Snacks can be considered a dirty word in some households but many doctors and nutritionists recommend to everyone, not just kids, to eat five or six small meals a day rather than three large ones to live healthier and lose weight. Just like with diabetics, by eating smaller meals throughout the day, something l like to call grazing, you keep the blood sugar levels at more controlled levels with less ups and downs. Diabetic or not, this is healthier for you than constantly jumping up and down.By providing healthy snacks for your kids, snacks can actually become a good thing for them rather than a dirty word that everyone associates will sugar filled goodies.

Some good examples of healthy snacks for your kids are granola, fruit smoothies, popcorn and raw veggies with a low fat dip to dip them in. For more options, think outside the little three meals a day box. Who cares if they eat breakfast foods in the morning or at night? It really doesn’t matter when they eat so much as what they eat and if the foods they are eating is providing them with the nutrients their bodies to remain healthy and grow strong.

Things are apparently not moving quickly enough in the effort to go green, so the car companies and other interested parties are tying to pass the buck along to other industries that could help cut back the planet’s greenhouse gasses. In this new effort, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is pushing for less meat in our diets. While the red meat eaters of America may have different ideas about giving up their need for meat, UN research does show that overall meat production is responsible for 18 percent of the planets greenhouse gasses which is significantly more than transportation.

One compromise that may be the best of both worlds would be to make some changes to the ways meat is produced and transported. For example, if people bought all their meat locally rather than have it trucked in, it would save a great deal and the animals could be fed and treated differently than they are now to make it both healthier and less harmful to the environment. Meanwhile, of course, these options could have a negative impact on states and businesses that produce the meat causing them to sell less and comply with the changes.

With almost half of Americans expected to develop arthritis in their knees and many more Americans continuing to be obese and carrying extra pressure on their knees, the nation’s most common cause of disability is only going to continue increasing. The obese will face an even greater risk due to the extra weight. But there is good new, by losing just fifteen pounds the knee pain can be cut in half and only eleven pounds can cut in half the risk of ever developing arthritis.

The key to reducing your risk, whether you are obese or not, is exercise and losing weight. For every pound of weight that you lose, there is a four pound reduction in the pressure on your knees.

Exercise is the absolute best way to alleviate the pain for those who already have arthritis and will help prevent it from developing if you don’t have it yet. Many who don’t do something about weight loss and exercise now could end up having surgery or be in a wheelchair.

Start an exercise and weight loss plan today! Your knees will thank you.

While many people have converted to a vegetarian diet for their health or for other reasons such as not eating the planets little animals, what most people don’t understand is that it is also better for the environment.The most damaging food for our environment is beef. By eating the grain and vegetables ourselves rather than feeding it to the livestock, we can save a huge amount of grain making it cheaper and increasing the amount of food available for everyone.

In the 1980’s Sir Paul McCartney narrated a documentary discussing how much damage we were doing to the environment by continuing to eat meat. In 2007 a campaign began to show that damaging gaseous emissions from farmed animals exceed those of the world’s entire transport system. As more and more people are starting to listen and learn all about going “green” they are finding out that not only does a vegetarian diet make a huge difference in their health and how they feel but they are also doing their part for the environment.

British researchers have published, in the “Nutrition Journal,” the results of a study that they conducted to determine whether or not all the fad diets out there are actually nutritious enough for the people that are on them. Overall, the results show that the diets are well balanced.While the results did not show a significant difference between the diets themselves, when compared to people that were not dieting, there was a large difference in weight loss between the ones on a diet and the ones not.

While the diets do seem to reduce some important vitamins and minerals such as folate, magnesium, calcium, iron, potassium, riboflavin, niacin, and zinc some actually showed an increase in zinc and selenium. While this does make it seem as if there may be some nutrients lacking in these diets, this is easily addressed by taking a good multivitamin once a day for the duration of the diet or as a personal lifestyle change.

Check with your doctor for a good multivitamin suggestion. Also make sure you let the doctor know that you are dieting and which diet plan you are using.

The best way to curb your cravings for sugar – especially if you’re on a diet – is to eat more fruit.

Fruits are naturally sweet, and they help you to feel like you’ve gotten a treat and to feel full at the same time. You can also eat nuts, vegetables, and salads to help feel like you’ve filled up, but they might not help with your sugary craving.

If you just have to have something sweet, don’t eat by yourself.

People who eat alone tend to binge more. This is definitely true if they’re depressed and if they’re eating sweet and sugary things.

Having a piece of fruit will help to cut your sugary craving in half, and if you do have a dessert, you’ll eat less of it and feel better about sticking to your diet.

Fish is fantastic for your heart!

It contains Omega-3 fatty acids, which have been scientifically proven to help protect your heart and arteries. They can keep your cholesterol lower and keep fatty deposits and plaques from building up. These kinds of problems can lead to strokes and heart attacks. You certainly want to avoid those.

Some kinds of fish are better than others.

You need to pay attention to which ones you’re getting so that you can enjoy the most benefit from them. In Japan, where people basically eat fish almost every day, the rate of heart disease is much lower than in the West, even though people in Japan smoke more cigarettes.

The lower risk for heart problems is believed to come from the Omega-3s that are so prevalent in the fish, and studies have shown that this correlation is strong and worth paying attention to.

If you’re one of many people dealing with the debilitating pain of arthritis, you may be able to get some relief just by changing what you eat!The pain of osteoarthritis – the most common type with over twenty million sufferers – comes from the fact that cartilage is breaking down. Oils – fish, flaxseed, avocado, soybean, and olive – can help to avoid that breakdown.

Oils that are rich in heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, like flaxseed and fish, are the best choices.

Tea, dairy products, ginger, and vitamin C can also be helpful, according to some studies. They won’t reverse the effects of arthritis, but they can help to prevent it and slow down the progression of it.

It can make you feel better and let you do more things that you used to be able to do, and THAT is priceless.

Do cell phones really cause cancer? Well, maybe. Some studies say that they do and other studies say that they don’t.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a warning saying that children especially are susceptible to the electromagnetic radiation released by these devices. Their organs are still developing and can be damaged very easily, so the use of cell phones by them should be limited as much as possible.

For adults, the cell phone should be kept as far away from the body as possible and a hands-free headset should be used, or the speakerphone should be employed, so that the phone is not held right next to the head. The complete WHO findings will not be released for two years, when they can be better studied as a determination of whether the phones really do pose a brain cancer risk.

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If you’re looking to out live your kids, it might depend on what you eat. Sure, you know it’s not a good idea to gorge yourself on fast food and bakery treats, but there are other things you can do to help you live a longer (and healthier) life – especially if you smoke.

New research has indicated that a Mediterranean diet (one that’s high in fruits, nuts, grains, fish, vegetables, and bean and low in dairy, meat, and saturated fats) extends longevity and reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Moderate amounts of alcohol are also encouraged. With this type of diet, both men and women have longer lives and they seem to be healthier well up into their later years, reducing their stress levels from being unhealthy and keeping their costs for medication and other things lower as well. It’s a benefit on all levels.

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