Archive for the ‘Kinds of Raw Food’ Category
Breaking the Sugar Addiction: 16 Tips
It seems as though added sugar is in everything these days, from ketchup to salsa to soup. It is everywhere, I suppose, because we have come to expect it to be.
And it is not just the white stuff we need to worry about. “Refined carbohydrates,” such as white bread and white flour products, produce the same reaction in our bodies.
Researchers have linked sugar consumption to everything from cavities to wrinkly skin, as well as wide range of much more serious health problems.
Some research has been cited that says sugar has not been proven to be a direct cause to these health problems and may not even be directly linked to them, but when you consider that added sugar is basically non nutritional calories, the lack of nutrition and obesity can cause health problems in themselves.
Sugar, some researchers say, can lead to the damage of healthy cells, and can lessen the effectiveness of white blood cells, leading to a weakening of the immune system. Too much sugar means lots of empty calories, too, which can lead to obesity. As any parent knows, when you fill up on sugar, you simply are not hungry for nutritious meals. And sugar can make you hyperactive and irritable, too, as it knocks your body out of whack.
When you eat sugar, your blood sugar spikes. So your body secretes insulin, which sends your blood sugar crashing. The result? Irritability and fatigue. Plus, you are hungry again and probably craving another hit of sugar, and so the cycle repeats itself anew.
One of the nicest things you can do for your body (and your mood) is to reduce your intake of added sugars and refined carbohydrates.
What is the Daily Recommended Sugar Intake?
The World Health Organization recommends reducing your intake of added sugars to less than 10 percent of your total caloric intake. That means, if you eat 2,000 calories, you should eat less than 12 teaspoons of sugar each day. The US Department of Agriculture also recommends limiting your consumption of added sugar to between 6 and 12 teaspoons of sugar each day, depending on your daily average caloric intake. (Six teaspoons a day for people who eat 1,600 calories; 12 teaspoons if you eat 2,200 calories each day.) Keep in mind that a single 12 ounce soft drink contains 10 teaspoons of sugar.
To find out how much sugar is in some of the items in your cupboards, look for Sugars (measured in grams) on the Nutrition Label. Then divide the number of grams by 4 to get the number of teaspoons. So, 12 grams of sugar is 3 teaspoons of sugar. Sixteen grams of sugar is 4 teaspoons.
How to Break Your Sugar Addiction
So how do you start to reduce your sugar intake? Here are some tips.
Try decreasing your intake of added sugar gradually. It can be difficult to suddenly cut all added sugar and refined carbohydrates. Try taking a week by week approach. One week, add less sugar to your morning coffee. Next week, replace your afternoon soda with bottled water. The following week, replace white bread with a whole grain alternative. Before long, you will find that the foods (and drinks) you used to love now taste sickeningly sweet. And you will likely find it easier to keep your moods on an even keel, too.
Keep notes on your sugar intake in your journal or Daytimer. How does decreasing your sugar levels impact your energy levels? Your mood during the day? Your ability to fall asleep at night? When do sugar cravings hit? It might be helpful to start with a Sugar Fast for a day or two. See how one day without added sugars affects you.
Make easy substitutions. Buy brown rice instead of white rice, for example. Brown rice has a nice, nutty flavor, and takes just a bit longer to cook. The next time you go to the store, experiment with all kinds of whole grain alternatives. You might find some new family favorites.
Keep healthy snacks readily available, and rely on a bit of protein in your snacks to keep your energy levels high. Keep a small bowl of nuts on the table, along with fresh fruits. When you are hungry for a mid afternoon snack, opt for lean protein and complex carbs.
Indulge in moderation. If you are a chocoholic, treat yourself to a square of fine chocolate at the end of a long day. When the chocolate is quality, you will not feel the need to have more and you will be more apt to take your time and savor it. When you do indulge in a sugary snack, keep it small, eat it slowly, and eat a bit of protein, too, to help moderate those blood sugar spikes and dips.
Dilute the fruit juice. If you or kids love fruit juice, try diluting it gradually to the point where you are just adding a splash to the top of water.
Become a sugar detective. You can start by knowing the alternate names for added sugars, often found in ingredients lists. These include any ingredient that ends in the suffix “ose,” including sucrose, dextrose, fructose, lactose, polydextrose, maltose, and galactose. Also, look for the following: corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, molasses, carob syrup, turbinado sugar, fruit juice concentrate, brown sugar, cane juice, cane sugar, evaporated cane juice, beet sugar, and sorbitol.
Avoid replacing added sugar with artificial sweeteners. Your best bet is to gradually reduce your taste for sweet foods, not to replace them with chemical alternatives. On ingredients lists, look for sucralose, saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame K, and neotame.
Avoid the center of the supermarket as much as possible. That is where most of the processed foods are shelved. Instead, shop the perimeter for healthy, Raw Foods.
If you have young kids, go to the grocery store by yourself. You may be less apt to come home with sugary treats. Plus, you can take more time to examine the labels for hidden sugar. If your kids are grade school age or older, take them along and enlist their help as Sugar Detectives. Give them each a list of hidden sugars and artificial sweeteners and turn it into a game.
Carefully measure how much honey you put in your tea and how much sugar you put in your coffee. Aim to put in a bit less each day or each week until you are drinking it either unsweetened or with just a bit of sugar.
Buy items that are not sweetened, and add sugar only if you find that you need to. This will help you wean off the sugar gradually.
Steer clear of sugars for breakfast. When you start your day with a sugar blast and crash, you may find yourself in a vicious cycle for the remainder of the day. Start your day with healthy lean protein and complex carbs. Try natural whole grain breads and cereals for breakfast, along with a lowfat protein, such as skim milk, cottage cheese, or yogurt.
If you need to lose weight, consider a diet plan that focuses on reducing sugar intake. The Sugar Busters Diet Plan is probably the most well known. The idea of this diet is to reduce your intake of sugar and high starch carbohydrates, focusing instead on lean protein, low starch veggies, and whole grain carbs, in order to lose weight. Many of the low GI diets out there use this method, as well.
Be careful not to make sugar taboo in your household. With children, especially, when you swear off something completely, you run the risk of creating a mystique around the forbidden food. Instead of running a completely sugar free household, make sure your children understand the effects that sugar can have on their bodies and their moods, and then help them understand the beauty of moderation. Encourage them to eat low fat protein and help them develop a taste for healthy whole grain carbs.
Focus on well balanced, nutritious diet, instead of simply swearing off all sugar. Your cravings will slowly and naturally fade once you gain a better understanding of why they are cropping up in the first place.
(This article is for informational purposes only. Please discuss any dietary changes with your doctor.)
Jamie Jefferson
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/breaking-the-sugar-addiction-16-tips-88786.html
Feeding Your Dog – Food You Must Never Give Your Golden Retriever!
All of us who have pets, find them sitting next to its favorite member of the household, who is at the dining table eating human food. The Golden Retriever looks longing at you, and often utters a small woof, especially when it smells a delicious piece that you are picking up and putting in your mouth.
What should you do? Is it advisable to feed the Golden Retriever, your pet, what you are eating? You have bought the recommended dog foods, but it has become a human almost, living day and day out with you. And it acquires the same tastes as you do. So there’s a dilemma here.
The best would be to consult with the Vet what kinds of human foods you can feed safely to your Golden Retriever. A bite does not matter, but going the whole hog? That’s a very different cup of tea, and care has to be taken.
So without substituting the Vet’s advice for your particular Golden Retriever – every dog has its own allergies and digestive system, and the metabolism may vary, we give some tips on what can be given generally.
Chickens, raw vegetables, turkey, brown rice, furits, oatmeal, are as good for them as they are for you. All animals have taste buds just like you and me. Some may prefer the oatmeal or chicken, ignoring the brown rice or the raw vegies, some the other way around. You can’t tell, just as you can’t tell for your children. If you are a child, you too ignore what your taste bud doesn’t like or you are not in the mood! And the dogs love to eat with the family; if you see a litter, and you have, they all eat together, just like us!
Well, if you open the frig, and your golden retriever runs up and sits there with his tongue hanging out, you can take it as a compliment! its not that it is asking you for a piece or a slice, it’s just that what you have cooked smells great to him! And he would love it if you gave him a piece.. how many of your family members do that?
There are some don’t does. And do follow them, and be firm about it.
1. Egg whites
Feeding large amounts of egg whites is spoiling the golden. Too much of it creates an excess of avidin, which results in Vitamin B deficiency. But if you give him egg yolks, it’s okay; egg yolks contain higher Vitamin B levels which will neutralise the avidin. The best is to give him the whole egg – raw – including the shell. That gives them lots of proteins. To vary it, you can choose to mix up the three, egg whites, whole egg, and the egg yolk. That means you have a choice of 9 varities you can use. (3 to the power of 3)!
2. Chocolates
Chocolates are a big NO. it contains Bromine, very toxic to dogs and cats. Unsweet chocolate is even worse: the Bromine content is much larger, and even more toxic. And is fatal if not checked right from the beginning.
As we said earlier, generally most human foods are acceptable for your pet, except chocolates. However, it is always best to consult your Vet who can guide you properly, which human foods can be used, or not used, what should be the ratio, and so on.
It’s just like your asking your physician for a healthy diet for yourself. The same applies to your pet. After all, it’s your best friend. Would you not take that precaution for your human best friend?
So take care. And, yes, by the way, this article is an illustrative one, and is not meant to be a substitute for professional advice. Never act on it without consulting your Vet first.
Yes, we do so emphatically, NO CHOCOLATES for your pets, come hell or high water!
Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/feeding-your-dog-food-you-must-never-give-your-golden-retriever-753359.html
Crunchy Nuts And Seeds Are Healthy Food Snacks
Are you looking for some delicious, alternative dietary choices to replace those highly processed sugar, and hydrogenated fat food snacks? If so, look no further than to nuts or seeds. Most people do not even consider them, avoiding nuts or seeds, altogether, because of their high fat and calorie content. While it is true that they are high in both, shunning them from your diet for these reasons, alone, will have you missing out on a wide array of other important nutrients.
Nuts and seeds, depending on the variety, are quite a nutrient dense food. Nutritional research science studies are finding out, that people who eat 1 to 3 ounces of nuts regularly have fewer risks of developing heart disease, cancer, and lessens the severity of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
These foods are healthy food snack choices, and although they are nutritious, some people may have a hard time not over indulging on them. As with any other diet choice, healthy or unhealthy, moderation is the key.
There is a way, though, that you can improve upon the nutritional aspect to eating them even further. Try eating them dry roasted. Avoid most commercially processed brands, which are slathered in several unhealthy varieties of processed polyunsaturated fats like cottonseed, rapeseed, and soybean oils, and coated in nutrient deficient processed salt.
While everyone may not have this convenience in their own backyard, Amish community bulk food stores are a wonderful resource for finding many different kinds of fresh, raw nuts and seeds. Roasting them does lessen the nutritional value slightly, but you can do this at home rather easily, and you will have a much healthier snack product afterwards. Coat the nuts or seeds with a little coconut oil, sprinkle with sea salt, bake in the oven, and store in an air-tight container.
Nuts and seeds are high in mostly monounsaturated fat and, to a lesser degree, polyunsaturated fat. They are also good sources of antioxidant vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, fiber, and cholesterol lowering phytosterols.
When choosing to add them for health conscious reasons, to your existing diet, don’t consider them as a fix-all approach for poor eating habits. Look at them as a replacement therapy tool, in getting rid of the processed fatty meat snacks, other fried foods, and sugar laden treats out of your diet. Nuts and seeds can help you with weight management issues, because of their high percentage of healthy fats, protein, and fiber content. They provide a ‘full’ feeling of satiety when combined with a full glass of water.
Most nuts and seeds are high in calcium, magnesium, and potassium. These minerals help to control blood pressure, while their naturally high fiber content helps protect against colon cancer.
As an example, of the nutritional powerhouse that can be found in nuts and seeds, a listing of the content in certain types of nuts and seeds is provided below for your information. One hundred grams equals, approximately, a 3.5 ounce serving.
Seeds: Pumpkin-100 g pumpkin seeds contain 29 g protein, 11.2 mg iron, and 1144 mg phosphorous. Sesame- 100 g of sesame seeds contain 26.4 g protein, 12.6 mg vitamin B-3, 7.8 mg iron, 131 mg calcium, and 10.3 mg zinc. Sunflower- 100 g sunflower seeds are an excellent source of potassium and magnesium and contain 24 g protein, 7.1 mg iron, and 120 mg calcium. Flax seeds- 100 g flax seeds contain 431 mg magnesium, 831 mg potassium, and 112 g folic acid, not to mention its high omega-3 content.
Nuts: Almonds- 100 g almonds contain 16.9 g protein, 4.2 mg iron, 250 mg calcium, 20 mg vitamin E, 3.1 mg zinc, and 0.92 mg vitamin B-2. Cashews- 100 g cashews contain 17.2 g protein, 60 micrograms vitamin A, and 3.8 mg iron. Peanuts- 100 g peanuts contain 2.3 g protein, 2 mg iron, and 3 mg zinc. Pecans- 100 g pecans contain 9.2 g protein, a very high fat content of 71.2 g (of which, 60 percent is mono and 30 percent is polyunsaturated), 130 micrograms vitamin A (also very high), 2.4 g iron, and 73 mg calcium.
And, while there is definitely more nutritional content in each one of those food sources listed above, nutritional research science is still discovering, and identifying, even more unique and natural food substances in all of our plant foods every day.
One thing is for certain, we are all living through one of the most interesting generations to date. For the first time in history, man’s curiosity has him seriously investigating the perfect union nutritional path nature intended all of us to strictly follow.
What is being learned today, about eating beneficial plant foods in their truest and unadulterated forms, will help future generations wipe out many modern diseases that are, now, plaguing most modern cultures. Although this one aspect, alone, is not the complete answer to all of modern society’s health care woes, these new nutritional discoveries being uncovered today will definitely help more people lead healthier and happier lives tomorrow, in body, mind, and spirit.
Brenda Skidmore
Feeding your Pet Fresh Foods
Okay, I admit it. I am fascinated, overly curious, not quite obsessed with the idea of “you are what you eat.” If you could see me, you’d say I need to lose more than a few pounds and certainly don’t seem to practice what fascinates me so. I know in my gut (literally), that my consumption of overly processed foods, restaurant lunches, sweets and chips are slowly but surely going to cause me major harm and very probably chop a few years off my life. To my credit, I am getting up early every morning and exercising in an effort to, freif not lose weight, at least stave off the diabetes that runs in my family. So, if my family needs to eat better, what about my pets?
Hopefully, you’ve all read my article on the horrible things that are found in commercial, pet foods. If not, check it out at the link below. When I found out what was in the kibble we were feeding both our dog and cat, I researched the alternatives and came up with a great all natural dry pet food. I’ve been extremely happy with the results of the switch with Annie, our cat, but for some reason, Dax just doesn’t go for it. In fact, he really isn’t crazy about dry food in general. He will eat it when he gets hungry, but let’s just say he doesn’t seem to enjoy his food. I’ve tried several brands and nothing flips his bippy. On the other hand, he jumps for joy when I give him a scrambled egg or chicken scraps. And salmon! Katy, bar the door!
So here we are. While I’m trying to convince myself to feed my human family better, maybe Dax would be better off, too, with a more natural diet of fresh foods. I’m not committing to anything at this point, but I’m willing to do some research and see how convincing it is. Want to go along?
You know, when I think back to visits at my grandparents’ farm, I never saw my grandmother feed their dog anything but table scraps. I don’t think I ever saw a bag of dog food at their house. Now, today, table scraps would mean pizza, French fries and other bad examples of human “food.” But not back then. My grandparents raised grass fed beef, which they slaughtered and ate. My grandmother had a huge garden and Papa had acres of corn. They grew what they ate and the scraps that Beau got were good, healthy, all-natural and pesticide free.
So, the first question that comes to mind is that of total nutrients. I know the premium dry foods I have been buying assure me that they are formulated to supply all the nutrients Dax needs. So how can I provide everything my dog needs in a homemade diet? Well, let’s see what the experts have to say. They tell me to aim for variety to ensure a balance of nutrients.
They tell me that my dog and cat are natural carnivores and that meat and other protein sources should be high on the list of ingredients in this new way of eating. They also tell me to feed the meat raw. Okay, now wait a minute. That just grosses me out. What about e-coli and salmonella and all those other nasties found in raw meat? Well, it seems that your dog’s stomach has a much higher acid content than your’s and can handle raw meat just fine. In fact, raw meat is much higher in nutrients that cooked meat.
Interchange lean meats such as turkey, liver, mackerel, chicken, tuna, heart, lean hamburger, duck, rabbit or fish. Try ground meats for convenience and ease of eating.
Meat alone should not be the only source of protein for our critters. There are lots of other ways to beef up the protein intake. Eggs are an excellent, low-cost source of low-fat protein. Again, experts recommend feeding them raw. Try cottage cheese, too. Whole grains are another cost-effective source of high quality protein as well as carbohydrates and an array of vitamins and minerals. Grains, however, should definitely be cooked before feeding to aid in digestion. The most cost effective sources of good grains are oatmeal, cornmeal, millet and bulgur (whatever that is).
The list goes on. Beans and other legumes such as split peas and lentils are great sources of protein. Cook them just like you would for your family. These are good to cook in larger quantities and freeze in meal portions.
Okay, we’ve got protein covered. What’s next? Vegetables. Veggies are vital for adding vitamins, minerals and roughage. Some can be fed raw, such as grated carrots, squashes, lettuce and other greens, and grated beets. Others like corn, peas, green beans, and broccoli need to be cooked. Please! No canned vegetables! Our focus here is on fresh foods. If the vegetables are not organically grown, be sure to wash them thoroughly, even use a little soap and then rinse thoroughly.
Now that the basics are taken care of, the next thing the experts say we need to consider is supplements. Evidently, both cats and dogs, but especially dogs, have a high calcium requirement. Calcium can be added to a fresh food diet in several ways. A common source of calcium is bones. This is where experts take very different paths. Some advocate feeding your dog raw bones. Others are opposed based on the fact that cow bones can contain high levels of lead or can splinter. Those that oppose raw bones recommend the use of bone meal. Now, let me stop and stress right here that they are not referring to the bone meal found at your local garden center. It’s toxic to animals. The bone meal recommended for feeding is that found in health food stores recommended for human consumption or some say, better yet, a bone meal made especially for animals. I’m thinking a large pet store might be a good source or maybe a good feed store.
A great source of natural calcium can be found in something we all through in the trash: egg shells. Who knew? In his book, Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats, Dr. Richard Pitcairn recommends washing eggshells right after cracking and letting them dry. Bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes and then crush into a fine powder. This can then be sprinkled on your pet’s food. If you prefer, you can even crush calcium tablets into a powder. Don’t give them to your pet whole.
Other recommended supplements include nutritional or brewer’s yeast for its B-vitamins, iron and other nutrients; oils such as fish oil and cod liver oil for Omega-3 and Omega-6 benefits; Vitamin E is a natural anti-oxidant and can be found in wheat germ or just puncture and squeeze a capsule over your pet’s food.
So, the last question that comes to mind is this: I’ve always heard that a dog needs dry, crunchy food to help keep his teeth clean. This is still true with a fresh food diet. A good, all natural, crunchy dog biscuit, fed once or twice a day will help exercise gums and clean teeth.
This is a very brief overture to the world of fresh food feeding for pets. I know I don’t feel guilty anymore for feeding Dax meat scraps and eggs. If you want to know more, please check my website often. I will be posting more in-depth articles on this topic. In the meantime, happy eating!
Sherry Massey
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/feeding-your-pet-fresh-foods-99305.html
Lower Blood Sugar Levels Via Natural Ways
A diabetic’s body does not produce enough insulin to manage the sugar levels within the body. Therefore, it is important that the diabetics strictly follow a charted plan of foods to lower blood sugar strict diet. A diet high in fiber, but low in fat is most often recommended for diabetics.
Before listing out the tips on how to lower Blood Sugar, one must be acquainted with what actually High Blood Sugar means. It is precisely defined as an elevated level of the sugar glucose in blood otherwise phrased as ‘the spillage of glucose into the urine (glucosuria) converting the urine sugary.
Good food for diabetes includes raw, edible vegetables such as soft root crops, dark, green and leafy vegetables and brightly colored vegetables. On the one hand, if a person already has these foods on his or her diet to begin with, then diabetes would not become part of the equation in any case.
Intake of low carb diet is perhaps the most well known way to reduce blood sugar level. Good examples of low carbohydrate foods include soy milk, pearled barley, and kippered herring. High fiber foods such as dry beans, oatmeal, bran or raisin bran cereal, whole grain bread and peanuts help to manage diabetes. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.
The French bean also termed kidney beans are a wonderful choice. If cooked properly they have an amazing taste. These beans are rich in fiber and proteins with a reasonable amount of complex carbohydrates. The dietitians strongly recommend French beans to diabetics to lower blood sugar level.
Another thing you can do is get off of simple carbs. White bread, refined sugar, white potatoes, all of these can make your blood sugar levels spike. If you’re craving sweet stuff, go for sugar free snacks.
Proteins such skinless chicken or turkey and fish are also great foods that lower blood sugar levels. Low-fat dairy products such as cheeses and milk are also beneficial.
Drinking unsweetened tea helps you regulate normal glucose levels in blood because it acts as a blocker for sugar. Green tea is best in effectively generating lower your blood sugar levels after having eaten foods that are high in sugar. It should be noted, however, that you shouldn’t take too much sugar with the thought that the tea can regulate it itself. Twice of thrice of tea intake is recommended for diabetics.
Vitamins are constantly being innovated to be able to cure or help regulate a lot of diseases in a person’s body, one of which is diabetes. You can get a prescription or some health advice from your doctor with regards to the kinds of vitamins you can take everyday. If not, just make sure that the vitamins you buy are made from natural herbs and plants to avoid any side effects.
Drinking herbal tea aside from the usual 8 glasses of water can also contribute to your efforts to regulate blood sugar that have gone down severely. It contains compounds that act as a sugar blockage, which not only helps in reducing the unwanted amount of sugar in the body but also reduces the chances of being diabetic for life.
peterhutch
http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/lower-blood-sugar-levels-via-natural-ways-685713.html
