What am I supposed to Eat?

It can be so frustrating when you decide you are going to eat a healthier diet. What can I eat? Is is going to taste like leaves and grass? I can't do this. These were my initial thoughts when I changed my eating habits. I discovered it wasn't about bland. It was about eating food that wasn't made in laboratories. The food I ate had natural ingredients grown from the soil that our ancestors ate for thousands of years. I learned that saturated fat needed to be minimized not eliminated. I bought extra lean meats and ate smaller portions of that meat. I ended up baking my own cookies where I could control the amounts of fat, sugar and salt. I was now the scientist making the food that was best for me and not some corporation just looking for profits. I made my own chili, cakes, tacos, sandwiches and just about all the other things I ate before. The didn't taste the same but my taste buds adapted to the change and now the old frankenfood tasted too greasy and salty. The best part was that my stomach was telling me I was full and I wasn't constantly eating until I couldn't breathe. The weight all came off, the mood swings were gone and now I have so much energy. Give it a try!

5 Steps To Prevent A Heart Attack

The number one killer of American's is not being murdered, it's not sitting on a dirty toilet and it's not radiation from the microwave. Yet we spend more time worrying about dying from these types of rare death situations than the most likely cause of our deaths, a heart attack. If anything is going to kill you it will most likely be a heart attack or/and a stroke. Let's face it. We all our guilty of our love affair with junk food. It is the most widely accepted form of abusive behavior in our society. We wouldn't give our children alcohol to drink but we will feed them food made out of fatty deep fried lard and trans fats with enough sugar to get them hooked for life. Stop the madness now and follow these 5 steps to preventing a heart attack.

1. Don't smoke.
2. Exercise everyday.
3. Avoid Trans Fats and eat a diet low in Saturated Fat.
4. Maintain a healthy weight. Use a BMI Calculator to find your healthy weight range based on your height.
5. Check your cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes risk every year.

Exercise Routine - Weights and Elliptical Machine

I have a very consistent exercise routine. So far I have lost over 20 pounds in the past 4 months and have achieved my goal weight. I make it a point to never stray from daily exercise. I start my routine with a short walk with my dog for about 15 minutes. It's a great way to get some fresh air, see the outdoors and bond with my dog. The real exercise comes either in the afternoon or evening. I lay back on my declined weight bench and lift basic 15 lbs. dumbbells for 10 repetitions for 3 sets. Then I use the same weights doing butterfly curls for 10 reps for 3 sets. Next is sits ups and leg lifts for 20 reps for each position. So all that takes about 15 minutes to complete. Then it's 1 hour on the elliptical machine. I don't worry about intensity on the elliptical. Its about the walking and moving for an hour that raises my heartbeat level and gets my metabolism up. The decline bench helps to stretch my spine and improve blood flow. So that is my daily routine. Everyone has different needs so find a routine that works for your needs and make it a daily thing so you can keep your body strong.

Top 10 Health Problems And Most Are Diet Related

50% of the top 10 illnesses people die from are related to your diet. Change your diet and save your life.

1. Heart Disease - Diet related
2. Cancer - Diet related
3. Stroke - Diet related
4. Bronchitis and Emphysema
5. Car Accidents and Injuries
6. Type 2 Diabetes - Diet related
7. Alzheimer's Disease
8. Influenza
9. Kidney Disease - Diet related
10. Septicemia (Blood Poisoning)

Calories, Salts, Fats and Sugars

The American diet has been hijacked by processed foods designed to be cheap, salty, sweet, addictive, calorie dense and high in fats. The basic foundation for a healthy body comes from whole grain and plant based foods yet these don't exist anymore for most Americans. We have become addicted to deep fried, barbecued, donut, cheesy pizza and fatty meat that makes us drool yet slowly kills us. There are no pills that will save us from rotting from the inside out. Our only hope comes from educating ourselves on what we should be eating and how to make it. When was the last time you chopped a vegetable, steamed your food or prepared a meal from scratch? Take the time to use the fruits and vegetables you pass by every day at the grocery store and make a salad for lunch using a lowfat dressing. Make a spicy homemade chili with no meat or a create a vegetable soup. Grill some pineapple with some veggies. Look online for new ways to make great meals versus a box of instant food. You will be better for it.

100% Whole Wheat Bread

Whenever I go to the grocery store I am amazed at how confusing it is to buy bread. There are more variations than just about any other food item. All I want is a healthy wheat bread. I want something that is tasty yet has a decent amount of fiber without all the artificial junk. The best one I have found is the Sarah Lee 100% Whole Wheat. Now don't get confused because even within a brand name there are variations but you are good as long as you look for the 100%. Why? Because the law states a product cannot put 100% whole wheat unless it is in fact ONE HUNDRED PERCENT whole wheat rather than some wheat with a lot of sugar and fillers and enriched yata yata. So give it a try and get the healthy bread your body needs.

Natural Foods

The best way to stay healthy is to eat foods from nature. This sounds boring at first until you realize that all great food comes from nature we have just gotten so used to everything being instant and easy. You can have cake and cookies but make them using a real recipe and choose your ingredients from natural sources. Use things like apple sauce and flour and nuts. You will find that your body will more easily digest these things and your energy level will skyrocket. My favorite snack foods are yogurt and nuts or whole wheat bread with natural peanut butter. Start buying fruits and vegetables. Turn fruit into jelly spreads and add those vegetables to a great tomato pasta sauce. The variations of what you can eat will begin to expand the moment you stock your fridge with these great things rather than the boxes of instant fake food. You will find a more balanced way of eating and the cravings and the binges will be less and less.

Our Kitchens Are Laboratories

When I first had a chemistry class and saw the counter tops and sinks it immediately reminded me of a kitchen. We mixed different chemicals and heated things up with Bunsen burners. We wrote down notes on reactions. We measured solutions and wore rubber gloves. It made me realize our kitchens are really no different than a laboratory. It is supposed to be our place to experiment and create the things our bodies need to live a long healthy life. So many people use their kitchens to socialize or think of it as a fast food counter. Walk-in, grab-it, microwave-it and go. Taking an easy route to cooking says you don't care about your future. You lose the basic skills needed to be an independent being capable of nourishing your body the right way. The next time you go to your kitchen I urge you to experiment and discover what your body needs to make it through this life.

Cooking With Olive Oil

Everyone needs to have fat in their diet. It's a LOW fat diet we should strive for not a NO fat diet. Olive oil has been around for thousands of years. I use it for all my cooking because it has been proven to be good for the heart. There are other oils that have less saturated fat than olive oil but they have been engineered and thus are not completely natural like olive oil. It is high in monounsaturated fats which are proven to lower the risk of heart disease. I usually use it to make salad dressings or to saute some onions and garlic. Keep your bottle of olive oil in a dark cabinet where is cool to keep it fresh. If you don't use a lot just buy the medium sized bottle. The economy size can go rancid if you don't use it all in a month or two. Anything health usually spoils. Look at those Oreo cookies 6 months from now and they will still be ready to eat. That's Frankenfood for yah!

Shortening Started Our Love for Trans Fat

It all started in the early 1900s with the invention of hydrogenated oils. German chemist Wilhelm Normann patented the process that would create what we came to love as Crisco. Proctor & Gamble obtained the patent and began marketing Crisco and even gave out free cook books. The shortening stayed soft and smooth and never hardened like butter. It wasn't until 1994 that we discovered that trans fats have caused the death of 20,000 Americans every year since it's creation. Over 1.8 million Americans have had heart attacks from trans fat since the 1900s! It was only recently that the US required food companies to list trans fat amounts on it's products.

I know many of you never knew what trans fats were. We all heard about high sodium and saturated fats but who knew there was so much danger lurking in hydrogenated oils after we have been using it for over 100 years. Be smart and read the ingredients on what you buy. You will be better for it.

Making Healthier Desserts

The dangers of trans fats and saturated fats is a very real danger. Heart attacks are the biggest killer of people in the United States. We all love our desserts but we also love convenience. The easy access to processed dessert foods makes everyone susceptible to consuming massive quantities of chemically created products that slowly clog our arteries.

The solution is simple. Make your own desserts. I know it takes more time but it will pay off in fewer medical bills, medications and hospital visits which no one wants. Buy fat-free milk, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and a good butter substitute. Make some vanilla frosting that has no trans fats and is low in saturated fat. Just read a can of store bought cake frosting and see all the horrible amounts of trans fats and saturated fat they put in there. Sure it tastes great but it only raises your bad cholesterol and puts you at greater risk for getting sick. Buy cinnamon, flour, fruit and all the things you need to make your own treats. Its worth fighting for better health and a better way to live.

Eat Oatmeal

Oatmeal is an often overlooked food for good health. Its cheap to buy, lowers cholesterol and keeps you full so you don't overeat. The most difficult thing about oatmeal is how to cook it and making it taste the way you like it. I buy the 1 minute oatmeal in the giant tub. I cook it on the stove. First I boil the measured 1 cup water than add a 1/3 cup of oatmeal. I said measure because I mean measure. So many people just don't measure and that's where it goes wrong. You get a watery mess or lumpy dry glue. Keep stirring until you like the consistency. Add fruit, nuts or anything you like with oatmeal. Pour it into a bowl and add some Splenda to sweeten without the extra calories. Eat this every morning with a glass of water and your body will thank you. If you are not used to eating fiber, and most Americans are not, then just make a half of a serving and work your way up.

Measure and Mix

So many of us want to be healthy but we were never taught how to cook. We learned to microwave and maybe we learned how to fry an egg. Some of us even learned how to bake cookies from a tube of dough. Well that isn't really cooking. Sorry to bust your bubble.

Cooking involves measuring raw ingredients, mixing them and creating a real healthy meal. You can't measure if you don't have measuring tools and you can't mix if you don't have mixing tools. So if you don't have either I suggest you get yourself a set of measuring cups and spoons along with a set of metal bowls and pans. This will be the first step and the foundation for learning how to cook.

The Differences Between Fats

All fat is not the same. Unsaturated fat has a neutral effect on HDL or good cholesterol. The good cholesterol helps to keep your arteries clear of clogging which prevents a heart attack or stroke. Saturated fat has a negative effect on cholesterol by raising LDL or bad cholesterol. This clogs. Which is so bad. Trans fats which are the worst kind of fat because it is chemically made and will lower HDL and raise LDL cholesterol. There are no health benefits to eating trans fats and they only help to keep food from spoiling. That's great for the companies who make the food since they don't have to worry about lost profits due to spoilage. Meanwhile we pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hospital or worse.

The Dangers of Packaged Foods

When you go to your kitchen cabinet read the ingredients on any box of instant food and you will find chemicals in the list. These chemicals aren't designed to make you healthy or give you a long life. They are designed for two reasons only. To make sure the food you bought does not spoil and that it will be pleasing when you eat it. That is it. Period. The maker of the food you are looking at did not make it so you could keep a healthy weight and avoid the many diseases that shorten our natural life spans.

If you cannot cook your food from scratch at least read the labels on the foods you buy and avoid hydrogenated oils, trans fats and never buy something that has more than 3 grams a saturated fat per serving.