Eating well on a tight schedule

Eating Smart:
Most of us start off the day with the best intentions for eating healthy. Unfortunately, a missed alarm, getting stuck in traffic or working through lunch can botch the best plans for eating right. With today's hectic schedules and an abundance of convenience foods, it's easy to get off track even when you want to stay on course.

Whether you're trying to lose weight or just eat right, the smartest thing to do is create a healthy eating plan. With these simple steps you'll be able to fit in nutritious meals and snacks, even when you're squeezed for time.

Rise and Shine:
Just like with most things, mom was right about breakfast — it is the most important meal of the day. Trouble is, it's probably the easiest meal to skip since we're the most rushed. Even if you don't have time to sit down and eat a bowl of multi-grain cereal with fresh fruit, don't fret — there are plenty of grab-and-go ways to start your day. A low-fat yogurt is a great choice, but don't forget to pair it with a handful of unsalted nuts (for extra protein and a dose of "good" fat) or granola. Take a banana or other easy-to-grab fruit and add an energy bar that has no more than 200 calories.

Your best bet: Keep a box of instant oatmeal at work. All you need is a microwave and you're all set for an energized morning.

Midday:
It's easy to get off track at lunch, especially if you've skipped breakfast. Your stomach is growling; your boss is on your nerves; you can't focus; and you're likely to grab the closest comfort food you can find. If you haven't thought about lunch until you're starving, you're more apt to grab a greasy cheeseburger and fries than a grilled chicken salad.

Your best bet: Bringing your lunch — whether it's leftover soup or pasta from the night before, or a turkey sandwich on whole wheat — is nearly always a better choice than trying to navigate your local deli for a healthy meal. Still, it is possible to find good food that's fast.

Dinner:
Another crunch time for working people, especially if you have a family. It's easy to dial the number for pizza or Chinese takeout, but try to keep it to a minimum. Keep salad fixings, frozen vegetables, chicken breasts and, yes, frozen pizza dough on hand. You'll always be able to whip up a quick stir-fry or make a veggie pizza.

Your best bet: Try to eat dinner at a reasonable time — like before 9 p.m. The earlier you eat dinner, the more likely you'll be to burn it off. Try to cook or "assemble" at least four nights a week. If you haven't gotten in your five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables for the day, make an extra effort to include them now.

The best way to eat smart throughout the day is to plan, plan, plan. Even if you're not a super-organized person, just taking 10 minutes to make a weekly shopping list full of healthy foods is guaranteed to keep you on the healthy eating track.

Have a sugar-free diet.

Diabeties is the severe concern of the Medical professionals as well the community. As per the World Health Organisation report, there will be more than 40% Indian population having diabeties. Controlling food habbits are only helpful treatments for the diabeties patients.

Even if you don't have a sweet tooth, chances are you take in more than your fair share of sugar each day. Added sugars can be found in everything from soda to salad dressing and even in otherwise healthy foods like yogurt.

The World Health Association recommends cutting back on refined sugar to reduce your risk of obesity. The added sugar in our diets seems to be adding up to extra pounds on American waistlines. The amount of added sugars in products is on the rise. According to the American Dietetic Association, the average American consumed about 123 pounds of added sugar per year in 1980. By 1999, that number had risen to 158 pounds. Why? We eat out more often, and we're eating more and more packaged foods and drinking more and more beverage.

The Sugar BowlYou don't need to have a sugar-free diet, but reducing the amount of sugar you consume is a wise decision. Look for the following items on the ingredients label — they're all forms of sugar:

Corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup

Molasses

Honey

Fruit juice concentrate or fructose

Sugar—ite, brown, raw or cane Look for the amount of sugar listed on the "Nutrition Facts" Panel of the foods you buy. It will be listed in grams. Because that doesn't mean much to most of us, use this simple equation to determine how much sugar is in the foods you eat: 7 grams of sugar = 1 tablespoon of sugar.

For example, if the label on your strawberry yogurt says it has 21 grams of sugar, that's the equivalent of 3 tablespoons. And the 20-ounce frozen coffee drink you had as an afternoon snack not only had 400 calories, but also 18 teaspoons of sugar. Now that's a little hard to swallow.

Remember: No matter what the source is, be it the natural fructose in strawberries or the added sweetness of corn syrup, it all winds up in the same place on the nutrition facts label. If a product only lists fresh or dried fruit in the ingredients list, you know that the sugar is derived from these sources. However, if cane sugar and corn syrup are listed in addition to the strawberries, you know that sugars have been added.

Cutting down on sugar:

Avoid heavily sweetened breakfast cereals. Go for ones that have 10 grams of sugar or less per serving.

Energy bars and drinks are a common source of hidden sugar. Look for ones that have less than 12-15 grams of sugar per serving.
Watch out for reduced fat and fat-free products. Sugars are often added to mask the loss of flavor when fat is removed. You may be cutting out fat, but not necessarily calories.

Limit sweetened beverages like milkshakes and coffee drinks, which are deceptively full of sugar and calories. Buy juices that are 100 percent fruit juice. Be careful about products that say "100 percent natural." That doesn't mean they're not loaded with added sugars. Avoid products that call themselves "juice cocktails" and "juice beverages." Mix fresh or dried fruit into plain yogurt. Many fruity yogurts are loaded with added sugar.

Reduce conusming the sugar rich food items like rice, potatoes etc., which releases sugar into the blood as soon as you take it. Where as some food items like cauliflower, cabbage etc., releases sugar into the blood in a slow process.

Learn to appreciate the natural tartness of fruits like grapefruit, strawberries and other berries. Choose fruit when it's in season and it shouldn't need any added sweetness.

Alter food habits and live with complete health.

Six Ways of Healty Eating for healthy Living

For many of us, learning to develop healthy eating habits takes a little more discipline than it does for others. But by making small changes with every meal, you can start developing healthier eating habits in no time. Here are a few small steps that can lead to giant leaps for you and your family's daily diet.

The Power of Choice begin with the types of foods that you choose to buy. In most cases, you'll eat what you buy — if the cookies or chips are in the house, trust me, you'll have more of a tendency to snack on them than on a piece of fruit.

Tip No. 1

Start by changing the "snack ratio" in the house. Slowly and gradually have more fruit and healthier snack choices around, rather than the typical, higher-calorie junk food. For instance, have three types of fruit (apples, oranges, grapes) to replace some of the small bags of chips or candy bars. Or simply start replacing unhealthy snacks with alternative choices, such as oatmeal bars, granola bars, or peanuts and yogurt.

Tip No. 2

When shopping at the grocery store, spend more of your time in the outer aisles. That's where you'll find the healthier foods, such as fresh fruits, fish and vegetables, which are naturally lower in fat and cholesterol and have not been filled with sugar, salt and other preservatives that add on the pounds.

Tip No. 3

Begin reading the labels of the foods that you eat. Foods that are labeled "low in fat," or "light," are not always the healthiest choice. Many times, if a product is lower in fat, it may be higher in sodium, or, if it's lower in sugar, it may be high in fat. Start reading the "Nutrition Facts" chart on the back of the box, can or bag.

I will admit, it's hard to read the label of every food item while you're shopping. A better way to start is with your favorite packaged foods and snacks at home. Soon you'll start to notice the differences in the amounts of sodium, carbohydrates, sugar and calories per serving between the different foods that you've chosen. The next step is to slowly begin making adjustments in your shopping choices, and to look for alternatives with fewer calories, sodium, and fats.

Don't get caught up in the calories"Everyone zeroes in on the calories," says registered dietitian Claire LeBrun. "I even catch myself sometimes doing it; you gotta look at the portions and calories per serving size." The gotcha that gets a lot of consumers with the nutritional facts charts is the number of calories per serving size. Most consumers read the number of calories and assume that's the number of calories for the entire package, rather than the number of calories per serving — buyer beware.

Tip No. 4

Develop a healthy habit of selecting sensible-sized food portions. If your plate has a serving of rice that can't fit into the cupped palm of your hand, then, in most cases, the amount of food you've chosen is too much. Using this "cup of your hand" technique is a good way to mentally measure the amounts of foods that go onto your plate. Some people use the size of their fist as a measurement. The size of your fist, or a cupped hand, is about the same size of one measuring cup.

Tip No. 5

Retrain your taste buds and retrain your brain and attitude toward good food choices. The natural sweetness of an orange or apple can't compete with the sugary taste of a candy bar, but you must retrain, and relearn, the goodness of what's good for you. Start choosing to eat more fruits and vegetables as snacks or as replacements for some of the fats that you would tend to add onto your lunch tray or dinner plate — you and your taste buds will get used to it.

Tip No. 6

Learn basic alternatives to fattening foods. Learn to speak the second language of food — the language of healthy food :
Choose mustard over mayo (mustard naturally has less calories/fat)
Choose brown rice, whole wheat, rye or oat bread over white bread (brown foods don't have extra fats added to them to change their color)
Choose the white meat of turkey or chicken over dark meat, red meat or pork (most of our fat intake comes from animal fat; white meat contains less fat) Choose baked or broiled over fried, battered or breaded.

Choose water over juice and soda. Some juices contain just as many carbs and calories as a small bag of potato chips. Try slowly weaning yourself off caffeinated soda with [herbal] tea or water — have two glasses of water, or cups of tea, per every can of soda. (Also, don't drink your calories — that those100 calories of juice could be two pieces of fruit or a cereal bar, a more filling feeling for you and your stomach.)

Choose low-calorie sauces and ask to have sauces and dressings served on the side. (Usually more sauce is poured on than is needed. Dip your fork into the sauce, then dip your fork into the food. This will give you the flavor with every bite, but without the extra, unnecessary fat.)

Choose fat-free milk and cheese made with skim milk, as opposed to whole milk (again, most of our fat intake comes from animal fat).

Choose vegetables as side orders over fries and chips. Steamed veggies are preferable over creamed veggies (vegetables naturally carry less fat).
Choose to pack fruit and nuts to hold you over to the next meal, rather than opting for fast food or snacks from a vending machine. Fruit snacks will help you get to the next meal, as they allow you to eat more, more often and without the extra fat intake). Fruits like bananas and oranges are convenient and have their own protective packaging.

A Healthy Approach to Comfort Food

Eat Fat, Be Happy:
A friend and I are dining at a neighborhood restaurant on a hearty meal of fettuccini Alfredo, mozzarella and tomato salad, and bread dipped in olive oil. High in carbohydrates and fat, so-called comfort foods are an effective stress remedy.

"I eat fattening foods when I'm bored or depressed because it's something to divert me from my bad moods and it tastes good," my friend says. But "afterwards, it makes me feel worse because I know I shouldn't have eaten it."

When the going gets tough, people gravitate to the feel-good foods that we remember fondly from our youth — everything from macaroni and cheese to baked beans, ice-cream, and candy bars. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, an AC Nielson survey of grocery store sales reported a brief 12 percent surge in snack foods sales.

Guilty: To Be or Not to Be?
Do indulging in these simple pleasures come at the price of your waistline, health, and a guilty after-taste? The verdict is decidedly mixed. The upside for my friend, who stays physically fit and keeps her cravings under control, is that she need not have eaters' remorse. "Even if you eat the most decadent dessert, if you control the portions, you can feel good about it and about yourself and move on," .

Easier said than done. Case in point: super-sized servings of fries, sodas, muffins, and pasta are standard fare at many fast food and sit-down restaurants. "No one food is to blame but almost all foods are getting bigger in serving sizes,"

Overindulging in fatty, salty, and sweet foods contributes to weight gain, and obesity itself can be a death sentence from diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

"People say they occasionally have a hot dog, hamburger, and french fries, but when asked 'what else do you eat,' they say 'nothing,' meaning they're excluding whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables," says Katz. "A poor diet and low levels of physical activity either have, or soon will, overtake tobacco as the leading underlying cause of premature, preventable death in the United States, resulting in almost 400,000 deaths per year."

Choosing Healthy Fats:
In moderation, fats in foods boost energy when you're sluggish and help the body absorb fat-soluble vitamins. There is growing evidence that one of the healthiest edibles is the vice you're supposed to avoid: fat.

Not just any variety will do. You want the healthy, omega-3 fats found in nuts, olive oil, avocados and cold-water fish like salmon and mackerel, rather than the saturated, trans-fatty acids found in beef, butter, chips, cookies and many other foods. When it comes to fat, it pays to read the labels.
Two recent studies, one from Penn State, the other from Harvard University, found that comfort foods alone won't tip the scale. To the contrary, researchers at Penn State reported that a diet rich in peanut butter, of all things, can both help shed pounds and prevent heart disease. The healthy balanced fats will enhance the brain power particularly in students which increases their learning capacity.

Why can't we resist comfort foods?
Their lure has both chemical and emotional triggers. "Some foods work on serotonin levels in the brain to produce a calming effect," and "Adjusting your blood sugar levels by not being hungry can relax you."

Women may be more susceptible to stress eating because of the peaks and valleys in estrogen during the menstrual cycle and brain chemicals that regulate hormone and insulin levels.

Nutrition and Wellness for happy living

Health is wealth is the old and renouned truth, which every one of us agreed. Living is no meaning healthy living is the real meaning of the life. In the present busy world many people ignoring the right living by not keeping health in right stage. Here is a question what is the right way to keep our health in right stage?

Daily we need food to live and perform our duties, there are two types of food we have to consume are Macro food : Carbohydrates, proteens, fats etc., where as Micro Food : Vitamins, Minerals etc., Healthy intake of food will enhance the learning capacity of the students also.

Macro food will be consumed by all but Micro food will be ignored by the plenty of the people in all corners of the world. These micro foods only to maintain our health in tact by protecting from day to day damages in our body cells, organs etc.,

Vitamin is an organic substance that acts as a coenzyme and / or regulator of metabolic processes. There are 13 known vitamins, most of which are present in foods or supplements; some are produced within the body. Vitamins are crucial for many bodily functions.

Here are the Various Vitamins and their benefits and also where they can be sourced.
A (retinol, carotene):growth and repair of body tissue, immune functions, night vision eggs, dark green & yellow fruits and vegetables, dairy products, liver

B-1 (Thiamine): Carbohydrate metabolism appetite regulation, important in nervous system and growth wheat germ, pork, whole & enriched grains, dried beans, seafood

B-2 (Riboflavin): Carbohydrate, fat & protein metabolism, essential for cell respiration and mucous membranes dairy products, green leafy vegetables, whole & enriched grains, beef, lamb, eggs.

B-6 (pyridoxine): Carbohydrate & protein metabolism, formation of antibodies and red blood cells, nerve function fish, poultry, lean meat, whole grains, potatoes.

B-12 (cobalamin): Carbohydrate, fat & protein metabolism, nervous system maintenance, blood cell formation beef, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products.

Biotin : Carbohydrate, fat & protein metabolism, fatty acid production, B vitamins utilization egg yolk, meat, dairy products, dark green vegetables; also made by microorganisms inside intestinal tract.

Folic Acid : Red blood cell formation, protein metabolism, cell division & growth green leafy vegetables, dried beans, poultry, fortified cereals, oranges, nuts.

Niacin : Carbohydrate, fat & protein metabolism, GI system maintenance, blood circulation, nerve function, appetite regulation meat, fish, whole & enriched grains, beans, nuts & peas

Pantothenic Acid: Nutrient conversion into energy, vitamin utilization, nerve function most plant & animal foods, especially lean meats, whole grains, legumes.

C (ascorbic acid): Wound healing, collagen maintenance, infection resistance, important for healthy gums & blood vessels citrus fruits, tomatoes, melons, berries, green & red peppers, broccoli.

D (cholecalciferol): Calcium & phosphorus metabolism (bone & teeth formation) egg yolk, fatty fish, milk; also made in skin when exposed to sunlight.

E (tocopherol): Free radical scavenger, possible role in immune function
Also Read Benefits of Vitamin E
vegetable oil, wheat germ, nuts, dark green vegetables, whole grains, beans.

K : Blood clotting functions & bone metabolism green leafy vegetables, beef liver.

These vitamins will be acting mostly as Antioxidents to protect our body.
Antioxidants are substances or nutrients in our foods which can prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body. When our body cells use oxygen, they naturally produce free radicals (by-products) which can cause damage.

Antioxidants act as "free radical scavengers" and hence prevent and repair damage done by these free radicals. Health problems such as heart disease, macular degeneration, diabetes, cancer etc are all contributed by oxidative damage. Indeed, a recent study conducted by researchers from London found that 5 servings of fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of stroke by 25 percent. Antioxidants may also enhance immune defense and therefore lower the risk of cancer and infection.

If we keep our health in good condition we can be blessed with Happy living.