Diet Tips

The following article is a small excerpt from one of my books. I hope you’ll want to learn more and let me help you to get into the best shape of your life.

The busier you are, the harder it is to find time to take care of yourself.  So here are 25 easy healthy eating tips. Follow these easy tips and you’ll get seven servings of fruits and veggies, all the calcium you need, plenty of fiber and omega-3 fats, tons of healing antioxidants, and more. You’ll improve your chances of fending off cancer, stroke, heart attack, and diabetes; have more energy; stay slimmer; keep your mind sharp; and sidestep urinary-tract infections.

Healthy eating tips: 6 a.m.

1. Drink orange juice with added calcium. If you start the day with orange juice, don’t miss the chance to get calcium, too. This superstar mineral fends off PMS, high blood pressure, and osteoporosis and it might even help you lose weight! Most calcium fortified orange and grapefruit juices have as much calcium as milk or more!
2. Take a multivitamin. When you take a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement you have dramatic reductions in the risk of colon cancer and heart disease. Another benefit is the folic acid in your multivitamin is almost two times more absorbable than the form of this vitamin found in food.
3. Eat cereal with at least 7 grams of fiber per serving, because eating cereal is your easiest chance to get lots of fiber in a small package. Fiber is a cancer fighter, and can actually cancel out some of the calories you eat! For example, if you eat 30 grams of fiber a day, slightly more than double what most of people get, your body will absorb 120 fewer calories a day. That adds up to a 13-pound loss in a year!
4. Toss some blueberries on that cereal. Blueberries are youth berries. Even frozen blueberries are packed with antioxidants that just a 1/2 cup can double the antioxidant power of most people’s diets, something that experts suspect will slow down your aging clock. Blueberries have actually been found to reverse memory loss in one study!
5. Make your coffee with milk. If you make instant coffee with hot water, all you’re getting is a wake-up call. Use milk, and you’ve got cafe au lait, along with insurance against osteoporosis from the calcium and vitamin D in the milk.
6. Drink a glass of water when you brush your teeth. You’ve got the water and the glass right there. So drink! Only one-third of the population gets the recommended eight glasses of water daily. Think a little shortfall doesn’t matter? Signs of mild dehydration include fatigue upon awakening, fatigue at midday, lack of concentration, and headaches.

Healthy eating tips: 8 a.m.

1. Take an apple to work. Put one on your desk in the morning, and an apple becomes see-food, the handiest snack to grab when the munchies hit. If it’s not there, you’ll be hunting for sticky buns or whatever else is around. In addition to apples being a low-cal snack, a recent study revealed that the lungs of apple-a-day eaters may have better protection against air pollution.
2. Stash nuts in your desk, because nuts are rich in healthy monounsaturated fats, vitamin E, magnesium, and phytochemicals.  People who snack on a small handful of nuts four or five times a week tend to live longer. Just don’t overdo it: One ounce of peanuts (approximately 1/8 cup) contains about 170 calories and 14 grams of fat.

Healthy eating tips: 11:30 a.m.

1. Buy better bread. If you eat white bread, you’re eating vitamin-fortified starch. Whole-wheat bread has fiber, important nutrients such as selenium and copper, and lots of other healthy ingredients. Maybe that’s why whole-grain eaters seem to have less diabetes, breast cancer, and heart disease. Just don’t be fooled by a dark color: Unless the first ingredient includes the word “whole,” it isn’t whole-wheat bread.
2. Choose canola salad dressing. Look for a dressing made with canola oil, rich in alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). One study found that if you got more than 1 gram of ALA per day the study group had half the number of fatal heart attacks.
3. Be picky about decaf tea. Regular tea delivers healing antioxidants but some decaf teas don’t. If the decaf method isn’t listed on the package, assume they used ethyl acetate, which dramatically lowers antioxidant levels. Look for tea that says it’s been decaffeinated with water and carbon dioxide (sometimes called “natural” or “effervescence”) which preserves antioxidants.
4. Pick up whole-wheat pasta. Do you need more help getting to your 30 or so grams of daily fiber? Try doing this: Substitute 1 cup of whole-wheat pasta (6.3 grams of fiber) for the same amount of regular (2.4 grams). This one easy switch pushes you 4 grams closer to your total daily fiber goal.
5. Find ice cream that builds bones. Find a brand with 15 percent of the Daily Value (DV) for calcium in a 1/2-cup serving. That means when you eat a cup of ice cream, you’ll get 30 percent of the DV for calcium as much as a glass of milk. Same tip applies to frozen yogurt.

Healthy Eating Tips: 12:30 PM:

1. Order Pizza the “Double-Half” Way. When you order, ask for double tomato sauce and half cheese. Double sauce? Many studies link higher consumption of cooked tomato products with reduced risk of prostate and other cancers. Half cheese? You’ll cut down on artery clogging saturated fat.

Healthy eating tips: 4 p.m.

1. Shrimp are low in fat and calories, but they taste so rich that you can really satisfy yourself without gaining weight! (Twelve large non breaded shrimp contain just 65 calories and less than 1 grams of fat!)

Healthy eating tips: 8 p.m.

1. Order dessert first. Ask your waiter if they have berries for dessert, then order them as an appetizer. Low-cal raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries are rich in fiber, antioxidants, and ellagic acid, a compound that’s being studied as a colon cancer fighter. Since restaurants get the very best berries, don’t pass up this super food!
2. Order half your entrée as take-out. One restaurant portion can usually feed two and who needs all those calories? So when you order an entree, ask them to automatically put half of it directly into a take-home box. That way, it’ll never show up on your plate! Staying slim helps lower your risk of cancer, diabetes, stroke, and many other illnesses. And you’ll have a ready made meal for tomorrow!
3. Reach for the sparkling water. Staying well hydrated helps fight urinary tract infections by keeping your urine diluted.
4. Dip your carrots. Are you snacking only on carrot sticks? Make sure you eat them with some fat a dab of dip or a cube of cheese. Without any fat, you absorb very little of carrot’s cancer-fighting carotenoids.
5. Salmon is one of the richest and possibly most delicious sources of omega-3 fats. By boosting your intake of omega-3s, you may help ward off depression, severe menstrual cramps, macular degeneration (a cause of blindness), fatal heart attacks, and possibly even breast cancer. (A 3-ounce serving of cooked salmon has 1.9 grams of omega-3s; in comparison, 3 ounces of cooked chicken breast has a mere 0.05 grams.)
6. Side with the veggies. It’s easy to leave a restaurant without touching any vegetables except French fries unless you routinely order a side dish of broccoli, spinach, or whatever they’ve got that sounds good. The antioxidants in veggies including vitamins E and C prevent the free radical damage that promotes cancer, cataracts, and memory loss. Antioxidants can also bolster immunity, fending off things such as the flu.
7. Finish with tea. Tea has more antioxidants than most veggies. People who drink 4 cups of green tea a day seem to get less cancer, perhaps due to a powerful antioxidant called EGCG. Black tea contains quercetin, a compound that helps prevent blood clots the immediate triggers of most heart attacks.

Healthy eating tips: 11:00 p.m

1. Have a cup of hot cocoa. Love chocolate, but still want to be healthy? Good news! Cocoa (chocolate with much of the fat removed) actually has even more antioxidant power than tea! The flavonoids in cocoa can keep blood platelets from clotting, which may prevent heart attacks. Plus, the milk in hot cocoa loves your bones! (An average cup of cocoa has less than one-tenth the caffeine of instant coffee. But if you’re very caffeine sensitive, bedtime isn’t the best time for any caffeine.)
2. Not drinking cocoa? Pop a calcium supplement. Most women get less than one half of the calcium they need for strong bones, so if you’re not drinking cocoa, bedtime is a great time to take a calcium supplement. (If your tummy is empty, calcium citrate supplements are absorbed best.)
3. Drink another big glass of water after you brush your teeth.

I know you want to get in shape and look great.  Whatever your fitness goal…to slim down…gain muscle…tone your arms or flatten your tummy…I’m here to help you accomplish your goals and to improve your fitness level. If you have enjoyed this article and the many other free features on my site, and would like some more comprehensive information such as fitness books and CD’s to aid you in achieving your health and fitness goals, please visit my ONLINE STORE where you will find innovative natural health and beauty products to help you become the BEST YOU CAN BE !