Nutritional Advantages Of Juicing Fresh Fruits And Vegetables

Nutritional Advantages Of Juicing Fresh Fruits And Vegetables Regularly

Juice And Jump for Joy! Did you know that juice can actually be considered a natural water source and provides the body with protein, carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals that can be absorbed quickly and efficiently. Fresh juice also contains necessary enzymes, and pigments such as carotenes, chlorophyll, and flavonoids.

Juicing fresh fruits and vegetables provides numerous nutritional advantages that are extremely important to health and weight loss. In addition, diets containing a high percentage of uncooked foods are significantly associated with weight loss, improved blood sugar control, and lower blood pressure.

Your appetite finds a raw foods more filling. Cooking can cause the loss of up to 97% of water-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Uncooked foods and their juices contain more vitamins and other nutrients, they are more satisfying to the body, so it does not feel starved for nutrients. This means the metabolism will keep running efficiently and help to keep your weight loss efforts headed in the right direction

Juicing kick-starts your body's digestive process and enables quick absorption of high-quality nutrition, which can result in increased energy. This is one of the great advantages of achieving weight loss through improved nutrition.

Fresh juices, combined with a well-balanced diet will provide you with the energy needed to burn more calories, fat, and provide you with the fuel you need for physical activity.

However, juicing does remove the fiber from these nutrient-dense foods. So be sure to include an appropriate amount of fiber-rich foods in your daily diet. Juicing should be a complement to a well-balanced healthy diet, not a substitute.

So with a little planning and creativity, juicing could enhance your well-balanced diet and add some zest and energy to your day. The internet is a great resource for juicing recipes and information.

Raw foods and their juices are a great health booster, and books and magazine articles, that are popping up all over, are touting their benefits and offering awesome recipe ideas.

Al

Boost Your Energy And Your Nutritional Intake With Raw Foods

Raw Food's Nutritional Value Rocks!

You might agree on an intellectual level that eating raw foods is a good idea and will nourish your body better than cooked processed foods. But does the thought of abandoning a lifetime of eating habits for the sake of what seems like a good idea seem like more than you can do? For many it is.

So don’t! Don’t think of restricting yourself to “rabbit food”. That’s silly and the surest way to guarantee you won’t even give raw foods nutrition a fighting chance.

“Everything in moderation” and we think that applies to even the healthiest notions. It’s guaranteed not healthy if you won’t do it!

Don’t think of trying a raw foods diet as taking anything AWAY. Try adding the raw foods in. We think if you add in things like raw vegetables, sprouts, fruits and juices gradually, you won’t be as hungry. When you’re not hungry, you won’t be as apt to give into impulsive eating.

If you want that steak, or even a McDonald’s hamburger, plan for it and enjoy it. Once you start eating raw foods though, and notice how good you feel and how much more energy you have, that hamburger just won’t look as good to you. This is a fact.

You do want to be sure though, that you’re getting enough of the right kinds of nutrition. Eating raw foods doesn’t mean eating only the raw foods you like. Watermelon is good for you, but it’s not enough. It is the same with most foods.

You’ll need to do a little research into which raw foods have the essential proteins, or what combinations of food you need to eat to get enough protein. Or just add in some meats and fish from time to time and ensure that you get the nutrients you need.

Raw food eating is intended to nourish your body, but just being raw isn’t enough. You want to do this to be in balance, and you need to balance the raw foods you’re eating with cooked whole foods for proper nutrition.

One way to ensure that you are getting enough nutrients and lots of variety is to incorporate a new vegetable every week. Buy something you have never heard of, like a “leek”, or “swiss chard.”

You will find a whole new world of tastes and textures open up to you. You will find you have more energy and better health because of it. Go for it, try adding more raw foods to your diet and see the difference it makes to your day.

Kevin Gianni On Health Habits - The Renagade Health Show

This week has been a week for meeting old friends. Since I signed on to Twitter, I have been making connections with people I haven't run into for some time.

One of these is Kevin Gianni. Somehow because we got so darn busy, I kind a lost track of him. Now, a couple of years later, I see he is producing a daily health show online. It is called The Renagade Health Show and he shares some great information. FREE.

Yes, you are reading that right, FREE. I recommend that if you are seriously interested in great and bountiful health, go over there right now and check it out, maybe even sign on to get his daily updates.

Today's show is about developing daily health habits and you can see him here at:

The Best Formula for Health and Diet Success
- The Renegade Health Show Episode #50

There are some powerful episodes that can help us gain energy, lose weight, increase our fitness, or just overall improve our health and well being. I signed up right away.

How Do I Get Healthier Foods Into My Diet And Still Enjoy Eating?

This is a great topic, I hear people talking about this all the time. I would like to eat healthier but I don't like most of the "healthier" foods.

I don't want to eat salads all the time. And I don't want to look like a "health nut" at work.

Here is an article that addresses just how easy it is to fit a few simple foods into our diet and feel better almost immediately.

I Hate Eating Healthy Food in My Daily Meals - What to Do About It?

Do you find it so difficult to eat healthy food? And find that eating healthily isn't that easy? After all, there are so many temptations out there. I'm one who once had trouble eating healthily and hated it very much. The truth is eating healthy is not difficult. The problem is that we are made to believe that fast foods and processed foods are convenient. We are also led to believe they are inexpensive; however, it costs a lot to our body's state.

Don't be disheartened. Today, we have a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to choose from. Just visit any major grocery chain and you'll find an abundance of exotic and healthy foods from around the globe. Not only it's fun to try new foods, it is quite easy to incorporate healthy foods into your lifestyle.

Let's take a look at some of the world's healthiest foods and how you can incorporate them into your life.

FRUITS:

Today let me introduce you to apricots. Apricots are often being overlooked, but these delicious fruits provide vitamins and fiber that can help regulate your blood pressure and maintain regular bowel function. Apricots are available either fresh or dried. All you need is to consume one handful of dried apricots or one fresh apricot each day, and you will have enough nutrients.

Bananas, although common, are rich in potassium and provide a quick energy boost. You can either select bananas that are fully ripened or are going to ripe soon. Bananas ripe at a fast paced and a fully ripened banana contains the highest level of starch, which can be converted into sugar in our body.

Bananas are an excellent choice for people with hypoglycemia and are one of the most affordable and convenient fruits on the market. Incorporate them into your morning cereal or grab one or 2 during your tea break. They taste great mixed with other fruits such as watermelon, berries, mandarin oranges, etc.

Do you like blueberries? Did you know they can help to reduce inflammation? If you suffer from arthritis or other aches and pains, eat a handful of blueberries. Add them to your favorite cereal, oatmeal, or include them in a yummy fruit salad.

VEGETABLES:

These vegetables, such as broccoli, garlic, onions, and tomatoes, offer the most health benefits. Broccoli can be eaten raw, steamed, baked, boiled or even grilled. Besides consuming it as a side dish, it can also be added to a salad, mixed in with a casserole, or eaten with a variety of fresh veggies. There are many scientific studies that have proven broccoli has the potential to prevent cancer. That fact alone should make you want to eat it on a daily basis.

Garlic has a pungent odor and spicy taste and it can be added to soups, stews, salads, side dishes, and more. Garlic can be eaten raw but most people have a hard time eating a raw garlic clove. Hence to incorporate this healthy food to your lifestyle, when cooking with garlic, be certain to add it to the dish just moments before serving in order to obtain the health benefits it offers.

One of the most versatile vegetables is the tomato. It can be eaten raw, cooked, steamed, grilled, baked, juiced, or pureed. You can add tomatoes with nearly every type of food. But most importantly you can just eat a fresh, juicy tomato. Nothing tastes better than that. You can also add a few slices to your favorite sandwich or cut into wedges and serve with a salad. Tomato pasta sauce serves as a very good food too!

by Eden Danielson

Eden Danielson is the author of detox and fasting site at eDetoxify.com. Combining both Asian and Western philosophy, Eden Danielson has helped many people by giving them health consultation to make their lives better and healthier through natural health philosophy. Visit eDetoxify.com to discover the health philosophy that lead many people to a healthy life.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eden_Danielson

Anti Aging - Enzymes And Raw Food

Enzymes and Raw Food – Can You Cheat Time and Stay Young for Longer?

I’m going to be a bit radical here, but know that I’m only encouraging you to question and think and ideally do your own research, both theory and practice. I’m pretty confident that you’ll thank me for it.

WHAT IF THE SO-CALLED ‘AGING PROCESS’ WAS A CHOICE?

Clearly, we can’t stop time from moving on. When we have a birthday, we are another year older. That’s a fact that, for the moment at least, we cannot change. But what if the weakening organs, bones and tissues and all the 'usual' signs of old age were not actually a part of the aging process we've come to accept as 'normal'?

Have you ever considered that these conditions are simply symptoms of us mistreating our bodies over the course of our lives to date? Wouldn’t our senior years be a whole lot more fun if we were pain and disease free and could jump around with the energy and vitality of a teenager?

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

That this is a crazy, impossible idea borne out of fantasy? Or are you willing to open your mind and accept that actually, if you treat your body right and nourish it properly, it may in fact be possible? And this is where Enzymes come in...

In his book Intuitive Eating, Dr Humbart Santillo MD writes:

"A human being is not maintained by food intake alone, but rather by what is digested. Every food must be broken down by enzymes to simpler building blocks. Enzymes may be divided into 2 groups, exogenous (found in raw food) and endogenous (produced within our bodies). The more one gets of the exogenous enzymes, the less will have to be borrowed from other metabolic processes and supplied by the pancreas.

The enzymes contained in raw food actually aid in the digestion of that same food when it is chewed. One can live many years on a cooked food diet, but eventually this will cause cellular enzyme exhaustion which lays the foundation for a weak immune system and ultimately disease."

Put simply, we are born with a finite supply of endogenous enzymes. It should be enough to last us a lifetime based on current life expectancy, but if we don’t supply some exogenous enzymes through our diet, we will use up our original supplies and that’s when we become susceptible to the accepted ‘signs of old age’ including premature death! And the fact is that when we cook our food, we kill all enzymes instead of allowing them to boost our immune system, our brain function and our energy levels.

Another doctor, Edward Howell, has written a book called Enzyme Nutrition. In it, he says:

"Humans eating an enzyme-less diet use up a tremendous amount of their enzyme potential in lavish secretions of the pancreas and other digestive organs. The result is a shortened lifespan (65 years or less as compared with 100 or more), illness, and lower resistance to stress of all types, psychological and environmental. By eating foods with their enzymes in tact and by supplementing cooked foods with enzyme capsules we can stop abnormal and pathological aging processes."

THESE SCIENTISTS ARE NOT CRACK-POTS WORKING ALONE

The raw food movement is gathering pace and the practice is becoming more mainstream now. In her book You Are What You Eat, Gillian McKeith places raw or living foods at the top of her list of Good Foods and has a section entitled The Case Against Cooking.

Now don't get me wrong; I'm not suggesting that you switch overnight to a 100% raw food diet. Though plenty do and never look back, it's not always wise. Instead I would give the same advice as Gillian in urging you to eat something raw with every meal.

Just before I sat down to write this, I ate a yummy Quinoa Avocado Salad which other than the cooked quinoa was loaded with raw, enzyme-, EFA- and nutrient- rich foods. I ate it on its own, but you could serve it alongside a piece of grilled chicken or fish instead of dead, heavy, sugar-rush potatoes which do little more than bloat you up. Find the recipe on my Blog at Claires Blog.

by Claire Raikes

Claire Raikes is a Wellbeing Coach, Speaker and Writer who 'cured' herself of a chronic, disabling and potentially life-threatening bowel condition without the use of steroids, surgery or any other traditional medical intervention. She now shares her passion for natural and vibrant health through coaching, speaking and writing about the importance and power of a truly healthy diet.

She publishes a free weekly eZine, In Essence and is compiling an eBook of Healthy Fast Food with 25% of the proceeds going to The Cancer Project, a charity set up by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and nutritionists to educate the public on the benefits of a healthy diet for cancer prevention and survival.

If you have a recipe you would like to submit, visit www.LiveInEssence.com for further details. To book Claire to speak at your event, email her at Claire@LiveInEssence.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

---

Healthy Eating For Weight Loss And A Long Life

Eating is a wonderful thing. It is also necessary for keeping you alive and healthy. But with the hectic pace of life today, it’s hard to keep to a healthy eating schedule.

It seems so much easier to snack and hit up fast food joints, rather than eat a healthy diet that consists of fruits, vegetables, and fish, while cutting down on saturated fats, trying to eat less salt, while getting more active and drinking plenty of water without skipping breakfast. Sounds so difficult even when you say it fast. (GRINS)

But you already know that, don’t you?

Price is a factor as well. The cheap food at the takeouts that tastes the best also happens to be the same food that clogs your arteries, and makes you fat. Oh the irony!

Why does a soy dog cost five bucks, when street meat only costs two bucks? Is the life of a bean curd worth more than that of a pig? Life is just full of mysteries.

However, healthy foods are really more inexpensive in the long run.

If you can’t exercise regularly, and you can’t quit smoking, at least you can try your best to start eating healthier.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

1. Eat a good breakfast.

How many times have you been told it’s the most important meal of the day? The reason: because it is! And by the way, beer for breakfast doesn’t count.

2. Eat plenty of whole grains, fruits and veggies.

Eating healthy is all about routine and finding things that are healthy but tasty as well.

3. Eat regular meals.

Snacking has been the downfall of many a healthy person. Try to avoid unhealthy snacking, like deep fried butter and pork rinds, and replace it with a fruit bar or muffin.

4. Eat moderate portions.

If you are going to eat fatty, sugary foods, at least keep the portions small. There is no such thing as good or bad foods, only choices that are right or wrong for you.

5. Quit deep frying everything.

Instead, try baking, broiling, grilling, poaching, roasting, steaming, stir frying etc.

To make things easier, try reducing foods instead of completely eliminating them. Balance your food choices over time and recognize your eating pitfalls.

You should try eating 2-4 servings of fruit, and 3-5 serving of vegetables each day, while basing your meals around complex carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.

Eating healthy can be so beneficial and so easy. Really, all you have to do is just decide to take the leap and start your life headed in a new, healthy direction. It is so much easier than you think.

For more information on healthy portions, see our program - Portions For Life

Lifestyle Choices - Set Goals for Losing Weight Permanently

Well, the race is on for those of us who want to look great on the beach this summer. Another couple of months and vacation time will be upon us. More than a few of us will be taking some actions to lose weight that we may have gained over the winter. Or, maybe over two winters . . .

The key to weight loss is smaller portions. Always has been. Portion control is necessary in these days of "supersizing". Eat less than you burn up. Sounds easy but hardly no one does it. We are growing into an obese society overall here in North America. (Check out our Portions For Life program.)

Losing weight can be achieved in various ways, but healthy habits are necessary if you want to lose the weight and have high energy permanently. That weight that you gained did not just appear yesterday, it probably built up over months, maybe even years.

Weight gain is in most cases a result of unhealthy lifestyle choices. You can roughly calculate the amount of calories your body needs a day and when you stay close to that number, you will probably have few weight issues. But for the rest of us that indulge in fast foods, candy, other high calorie and high fat foods, the weight accumulates slowly over a longer period of time.

Losing weight, especially losing weight permanently can only be achieved if the right goals are set, and then the goals strategies and results are monitored closely. You can only manage what you can measure so keep an eye on your progress. Build up those daily, habitually healthy actions and you will consistently hit your mark.

First of all, you need to realize that your extra weight has accumulated over months or years and therefore you will not be able to lose it within a few weeks or a few months, especially if we are talking of more than 20 pounds.

Generally physicians all over the world say that a healthy rate of loosing weight is about 6 pounds per month. So when to get started, set an achievable goal, set yourself 5 pounds for every month until you arrive at your goal weight.

Losing weight permanently often means a change in lifestyle and especially bad eating habits. You will most likely not be able to drop poundage when you keep eating what you are eating, even if you cut it down. You need to eat to live, not live to eat. Find out what foods will help you in your weightloss goals.

If you include fruits, vegetables and grains into your daily routine, you will seldom be hungry and you will lose weight. Changing to the new healthier eating habit will not only help you lose weight, you will also live a healthier life, and gain more energy. More vitamins and minerals from nutrient dense foods will enter your system regularly so that your body will thrive and energize.

Also know that the temptation to go back to old habits will be there, but setting goals for permanent weight loss gives you the motivation to resist those temptations.

This does not mean that you should never eat a piece of candy or have dessert. There are first of all very yummy, healthy desserts and every once in a while, when that chocolate is calling your name louder than ever, you can have a piece or two.

Excluding food that you love completely can risk your whole diet. If you indulge in one or two small pieces every once in a while will first, satisfy that sweet tooth and second, prevent you from getting to the point where you will eat a whole bar of chocolate and ruin your diet.

Set a goal to reward yourself. When you have reached one of your long-term goals, go ahead and give you self a reward. Make it commensurate with the size and difficulty of your goal.

Rewards have positive effects on our motivation to keep up certain behaviors and since there is not really anybody else who will reward you, do it yourself. Treat yourself to that new smaller outfit, or maybe a trip to the spa.

One very important goal in your permanent weight loss is certainly more exercise. Eating less food and keeping to those nutrient dense varieties, and exercising on regular basis is the key to keep the weight off.

A more fit you will burn more calories and also you will feel much better about keeping up the routine and the healthy lifestyle. Yes, it can be hard, but if you set reachable goals, you can build the daily habit.

Fit that exercise in your daily routine, no excuses. Start slowly and you will not only see the results, you will also be able to permanently keep that weight off.

If you too are taking action to get down to a healthier weight, check out our Portions For Life program.