organic-foods-and-healthy-life

The Benefits of Organic Foods

2010-03-07T05:28:00.000-08:00

The Benefits of Organic Foods

When you decide to eat healthier, it will require a little more than just not cooking your vegetables. Raw is not the only concern that you have. Fruit and vegetables grown with regular pesticide sprays or genetically modified organisms are prevalent in grocery stores. You have to look for organically grown or locally grown vegetables. Meat from organic raised livestock is hard to find but not impossible. The benefit to your health is worth what you will pay.

Organically or locally grown vegetables and fruit ensure the least tainted, manipulated produce that you can get, even though it may not be completely free of every danger. Buying locally grown produce has the added benefit of supporting the small, independent farmers.

An even better plan of action is the organically grow your own produce in a backyard garden. If you don't live in a highly industrialized area, or near highways, it may be a good idea. Gardening has the added benefit of being therapeutic

FRESH ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

ORGANIC VEGETABLES

FRESH ORGANIC VEGETABLES

ORGANIC VEGETABLES AND FRUITS

ORGANIC VEGETABLES AND
FRUITS

ORGANIC AND FRESH FRUITS

FRESH ORGANIC FRUITS

13 Keys to a Healthy Diet

2010-03-05T11:09:00.000-08:00

13 Keys to a Healthy Diet

Low Fat Diet

1 Eat plenty of high-fiber foods—that is, fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains. These are the "good" carbohydrates—nutritious, filling, and relatively low in calories. They should supply the 20 to 30 grams of dietary fiber you need each day, which slows the absorption of carbohydrates, so there’s less effect on insulin and blood sugar, and provides other health benefits as well. Such foods also provide important vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (plant chemicals essential to good health).

Organic Healthy Foods

2 Make sure to include green, orange, and yellow fruits and vegetables—such as broccoli, carrots, cantaloupe, and citrus fruits. The antioxidants and other nutrients in these foods may help protect against developing certain types of cancer and other diseases. Eat five or more servings a day.

Healthy Fruits and Vegetables

3 Limit your intake of sugary foods, refined-grain products such as white bread, and salty snack foods. Sugar, our No.1 additive, is added to a vast array of foods. Just one daily 12-ounce can of soda (160 calories) can add up to 16 pounds over the course of a year. Many sugary foods are also high in fat, so they’re calorie-dense.

White Bread and Salty Snack Foods

Sugary Foods

4 Cut down on animal fat. It’s rich in saturated fat, which boosts blood cholesterol levels and has other adverse health effects. Choose lean meats, skinless poultry, and nonfat or low-fat or nonfat dairy products.

Animal Fat Foods

Low Fat Foods

5 Cut way down on trans fats, supplied by hydrogenated vegetable oils used in most processed foods in the supermarket and in many fast foods.

Healthy Fast Foods

Fast Foods

6 Eat more fish and nuts, which contain healthy unsaturated fats. Substitute olive or canola oil for butter or stick margarine.

Fish and Nuts

7 Keep portions moderate, especially of high-calorie foods. In recent years serving sizes have ballooned, particularly in restaurants. Choose a starter instead of an entrée, split a dish with a friend, and don’t order supersized anything.

High Fat Foods

8 Keep your cholesterol intake below 300 milligrams per day. Cholesterol is found only in animal products, such as meats, poultry, dairy products, and egg yolks.

High Fat Animal Foods

Low fat milk and Dairy Products

9 Eat a variety of foods. Don't try to fill your nutrient requirements by eating the same foods day in, day out. It is possible that not every essential nutrient has been identified, and so eating a wide assortment of foods helps to ensure that you will get all the necessary nutrients. In addition, this will limit your exposure to any pesticides or toxic substances that may be present in one particular food.

Variety of Foods for Healthy and Long Life

10 Maintain an adequate calcium intake. Calcium is essential for strong bones and teeth. Get your calcium from low-fat sources, such as skim milk and low-fat yogurt. If you can't get the optimal amount from foods, take supplements.

Calcium for Strong Bones and Teeth

11 Try to get your vitamins and minerals from foods, not from supplements. Supplements cannot substitute for a healthy diet, which supplies nutrients and other compounds besides vitamins and minerals. Foods also provide the "synergy" that many nutrients require to be efficiently used in the body.

Low Fat Desserts

12 Maintain a desirable weight. Balance energy (calorie) intake with energy output. Exercise and other physical activity are essential.

Exercise for Healthy Live and Long Life

13 If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. That is one drink a day for women, two a day for men. A drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits. Excess alcohol consumption leads to a variety of health problems. And alcoholic beverages can add many calories to your diet without supplying nutrients.

Drinnking Alcohol for Healthy Life

Menu planning: Eat healthier and spend less

2010-03-05T08:09:00.000-08:00

Menu planning: Eat healthier and spend less

Menu planning is a great way to provide your family members with a variety of healthy foods that meet their nutritional needs. Menu planning also saves time and money.

Save money

Start worrying about what to have for dinner

When the clock approaches 5:00 p.m., do you start worrying about what to have for dinner? Are you always scrambling for an answer? If so, try this old-school trick that's back in fashion — menu planning. Menu planning is a great way to make sure you're providing your family members with a variety of healthy foods that meet their nutritional needs. And, as every frugal cook knows, menu planning can also save both time and money.

How does menu planning save time and money?

Just consider how much time you spend standing in front of your refrigerator looking for something for dinner.

Or maybe you often end up eating out, which takes a big bite out of your budget.
In addition, if you eat out a lot — especially at fast-food joints — you're probably not eating as healthfully as you should.

No Healthy Junk Foods

Finally, think about the food that goes to waste because you bought it without a plan for how to use it.

Eat Healthy with Menu Planning

With menu planning you know what to buy, which makes your grocery shopping more efficient and reduces the need for unplanned trips to buy one or two items. And with a grocery list in hand — a byproduct of good menu planning — it's easier to resist overspending on food you won't use or don't need.

Getting started

Menu planning doesn't have to be complicated. To get started, jot down some of your family's favorite meals. Flip through cookbooks or look online for recipe ideas. Check the weekly food ads for sales.

Now get writing. If you're planning for the next week, create a grid or use a calendar and jot down your ideas for meals under each day. You can start by just planning dinners. Make sure to include side dishes as well as entrees, and maybe some healthy desserts. If you're feeling ambitious, add some healthy lunch and snack options for the week as well. When you have your menu plan filled in, create a shopping list of the ingredients you'll need. Some things to consider as you contemplate meal options:

Meal Planning Kit

Think seasonal. What fresh produce is available this time of year? Is it salad season or soup weather?

fresh organic vegetables salad

Fresh Organic Fruits Salad

Consider what's on sale and on hand. What's on sale this week at the supermarket? What's in your pantry?

Food on Sale

Mix things up. Keep the menu interesting by planning some meatless meals or substituting breakfast for dinner. Alternate new recipes and old favorites.

Picture the plate. Here's a trick for making sure your meals include appropriate portions of key food groups: As you plan a meal, keep in mind that fruits or vegetables should cover half your dinner plate, and lean protein and whole grains should each take a quarter of the plate.

2010-03-05T06:09:00.000-08:00

Organic foods: Are they safer?

Organic or non-organic?

Organic and non-organic fruits and vegetables both look fresh, but the organic foods are very expensive.

The mineral content of organic apples, pears, potatoes, wheat, and sweet corn were compared to commercial varieties. Overall, the organic foods showed much higher levels of nutrient minerals and much lower levels of heavy metals.It made the case that organic food is not necessarily healthier than conventional food, and might actually be dangerous. Maure used in organic compost may be more harmful than the health risks from pesticide to humans. The pros in going organic is that organic food is free from artificial chemicals, pesticides antibiotics and fertilizers. And it is free from genetically modified ingredients. Organic foods show that they have more vitamins and beneficial trace elements than conventional green food and so may be more nutritious.

There are different views on whether organic foods are really helpful to us, or in fact may be harmful. In the future science will have to address these issues. As more studies are being done, our views about organic foods might change. In the past, we thought the egg was the perfect food. Now we know that although nutritious it contains high levels of cholesterol. Who knows what will be considered healthy eating in the future? At this point, organic foods seem to be beneficial.

Organic Apple

Non Organic Apple

Organic Berries

Organic Raspberry

Non Organic Raspberry

Organic Strawberrys

Non Organic Strawberry

Here are other differences between conventional farming and organic farming:

Conventional farmers	Organic farmers
Apply chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth.	Apply natural fertilizers, such as manure or compost, to feed soil and plants.
Spray insecticides to reduce pests and disease.	Use beneficial insects and birds, mating disruption or traps to reduce pests and disease.
Use chemical herbicides to manage weeds.	Rotate crops, till, hand weed or mulch to manage weeds.
Give animals antibiotics, growth hormones and medications to prevent disease and spur growth.	Give animals organic feed and allow them access to the outdoors. Use preventive measures — such as rotational grazing, a balanced diet and clean housing — to help minimize disease.

Organic Foods Labels

Baby Goat on the organic farm.jpg

Sheep on the Organic Farm

Organic Foods Farm

Organic Oranges Tree Farm

Organic Peaches Tree

Organic Apples Tree

Organic Egg Farm

Organic Cow's Milk Farm

100 percent organic. Products that are completely organic or made of all organic ingredients.

Organic. Products that are at least 95 percent organic.

Made with organic ingredients. These are products that contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients. The organic seal can't be used on these packages.

Healthy Diet - Healthy Living

2010-03-02T05:49:00.000-08:00

Healthy Diet - Healthy Living

Healthy Diet

What is a healthy balanced diet?

Healthy eating means having a variety of food, basing meals on starchy foods and eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. This also means:

Having a moderate amount of meat and fish,
Moderate amounts of milk and dairy food,
Having small or occasional amounts of food high in fat, especially saturated fat,
Or food and drinks high in sugar, or food high in salt.
increase in intake of dietary fibre and liquid.

Starchy foods contain carbohydrate mainly in the form of starch which provides energy, and also some protein, minerals, vitamins and fibre.
Fibre helps the digestive system to function properly and it helps to prevent constipation. On average, we only eat two thirds of the fibre we should eat every day.
Examples of starchy foods consist of bread, rice, pasta, breakfast cereals and potatoes.
The healthiest choice is wholegrain foods, such as wholemeal bread or brown rice, as these help to protect us against the risk of heart diseases and strokes.

Fruits and vegetables

provide our body with vitamins, minerals, fibre and carbohydrate, mainly in the form of sugars.
It is essential to have a high intake of fruits and vegetables as they can lower risks of heart diseases, some cancers and other health problems.

We should be eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. But do you know something?

Fresh, frozen, juiced, canned and dried fruit or vegetables can all be taken into consideration.
A portion of fruit or vegetables is about 80g. So we should be having at least 400g of fruits and vegetables everyday.
Juice is counted as one portion no matter how much you drink.
Beans and pulses are counted as a maximum of one portion a day.
Potatoes are not included as they belong in the starchy food group.

Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and pulses

are all rich in protein. Our body needs it for the growth and repair of body tissues.
This group of food also provides vitamin B which helps to release the energy from food so it is available for usage by the body. Vitamin B12 which is contained in meat, fish and eggs, greatly aids in the production of red blood cells and in keeping our nervous system healthy.

Liver is the richest source of Vitamin B12 and Vitamin A. Therefore, pregnant women should avoid eating liver because of the excessively rich source of Vitamin A.

Protein-rich foods

do contain minerals too including:

Iron which helps to build healthy blood and prevent anemia.
Zinc which helps with wound healing.
Magnesium which helps the body utilize energy.

We should be eating at least 2 portions of fish each week as part of our balanced diet. One of these portions should consist of oily fish such as mackerel, sardines, salmon and trout (canned or fresh). Eating healthy fish can help to protect us against coronary heart disease because they are good sources of a special type of fat that is beneficial to health. On top of that, they are good sources of Vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium. However,although canned tuna is still a good source of protein, it is not counted as an oily fish as the canning process removes the beneficial oils.

Recommendation for the maximum number of portions of oily fish we should be eating each week.

2 Portions of Oily Fish	4 Portions of Oily Fish
Girls and women who might have a baby soon	Other women
Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding	Men and boys

Milk and dairy foods

are also vital components of a balanced diet. They provide protein and:

are rich in calcium which is needed for healthy bones and teeth.
Provide vitamins, especially Vitamin B also known as riboflavin, which consists of several important functions including helping the body turn the food we eat into energy.
Vitamin A, found only in foods of animal origin. Carotene which can be used by the body to convert into Vitamin A is found in fruits and vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes and apricots.

The secret to a healthy diet and a healthy life is living food –

fresh vegetables, fruit, juices and green leafy salads. The answer to a healthier you is summed up in three words, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Living a healthy life and having a healthy family is all about eating a healthy diet, every day!

If you always remember to "eat the most nutrient dense foods possible" you will never go wrong.

We hope you and your family enjoy these raw or near raw delicious recipes.

Live Healthy Lives

2010-02-28T06:51:00.000-08:00

Tips for a Safe and Healthy Life

Take steps every day to live a safe and healthy life.

Eat Healthy

Eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains every day.
Limit foods and drinks high in calories, sugar, salt, fat, and alcohol.
Eat a balanced diet to help keep a healthy weight.

Be Active

Be active for at least 2½ hours a week. Include activities that raise your breathing and heart rates and that strengthen your muscles.
Help kids and teens be active for at least 1 hour a day. Include activities that raise their breathing and heart rates and that strengthen their muscles and bones.

Protect Yourself

Wear helmets, seat belts, sunscreen, and insect repellent.
Wash hands to stop the spread of germs.
Avoid smoking and breathing other people’s smoke.
Build safe and healthy relationships with family and friends.
Be ready for emergencies. Make a supply kit. Make a plan. Be informed.

Manage Stress

Balance work, home, and play.
Get support from family and friends.
Stay positive.
Take time to relax.
Get 7-9 hours of sleep each night. Make sure kids get more, based on their age.
Get help or counseling if needed.

Get Check Ups

Ask your doctor or nurse how you can lower your chances for health problems based on your lifestyle and personal and family health histories.
Find out what exams, tests, and shots you need and when to get them.
See your doctor or nurse as often as he or she says to do so. See him or her sooner if you feel sick, have pain, notice changes, or have problems with medicine.

Top Foods to Eat Organic

2010-02-28T06:09:00.000-08:00

Organic foods-Top Foods to Eat Organic

Organic Foods

Organically grown foods are becoming more popular as people worry more about the health and the safety of the food they eat. What is organic food? Where can you buy organic products?
According to the USDA, organic foods are described as:

Organic meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides, fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge, bioengineering or ionizing radiation.

Organic Foods Pears

Organic Foods Strawberrys

Organic Foods Chery

Organic Foods Peaches

Orfanic Foods Peach Fresh

Organic Foods Fresh Watermelon

Fresh Organic Foods Kiwi

Fresh Organic Foods Pineapples

Fresh Organic Mango Foods

Organic Foods Grapes

Organic Foods Apples

Fresh Organic Foods Avocado

Organic Foods Tomatoes Fresh

Organic Foods Pepers

Fresh Organic Foods Onion

Fresh Organic Foods Corn

Fresh Organic Foods Peas

Organic Foods Celery

Organic Foods Carrots

Organic Foods

Fresh Organic Foods Broccoli

Organic Foods Lettuce

Fresh Organic Foods Cabbage

Fresh Organic Foods Asparagus

Fresh Organic Foods Eggplant

Organic Foods Fresh Potatoes

Organic Foods Milk

Organic Foods Meat

What Makes Organic Foods Better Than Non-Organic Foods?

Organic foods do not contain dangerous pesticides. Although studies show that the minimal amounts of residues of chemical pesticides found on non-organically grown foods are not dangerous to your health, many people just don't believe it. Studies show that children who maintain conventional diets have more pesticides in their bodies than those who eat organic foods. Some experts believe that these pesticides may possibly lead to problems impeding with normal neurological development. Many organic food advocates also wish to avoid the antibiotics and growth hormones that are used on conventionally grown farm animals. These substances pass from the dairy products and meat we eat into our bodies. This use of antibiotics may be one of the causes of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.

Organic food advocates also claim that organic foods are more nutritious than conventionally grown foods. There isn't much evidence to show that organic foods contain any more nutrients than non-organic foods; however some organic produce contain more vitamin C and higher quality protein content. There is also evidence that animals grown with organic feeds tend to be healthier than animals fed conventional feeds.