In today’s world nutrition can be a complex subject. We worry about losing and gaining weight. Strangely, with all the emphasis on caloric content, there is little attention paid to the various nutrients, vitamins and minerals that our body requires. If you are looking to improve nutrition in your life, read on for some tips you might not currently know.
Here’s a scary one. Have you ever wondered why dogs only live 10 to 15 years while humans live typically 60 years or more? It all lies within our cells and our metabolism where oxygen plays a big part. Oxygen moves energy throughout our cells breaking the carbs we consume into energy. The problem is, oxygen also breaks down our cells in the same process. This is called “oxidation.” But our cells also have a buffer against the oxygen, these are called “antioxidants” and are prevalent in fruits and veggies.
Dogs have faster metabolisms than humans, which breaks down energy quicker and pumps much more oxygen into the cells. The cells die faster because of oxidation. Dogs also don’t or can’t eat many fruits and veggies, which carry those all important antioxidants.
While humans have slower metabolisms, you can actually speed yours up almost to the speed of a dog’s, simply by eating pure sugar, which the body converts to energy almost immediately. Pure sugar is a high energy carb. Cells turn the sugar into energy, but harm the cells in the process. Cells take time to grow back and they don’t grow back indefinitely! So if you want to live a longer life, eat lots of fruits and veggies and keep away from the pure sugar!
Omega 3 fatty acids not only assist in growth, development and brain function, they also help to protect against Alzheimer’s disease. Consuming Omega 3’s, has proven effective in its ability to protect the body against accumulating a certain protein believed to be linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Studies have been quite encouraging.
When considering nutrition for your child, it is important to focus on the meal when it is meal time. This is important because when a child is distracted from their meal by the television, overeating is always possible, as is the desire for unhealthy foods that are advertised. Keep the television out of the kitchen, and instead engage in conversation at the table.
Adding organic foods to your menu is a great way to upgrade your diet’s nutritional value. More and more studies are showing that organic food has more nutrients and less nitrates. These pure untainted foods are what we were intended to consume from day one to ensure quality health. You will have a better understanding if you give it a try.
Look at the ingredients in the food you eat. If you can’t pronounce the ingredients, don’t buy it. Sticking to foods whose ingredients you can pronounce means that you will be eating in a much healthier way. Those other foods are loaded with preservatives and other things that do not help your body.
To conquer a sugar craving without giving in to excess sugar, have an apple with all-natural peanut butter. This is sweet enough to feel like a treat, but the amount of sugar will not ruin your diet and as a bonus you get extra vitamins and protein in your diet.
Hiding nutritional food in the recipes of favorite foods is a great way to aid proper nutrition in picky eaters. This can be adults or children. Oftentimes you can place healthy vegetables or fruits into otherwise not so healthy food types and your patron will be non the wiser. There are many recipeavailable that utilize healthy foods in other not-so-healthy foods to keep the nutrition high.
A great nutrition tip is to bring your own healthy snacks with you to the movies. Movie theaters are notorious for the unhealthy food they sell such as popcorn and candy. The butter they use on their popcorn is extremely unhealthy. It’s much healthier to bring your own snack.
If you feel hungry before a meal, try drinking a glass of water before your meal is done. Drinking a glass of water will help prevent you from feeling so hungry, which will result in you not eating too much. When you are hungry before a meal, you will probably eat more than you really need. Drinking a glass of water can prevent this.
Another great tip for getting good nutrition is to calculate how many calories you are taking in every day. Get a pen and paper or use your computer to jot down all of the calorie information for each food item you plan to eat for the day. This will give you a sense of just how much food you are really eating, and it will allow you to set goals to better balance out your meals.
As mentioned earlier, good nutrition is important in everyone’s life, even if you do not know much about it. You have gained the knowledge you need to master the topic! Take these tips to heart, and apply them in the days ahead for a happier life.
