5 Food Items To Your Lower Bad Cholesterol - Healthy Eating Tips

Most of us are aware that eating less burgers, fries, pizzas and fried foods helps to improve our heart, and our overall health. However, eating more healthy food options can do more than just reduce cholesterol levels, or keep the heart healthy. Eating healthy foods also helps to improve skin tone, strengthen the immune system, sharpen the eyesight, and lower the risks of getting a heart attack or stroke. The consumption of fruits and vegetables, especially vitamin-C rich fruits and green leafy veggies, has also been found to offer a protective effect against stroke and other coronary heart diseases.

Kiwi Fruit And Avocado

Avocados are delicious and creamy, and they are also good at reducing LDL, or bad cholesterol, as well as regulate blood pressure. Avocados are also rich in plant sterols, soluble fiber, monounsaturated fats and minerals. The kiwi fruit is also a low-key but hardworking fruit that's good for the heart. Kiwi has a high potassium content, which helps in regulating blood pressure. .

Leafy Greens Are Heart-Healthy Items

Leafy greens are good at enhancing your body's immune system. They're also good at keeping your heart in good shape. Leafy greens like kale, Swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens, mustard greens other dark green veggies are good sources of calcium, vitamins and other antioxidants. They help reduce plaque build-up in the arteries, and also aid in reducing blood pressure levels. These greens are also good sources of Omega-3 fatty acids. Add fresh greens to your sandwich, taco or pizza, or sprinkle them in your soup and salads.

Citrus Fruits

Citrus fruits like orange lemons, grape fruit, lime and tangerine, are excellent sources of vitamin C, folic acid, soluble fiber, minerals and antioxidants. Many doctors believe that eating at least one orange per day can help reduce the risks of stroke by as much as 25 percent. Citrus fruits are also help reduce blood pressure levels, bad cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Tea Helps Protect The Arteries From Damage

Whether green, black, white or any type, tea can help protect your arteries from high blood pressure and other harmful elements. By drinking at least two cups of tea per day, you actually help reduce the risks of having a stroke or heart attack by 40%. drinking tea also helps you lose weight, and strengthen the teeth too. Choose unsweetened tea instead of the usual commercial ice tea brands.

A colorful diet rich in fruits and vegetables, helps to keep the doctor away, and also allows you to live a longer and more active life. Make sure that you serve between three to five servings of fruits and veggies each day, and slowly increase your consumption as you get comfortable with your healthy eating meal plan.
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Vegetarians Healthy Eating Plan

With cardiovascular diseases and obesity rates soaring in the US and the industrialized world, man teenagers and adults are slowly turning to vegetarian diets as a major step towards achieving a healthy lifestyle. Unlike most of us who regularly munch on meat and dairy products, vegetarians don’t have to worry about high cholesterol levels or tans-fat filled food items. Vegetarians however, need to ensure that they get the right amount of nutrition from their vegan diets, to maintain good health. With careful planning and consideration, a vegetarian diet can certainly be tasty and satisfying.

With No Established Vegetarian Diets, The Choice Is All Up To You

Most nutrition experts agree that with so many vegetarian diets, there is actually no established vegan diet, and so the choice will be all up to you. The problem with some vegetarians is that the more restricting their veggie diet becomes, the harder it will be for them to meet their body’s daily nutritional requirements. According to nutrition experts, the most commonly deficient nutrients among vegetarians include protein, iron, vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium and zinc.

Soy protein can be a great protein source for vegetarians. To add more soy to your daily diet, you may prepare soy chicken patties, soy hamburgers or soy cold cuts. The richest sources of iron are animal product like eggs, liver and red meat. Vegetarians can actually get iron from dried beans, dark green vegetables like spinach, kale and dried fruit.

Three Major Vegetarian Diet Types

Vegetarian diets are generally divided into three major categories, and these are:

• Vegan Diets: This diet does not include fish, eggs, meat, poultry and dairy products.

• Lacto-Vegetarian Diets: A lacto-vegetarian diet does not include meat, fish, poultry and eggs. However, it includes dairy products like cheese, yogurt, butter and milk.

• Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Diet: This vegetarian diet does not include fish, poultry and meat, but includes eggs and dairy products like milk, cheese, butter and others.

• While a vegetarian diet may not have any negative attributes, a vegetarian advocate should ensure that he or she is able to cover all nutritional requirements. It is therefore crucial for vegetarians to take vitamin and mineral supplements, which contain 100 percent of the recommended daily allowance, to complement the vegetarian meal plan. True-blooded vegetarians should focus their sights on getting adequate proteins and essential minerals like vitamin B12, calcium and iron.

Regardless of whether you follow a vegetarian diet for ethical, cultural or religious reasons, or you simply want to live a healthy and well-rounded life, the key to having a successful vegetarian diet lies in how aware are you of your nutritional needs. Therefore, you need to plan a diet that meets them. For creating the appropriate vegetarian diet, talk to your registered dietitian or doctor.
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Healthy Eating Tips What You Need To Keep In Mind

As the old adage goes, “you are what you eat”. If your regular diet consists of fat and cholesterol-rich foods, you may run the risk of developing dreadful diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and more. According to nutrition experts, healthy eating starts with learning the ability to “eat smart”. It’s not just what you eat, but how you eat. The food you choose to eat can help decrease your chances of developing illnesses like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and others. Learn how to plan your diet, and expand your range of healthy food choices too. Here are some helpful tips for planning a healthy diet.

Start Slow, And Gradually Change Your Eating Habits

The quest to achieving a healthy diet starts with a slow but calculated step. The way for planning and implementing a healthy diet begins with a number of small and manageable steps. Approach the diet changes gradually, and you’ll be able to achieve a healthy diet no sooner than you think.

However, instead of fussing over counting calories or measuring serving sizes, set your sights on finding the food you love, and go for easy recipes which incorporate fresh ingredients. Make small but significant steps, like adding salads or your daily diet, or use olive oil instead of butter. By making gradual changes, your diet will slowly become healthier and more savory too.

Ensure That You Regularly Serve Yourself Smaller Portions

These days, serving sizes have blown out of proportion, especially in restaurants. If you’re dining out, don’t immediately order an entrée, or go on a buffet binge. Instead, go slow, choose a starter, or split a dish with your buddy, and never super-size your orders. Your servings of poultry, meat and fish should only be equal to the size of a deck of cards, and the oil or salad dressing you use must only be as large as the size of a matchbook.

It’s How You eat, Not What You Eat

The key to healthy eating lies not in just what you eat, but in how you eat. Learning to develop healthy eating habits can easily be achieved, since eating is not just about gulping down large amounts of food, but in viewing food as a source of nourishment. Practice eating a wide array of fruits and vegetables everyday. Most nutritionists continually stress that the brighter and deeper colored the fruits and vegetables are, the higher their concentrations of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants will be. Go for green leafy veggies, sweet vegetables and a wide array of fruits.

In addition, make sure that you consume healthy amounts of healthy carbohydrates and fibers, particularly from whole grains. Apart from being tasty and satisfying, whole grains are also rich in antioxidants and phytochemicals, which strengthen the immune system, and protect against cardiovascular diseases. A number of studies have indicated that people who consume sizable portions of whole grains have healthier hearts.
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Healthy Eating Starts With Kitchen

We are told that we need to eat healthy in order for our bodies to be healthier. Most of us would agree that we need to eat foods that are better for us such as whole grains, lean meats, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits as well as low-fat dairy products. It is difficult to eat healthier if what we have in our kitchens is processed, high-fat or sugary foods. It is important to buy and stock our kitchens with natural, healthier foods in order for our family members to have better choices when they come to the kitchen to make a snack or prepare a meal.

It is important for kids that healthy foods not only taste good but look good too. Arrange a bowl of healthy snacks such as mixed nuts, and dried fruits such as raisins, cranberries, or currants in a spot that is easy for kids to reach. Grabbing a handful takes no time at all; they can do that as they walk by. Make sure that your choices you leave for them contain both salty and sweet items. Young, active, growing kids need to eat five or six times a day because they have smaller stomachs than adults and need fuel for their active lives. A healthy snack can consist of fruit, vegetable, dairy or protein as well as a combination of these items. One good example of a healthy snack would be whole-wheat tortilla, beans, and low-fat cheese. Another healthy snack example raisins and granola mixed together and served with a glass of low-fat milk. How about a banana, yogurt and a glass of water? There are many good snack combinations that appeal to kids and are easy for them to get for themselves.

You can make healthy food choices fun for kids by cutting them into fun shapes or by using food color to make them more attractive. Let your child help you shop and prepare the snack. Kids also model how their parents eat, so make sure that you are setting a good example by eating healthy meals and snacks.

Replace your commercialized condiments such as sauces that are high in sodium and artificial additives with homemade versions that use fresh tomatoes, olive oil, and fresh lemon juice and spices.

Replace your cooking and baking oils with healthier alternatives. Your natural oil choices are "monounsaturated" and "polyunsaturated" and replaces the unhealthy s"aturated" or "transfats". You want to avoid cooking oils such as palm oil, shortening, and palm kernel oil. Stock oils such as sesame, olive, walnut, and flaxseed instead, which are healthier for you and your family members. If you will be cooking foods at high temperatures the choice should be canola oil as it has a higher smoke point. Organic Coconut oil is a good oil to cook with if you need to increase your metabolism.

When preparing salads use sesame oil or flaxseed oil. Sesame oil is high in beta-carotene and flaxseed oil is a good source of omega-3 essential fatty acids. You must refrigerate flaxseed oil.

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Healthy Eating Does't Only Mean Physical Benefits

The importance of eating healthily is known to us all. Without the right diet, it is hard to live the life we would all like to, keeping energy levels high and being able to do the things we enjoy. However, it is not all about the physical benefits of a healthy diet. Eating the right things can have a beneficial effect on your mental well-being too.

The truth is that mental health and physical health are interconnected. If you are eating too little, or too much of the wrong thing, then you are going to suffer mentally for it as well as physically. Your brain requires nourishment every bit as much as your body, and a lack of protein in your diet can result in the onset or aggravation of depression.

If you suffer from depression, then one of the main negative effects of the illness is a lack of energy, a situation which affects your ability to fight the condition. Eating the right things is important, and while often depression sufferers will feel that they do not want to eat at all it is important that they make the effort. Rather than eating “comfort food” - which is rarely very comforting – getting some fresh fruit and veg, as well as carbohydrates from pasta or potatoes can help.

Drinking plenty of fluid is also important for mental health. Ideally, five glasses or more of water a day will prevent you from becoming dehydrated and depriving your body and mind of the fuel that is so important. Having the energy and the sharpness to send the symptoms of depression packing is essential, and your diet will play a big part in this.

Being a healthy eater requires you to become both educated and smart about what healthy eating actually is. Being food smart isn’t about learning to calculate grams or fat, or is it about studying labels and counting calories.

Healthy eating is all about balanced and moderate eating, consisting of healthy meals at least three times per day. Healthy eaters eat many different types of foods, not limiting themselves to one specific food type or food group.

Eating healthy requires quite a bit of leeway. You might eat too much or not enough, consume foods that are sometimes more or less nutritious. However, you should always fuel your body and your brain regularly with enough food to keep both your mind and body strong and alert.

A healthy eater is a good problem solver. Healthy eaters have learned to take care of themselves and their eating with sound judgement and making wise decisions. Healthy eaters are always aware of what they eat, and know the effect that it will have on their bodies.

When someone is unable to take control of their eating, they are also likely to get out of control with other aspects of life as well. They could end up spending too much, talking too much, even going to bed later and later.

You should always remember that restricting food in any way is always a bad thing. Healthy eating is a way of life, something that you can do to enhance your body or your lifestyle. If you’ve thought about making your life better, healthy eating is just the place to start. You’ll make life easier for yourself, those around you, and even your family.

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How To make Your Child Follow A Healthy Eating Habit

Today's families are busy. As soon as the day begins, kids and parents alike are on the run?going to work, to school and then off to after school activities. When everyone is running in different directions, it is no wonder why it is hard for children to learn to eat healthy. Out of necessity or lack of time, many parents simply run through the drive through. Hamburgers and fries every night does little to teach kids about healthy eating. While you can't avoid quick meals all the time, you can guide your children towards healthful eating.

Provide lots of choices:

One great idea is to make sure you fill your home with plenty of choices. If you avoid buying sugar laden sweets and snacks, then your children will know that you want them to eat healthy. There are many great, and delicious snacks that your kids will enjoy besides cake and cookies. How about low fat yogurt? Put it in the freezer for a frozen treat. Smoothies made with fresh fruit and low fat milk is another great choice. For quick snacks, fill the pantry with healthy crackers, dried fruit and dry cereal that has low sugar content.

Make dinner a priority:

Send a message to your kid about the important of healthy eating and dinner time by making dinner a priority. You will not be able to have a sit down meal every night, but you should aim for three or four nights a week. If you know you are going to have a particularly busy evening, cook ahead. Put food in the crock pot or stock the refrigerator with healthy sandwich fixings. You can even pack homemade soups or wraps as you head out to the soccer fields for the evening. No fast food required.

Read the labels:

Older children are great helpers in the grocery store. They like to make their own choices and they can if you set limits. For example, teach your child to read the labels. If they want a breakfast cereal, give them the opportunity to pick it out without your help. Give them your guidelines, such as it must have less than 10 grams of sugar, and let them read the labels. This helps kids understand what is healthy and what is not. Let your children have some choice in what they eat and they will be happier with the healthier eating lifestyle. Pretty soon, your kids will want to read the labels on everything you buy.

Encourage by example:

Of course one of the best ways to guide your children to healthy eating is by setting an example yourself. Your kids will see you eating healthy and it will catch on. Don't lecture your kids about the evils of sugar and then sneak off for a bowl of ice cream! This is the worst way to teach children about healthy eating.

As your children get older, they can start making good choices about their eating habits. Make sure they have the tools they need to make the right decisions.

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Fresh Vegitable and A Healthy Diet

It is generally accepted that vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet, although in our childhood we are frequently of a frame of mind that seems to suggest that they are the most boring part of our diet. Childhood memories of being told that we can't have dessert until we finish our vegetables are hard to shake off.

Of course, early in our lives we are almost all likely to witness someone saying that they cannot stand eating vegetables and then happily tucking into a serving of fries. Convincing a contrary child that the baked potato on their plate is made of the same stuff as the fries they love to eat is a task on a par with painting the Golden Gate Bridge, but it still merits some effort.

As we get older, we do begin to appreciate what vegetables add to a meal. A tuna sandwich would not be quite as delicious without some onion added. Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner would not really be half as good if you took away the trimmings. And the addition of a serving of potatoes is pretty much essential to a lot of good meat dishes.

Although veg may not be the reason we want to eat a meal, it certainly does enhance the rest of the food on the plate if it is prepared properly. And more importantly than that, it contains a lot of the beneficial nutrients that are absolutely central to healthy eating and getting the right nutrients.

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