Good Nutrition: Making Food Your Best Friend

 Good Nutrition: Making Food Your Best Friend

You are what you eat. We get told this so much, but it seems like there is so much information on what to eat and what avoid, that it can be confusing at times. Here in this article, you will find solid, healthy eating tips that can clear up some of the confusion.

Pack your own snacks for the flight. Food at airports and on planes can be quite expensive and selection can be limited. To save money and ensure you have healthy food that you enjoy, bring your own. This also can be a lifesaver if you end up in one of the stuck-for-hours-on-the-runway nightmare scenarios.

A protein shake is possibly the best thing to take after a long workout. But what most people do not know if that you should add milk to your shake instead of water. This is because it not only tastes better, but each serving contains about eight more grams of protein than water will have.

A great rule to remember is to make your plate as colorful as possible when you fill it. Colorful fruits and vegetables are low in calories and high in nutritional value. Try to eat one of these at every meal. Also, eat the skins of the fruits and vegetables if they are edible because most of the nutrients are under the skin.

When considering your nutrition vegetables are a great choice, but be sure that you are not losing nutrients by how they are being prepared. Often times, boiling will actually cause your vegetables to lose a large percentages of their nutrients to the bottom of the pot. You will retain the most vitamins by either microwaving or steaming your vegetables.

When possible, choose wild salmon over farmed salmon. Both types offer nutritional benefits, but wild salmon has higher nutritional value. Farmed salmon may be overexposed to antibiotics and pesticides that farmers add to the water. Some farmed salmon may even have artificial coloring injected into the meat to give it a more attractive orange hue. With wild salmon, you do not have these risks.

Eat raw foods. As you get older, your body has a harder time digesting foods, making it less likely that you will be able to extract all the vitamins and nutrients from processed and cooked foods. Raw foods have more nutrients, therefore it's easier for your digestive system to access them.

Broccoli is a valuable vegetable to eat during the day. One stalk of broccoli contains all the vitamin K you need for the day, and that's only the beginning. Plus, that single stalk has two day's of vitamin C in it. Vitamin K and C will strengthen your bones and even reduce your risks of developing some types of cancer. In order to retain broccoli's nutritional content, steam it instead of boiling it or heating it in the microwave.

For young kids you want to make eating healthy fun for them. If they don't like vegetables, try cooking them differently or serving them with a sauce your child likes. You can also try cutting foods into different shapes like stars, dinosaurs, etc. so that the kid can have fun while eating healthy.

You can adopt a healthier diet by eating a vegetarian meal two or three times a week. It will cut down on your fat consumption and may cost less than a meal involving meat products.

A good nutritional tip is to be consistent with the timing of when you serve your child meals. Ideally, you'll want to serve them meals around the same time everyday. It's also a good idea to limit fruit drinks and soda to only meals because they can easily fill up on them.

When you want to gain weight you need to do it the healthy way. When you take in more calories than you can burn, you gain weight. Fat is a common ingredient in our food and has twice the amount of calories as protein or carbohydrate. To stay healthy, you need to get your extra calories from a beneficial combination of nutrients not just from fats.

Try limiting your microwave use since many foods cooked in these do not help the body. Eat many natural foods to control your weight and appearance.

Raisins and other dry fruits make for a great addition to hot cereals. Keep a box or two around so you can always take advantage of the vitamins they pack. Simply sprinkle them into your oatmeal, grits, cream of wheat or any hot cereal after you've cooked it. They will quickly absorb moisture and release part of their flavor right into your bowl.

Make an effort to cook your meals instead of eating out. When you are the one preparing your meals you have total control over each and every ingredient that goes into the preparation and you can avoid those that you know are not particularly good for you.

Don't over eat when you're pregnant. Many mothers think that because they're pregnant they need to take in significantly more calories when in fact you only need an extra 250-300 calories a day. More important than the amount of food you eat is the quality. Make sure you're maintaining a balanced diet.

Drink one cup of green tea everyday as part of your daily fluid intake. The caffeine found in tea stimulates alertness and can improve your mood. Green tea is also a rich source of catechins, an antioxidant which scientists believe could protect against heart disease and prevent the formation of blood clots.

If you just can't give up foods rich in cholesterol such as bacon, butter, or egg yolks, many kinds of vegetable foods have fiber, which can reduce your absorption of cholesterol. It is best to eat these at the same time, for example, oatmeal with some bacon, rather than at different times, like bacon for breakfast and broccoli at lunch.

Now that you know what types of things you should be eating for proper nutrition, you should start to see a difference in the way you look and feel. You really ARE a reflection of the things that you eat, and information given here, can help you be a healthier person.

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