Healthy eating is the first step to making sure that you are getting yourself more fit. There a a lot of great advantages to eating better and these include more energy, better concentration and less stomach and digestive problems. Currently, the typical American diet is low in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and high in saturated fat, salt, and sugar. As a result, more Americans than ever are overweight, obese, and at increased risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and certain cancers.

Older people are most likely to improve their eating habits, but nutrition is important for people of all ages, says Walter Willet, M.D., chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health. “We know that when people have health problems or their friends become ill, these are strong motivators of change,” says Willet. “The more serious the health condition, the more serious the change. We’d rather people made changes early and prevent health problems in the first place.”

So what if you’re feeling trapped by a diet full of fast-food burgers and cookies? You can work your way out slowly but surely. Here are tips to move your eating habits in the right direction.
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Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: and Blood Institute, and Dietary Supplements, baked whole-grain corn tortilla chips, Barbara Schneeman, broil food, cancers, Chairman, chairman of the nutrition department, Cindy Moore, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, corn tortilla chips, diabetes, director, director of nutrition therapy, energy, Eric Hentges, fat-free products, food, Food and Drug Administration's Office of Nutritional Products, food diary, food groups, food package, food product, food products, grain products, Harvard School of Public Health, heart disease, high blood pressure, hypertension, kidney disease, Labeling, lower-salt products, Lung, make smart food choices, Marilyn Tanner, milk products, National Heart, nutrition therapy, pediatric dietitian, physician, potassium chloride, similar products, squash, St. Louis, stroke, Tennis, USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, vegetable oil, Walter Willet, Washington University School of Medicine

Well today we are for the 2nd time we are cooking a turkey. I tried cooking one last Spring and it was good although a bit dry. Years ago my wife made an Easter dinner with her mom and it was really undercooked, that night we ended up having Turkey soup at 10 at night.

Just a couple things. Turkey is very high in protein, this is good, another thing stuffing tends to be high in fat so as good as the stuffing is it is in fact a bit fattening. One more fact that you can amaze your friends and family with, Turkey has a lot of the amino acid Tryptophan which will cause sleepyness later so when everyone has overeaten dinner tonight and is feeling tired you can then blame it on the Tryptophan instead of the overeating.

So in the interest of everyone cooking turkey for the first time today here are some instructions for cooking a turkey. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 1 1/2, important tool, set 20, Turkey, USDA, vegetable oil

Vitamins during pregnancy are very important.

If you have ever attempted to go on any kind of diet that involved reading the information on the nutritional labels of your food you are all too familiar with the fact that those little words and symbols can start to look like Greek after a while. If you’re not a doctor or a nutritionist you probably have no idea of what Vitamin B or Folic Acid are, much less why they’re important. The first step to conquering pregnancy nutrition is understanding what you’re eating, how much you should eat, why you’re eating it and how it’s going to help your baby.

A quick note. In the following section you are going to see several mentions made about the negative consequences of overdosing on specific vitamins. You must understand that this overdose very rarely occurs because of the foods you eat. More often it is because mothers have chosen to consume extra supplements in an attempt to “help” their baby or they have forgotten to tell their physician about other vitamins and supplements they take on a regular basis.

Be sure when you go in for your prenatal appointments that your physician knows exactly what vitamins, medications and supplements (including herbal) you take, regardless of how insignificant you may believe them to be. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: anemia, anencephaly, B12 deficiency, B6, beriberi, birth defects, bread products, C, calcium deficiency, center for disease control, cough, dairy products, encephalocele, energy, folic acid, Folic Acid deficiency, food, high blood pressure, morning sickness, neural tube defects, nutritionist, osteoporosis, pernicious anemia, physician, pre-eclampsia, pregnancy nutrition, pregnancy vitamins, pregnant women, Riboflavin deficiency, spina bifida, vegetable oil, vitamin a, Vitamin A deficiency, vitamin a during pregnancy, Vitamin D, Vitamin D deficiency, vitamins and supplements

I am a bit of a fan of Wendy’s restaurants, and yes I am aware of how fatty and devoid of nutrients a Wendys hamburger and fries are. I just saw a story last week with Consumer Reports doing a fallow up of Wendys claim that they would be eliminating trans fats from their deep frying process by switching oils. It seems that all of the stores have not switched to the new kids of oil as there still seems to be a bit of trans fats in the system.

Be very aware that there is no safe amount of trans fats that you should consume. All of the research that I have done into trans fats over the last couple of years have convinced my that this type of fat is poison and just stays in your body.

Consumer reports said the following:

Despite Wendy’s claim that a large serving of fries contains a half a gram of trans fat, our analysis revealed that a large serving contains two and a half grams of trans fats.

Wendy’s announced it was switching to a new kind of cooking oil that would virtually eliminate trans fat by August. But Consumer Reports testing found Wendy’s still serves two and a half grams of trans fat, far more than the half gram it claims. However, it is less than McDonald’s and Burger King fries, which contain more than six grams in their large size fries. Wendy’s, meantime, says it has thoroughly tested and checked the fat content of its fries, and disagrees with Consumer Reports.

Another story that is moving around is that in New York city the city council is going to be voting in December on a bill that would ban trans fats from being used in the citys restaurants. I have never heard of a city wide ban of trans fats but this can only be a good move and I hope the idea catches as much as I know we will hear a lot of moaning from the restaurant industry.

Also you may remember the story from a couple of weeks ago where I mentioned that Kentucky Fried Chicken is going to be dropping trans fats from their cooking process

So again, how do we avoid trans fats? I have looked around and found the following recommendations:
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Tags: Burger King, Consumer Reports, corn oil, dairy products, food, food manufacturers, Healthy fast food, heart disease, mcdonalds, New York, oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, vegetable oil