The Best Diet Of All - The Balanced Diet

The Balanced Diet

A healthiest diet of all is one that is balanced. This means eating the right amount of food for how active the you are, and eating a range of food from the five main food groups.

Including:

• carbohydrates, which contain lots of energy and nutrients and are found in starchy foods, such as bread, pasta and potatoes.

• protein, which helps the body to grow and repair itself, is found in meat, fish, beans and eggs

• fruit and vegetables

• milk and dairy foods

• foods that contain fat and sugar

Carbohydrates should make up about one-third of the daily diet as should fruit and vegetables. The rest of the diet may be split between protein and milk and dairy. Only a small amount of what is eaten every day should come from foods that are high in fat and sugar. 

Eating well is an important part of maintaining good health. Here's some practical tips how to cover the basics of healthy eating to help you make healthier choices:

TUCK INTO THE VEGGIES

Fruit and vegetables must be eaten, at least five portions of different types daily.

STARCHED 

Include some starchy foods in your meals as these provide energy.

HELLO LITTLE FISHY 

Include two portions of oily fish every week such as mackerel or sardines.

FAT ALERT

Avoid the sugars and fats, these are often found in snacks and processed foods.

SALT OVERLOAD

Salt should avoided as an condiment as it is naturally in most foods.

GET UP AND GET MOVING

Undertake active pursuits to achieve a healthy weight.

KEEP IT WATERED

Drink plenty of water, about six to eight glasses every day.

BREKKI IS A MUST 

breakfast should always be eaten as this provides the start-up energy for the day.

Remember what you put inside reflects on the outside,  food is our forgotten medicine.

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The Diets in Fashion in 2013 - Part 2 - The Fasting Diet

The Fasting Diet

The premiss of the fasting diet is to fast for short periods of time, such as 2 days of the week and then eat a healthy balanced diet for the other 5 days. I myself have tried fasting and it certainly work for me, I lost 5lbs and felt I had much more energy the days following.

Though it may not be the most practical diet, fasting can help the body to lose weight and to detox. How fasting is used for weight loss varies by diet. Some fasting diets involve drinking nothing but water or eating only raw foods for a period of one or more days, while others restrict food on alternate days. The fasting diet getting the headlines lately is the 5:2 approach as described above, so 5 days normal diet 2 days fasting - allowing yourself 500 calories on a fast day, for a women and 600 for a guy. When you fast, your body is forced to dip into energy stores to get the fuel it needs to keep going, so you will lose weight.

As you fast, your body will adjust by reducing your appetite, so you will initially feel less hungry. But once you have stopped fasting, your appetite hormones will kick back into gear and you may actually feel hungrier so the key is too eat one healthy balanced meal on fast days such as a lentil and squash salad and a glass of milk.

Fasting as a detox process.

Your body is naturally designed to remove toxins through the skin (by sweating), liver, colon, and kidneys. Although with today's environment and chemical, fat based diet our bodies are overloaded with toxins. Toxins from sugary drinks and processed food make out livers and kidneys work to the max but by fasting it gives our body a break from the digestion process and forces it into the healing and detox process. Clearing our bodies of toxins and giving us more energy and want for life.

Fasting For a longer life

Studies of fasting in both rodents and humans have indicated a connection between calorie restriction and length of lifespan. It is thought that by fasting and allowing the body to heal rather than process and digest, it can delay the onset of age related diseases such as stoke, cancer and heart disease.

Fasting is certainly the pop star of the diet world just now and information is widely available about the pros and cons of the diet. Check out the Michael Mosley documentary on BBC at www.thefastdiet.co.uk

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3 Great Tips to detox your Kidneys

In order to detox your body, you need to focus on detoxing your kidneys.

Your kidneys need to be healthy and working to maximum efficiency to detox your body of any harmful toxins ingested in food or from chemicals in the environment.

So how can you take care of your kidneys? 

1. Head for the fruit aisle.  

Eat natural, organic, healthy fruit and veg. Fresh fruits and vegetables are key, in addition to low-sodium foods. Try  a healthy papaya and melon smoothie with a great big chunk of ginger. Or start your day with a hot water and lemon detox drink. This will kick start your metabolism and get the kidneys working early on in the day.

2. Make it fresh - kick the salt.

Avoid deli meats and store bought soups, which are laden with salt. Salt will dehydrate the cells of the body and cause the kidneys to have to work harder to eliminate toxins.

3. Drink enough water.

This clears the mind, refreshes the body and helps flush any toxins out of the body.

It's  key to drink fresh filtered water slowly throughout the day, try to aim for at least 6-8 glasses daily.

4. Avoid high phosphorus foods.

Weakened kidneys may struggle to remove phosphorus from the blood. High blood phosphorus levels in turn can lead to calcium loss. Eating fewer phosphorous-high foods, such as the following, may be helpful:

• Dairy products such as cheese, milk, puddings, and yogurt
• Legumes such as kidney beans, lentils, and split peas
• Nuts and peanut butter
• Beer, cocoa, and cola soft drinks

5. Give your body some help - add a supplement.

Most often, B complex and vitamin C are recommended, along with calcium and vitamin D3. Iron tablets are sometimes desirable, but only if your health care provider has suggested it.

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Here comes the sun - The power of Vitamin D3

Here comes the sun…

Everything on this wonderful planet of ours needs sunlight, we need it for growth and for happiness. The challenge most of us have in our Western, technological based lives is that our daily working routine means we spend most of the day in-doors, meaning we miss out on all of the amazing bright rays of sunlight that hit our planet.

Sunlight delivers so many benefits to our bodies, remember how happy and relaxed you felt after a holiday in the sun, or how wonderfully calm you feel when lying in a park in the Summer. Sunshine warms and reinvigorates every cell in our body, and our bodies need it to make Vitamin D to allow for absorption of calcium and phosphorus to maintain health bones and a healthy immune system. The vitamin acts like a hormone, once activated by the kidneys it travels in the bloodstream to the gut carrying the message - get calcium!

So, Sunny days not only lift the spirit, they provide us with a real physiological benefit.

To maintain optimum health we really need to get outside in the sunshine for at least 10-15 minutes a day and feel the power of the sun on our skin.

Heavy D, Slimmer You

Numerous studies have shown vitamin D's crucial role in maintaining a healthy body weight, so as the moment of truth with your bathing suit inches closer, you might be cursing your sweet tooth for the belly bulge you can't seem to shed but it may well be what you're not eating that's actually responsible.
By fueling your body with the D-rich nutrients it needs to get out of a fat-storage state and into a fat-burning one, you could potentially speed weight loss by up to 70 percent.

Vitamin D3 is a very unique micro-nutrient that may have an affect on maintaining a healthy weight. It acts as a hormone that could play a sweeping role in the proper regulation of several body processes including regulating the immune system and also controlling our metabolism.

It has also been discovered that receptors in your brain need vitamin D3 to keep hunger and cravings in check as well as to pump up those serotonin levels, which will elevate your mood. (Good thing, since dieting often comes with a heaping side of crankiness.)
Our bodies can only produce Vitamin D3 if we are exposed to sunlight or by taking a supplement. If you’re mostly working and relaxing in doors you may need to take a supplement of Vitamin D3 to keep your serotonin levels up and help prevent depression.

Vitamin D rich foods

A far more satisfying way to up your Vitamin D level is to get more of the vitamin from your diet. We can absorb Vitamin D from some food types, including Shitake and Button mushrooms, Mackerel and most oily fish including Salmon. Apart from fabulous oily fish, you should also include shrimps and seashells in your diet and to keep your levels topped up consider taking a supplement of fish oil, specifically cod liver oil or a Vitamin D3 supplement daily.

To boost your happiness and health, book yourself a holiday in the sun to start with, stick to using the sun screen though as that plays a vital part in protecting our skin from the damaging uvb-a rays that can cause cancer and think about taking a vitamin D3 supplement to keep strong, happy and healthy and when everyone around is suffering the sniffles you'll be smiling.

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