Eating Healthy When You Are Busy

Published on Jun 23 2010, in the categories: Eating plans

Time is precious to all of us, especially nowadays when we are always on the run. In a time where most people are focused on their carriers and work long hours in order to get a promotion or earn more money, keeping one’s healthy eating habits is rather hard.

We make rich men of fast food owners and we increase the junk addicted number of the population. Is it necessarily because we like junk food? The answer is most surely no. One of the reasons for today’s major consumption of junk food is the lack of time. Junk food or fast food comes readily prepared, there’s no need to wait long hours in order to eat. You just pick it up and eat it on the way back to the office.

Women today are not only wives and mothers. They aim to accomplish their professional goals as well, and they have proven they can play all three parts. There is however very little time left for the old, classic home cooked meal.

They usually pick a large pizza on their way home, and that about all as far as dinner is concerned. But can we compromise somehow? Can eating healthy when you are busy really be done? Of course it can. You just need some tips on how to organize yourself so that you manage back to the office on time and put a healthy dinner on the table as well.

So, if you are planning to finally cook, here are some ideas of how to save time: make a list of the things you want to purchase, keep it at hand and as soon as you remember an item that you accidentally might have left out, add it to the list. It will save you a lot of precious time because you won’t have to try and remember what you need in the middle of the crowded grocery store or while already standing in line.

Go shopping for food during less crowded hours of the day. Just do it later than usual, in the evenings or even better during lunch hours if you think you can. You can’t go wrong with this method; there will be practically no one in the shop. And you have saved yourself some time and you have managed to be eating healthy when you are busy. That’s quite an achievement don’t you think?

If you get hungry while at the office and lunch hour seems million years away, eat a fruit, do not help yourself with the unhealthy potato chips or snacks again. Fruits are very healthy and they contain a lot of vitamins. I am sure that you will even work better after having eaten an apple or pear or whatever. Just avoid all sorts of junk foods and eating healthy while you are busy won’t be a myth anymore!

Eating Healthy While Living With Parents

Published on Jun 19 2010, in the categories: Eating plans

As teenagers all we dream about is living alone and getting as far away as possible from our parents. The time comes when we are on our own, when we escape parental supervision and we finally have to long envisioned freedom. There are however some aspects that we do not consider while fantasizing of escaping parental authority.

Can we maintain the same healthy eating habits and healthy life style like the ones we had under parental supervision? The answer is probably no. Between going to work, meeting with friends and maybe a date, when is there any time for cooking for example? We feed ourselves the dreadful junk food that our mother has been trying to keep from us while growing up. It is ok at first. But after months and months of unhealthy food, we find ourselves fantasizing about mum’s soup and her exquisite steak with steamed vegetables.


Eating healthy while living with parents is a fact and not a question. They carefully select what they feed us and they try to get us accustomed to a healthy eating habit and a healthy way of life. Family meals are very important for the proper development of a child.

They are comforting and provide both children and parents with the opportunity to catch up with everyone’s daily activity. You won’t even notice that you have an extra portion of vegetables because you’re too busy answering your dad’s questions about your school day, the evening you had with your friends or the new class mate who just moved in from San Francisco.

It is a demonstrated fact that children who participate in family meals eat a larger quantity of fruits and vegetables than those who eat alone and refuse to attend family meals. So, eating healthy while living with parents is something that happens many times without you even realizing it. Attending family meals is easy to impose on little children, but what happens when your child has become a teenager and he hates everybody, especially you, and he doesn’t feel like sharing his daily activities any more?


Don’t worry, you parents are smart people. You know how to convince your teenager son or daughter to participate in family meals, and thus enjoy a healthy meal. Parents usually allow the teenager to invite a friend over for dinner, they do not lecture their children during meals (maybe only after) and they try to get their attention focused on the preparation of the meal. It is very for parents to cook healthy foods.

I mean, after you have convinced your teenager to participate in the family meal, you should profit from the situation and feed him something really healthy. The family meals should include a lot of fruits, vegetables, low fat meat (preferably fish) , milk and healthy products. Replace unhealthy desserts with fruit yogurt, strawberry mousse, banana split or any other dessert fruit based.

Eating Well 8 Healthy Desserts

Published on Jun 17 2010, in the categories: Eating plans

Usually when people think of starting a diet, they automatically think that they have to eliminate from their eating habits, the dessert. It’s quite painful actually to give up dessert.

Take it from someone who knows it too well. After several diets, your body is yearning for the sweet, smooth taste of chocolate cake , candy bars or whip cream cake. But does a healthy diet or a healthy way of life really mean eliminating desserts from our life? Should we live without the supreme taste of chocolate in order to lose weight or to be fit? I for one cannot resist chocolate in all its forms and varieties; it gives me pleasure to eat, one that I cannot explain, and then a terrible guilt and remorse.


I read something quite interesting. Did you know that the word “desserts” read back words spells “stressed”? Isn’t ironic? There must be some connection there .Desserts really tend to make a person stressed when you think of them as forbidden. It’s like with your ex-boyfriends: you don’t miss them till they’re gone. It is exactly the same with desserts. We don’t think of them that much when we’re allowed to eat them. But as soon as a diet forbids us to eat dessert, we start thinking inaccessibly about it.

Well I have good news. We mustn’t give up desserts completely; we just have to find a clever way of replacing fattening ingredients from our desserts to healthier and non-fattening ones. Use your creativity and replace certain unhealthy ingredients. Your dessert may not taste like the old one, but trust me, after no dessert for several time, you’ll think it’s a slice of heaven. Also you have to reduce the portions of your dessert. But I think it’s a small price to pay in order to get it, don’t you think? We though of eating well 8 healthy desserts that may get you started again. They are non - fattening but at the same time very delicious.

One dessert that cannot go wrong, especially during summer is fruit yogurt. It has a low calorie number and it is very refreshing.
Dark chocolate, which is much healthier than milk chocolate and can actually improve your health. After all, what’s a girl to do in this life without chocolate?

Fruit salad – very delicious and never boring. Actually the fruit vivid colors will light up your day!
Strawberry mousse – Who doesn’t just love that ?
Mango ice-cream – An exotic dessert which will awake your senses!
Oat meal cookies- Healthy, yet very tasty!

Banana hazelnut smoothie – Yummy to that!
So, here are the 8 healthy desserts that can really make your day! Just remember not to eat them all at once. Take it one step at a time. So, bon appetite!

Eating Heatlhy During Pregnancy

Published on Jun 16 2010, in the categories: Eating plans

So the doctor gave you the big news: you are pregnant! It’s a happy day, is the day you’ve been waiting for so long! All of a sudden everyone will start giving you advice on what you should or should not do, on what you should and should not eat and so on and so forth. It will be absolutely unanimous that that you have to give up smoking and to start on prenatal vitamins. Alcoholic beverages will be out of the question for a while but these are small sacrifices to pay compared to the joy you will experience.

In fact, from now on, you have only one serious matter to consider (besides buying all sort of baby clothing and numerous toys): how and what to eat in order to keep your baby safe and if possible not to gain too much wait? Well, I don’t know about the second part of your problem, but the first one will surely not be an issue if you follow some simple guidelines.


Is eating healthy during pregnancy such a difficult task? Do you have to give up on eating tasteful food and start eating the healthy, yet not so tasteful, vegetables, drink the milk you hate and who knows what other foods that are recommended during pregnancy? The answer is partially no, but you have however to nurture yourself as healthily as possible.
Most people believe that eating healthy during pregnancy refers only to the quantity a woman eats. In fact, it is more important what she eats. We must consider the fact that during these nine months what a woman drinks and eats constitutes the primary nourishment for the baby.

Calcium is very important for both mother and baby. We take calcium from sources like: spinach, milk, cheese. Calcium helps in order to have a better nerve function, stronger teeth and muscles. Protein is also very important for blood production and growth, and we take it from food like: beans, eggs, fish, peanuts, and poultry.

The legendary cravings are supposed to be the lack of nutrients from a woman’s body, nutrients that are contained by certain types of food. Women’s cravings are in general for chocolate, sweets, fruits or spicy foods. However these cravings do no affect the healthy eating during pregnancy because they come and go.
Some of the foods that are prohibited as they may cause all sorts of food illnesses which can lead to miscarriage or cause birth defects are : raw eggs, apple cider, blue cheese, tiramisu, undercooked meat, shellfish.

In order to have a healthy diet during pregnancy, women must eat from different food groups in order to provide the baby with all sorts of vitamins contained in these foods. The best diet during pregnancy should contain: fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, pasta, potatoes, cereals, milk, cheese, lean meat or fish.



Healthy eating during pregnancy is a priority. Pregnant women gain weight, it is a fact so just deal with it and forget all about diets and weight loss during pregnancy. You will make a pretty mummy anyway.

Eating Healthy For Heart

Published on Jun 14 2010, in the categories: Eating plans

Nowadays stress and hustle have long exceeded the levels that they had a few decades ago when people used to be more relaxed and used to take it easy, so our heart, too, has a lot more effort to make then it used to. This is a very good reason to start caring more about our general health, and especially for the health of our heart.

The first step that we need to do is to start eating healthy for the heart. Include in your food diet as many rightly colored fruits and vegetables as you can, because they are have a very high level of antioxidants that are really good for the heart. They reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, and the ones that contain potassium, as the oranges and bananas have in important role in the balance of your blood pressure.

It is recommended that you eat fruit and vegetables at least five times a day and that they are all different, so that you get all the vitamins that you need. Your diet should include some fat fish too, like salmon and sardines, and two meals a week will give you the omega 3 fat acid that you need in order to be healthy.


Try and reduce the fat content of your food. A low fat diet behaves like a shield for your heart health, so you should try and lower the quantity of the fats that you eat every day, especially the ones found in meat and butter. Try and avoid margarine, fried food and pastry because they raise the cholesterol level a lot.


From times to times you need to evaluate the risk of heart disease, so you need to make an appointment to the doctor, just to check the cholesterol level, the blood sugar level or the risk of you developing diabetes. Another method of evaluation for the risk of developing such affection is searching into your family’s medical history background. If your parents and grandparents developed heart health problems before the age of fifty there is a fair change of you having these kinds of problems, sooner or later.


Exercise every day because at least half an hour of walking every day will make wonders for your health and will help you strengthen your heart and stop smoking because cigarettes are the worst enemy that your heart can have. Hearth disease can be prevented and the treatment for it is a very nice and cozy life style which consists in eating healthy food for the heart, drinking a glass of wine every day, doing exercise and having a good relationship with people around you. You need not to make a great deal of effort in order to achieve these goals and the result is excellent.

Healthy Eating For Allergy Relief

Published on Jun 14 2010, in the categories: Eating plans

Food allergies can be described as an abnormal response to a specific type of food. Usually our immune system contributes to the maintenance of our health by defending the organism against the attack of viruses and bacteria. In the case of food allergy, the immune system identifies some type of food that it considers bad for our health and produces a reaction to it that is meant to stop us from eating that dish any more.

Allergies are widely spread among children are rarely observed among adults. The cause can be the fact that children’s digestive immune system is not completely developed. Healthy eating for allergy relief means mainly that you have to stop eating the food that gives you the allergic reaction. There are a few dishes that have been observed to produce most of the food allergic reactions: eggs, milk, soya, peanuts and so on.

There are some cases in which one person develops sensitivity to a certain kind of food to such extent that he or she gets an allergic reaction only by being in the proximity of that dish and not just by eating it. Strange as it may sound, there are people that have an allergic reaction only by watching someone eat peanuts by their side.


The more common the dishes, the more people with allergic reaction are to be found in that area. The rice allergy for example is widely spread in Japan, whereas fish allergy is very common in Scandinavia. The allergy to exotic fruit has increased over the last years because much more people have access to those types of fruit, so you can encounter people with an allergic reaction to kiwi.


Allergies are related in the same way as the fruits and vegetables are, and the person that is allergic to one thing will automatically be allergic to other fruits and vegetables that are part of the same “family”. For example, a person that is allergic to peanuts will be allergic to pea and beans, too.

Many of the people working in the sanitary system are allergic to latex, which is the natural sap coming from the rubber tree. These people will also be allergic to kiwi, papaya, bananas, apricots, plums, tomatoes and celery. This seems to be a strange crowd with no connection between its “members”, but all of these fruits and vegetables contain one particular substance that causes the allergy.

There are some types of medication that can ameliorate the allergic reactions, but the healthy eating for allergy relief is avoiding the food that causes the allergic reaction. If you disregard it and continue eating in hope that you will finally get used to the food that causes the reaction you might develop serious health problems, because the allergic reaction starts from the liver which sends you a signal telling that he is not able to process that type of food.

Health Advantages Of Eating Fish

Published on Jun 14 2010, in the categories: Eating plans

For many years, the scientists could not find the reasons for which the Eskimos have such a low percentage of heart strokes and cardiovascular diseases although their diet is so rich in whale fats and other dishes that have a very high cholesterol level

They finally reached the conclusion that the Eskimo people eat a lot of fish that has a rich content of omega 3 fat acids which are very good for the cardiovascular system and it also have a beatitude effect on the people that eat it.

So the health advantages of eating fish can be also measurable, meaning that you can actually count the number of vitamins and nutrients found in the piece of meat that you are about to eat, but also non measurable.

Studies made at Harvard University demonstrated that omega 3 fat acids found in salmon, mackerel, tuna fish, sardine and any other fish that lives in cold waters have excellent effects on people’s state of mind. The test was made on thirty people that suffer from maniacal depressive disorder and the ingredients used were olive oil and fish oil together with their usual medication prescribed by the doctors for this psychic affection.

After a period of four months, sixty five percent of the people that added fish oil to their food got better compared to the only fifteen of the ones that ate the olive oil together with their regular dishes. No one knows what the explanation is, and why the omega 3 fat acids improve people’s state of mind and seem to have the same effect with lithium and other medication of that type.


Some other health advantages of eating fish come from the fact that fish meat is rich in vitamins like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iodine, iron, copper and selenium. Taking this into consideration, fish can be considered a natural medication and the vitamins coming from the fish meat can be very useful for the prevention and treatment of many diseases that can appear in time. In the spring for example, the body lacks amino acids, selenium, and especially vitamins A, B and D and these vitamins can be found in a large quantity in the muscle fibers of fish.

Calcium is very important too, and at least half of the population suffers from hypocalcaemia. This s very hard to treat with pills, because the calcium coming from medication is usually lost very easily, and you have to make a log term treatment in order to fix this problem.

The best way to raise your calcium is to eat aliments that have high calcium content, like fish meat. Scientists have observed that people who eat fish every day present an increase of the brain functions, that means that eating fish makes you smarter.

Eating Healty

Published on Jun 14 2010, in the categories: Eating plans

Most of the people believe that eating healthy is synonymous with eating fruits and vegetables and they believe that they have to abstain from eating deserts in order to lose some weight or at least to keep it at the same level as they did before.

If you are part of this category too, you must know that you can enjoy a range of delicious deserts that will not add a gram to your current weight, in fact they will help you lose some weight and gain some extra vitamins. Why are these desert recipes delicious?

Because they are based on a wide range of fruits, because you have to use honey instead of sugar and this will add a special flavor to you desert, because you will have to use home made dough which is healthier and more tasteful then the one you can buy at the supermarket (not to mention the fact that the one from the supermarket contains a long list of additives and does not have as many ingredients as the one you will bake yourself), and because these deserts’ main ingredients are a combination of light yogurt and fruit, with a very low number of calories.


The fruit salad is the classical example of eating healthy. You can choose some season fruits (apples, grapes, strawberries), together with citric fruits (oranges, mandarins, kiwis, grapefruits) and add a few nuts or peanuts to them. Mixed with some light yogurt and some honey topping, they will make a wonderful cooling desert that is very appropriate for a hot summer day and will successfully replace your late dinner. It will give you energy due to its honey content and the number of its calories is very little, so you can eat as much as you like.


Another light desert that you can prepare at home is the fruit pie, which can be made with all kinds of fruit filling: apples, pears, and all kinds of fruit that you can get from the fruit compote. The fruit can be replaced with pumpkin, spinach, onion, cabbage and many different vegetables, so the pie can be also served as a main dish and is preferred by the vegetarian people.


The simplest desert that I can think of is yogurt mixed with fresh fruits, cut into pieces. If you do not have fresh fruits, you can use instead of them fruit marmalade, which is delicious in combination with yogurt. It spares you the effort of baking the fruit pies and it is recommended if you are keeping a diet and you feel the need of eating something sweet. Pick the low fat yogurts, cut the fruits into pieces and then place the whole bowl into the fridge. It will taste even better than icecream.

Health Benefit Of Eating Tomatoes

Published on Jun 11 2010, in the categories: Eating plans

Tomatoes, by their Latin name Solanum Lycopersicum, have come from South America. The first tomato ripened three thousand years ago under the hot sun of Peru. The first people that cropped this vegetable in their gardens were the native Indians of Peru, and then the seeds started circulating and were adopted by most of the populations of the world because of the health benefit of eating tomatoes.

There were a lot of studies made to find out what is the health benefit of eating tomatoes, and they pointed out that tomato can cure diseases that a few years ago could not be treated.

The vitamins found in tomatoes are: vitamin A, which is very useful for the eyes, the vitamin B series (B1, B2, B5, B6) that protect the nervous system and the bone structure, vitamin C which helps the cardio vascular system and the nervous system, vitamin E, which is considered the vitamin of youth and fertility and vitamin K which is important for the blood molecular structure. Tomatoes are also rich in potassium, phosphorus, iron, calcium, magnesium and selenium.


Tomatoes are also rich in folic acid, which is very important for the “manufacturing” of blood red cells and prevents heart stroke, vascular accidents and diseases. They help men in the fight against prostate cancer; it has been proved that men who eat tomatoes regularly are forty percent less affected by this type of cancer.

This is very important information regarding the fact that only half of the ones that get the prostate cancer will recover and live a normal life. They contain an antioxidant that helps fight cancer in general, because it has the property of preserving the cell in its original shape, and does not allow the mutations that cause this fatal disease appear.


It has an important role in fighting obesity too. It does not mean that if you only eat tomatoes you will lose the extra kilos, but it has been proved that including at least one tomato into your daily menu will help you lose fat more easy. Because of its anti inflaming properties it is a good weapon in the fight against thrombophlebitis, which is a blood vessel disease that has no cure until now.

This is a horrible disease, that develops as an inflammation of the blood vessels and of the inferior members (the legs), that can lead to vascular accidents because the blood thickens and forms clots that circulate in the interior of blood vessels to the heart and the brain. If the disease is so severe, the risk of death is imminent, because a clot that leaves the members can rarely be stopped in good time, so the patient does not have many chances of surviving.

Heart Healthy Recipes That Taste Good

Published on Apr 24 2010, in the categories: Eating plans

The people who suffer of heart health problems are usually told to keep strict diets in order not to make the problems more seriously but they are many times afraid that the recipes would not taste good . But there are some heart healthy recipes that taste good . In this article there will be presented two recipes that are very heart healthy that taste good . The first one is the gorgonzola and prune stuffed chicken .

For it you need the following ingredients : ½ cup chopped prunes, 1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese, ¼ cup coarse dry whole wheat breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme, 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, little salt and freshly ground pepper, 1 spoon and 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 shallot minced, ½ cup red wine, 1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth, 4 teaspoons all purpose flour . In a bowl combine the prunes, gorgonzola, breadcrumbs and ½ teaspoon thyme .
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Cut every chicken breast on horizontal and stuff each breast with 2 and half spoons mixture . Close the pockets with toothpicks and add on top salt and pepper . Heat 1 spoon olive oil in a pan and add the chicken; cook it for about 4 minutes per side and then transfer it to a plate . In the pan add the remaining oil, add the shallot, ½ teaspoon thyme and cook for about 1 minutes .

Add the remaining prunes and reduce the heat cook and add the wine; cook them until the wine is evaporated and in a bowl mix the broth and flour until is mixed well and cook until the sauce is thick . Make sure to reduce the heat very low and return the chicken in the sauce for about 5 minutes and remove the toothpicks, slice the chicken and top with the sauce .
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The other recipe is the tangelo pork stir fry .For it you need the following ingredients : 2 tangelos , 3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, ½ kg pork tenderloin trimmed and cut into strips, 2 medium shallots sliced, 2 cloves garlic minced , 2 spoons minced fresh ginger, little crushed red pepper, 2 red bell peppers thinly sliced, 2 stalks celery sliced, 2 spoons reduced sodium soy sauce, 1 spoon rice vinegar, 2 teaspoons cornstarch . With a vegetable peeler remove the zest from the tangelos in long strips, then cut the strips lengthwise in thin pieces and cut the tangelos in half and squeeze them for juice in order to obtain ½ cup .

In a pan heat oil and then add the pork and cook it for about 3 minutes and transfer it to a plate . In the pan add the remaining oil and add the shallots, garlic, ginger, crushed red pepper and the zest . Cook for 1 minute . Then add the red peppers, celery and cook and let them for about 2 minutes . Add after the tangelo juice and soy sauce and cook for another minute . In a bowl mix the vinegar and cornstarch and add the mixture in the pan and also the pork .Stir in and cook for about 1 more minute .
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