Posts Tagged ‘Healthy Diets’

Women and Healthy Diets

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

In today’s modern world, women and healthy diets don’t seem to be making time for each other. Whether women are busier now or diets are simply more complicated, that may never be fully understood. What people do understand right now is that women and healthy diets are connected in ways that will affect their future health.

Excuses that Women Use… All the Time

If you were honest with yourself, the link between women and healthy diets is something you already know. However, you might be suffering from these normal excuses:

– I just don’t have the time to (insert healthy habit here)

– I’m working longer hours

– I’m too tired to cook

– I deserve some ‘naughty’ foods for working so hard

– I don’t want to make separate foods for myself and for my family

– Healthy food doesn’t taste good

But with each excuse, you are pushing yourself further and further away from health and fitness. This is the time to realize that excuses are just that… excuses!

Creating New Habits Instead

What most women don’t realize is that good health doesn’t have to take up a lot of time. By simply looking for ways to increase the nutrition in each day, women and healthy diets can work together – without being inconvenient.

– Try adding a multivitamin to each day to ensure you’re getting the nutrition you need

– Add one piece of fruit as an afternoon snack

– Add vegetables to every meal

– Cut down to one drink a day

– Try to drink more water each day

– Let yourself cheat once a week, or have a smaller treat everyday

When you begin to look at your health as being a series of small steps in the right direction, you can see that it’s not that hard or time consuming to start looking after yourself.

Convenience Will Win in the End

Many healthy women and healthy diets they choose are based on convenience. Here are some ways that you can add convenience to your menu:

– Try healthy frozen dinners when you don’t have a lot of time

– Cook once a week, freeze the meals in single serve portions and reheat as needed

– Try prepackaged salads and sandwiches

– Pack your foods the night before

– Only go to restaurants with healthy choices

Good and healthy doesn’t have to mean that you’re sacrificing the rest of your life. These changes can apply to all women and healthy diets can affect all women’s lives.

Article Source: ADB Article Directory

Michelle Van Otten is the founder and owner of Ultimate Body Potential located in Los Gatos, Ca. UBP offers personal training in Los Gatos, fitness classes, outdoor fitness bootcamps and much more. To learn more and sign up for lots of free information please visit www.ultimatebodypotential.com

Which Low-Carb Diets Are Healthy?

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

There are many diets on the market today that call themselves low-carb diets, but which ones are healthy. That is what is important. You may lose weight on all of them, but some of these low-carb diets are also high in fat and that is not necessarily good either. The best kind of low-carb diet is one that is balanced. You are not looking to eliminate all carbs, but you want to stick mostly with the whole and unprocessed carbohydrates.

You should have about 5 servings of carbohydrates per day and if possible, you want get them from foods that are as close to natural as possible. Here are a few suggestions for making healthy choices on a low-carb diet:

1. Legumes-they are a great choice for a carbohydrate serving. Beans, peas and peanuts are all examples of legumes. Legumes are high in protein and fiber. They are also low in fat and very economically priced.
2. Select whole grain foods-this is not always easy, because so many foods today are highly processed. Look for foods that list a whole grain as the first ingredient on the ingredients list. Whole grains are usually high in fiber, low in sugar and they also keep your blood-sugar levels more even.
3. Try to eat more soy products-Unfortunately soy is not known for its taste, but soy products have a lot of nutritional value. Most low-carb diets do not allow soy products, because they do contain carbohydrates. The nutritional value of soy far outweighs any negative impact that its carbs may have. Soy is high in protein and has been known to reduce the risks of cancer and heart disease.

Here are some foods that are normally limited on most low-carb diets, but they are natural and can be eaten within reason:

1. Fruits-they are low in calories and high in vitamins and fiber making them a healthy choice. They have a natural sweetness that can be used to satisfy that craving to eat sugary foods. However, not all fruits are created equal. Some do have more sugar than should be consumed on a low-carb diet.
2. Leafy green and non-starchy vegetables-They are full of vitamins and a healthy choice at any time.

The things that you will want to limit as much as possible are refined sugars and carbohydrates. They add calories to your diet and do not have much nutritional value. These bad carbs come in the form of breads, pastas and starchy vegetables. These food products do not do anything for you nutritionally and they cause your blood sugar levels to be very inconsistent.

Low-carb diets are very healthy as long as you do not load them with high fat protein. Like any other weight loss plan, this one is all about the choices you make and how well you can make it fit into your lifestyle.

Article Source: ADB Article Directory

Marjorie Salada is the owner of Weight Loss 3000, a website that contains information on weight loss, exercise, weight loss surgery and living a healthy lifestyle.