Sunday, October 16, 2011

How to start eating healthier TODAY

The purpose of eating is for energy. All the different nutrients have important functions in our body that help us get through the day and have energy. Instead of thinking about food negatively, try to think about the positive effects of foods. Think about what the food you are about to eat will do for you; for example, a breakfast of oatmeal and fruit will give me energy to start my day and has fiber to make me feel satiated. Eating the proper foods and the amount you eat at a time can affect your day and how you feel. Tips To Start Eating Healthier - Don’t skip breakfast. Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. You haven’t eaten for more than 8 hours and your body has burned or stored the calories you ate from the day before already. Breakfast is that first meal that can set the tone for the rest of the day. Try to make breakfast healthy by having a whole grain food with a fruit or vegetable and some protein and fat. For example, oatmeal with nuts and berries and a hard boiled egg or whole grain toast with peanut butter and an apple. - Don’t let more than 4-6 hours go by without eating a meal or snack. If you wait until you’re starving, you will risk the chance of overeating or making an unhealthy choice. - Portion control your food; this will help balance out your nutrients and make sure you get enough of what your body needs to feel satiated. - Avoid too many processed foods; these foods can be very salty, which can dehydrate you, and your body breaks down and uses real and fresh food most efficiently. - Read labels, more importantly, the ingredient label. If there is a long list of ingredients that look foreign to you, do you really want to put that food in your body? - Go for color when preparing your meals and snacks; variety will ensure that you get the proper nutrients to get you through the day. - Aim to eat a fruit or vegetable at each meal. The FDA recommends at least 5 servings of fruits and/or veggies a day. This is hard to do if you wait until dinner to eat all your nutrients. - Dining out less and cooking at home more will help you to control what you are eating and how much. Planning ahead as much as you can will help you get through a busy week. You need to grocery shop and plan your week in order to eat healthfully. Bring healthy snacks with you so you won’t be stuck at the vending machine or starving at your next meal. - Keep a food journal; this will make you more aware of what’s going in your mouth. You may think twice if you have to write it down. Eating healthy takes effort and discipline. If these suggestions seem overwhelming, do one change at a time. This will help to keep your healthy changes a habit and will eventually lead to a long-term lifestyle.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Disadvantages of Eating Meat


There are many physical disadvantages to eating meat. Some of these disadvantages are:

1. A meat-eater not only takes in the animal cells and fats, etc. but also the waste products, e.g. chemically treated food fed to the animals, drugs injected into the animal in the slaughter house, intoxicants, coloring and tenderizers sprayed on the dead animal by the market suppliers. By the way, hamburgers are made from Cow with the four D’s (Dead, Dying, Disabled, or Diseased) This is way so many children and young adults have died from eating hamburgers. It's also the reason why hamburgers have the highest recall of E-Coli.

2. It is also suspected that meat-eaters are prime candidates for degenerative diseases such as high blood pressure, arthritis, gout, etc. Meat is one of the major sources of internal pollution. When an animal is slaughtered, un-eliminated waste products remain in the tissue of the animal which often give the meat its stimulating flavor. Uric acid and adrenaline are secreted into the bloodstream, muscles of animals and stored. The fear and struggle to escape death stimulates the secretion of hormones like epinephrine and norepinephrine. Most animals (especially cows) are injected with steroids before they are slaughtered. No edible plant product has similar toxicity. The human body has to work 15 times more to get rid of these toxin.

3.A parasite known for inducing miscarriage, blindness, jaundice and nervous disorders in newborn babies was found in samples of animal meat from abattoirs and markets (particularly in third world countries). An article in the German Bunte magazine, entitled 'Karnka von Tiere' (Diseases from Animal) pointed out the diseases that arise from consumption of meat, apart from the reckless wastage of precious land and natural resources for livestock breeding.

The article also emphasized on the benefits of meatless diet and the current trend towards vegetarianism by an increasing number of Germans and other Europeans, especially amongst the younger generation. As a result of overall concern for health, meat consumption in the west is declining. According to the Vegetarian society in UK, 9% of the population in UK and US are complete vegetarians with the number constantly increasing.

4.To preserve fish and prawns and other crustaceans, boric acid is widely used by food manufacturers. It attacks the liver and the brain, causing fits and coma before the victim dies of liver damage. Fruits and vegetables, however heavily sprayed, don't grow hormones, antibiotics and other drugs common in meat products.

5.Pigs carry trichinosis bacteria that cling to the walls of the stomach and intestines, which can be fatal. Beef and pork are highly acid forming and release into the blood-stream toxic poisons and microbes. But the WBC in blood may not be sufficient to destroy these microbes and so the toxic reactions set in.

The Physical Advantages of Being Vegetarian



Different types of vegetarians are given below:

LACTO-OVO VEGETARIAN: Eats no meat, poultry, or fish, but includes dairy products and eggs in the diet along with plant-based foods.

LACTO VEGETARIAN: Excludes all animal products except dairy products. Includes all plant-based foods in the diet.

OVO VEGETARIAN: Excludes all animal products except eggs. Includes all plant-based foods in the diet.


VEGAN OR PURE VEGETARIAN: Vegan is pronounced "vee gun." Some people distinguish between vegan and pure vegetarian, considering the pure vegetarian one who eats no animal flesh, no dairy products, or no eggs, and follows a strict plant-based diet for dietary reasons only. While vegans follow a diet consisting of plant-based foods only, some are further committed to a philosophy that respects animal life and the ecology of the planet. As a result, vegans also do not eat honey because many bees are killed in the process of forced procreation to maintain the beehive and the continued production of honey. Vegans do not eat sugar, because sugar is clarified over animal bones in the final steps of refining the sugar. Vegans also avoid gelatin, which is made from the bones, skin, and connective tissue of animals.

Because vegans consider the ecology of the planet a priority along with concern for animal rights, they shun the use of leather, wool, silk, goose down, and any foods or goods that have been processed using animal products. Their concern is that the planet's future resources have been harmed and animals have suffered in order for these products to come to market.

FRUITARIAN: The fruitarian has a simpler diet consisting only of fresh fruits and some vining foods that are technically considered fruits, but have been used as vegetables. These vegetable/fruits include cucumbers, tomatoes, and avocados.

RAW FOODIST: Those who follow the raw food diet include all fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and soaked and sprouted grains and legumes. Further, the raw foodist does not cook or heat the foods, but eats them only in their natural, raw state in order to preserve their valuable enzymes.

LIVING FOODS DIET: Those who follow the living foods diet include a broad variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, soaked and sprouted grains and legumes. In addition, they will warm some of their foods in a dehydrator with a temperature regulator. In order to preserve the valuable enzymes that raw foods contain, some foods can be warmed to temperatures no higher than 105 degrees, while others will tolerate a little higher heat at 115 degrees.




Vegetarians tend to have a lower incidence of hypertension than nonvegetarians. This effect appears to be independent of both body weight and sodium intake. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is much less likely to be a cause of death in vegetarians than nonvegetarians, perhaps because of their higher intake of complex carbohydrates and lower body mass index.

Incidence of lung and colorectal cancer is lower in vegetarians than in nonvegetarians Reduced colorectal cancer risk is associated with increased consumption of fiber, vegetables, and fruit. The environment of the colon differs notably in vegetarians compared with nonvegetarians in ways that could favorably affect colon cancer risk. Lower breast cancer rates have not been observed in Western vegetarians, but cross-cultural data indicate that breast cancer rates are lower in populations that consume plant-based diets. The lower estrogen levels in vegetarian women provides higher benefits.

A well-planned vegetarian diet may be useful in the prevention and treatment of renal disease. Studies using human being and animal models suggest that some plant proteins may increase survival rates and decrease proteinuria, glomerular filtration rate, renal blood flow and histologic renal damage compared with a non-vegetarian diet.


Plant sources of protein alone can provide adequate amounts of essential amino acids if a variety of plant foods are consumed and energy needs are met. Research suggests that complementary proteins do not need to be consumed at the same time and that consumption of various sources of amino acids over the course of the day should ensure adequate nitrogen retention in healthy persons. Although vegetarian diets are lower in total protein and a vegetarian's protein needs may be somewhat elevated because of the lower quality of some plant proteins, protein intake in both lacto-ovo-vegetarians and vegans appears to be adequate.

One of the favorite benefits of having a vegetarian diet is that there is no cholesterol in any vegetable source of food. Even peanuts are rich in fat but have zero cholesterol. Coconuts are very rich in fat but no cholesterol. Any animal product has tremendous amounts of cholesterol. But our body does not really need the intake of cholesterol (LDL). Our liver produces healthy cholesterol (HDL). High cholesterol deposits in the body cause gallstones, gall bladder problems, rheumatoid arthritis, muscle, tendon and joint problems (not to mention heart-related diseases). When children are given cholesterol they become hyperactive or lazy; they get cancer, obesity, nervous and irritable at a younger age. It has been researched that you don't need anything more than fruits, vegetables and complex carbohydrates to provide all the nutrients in a perfect diet. If you eat three different types or varieties of complex carbohydrates per day you can get all the amino acids.