Honey is the one food that lasts forever. Keep your honey stored in an air-tight jar at room temperature and enjoy anytime. Most grocery store honey is clover honey, but many stores carry a variety. Honey with a paler color has a delicate flavor.
Yesterday's post was about some of the benefits of eating colorful fruits and vegetables. Today we will continue by discussing orange and green fruits and vegetables. Remember these lists are partial but give you the idea of how color in your diet is beneficial.
There is more to colorful fruits and vegetables than just making your plate look pretty! Karen Ansel, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, states that you get a better mix of nutrients by eating produce in a variety of shades thanks to the unique combination of vitamins, antioxidants, and natural chemicals behind the bright colors. Research proves these colorful inducing compounds help to ward off disease, slow the aging process, and boost overall general health. A few examples of some of these benefits are listed below:
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Peter Goadsby, MD, PhD, director of the Headache Center at the University of California San Francisco, explains that the area of the brain that triggers thirst also prompts migraines. He says the less thirsty you are, the less likely the cells that cause migraines will be activated. Also, a study in the European Journal of Neurology found that participants who drank just over 4 cups more water a day than their usual daily intake experienced 21 fewer hours of pain throughout the 12-week study. Their pain was also less intense.
If you have a lot of heartburn that you choose to treat yourself with OTC antacids, you should pay a visit to your doctor, especially if you are feeling tired. Did you know that chewing a lot of antacids can cause a vitamin B12 deficiency? Antacids interfere with the absorption of vitamin B12. The occasional antacids are not what we are talking about here. This is referring to those who are continually chewing antacids and not checking in with their doctors.
One of the questions that often comes up is whether or not one should eat their vegetables cooked or raw to receive the most nutritional value. Below is a list of the most often questioned vegetables and information to help you decide. Personally I say have them both ways throughout the week, you will see why below.
Previously we have talked about "active calories." But just as we eat active calories, calories which keep our furnace running, we also eat "couch potato calories." Couch Potato Calories are calories that are so easily digested we are likely to absorb every calorie and store it as fat! When you eat Couch Potato Calories, even if you don't overeat, you may still gain weight because the calories are so easily absorbed and stored as fat.
Did you know the body converts beta-carotene to vitamin A? If your body is low in vitamin A, eat more foods with beta-carotene!
Strawberries are the most popular berries in the United States. Not only are they the most popular they are also a healthy choice. Strawberries are loaded with antioxidants, a good source of vitamin-C, and good news for diabetics, they are on the low glycemic index. Following are more health benefits of eating strawberries.
Continuing on to the 4th food type of active calories, today's post is about warming foods. Warming foods include peppers, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, cloves, mustard, and vinegar. Capsaicin is the chemical giving peppers their burn. A UCLA study found that dieters taking in capsaicin doubled their energy expenditure for several hours after eating. Even mild peppers contain a compound that helps erase up to 100 calories a day by binding to nerve receptors and sending fat-burning signals to the brain.
Today's post continues the posts of the past couple of days regarding active calories. Today we will talk about Energizing Foods. Energizing foods are basically foods that boost your metabolism. Examples are coffee, black tea, green tea, and dark chocolate.
This is a continuation of the post below regarding Active Calories. Yesterday I mentioned 4 types of active calorie foods, chewy, hearty, energizing, and warming. Today's post will deal with Hearty Foods.
Eating does require lots of energy if you eat the right kinds of foods. The following 4 types of foods have active calories to stimulate the body into burning more calories. These same foods also help curb appetites.
Calories come from things you may not have even considered. Some things you may have never suspected contain "active calories" that stimulate your body to burn more calories! Some things that are so easy to add to your meals can give you an even bigger calorie burn than others. Caffeine and other compounds in coffee, tea, and such spices as chilies, cinnamon, and ginger fire up your central nervous system and can boost your metabolism by as much as 12% according to research. Be sure you are adding some of these things to your diet every day and keep that metabolism fired up and burning calories for you! Active calories when they become a regular part of your diet can set your fat-burning engines on high all day helping you to lose weight or keep your weight down without going hungry!
Did you realize the body stores calories differently? Therefore, when it comes to weight loss, calories are nowhere near alike. For instance, some foods take more work to eat and therefore burn more calories while you are digesting them. Just the act of chewing foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc can up your calorie burn by 30%. And that's before the stomach and intestines even do their work. A Japanese study found that women who ate foods that required the most work had significantly slimmer waistlines than those who ate the softest, easiest to eat foods. The fiber and protein in such foods take so much effort to digest that the body doesn't absorb some of their calories. Include lots of foods that take effort to digest and let your body burn more calories just digesting your food! Now how easy is that?
According to Dr. Andrew Weil, research suggests people with anxiety have lower than normal levels of Omega-3 fatty acids and adding them to the diet may help with the symptoms of anxiety. You can get more Omega-3s in your diet by eating more fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, or mackerel, walnuts, and/or freshly ground flaxseed. If you don't like any of those foods, take a fish oil supplement daily - 2 to 3 grams a day with meals.
Flaxseed is a natural skin soother! If you have sensitive skin, you should add flaxseed to your diet as some newer studies show that flaxseed oil - rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids - can not only reduce skin sensitivity but also increases hydration and smoothness.
If you are one of those people who only eat the breast meat of chicken, you should consider adding some dark meat to your diet. The meat from the legs and thighs has greater amounts of nutrients such as zinc and iron than does the white breast meat.
Would you believe black rice has the same antioxidant as blueberries? This grain has anthocyanin, which is the antioxidant responsible for the inky blue color of blueberries. This information is from a study done a few years ago at Louisiana State University. For all you no carb people, remember carbs do have benefits.
Don't make the mistake of thinking calcium is only in dairy products. If you need more calcium in your diet, think green leafy vegetables including broccoli. Broccoli and other green leafy vegetables are rich in calcium. Be sure you are getting adequate vitamin D to help your body absorb the calcium.
Dr Weil, famous for his health and nutrition advice, said the following about fighting anxiety: "Sip green tea." The reason: The amino acid L-theanine, which gives green tea its unique flavor, also has calming effects. Studies show it increases alpha brain waves, which are linked to increased relaxation. He suggests drinking green tea throughout the day and says not to worry about "the jitters." Green tea is naturally lower in caffeine than regular or black tea and L-theanine seems to neutralize the caffeine effect. Decaf green tea is fine, too.
Chili Peppers are good for the brain and for your mood! You probably never thought of them that way, did you? I know I didn't. I love hot foods, so I eat a lot of foods with peppers. I have always known they were good for helping me fight the inflammation my body has a problem with. But I had never thought of them as helping my mood until I started doing some research on foods and their relationships to the brain, dementia, and mood. (Yes, my late husband suffered from those illnesses; thus, my research.)
Before you gasp, yes, you read that title correctly. I did say add potatoes to your diet. But not just any potatoes! And, as with everything, eat potatoes in moderation. Since I became diabetic, I have had to totally change the way I eat potatoes. The good news is that I am healthier for it! Potatoes get a bad reputation, especially here in America where we seem fixated on french fries. We also love our potatoes, peeled and mashed with loads of fattening ingredients. But there are healthier ways to enjoy potatoes. Would you believe that potato skins, the part we usually discard, have as many phytonutrients as broccoli especially if we eat the more colorful varieties. Some unusual nutrients found in potatoes, known as kukoamines, can lower blood pressure and that protects the heart and the brain. Iodine is also found in potatoes. Did you realize one of the first things doctors check in a patient suffering from depression is the thyroid which needs iodine to function properly? And how about this little surprise? Iodine deficiency is the most common cause of preventable brain damage in the world!
Are you aware that high sugar intake and depression go hand in hand? If you battle depression and you crave sweets, try substituting honey for some of the sugar you normally consume. Honey contains traces of B vitamins, folate, iron, manganese, plus 181 different bioactive compounds such as quercetin, caffeic acid, etc which boosts energy production in the brain.
Pumpkin seeds are packed with the amino acid tryptophan. Tryptophan is used by the brain to make serotonin, known as the "happiness chemical." Have the munchies? Nibble on some pumpkin seeds, especially if you have the munches because you are nervous or have the blues. As little as one ounce can make a difference!
