils: One of the culprits implicated in chronic inflammation is omega-6 fatty acids, or to be precise, too much omega-6 fatty acid. A balance between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids is what you need, but many oils have a more than 2:1 (or much higher) ratio of omega-6 outweighing omega-3, making them pro-inflammatory. These oils have an unhealthy balance of omega-6 fatty acids: corn, sunflower, safflower, soy, and cottonseed oil. Try to avoid them in favor of olive oil
• Trans fat: Avoid foods with hydrogenated oils in the ingredients list, such as frozen meals, tortillas/wraps, and commercial pastries, crackers and cookies. Make it a habit to read the label on every packaged food you eat (which ideally, shouldn’t be too many!) and don’t buy anything with partially hydrogenated oil. You can virtually eliminate all trans fat from your diet with this simple strategy.
• Sugar: Spikes in blood glucose stimulate the inflammation response which in turn taxes the immune system. Cut out all foods with added sugars, avoid soda, sweetened drinks and candy to help combat blood glucose spikes, which promote inflammation. Aspartame/NutraSweet isn’t any better; it too has been linked to triggering inflammation
• Processed and high glycemic carbohydrates: In modern society, we eat a lot of processed and/or high glycemic carbohydrate. Most breakfast cereals, virtually all baked goods, granola bars, potatoes, bread, and pasta fall in this category. Switch your white bread for healthier, slightly-less-glycemic 100%whole wheat. Favor intact grains (like wheat kernels, barley, millet, quinoa, etc)which aren’t ground up into tiny particles and are digested and absorbed much more slowly than flours, thus keeping blood sugar from spiking.
• Nitrates and nitrites: These additives can increase inflammation, and also are associated with certain cancers, so there’s two good reasons to eat less of them! Nitrate and nitrite are found mostly in processed, cured meats like hot dogs, ham and bacon. You can, however, find uncured meats at Whole Foods and similar stores, or choose turkey for your sandwich instead on ham.  

What foods fight inflammation?

A good rule of thumb for eating more anti-inflammatory foods is to eat all natural, un-processed, low sugar, low fat foods however, there are several classes of foods you should eat more of to fight inflammation.

• Omega 3 fatty acids: While arachidonic acid (omega-6) is metabolized into inflammatory mediators, omega-3 fatty acids like DHA, EPA and ALA reduce inflammation. The richest food sources of EPA and DHA are seafood, and ALA can be found in flaxseed and walnuts. Keep in mind though, that ALA is less active in the body than EPA and DHA, and only some ALA gets converted to EPA/DHA, so eating fish (2 times a week) or taking a daily fish oil supplement is the most potent inflammation fighter.
• Phytochemicals like quercitin, anthocyanins, and polyphenols: These compounds are found in fruit, vegetables and some herbs and spices like ginger and turmeric. Berries, cruciferous vegetables, red grapes, and orange vegetables are just some of the all-stars in the phytochemical category. A good rule of thumb to follow is, the darker the color of fruits and vegetables is, the more healthy phytochemicals it contains, so fill your plate up!
• Low glycemic index foods: As mentioned above, carbohydrates that send your blood sugar high and fast (high glycemic content) promote inflammation. Carbohydrates from non-starchy vegetables, legumes, and intact, whole grains are much less glycemic, making them better selections for an anti-inflammatory diet. Some of the all-stars are: barley, quinoa, wheat berries, whole wheat bulgur, millet and corn.
• Antioxidant vitamins: carotenoids, vitamin C and vitamin E: These antioxidant vitamins come from fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. You can find carotenoids in bright orange carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, tomatoes, and even watermelon. Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits, kiwi, bell peppers and strawberries. You can get vitamin E from wheat germ, almonds, sunflower seeds, peanuts and hazelnuts.

What Can I do Now?As you can see, by simply avoiding or eating less of several classes of foods and incorporating more of other, healthier foods into your diet you can avoid chronic inflammation and the many diseases that are associated with it. Beyond what you eat, you should be careful about how you live: diet and lifestyle are not two separate things. When the body is overloaded in toxins, it can respond only in one way: chronic inflammation. Smoke, pesticides, cleaning chemicals, allergens, dust, contaminants, herbicides all contribute to toxic overload almost as much as nutritional deficiencies. The best way to combat toxic overload besides eating healthy is to drink lots of water and get some exercise every day. Exercise leads to perspiration which is the body’s natural way to rid itself of excess toxins.

Adopt the Medterranean Diet for Health and Well Being

What is the Mediterranean diet?

The Mediterranean diet is a modern nutritional recommendation which incorporates the basics of healthy eating and was inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea; Spain, southern Italy, Crete, and coastal Greece in the 1960s.

What are the benefits of the Mediterranean diet?

The Mediterranean diet has been proven to reduce your risk of heart disease. A 2007 study conducted in the United States found that both men and women who followed a Mediterranean diet lowered their risk of death from both cancer and heart disease. The Mediterranean Diet is more than just a diet. It is a lifelong living style and includes getting plenty of exercise and enjoying your meals with family and friends.

Key components of the Mediterranean diet include:

• Eating lots of fruits and vegetables along with legumes and whole grains.
• Use butter sparingly and consume only healthy fats such as olive oil and canola oil.
• Using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foods.
• Eating small portions of nuts, no more than a small handful daily.
• Drinking red wine, in moderation.
• Consuming very little red meat.
• Eat fish or shellfish twice a week.

What are the main components of a Mediterranean diet?

The principal aspects of this diet include high consumption of legumes, unrefined cereals (whole grains), fruits, vegetables, and olive oil, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt) and wine, moderate to high consumption of fish, and low consumption of meat and meat products.

The Mediterranean diet is traditionally made up mainly of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and some fish. For example, residents of Greece eat very little red meat and average nine servings a day of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables. Bread is an important part of the Mediterranean diet, however, it is eaten without butter or margarines, which contain saturated or trans fats. Due to the low consumption of red meat, the Mediterranean diet has been associated with a lower level of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol — the "bad" cholesterol that's more likely to build up deposits in your arteries.

Choosing healthy oils and fats

• The Mediterranean diet uses olive oil as the primary source of fat, rather than animal or dairy fats. Olive oil provides the most healthy type of fat, monounsaturated fat, a type of fat that can help reduce LDL cholesterol levels when used in place of saturated or trans fats. "Extra-virgin" and "virgin" olive oils are the least processed forms, meaning they contain the highest levels of the protective plant compounds that provide antioxidant effects.
• Polyunsaturated fats, which contain the beneficial linolenic acid (a type of omega-3 fatty acid) are the second best source of fat in your diet. These fat sources include canola oil and nuts, particularly walnuts. Nuts are high in fat and calories (approximately 80 percent of their calories come from fat), but tree nuts, including walnuts, pecans, almonds and hazel nuts, are low in saturated fat. For the best nutrition, avoid honey-roasted or heavily salted nuts.
• Fish, which provides the best source of omega-3 fatty acids is eaten on a regular basis in the Mediterranean diet. Omega-3 fatty acids lower triglycerides and improve the health of your blood vessels. The Mediterranean diet discourages using any saturated fats and hydrogenated oils (trans-fatty acids), both of which contribute to heart disease.

How does wine fit in?

The Mediterranean diet typically includes red wine consumed in moderation. Light intake of alcohol has been associated with a reduced risk of heart disease in some research studies. Research indicates that moderate red wine consumption may help protect against certain cancers and heart disease and can have a positive effect on cholesterol levels and blood pressure. Red wine has an aspirin-like effect, reducing the blood's ability to clot, and also contains antioxidants. One of the most studied antioxidants in red wines is resveratrol, a compound found in the seeds and skins of grapes. Red wine has a high concentration of resveratrol because the skins and seeds ferment in the grapes' juices during the red wine-making process. In the case of alcohol, when a little bit is good, more is not better. The recommended daily intake for women is one 5 ounce glass and for men is one to two 5 ounce glasses.


Can I easily adopt a Mediterranean diet?
The good news is that adopting a Mediterranean style diet is easy if you're a smart shopper. Simply choose plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, limit your intake of red meat, and eat fish or seafood twice a week. Do, however avoid fried and processed fish products. Use healthy fats, such as olive oil and canola oil, when cooking — but only in moderation because of their high calorie content. Consider nuts as a healthy snack or an addition to a salad once a day. Finally, reduce or eliminate saturated fat and trans fats (also known as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils) from your diet. Here is a list of some specific steps you can take:

• Eat natural peanut butter or make sure your peanut butter is trans-fat free.
• Eat foods in the most natural state possible. If you must eat processed foods educate yourself by reading labels. "Low fat" or "cholesterol-free" on the label doesn't mean a product is necessarily good for you as many of these items may still contain trans fats.
• Eat a variety of whole fruits and vegetables every day. Ultimately, strive for seven to 10 servings a day and remember the brighter or darker the color, the healthier it is. Keep carrot sticks, nuts, apples, dried fruit and bananas on hand for quick, satisfying snacks. Fruit salads or fruit smoothies for breakfast are a wonderful way to eat a variety of tasty, healthy fruit.
• Use canola or olive oil in cooking. Use olive oil for salad dressing and as a healthy replacement for butter or margarine. Dip bread in flavored olive oil or lightly spread it on whole-grain bread for a tasty alternative to butter.
• Season your food with herbs and spices rather than salt or use a salt substitute like Mrs. Dash.
• Substitute fish and poultry for red meat. Avoid sausage, bacon and other high-fat meats. Eat fish twice a week. Water-packed tuna, salmon, trout, mackerel and herring are healthy choices. Broiled, baked and grilled are the best cooking methods for fish. Avoid fried fish, unless it's sauteed in a small amount of olive oil.
• Limit high fat dairy products such as whole or 2 percent milk, cheese and ice cream. Switch to skim milk or soy milk and fat-free yogurt .
• Keep walnuts, almonds, pecans and cashews on hand for quick snacks and energy.
• Drink a glass of red wine with your meals several times a week. If you don’t drink wine, drinking purple grape juice may be a healthy alternative to wine.
• And, of course, eliminate or limit all processed foods especially those high in High fructose Corn Syrup or other forms of processed sugar.

There are many sources of Mediterranean diet recipes including cookbooks, pamphlets, and online recipes. Start out by trying one new recipe a week until you build up a repritoire of dishes you enjoy eating and preparing. The benefits of a Mediterranean diet over the traditional S.A.D. diet are more energy, great health, and an active lifestyle so, eat up!

Water is essential to good health

Healthy eating for optimal health and well being is important but drinking enough water every day is absolutely essential to good health. Adopt the habit of drinking eight 8oz. glasses of water a day and instantly improve your overall health and well-being.

Why is water important?

Water is one of the principal chemical components of your body and makes up about 60 percent of your body weight. Every system of your body depends on water. Water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells making it possible for every organ to do its job, and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues. Water also helps convert food into energy, protects and cushions vital organs and joints, keeps the liver and kidneys functioning properly, helps to metabolize fats, removes and detoxifies waste from our system, and is the basis for all our fluid secretions. To have optimal health in your body, you must have just the right amount of fluid inside and outside each cell, a situation called fluid balance. Maintaining your fluid balance is essential to life. If too little water is inside a cell, it shrivels and dies and if there’s too much water, the cell bursts. Nothing is more important to your overall health on an ongoing basis than the proper amount of daily fluid intake.


You may be mildly dehydrated and not even know it!

According to the Nationwide Food Consumption surveys conducted in conjunction with the American Dietetic Association, a large portion of the American population has chronic mild dehydration without even knowing it! Dehydration is a condition that occurs when you don't have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Every day you lose water through your breath, perspiration, urine and bowel movements. For your body to function properly, you must replenish this water supply by consuming beverages and foods that contain water. Without replenishing your water reserves in a timely manner, your body quickly dips into a state of dehydration characterized by dizziness, headaches, fatigue, the sensation of extreme hunger, and fuzzy short-term memory. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired.


Why should I drink pure clean water rather than other beverages?

Too often, in our modern society, to quench our thirst we turn to caffeine and sugar-laden soft drinks which only compound the problem of dehydration. It is true that beverages such as tea, coffee, wine, beer, soft drinks, sports drinks and juices contain water, but they also contain caffeine, alcohol, sugar, artificial sweeteners or other chemicals that act as strong dehydrators. The more of these beverages you consume, the more dehydrated your body becomes because the effects they create in the body are exactly opposite the ones that are produced by water. Beverages containing caffeine, for example, trigger stress responses that at first have strong diuretic effects, leading to increased urination. Beverages with added sugar drastically raise blood sugar levels. When beverages provoke such a response they trick the body into giving up large quantities of water. Regular consumption of such beverages results in chronic dehydration, which plays a part in every toxicity crisis (the body's effort to rid itself of accumulated toxins).


Chronic dehydration may lead to a “toxicity crisis” and disease.


If you have lived for many years without proper water intake, you are likely to succumb to the buildup of toxins in your body. Chronic disease is not only accompanied by dehydration but is, in many cases, caused by it. The longer a person lives on a low water diet and/or on a diet high in stimulating beverages or foods, the more severe and long-lasting will be the toxicity crisis. Heart disease, obesity, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, stomach ulcers, hypertension, cancer, MS, Alzheimer's, and many other chronic forms of disease are preceded by years of "body drought." Infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses cannot thrive in a well-hydrated body. Drinking enough water is, therefore, one of the most important disease-prevention measures you can take for optimal health and well being.

How much water should I drink each day?

Exactly how much water depends on how old you are and how much muscle and fat you have. Muscle tissue has more water than fat tissue. Because the average male body has proportionately more muscle than the average female body, it also has more water, and men need to drink more water. The Institute of Medicine advises that men consume roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day and women consume 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.


Your diet will also determine how much water you need to drink. If you eat a healthy diet consisting of many servings of fruits and vegetables, you can cut back your water consumption a little because you will get 20% of your liquids from the fruits and vegetables in your diet but if you eat a diet high in protein you will require extra water to flush out the extra waste products created by an overabundance of protein.


Drinking enough water is a healthy habit.

If you are not in the habit of drinking at least eight 8oz. glasses of water a day, starting this habit and sticking to it is the most important thing you can do for your overall health and well being. Establishing a schedule of proper water consumption throughout the day is a dire necessity. Drinking all your water at once will not do you any good. The easiest way to establish a schedule is to drink one 8oz. glass of water every hour throughout the day. If you have a timer on your watch you can set to go off every hour to remind you, this will work well until a good habit is established. Another thing you should do is buy a stainless steel water bottle to carry with you at all times. Since I have started drinking the proper amount of water every day I have noticed I have more energy, get sick less often and my skin is healthier. Do yourself a favor and adopt this one habit for your long-term health and well being!

Stop drinking bottled water

One of the most important healthy eating habits we stress on Healthy Eating News is to drink plenty of water every day. But where do you get that water from? If you are buying bottled water, you are wasting your money on a costly, unsustainable product that does not provide added health benefits and is destroying the environment. Here are several reasons you should stop drinking bottled water:

Bottled water isn't a good value

If you are getting your bottled water by the bottle, you are probably paying twice as much as a gallon of gasoline. Gasoline has to be pumped out of the ground in the form of crude oil, shipped to a refinery (often halfway across the world), and shipped again to your local filling station. Many bottled waters are only filtered tap water and most tap water costs less than one cent per gallon! Why are you paying over 600 times as much as you need to? Even if you buy water at $1.00 per gallon that is more than 100 times as much as you need to pay! Don’t complain about the price of gasoline if you pay for bottled water.

Bottled Water is no healthier than tap water

You are fooling yourself if you think bottled water is healthier than tap water. Your tap water falls under the regulatory authority of the Environmental Protection Agency, and is regularly inspected for bacteria and toxic chemicals. Your tap water is filtered, sanitized, and tested for your safety. If you want to know how your community scores, Check out the Environmental Working Group's National Tap Water Database. Bottled water, however, is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and requires no such practices and has no oversight with regard to contaminants unless it is shipped over state lines.

In March 1999, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a report called "Bottled Water, Pure Drink or Pure Hype?" NRDC's report points out that as much as 40% of all bottled water comes directly from a city water system, just like tap water. The report also focuses on the fact that 60% to 70% of all bottled water sold in the U.S. is exempt from the FDA's bottled water standards, because the federal standards do not apply to water bottled and sold within the same state. Unless the water is transported across state lines, there are no federal regulations that govern its quality. Two of the largest tap water bottlers, Pepsi's Aquafina and Coca-Cola Co's Dasani are both made from purified water sourced from public reservoirs.

Bottled water is a waste

Bottled water produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year and, according to Food and Water Watch, that plastic requires up to 47 million gallons of oil per year to produce. Although the plastic used to bottle beverages is of high quality and is in demand by recyclers, over 80 percent of plastic bottles are simply thrown away. Only about 12 percent of "custom" plastic bottles, a category dominated by water, were recycled in 2003, according to industry consultant R.W. Beck, Inc. That's 40 million bottles a day that went into the trash or became litter.

Plastic waste is now at such a volume that vast eddies of current-bound plastic trash now spin endlessly in the world's major oceans. This represents a great risk to marine life, killing birds and fish which mistake our garbage for food. Making plastic bottles for water uses up to 2,000 times more energy to produce and deliver than tap water. Recycling a single plastic bottle can conserve enough energy to light a 60-watt light bulb for up to six hours. Multiply that by 40 million bottles a day and you can see what a waste it is to drink water from plastic water bottles and not recycle them.

The corporatization of water

In the documentary film Thirst, authors Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman demonstrated the rapid worldwide privatization of municipal water supplies, and the effect these purchases are having on local economies. Water is being called the "Blue Gold" of the 21st century. Thanks to increasing urbanization and population, shifting climates and industrial pollution, fresh water is becoming humanity's most precious resource. Multinational corporations are stepping in to purchase groundwater and distribution rights wherever they can, and the bottled water industry is an important component in their drive to commoditize what many feel is a basic human right: the access to safe and affordable water.


What should you do?

1)  Adopt a great alternative to bottled water: buy a stainless steel water bottle and use it.

 2)  If you don't like the way your local tap water tastes buy an inexpensive carbon filter. It will make most tap water taste sparkling fresh at a fraction of bottled water's cost.

3)  Conserve water wherever possible, and keep up with local water issues.

4)  Consider taking Food and Water Watch's No Bottled Water Pledge.


Want to know more? Start with the Sierra Club's fact sheet on bottled water.

White House courts Game Developers to make Healthy Eating Games

Healthy eating starts with childhood habits.  In a video presentation at the Game Developers Choice Awards, White House chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra discussed the Apps for Healthy Kids project, a plan to encourage game developers to collaborate with government to work against childhood obesity.

The latest component, an Apps for Healthy Kids contest tasks game developers with creating games that help encourage good exercise and diet habits among kids and give parents information about what their children eat -- with $40,000 in prizes for the winning games. The apps, to be submitted in either "tool" or "game" categories, will integrate the data from MyFoodapedia.gov, a database of the caloric content of common food.
 In a letter, First Lady Michelle Obama told game developers, "You know better than most the power of games to deeply engage our nation's youth. Today I'm asking you to dedicate your creative energy skills to address one of America's biggest challenges and help make healthy living fun, exciting and relevant for kids."

The Apps for Healthy Kids competition is a part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign to end childhood obesity within a generation. Apps for Healthy Kids challenges software developers, game designers, students, and other innovators to develop fun and engaging software tools and games that drive children, especially “tweens” (ages 9-12) – directly or through their parents – to eat better and be more physically active.

Childhood obesity or excess weight threatens the healthy future of one third of American children. The United States spends approximately $150 billion every year to treat obesity-related conditions, and that number is growing. Obesity rates tripled in the past 30 years, a trend that means, for the first time in our history, American children may face a shorter expected lifespan than their parents.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Implicated in Obesity

The number one key to healthy eating is to avoid refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup(HFCS).

In results published March 18 by the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, researchers from the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute reported on two experiments looking into the connection between the use of high-fructose corn syrup and obesity. They found that high-fructose corn syrup leads to a significantly higher weight gain than regular table sugar, even when overall caloric intake is the same. In addition to causing considerable weight gain in lab tests, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides, which can lead to heart disease. “Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn’t true, at least under the conditions of our tests,” said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction.

The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States. Beginning in the 1980s, there was a rapid rise of obesity in the United States, which correlates to the introduction of industrial-grade high-fructose corn syrup at the same time. The CDC reports that in the 40 years since the introduction of high-fructose corn syrup as a cost-effective sweetener in the American diet, rates of obesity in the U.S. have skyrocketed. In 1970, about 15 percent of the U.S. population were defined as obese; today, roughly one-third of the American adults are considered obese. On average, Americans consume 60 pounds of the high fructose corn syrup per person every year.

The researchers stated that they do not know why high-fructose corn syrup, (HFCS), led to more triglycerides and more body fat resulting in obesity but think it may be due to an uneven ratio of fructose to glucose when compared to sucrose, or table sugar. Sucrose is comprised of equal parts fructose and glucose (50/50), while typical high-fructose corn syrup has an uneven ratio, usually about 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose. Larger sugar molecules called higher saccharides make up the remaining 3 percent of high-fructose corn syrup. Because of the manufacturing process for HFCS, the fructose molecules in the sweetener are free and unbound, ready for absorption and utilization. In contrast, every fructose molecule in sucrose that comes from cane sugar or beet sugar is bound to a corresponding glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized. The researchers surmise that the excess fructose in HFCS is being metabolized to produce fat, while glucose is largely being processed for energy or stored as a carbohydrate, called glycogen, in the liver and muscles.

Childhood Obesity ~ A Growing Problem

Healthy eating starts with childhood eating habits.
The incidence of childhood obesity in the United States has grown considerably in recent years. Between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese. Obesity is one of the easiest medical conditions to recognize, but often, one of the most difficult to treat. Overweight children are quite likely to become overweight adults unless they adopt and maintain healthy patterns of eating and exercise. One of the best ways to help children adopt good eating habits is to start teaching them about cooking at an early age.

Involving kids in meal preparation encourages healthy eating habits and introduces them to the value and importance of nutritious, balanced meals. Elizabeth Pivonka, a registered dietician with a doctorate, heads Produce for Better Health Foundation, the nonprofit entity behind the "Fruits & Veggies — More Matters" national public health initiative. Pivonka says the kitchen can be a great place to stir up some fun while teaching healthy habits. As a working mother of two, Pivonka understands that getting kids to eat healthy fruits and vegetables can sometimes be a challenge. "Kids can help by measuring, mixing or gathering ingredients while you cook," she says. "If kids help with the cooking, they are more inclined to eat what’s on the table. At my house, we make meal planning and preparation a family activity."

You can even start toddlers out helping you “cook” by using toy food, pots, pans, and bowls to copy what you are doing. Older preschoolers can help by measuring ingredients and stirring, and grade school kids can prepare simple non-cooked recipes or use the microwave with proper supervision. A simple microwave baked potato, cut open with a table knife and topped with cooked broccoli and cheese is fun, will empower them and give them a sense of accomplishment. Start educating your children about healthy eating at an early age. Getting them into good eating habits early on will go a long way towards keeping them happy and healthy the rest of their lives.

Take a little extra time at the grocery store with your kids educating them in the produce section. Tell them “This is the most important section of the store” and get them involved in picking out the fresh ingredients you will be eating. Make a game of trying something new and take turns picking out a new fruit or vegetable every week to try then get them involved in it’s preparation.

If you are an overweight adult yourself and are not well educated about healthy eating, start learning now and take steps on a weekly basis to educate yourself and your children. It is said that the best and easiest way to learn something new and retain the information, is to teach it to someone else. Learn about one seasonal fruit and one seasonal vegetable a week, trying one cooked and one uncooked recipe. You will be amazed at how much knowledge and experience you will gain over a short period of time. You may not enjoy all of the foods or all of the recipes you try, but keep the ones you do, and soon you will have a repertoire of healthy recipes you enjoy. Best of all, you will be teaching your children healthy eating habits and a healthy lifestyle that will stay with them the rest of their life!
Learn about the Junior Leagues Kids in the Kitchen program.