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And here we are at the Food Oscars, waiting for the envelope (please!) What are the healthiest foods you can eat, and how do they help you to live better?

Like movie actors, there are a lot of foods out there with some good qualities. But only a few foods contribute Oscar-quality nutrition and improve our lives. Some of these foods are so nutritious that they deserve an award, an Oscar, and a place on your plate.

“And the Oscars for the five healthiest foods go to…”
Salmon
Soy
Greens
Berries
Whole Grains

This article will focus on the first three.

Salmon is an excellent source of protein and is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which lower the levels of LDL, or “bad” cholesterol in the blood, and increase the level of HDL, or “good” cholesterol in the blood. Salmon is a very versatile food that can easily be substituted for other types of meats such as beef or pork in many different recipes. The American Heart Association recommends that everyone eat at least two servings of fish on a weekly basis and it strongly recommends the consumption of fatty fish, like salmon. It is best to choose wild salmon, as it has more omega-3 fatty acids than farm-raised salmon. Most canned and frozen salmon is wild-caught, so they have the same benefits to your health.

Soy comes in many forms. Tofu is a soy product. It is full of all of the essential amino acids that the body requires. Soybeans are the only known vegetable sources that can make this claim. Soybeans are also very rich in the omega-3 fatty acids, the B vitamins, fiber, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron and zinc. A regular diet that includes soy is one that will lead to an overall low level of total cholesterol, as well as LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. Soy is beneficial in preventing heart disease, and can help to reduce the incidence of osteoporosis, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

All vegetables are healthy but greens are especially healthy. The best greens to eat include chard (or “Swiss Chard”), collard greens, kale, bok choy, broccoli, asparagus, and green beans. These greens are all rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron and phytonutrients. Broccoli, for example, is beneficial in preventing the onset of heart disease, diabetes and a variety of cancers. If, like George Bush Sr., you don’t like the taste of broccoli, then eat it in recipes such as Chinese beef and broccoli or in a stir-fry with soy sauce. Another option is to eat broccoli raw but with other vegetables such as on a vegetable platter with a zesty dip for added flavor. Green vegetables are low in calories and very high in fiber. Foods that are high in fiber are also filling so that means you do not need to eat too large a helping in order to feel that you have eaten enough.

Greens can be eaten raw or cooked. If you eat them raw, you get the maximum health benefit, just make sure to clean them before you use them. Add raw greens to a salad or simply just snack on them and munch away! One of the best ways to prepare greens is to steam them, as steaming maintains much of the nutritional content, except for Vitamin C, which is heat-labile. Stir-fries are another healthy way to toss together your greens.

Scott Meyers is a staff writer for Its Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Food Cures.

Our bodies’ demands change as we age. Although aging is associated with slowing down, we don’t have to accept all the downsides, and can fight back by eating properly and controlling our weight.

The first-and most obvious-step is portion control. As you age, you need less food to support your body’s metabolism. If you keep your calorie consumption down, you can maintain weight. Just remember that you can’t eat as much at fifty or sixty as you did when you were twenty!

What we eat and how much can also impact weight gain. Women and men tend to pack on the pounds as we age. Paying attention to what we eat and our activity level can help us to age more gracefully when it comes to our weight.

The second - and just as important-factor is to eat in a healthy way. Healthy eating requires knowledge of food groups and portion sizes. Physicians and nutritionist can assist us in understanding what our bodies need at whatever age we are at. Normally avoiding fats and sweets or at least limiting the amounts that we consume is a good rule for anyone to follow. Here are some other good healthy eating tips.

Make sure you are choosing from all the food groups during the day. The food groups include: meat and meat substitutes, dairy, fruits and vegetables, grains, and fats and sweets.

Plan your meals around these food groups and make a shopping list around your planned meals. This way the food you have around the house will be the healthy foods you need and not the junk food that you do not need.

Avoid junk food. Junk food, sweets and fats are just extra, empty calories that take the place of healthy nutrients that your body requires to function properly.

Understanding our food habits sometimes requires paying close attention to what we are eating. It helps to keep a food journal and record everything we eat for a period of one week. Take a look at the food audit after a week, and create a healthy eating plan that changes your habits and improves your health.

Don’t try to remake your entire diet overnight. Make one change and then when you are used to that change make another. If you slip up and overeat one day, don’t stress too much, just make a better effort the next day.

Drink plenty of water. Water is an essential nutrient, and often gets overlooked. At mealtimes, have a glass of water instead of a beverage, it will re-hydrate you and reduce the amount of calories you consume.
Don’t go overboard on drinking juice. Most juices contain a lot of added sugar, so read the label. Portion sizes can make or break your healthy intentions so read food labels carefully as they often times will state how much is considered a serving size.

As we age, it may seem that pleasures are being taken away from us one by one. We can still enjoy eating, though. Eating healthy can be fun, if you eat in moderation, and plan to include your favorite foods into your healthy food selections. Having a sweet now and then can brighten your day–chocolate has always put a smile on everyone’s face. Just eat responsibly and balance what you eat with other areas of your life. If you know that you really should not have that extra cookie, but it is calling your name, go ahead and splurge, just walk it off with a friend after supper to take off those extra calories.

Scott Meyers is a staff writer for Its Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Nutrition & Health.

In the quest for weight loss, the diet industry puts a lot of attention on what we eat but focusing on why we eat may be more important.

After losing over 70 lbs. permanently and becoming a weight loss coach for others, I have found most people have a pretty good idea of what they should eat. We have no problem categorizing foods into healthy and non-healthy lists. But ask someone why they eat and the usual response is “hunger.” Unraveling the deeper reasons beneath the pre-emptive response of “hunger” may take a little detective work!

Here are a few things that might be lurking beneath the surface of hunger. Keep in mind that the categories can overlap and coexist!

Learned Behavior

Some people learn behaviors at an early age and never question them. A good example is milk and cookies at bedtime or a larger-than-usual meal on Sunday nights. We rarely think about Learned Behaviors, we simply do them unconsciously. However, the calories still count!

Availability of Food

Imagine you ate a satisfying breakfast. You don’t feel hungry at all. Then, someone brings donuts to work. Imagine further that you don’t even like the type of donuts that appeared! How many times would you eat them anyway? Nine out of 10 times? Availability of Food can be a real quagmire along the weight loss route, especially in the United States where food is abundant and relatively inexpensive.

Other examples of Availability of Food are all-you-can-eat buffets and social occasions.

Cravings

Cravings for food are chemical. For example, when the brain needs serotonin, the brain causes carbohydrate cravings. When blood sugar levels are low, we may crave sugary or sweet foods. When we experience cravings, eating what we crave will satisfy the body for a very short time, then the craving will return full force. Protein is actually a better choice when intense desire occurs because it will break the craving cycle.

Emotional Eating

Food can dilute, soften or dull emotions we term “unpleasant” like anger, resentment, frustration, guilt and hatred. Even emotions we label “desirable” can be so intense, food may be used to dull the feeling back into a manageable or tolerable level. Prime emotions for this type of eating are joy, happiness, desire, elation and excitement.

At other times, we may eat to substitute for a lack of feeling. A good example of this is boredom. Eating when you are bored can bring on feelings of self-hatred, humiliation, and shame, but the bored, empty feeling is gone!

Habits

A habit is a stable behavior formed through repetition over time. Many people ask how this is different than Learned Behavior. The difference is that Learned Behaviors are learned from other people, usually family, and have a long history. We are solely responsible for forming Habits. The good news is that good habits are as easily formed as bad habits.

Social Eating

It is rare to socialize in any way today in America without the involvement of food. Watching a football game at a neighbor’s house, meeting friends you haven’t seen for a while: these things don’t need the involvement of food but it usually becomes an integral part of any social plan. This often intersects with Availability of Food. It might be wise to ask yourself if you are really hungry or just eating because it seems the acceptable and expected thing to do.

Environmental Eating

Does a visit to the ball park always mean hot dogs? Does a movie have to include 2000 calories of popcorn? Certain environments trigger eating that is unhealthy. Sometimes it can be any environment that is not home. For instance, do you always eat more than necessary when dining in a restaurant?

Hunger

Hunger, true hunger, is another reason to eat. And, ideally, it’s the only reason. Humans were designed to eat to fuel their bodies. Fuel to survive. Fuel for the massive amounts of maintenance, healing and growth our bodies accomplish every day.

The first step in straightening out a negative eating style is to be able to recognize the why as it is happening.

It may take a bit of work to get to the point where true hunger can be recognized but we’d all be thinner and healthier if we ate only when we were hungry.

Pat Barone earned her title “America’s Weight Loss Catalyst” by coaching thousands of clients toward permanent weight loss. Her status as an expert is heightened by her own personal weight loss success. Receive her free newsletter THE CATALYST by visiting http://www.patbarone.com/sign_up.htm.

Are you approaching menopause? There are so many changes that happen to a woman as she nears this phase of her life.

In order to deal with these changes, it is important for a you to change your her diet to cope with the changes to your body. As we get older, our bodies require different foods. While this does not mean that you can no longer enjoy the foods you once did, you must learn how to incorporate foods with the necessary nutrients into your diet.

There are even some foods that can help you deal with your menopause symptoms. For example, choosing foods with high potassium content, like bananas, will help you balance water and salt retention issues. Dried fruits like figs and apricots can do the same thing. You may also want to add dark, leafy green vegetables to your diet like cabbage, broccoli, kale, spinach and collard greens. Try to increase the amount of “right” whole grains in your diet, like soy beans, brown rice, wheat germ, and lentils.

In addition to adding these foods to your life, you may also want to increase your consumption of foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Sardines, trout, tuna, salmon, and herring are just a few examples of foods that are high in omega-3 fatty acids.

Studies have also shown that eating soy products can be quite beneficial to women going through menopause. Yogurt, tofu, soybeans, and soy milk can help in this area. Nuts work well with your new nutritional needs, so throw in some sunflower seeds, Brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds.

Choosing the right kinds of oil is an important part of your diet planning: include flaxseed and canola oils.

Try seaweed - it’s great on rice or as an additional vegetable. Kimbu, Arame, Nori, and Wakame (available at your local health market in the seaweed section) are other helpful choices since they have naturally occurring chemicals and hormones that are very good at combating natural menopause symptoms.

These foods are not only helpful for menopause; they are part of an overall healthier diet. As we age, blood pressure rises, as does the risk of higher cholesterol levels. These diet changes can help us to improve our overall health. Instead of fighting with the side effects of prescription drugs, you can handle these risks by eating well and maintaining your ideal body weight, which can help your heart deal with its age as well. Remember that you don’t have to strictly hew to your new diet, just a tendency in these directions can improve your overall health.

There is little reason why you can’t have a slice of your birthday cake, or sneak a cookie in with your afternoon coffee once in a while. You might even try learning to bake with different kinds of ingredients. As you start working on your diet, you may not even notice the sheer number of things that have changed as you will be changing, too. You may feel better, have more energy, and have more concentration. These diet changes will help you to have fewer hot flashes, night sweats, heart palpitations, and other menopause symptoms.

Scott Meyers is a staff writer for Its Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Nutrition & Health.

As we continue in the Oscar ceremonies for healthiest foods, we have two awards for Best Supporting Actor: Berries and Whole Grains.

Berries are in a big category. They include strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, blueberries and blackberries. Berries are some of the most nutritious of all fruits. They are full of vitamin C, fiber, folate and phytonutrients.

Berries are excellent cancer fighting agents because they are full of antioxidants. Blueberries for example are believed to be higher in their antioxidant properties than are strawberries. Blueberries are useful in helping people as they age; short-term memory loss is lessened thanks to their healthy benefits.

Berries are very simple fruits to prepare. All you need to do is wash them thoroughly and either cut them up or eat them raw. Berries do not require peeling like other fruits, such as oranges and peaches.

Whole grains are full of B vitamins, as well as vitamin E, fiber, magnesium and iron. Whole grains are also very rich in antioxidants and contain some that are not found in fruits or vegetables.

According to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Americans should eat plenty of grains on a daily basis. Half of all grains eaten should be whole grains, which works out to be three to five servings of whole grains on a daily basis. Always use whole-wheat flour when you bake as opposed to white flour. White flour is refined and is very bad for the body. When you buy such foods as breads, pasta, biscuits and cereal always look for the word “whole” on the packaging. Another way to add whole grains to your diet is to eat more brown rice, wild rice, barley or quinoa. Try experimenting with different ways to add these whole grain products to recipes, such as adding barley or quinoa to soups and casseroles.

Apples got the Oscar nomination, but not the Oscar itself. They nevertheless turn in an excellent performance and should be counted in the top ten. Apples are rich in vitamin C, which helps the body to absorb other types of nutrients such as folate and iron. Apples contain a substance called pectin, which is used in jams and jellies and as a thickener for sauces. Pectin is similar to fiber in that it helps to decrease cholesterol and moderate the level of glucose in the blood.

Wheat germ is the “heart of the wheat seed” and it is filled with nutrients. Wheat does not have much taste, so you might want to sprinkle it on cereal, porridge or yogurt. Wheat germ can also be added to batter when you are baking cookies, muffins, biscuits or pancakes. Wheat germ is rich in folate, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, thiamine and zinc. Two tablespoons a day is enough to optimize its health benefits. Thiamine is particularly beneficial for the proper functioning of the nerves while phosphorous encourages the development of strong teeth and bones. Iron, folate magnesium and zinc are all minerals that support healing in the body and are essential fro the growth of children.

Scott Meyers is a staff writer for Its Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Food Cures.

Vegetarians can choose from several different diets for diet, health, or personal reasons. One diet that some vegetarians choose to follow is the raw food diet. This diet can have some very good effects on your health, so it is important that you learn more about the diet so that you understand how it works and its benefits.

A raw food diet can offer several different benefits to you. One such benefit can be on your weight, simply because raw food usually has fewer calories than other types of food. If you need to lose some weight, then the raw food diet can help you to get to this target and more ideal weight. Another benefit is that this diet can give you more energy than you have ever had. This helps the body to burn more calories, rather than converting it to fat. One of the theories that help to explain this is that the body can more easily digest and use the fuel from raw foods rather than meats and refined foods.

There is something that you need to consider when you are on the raw food diet. It is important if you are on the raw food diet that you refrain from eating even the smallest amount of cooked food, because it can make it more difficult to process the raw foods, because the acid levels in your stomach will be increased.

Supplements may be helpful to vegetarians to make sure that they are getting all of their essential nutrients and vitamins. You will need to get Vitamin B12 supplements as most vegetarians are deficient in it. Vitamin B12 is found in meats and other animal products, and it is hard to get in raw vegetables and fruits. It is the same with zinc and copper, also primarily found in meats. Eating seeds and nuts may help you to get some of the vitamins, because they are a very good protein source that can help you to rebuild your tissues and create new ones.

One thing that you want to keep in mind is that you may see your appetite increasing. Even if you eat a lot of raw food, you can still be hungry. However, fear not as raw foods are less calorie-laden than other foods, so you really do not need to worry about how much you have to eat. Do take note though that you may go through more severe detoxification effects such as headaches and mild nausea as your body cleanses itself.

It is not simple to start the raw food diet, as you need to prepare most of your meals from scratch and fresh. Several ingredients are also not as readily available as compared to those that are meant for a normal diet. But after you begin a raw food diet, you will begin to feel better and look better. That makes it worth the while.

Sandra Kim Leong is the author to the Detox Diet Secrets book. Thousands have benefitted from her articles on detoxification, colon cleansing , and detox diet recipes. Gain access to her free tips here at http://www.detox-cleansing-diet.com.

When experts lecture us on weight loss, it is usually all about exercise, calories and carbs. That is good information, but from one compulsive eater to another, I have provided some other tips that do not usually make the diet books. They will require some effort, but I have found them to be essential to proper self-care and weight loss.

1. Sleep: It is so easy to overeat when we are tired. We reach for food to keep us going, thinking we will have more energy the more we eat. Just the opposite happens. When we overeat we feel bad, heavy, and lethargic. And we are still tired! Work on going to bed earlier. Late night nibbling is easier when it is late and we should be in bed. Take care of yourself by retiring to bed with a book, and then turn the lights out before your tummy starts to growl. Even if it is growling, go to bed, you will not hear it when you are asleep and it feels sooo good to wake up in the morning with a clear conscience!

2. Vitamins: So many times our overeating is caused by nutritional deficiencies. We seek the vitamins and minerals our bodies crave in excess food. Unfortunately, this is a vicious cycle because usually the food we overeat is devoid of any real nutrition, so it leaves us further depleted. As a first step, begin taking a good multivitamin, preferably one made from whole food. (If you go to a health food store, they will offer whole food supplements, not just synthetic ones.) Next, strive to eat organic foods whose soil is not stripped of vital minerals like the soil of chemical-sprayed fruits and vegetables. Eating organic will make you feel better, and feel better about yourself. Because you are making an effort to be good to your body. Lastly, stick with foods that have as little processing as possible. For example, cook a free-range turkey instead of eating cold-cuts. The more whole and natural, the more nutritionally sound.

3. Bring lunch: It is easy to order take-out with your other bored co-workers, but that only makes weight loss harder. Be deliberate about taking care of yourself. Think ahead and shop for foods that you can use to make a healthy salad for yourself. Buy some colorful Tupperware for your packed lunches. Put some care into making a fruit salad for yourself with various yummy fruits. You will be amazed how good about yourself you will feel and how good for you it is to bring your own lunch to work and avoid the greasy, starchy alternatives your coworkers are devouring.

4. Do not skip meals: Skipping meals is a trap! We always end up making up for the meals we skipped and then some! Make a point to eat three meals a day, and do not nibble in between. Would you skip feeding your children? Of course not. Then why do we think it is OK to skip our own meals? If you make a point to feed yourself on a schedule of three meals a day, you will be more balanced emotionally and you will actually build self-esteem. Both these things lead to a thinner weight and a better quality of life.

5. Stay Hydrated: Yes, I know you know that 8 glasses of water a day is good for weight loss and health in general. True health experts will actually recommend that you drink more than this. The fact is that when we are dehydrated, we eat more. This is because it is easy to disguise thirst for hunger. We eat, looking to hydrate ourselves, when drinking a few glasses of water would easily quiet those hunger pangs. So next time you are SURE that you need to eat more, try a tall glass of water and wait 10 minutes. That may be all you need. Here is another tip: make it easy by bringing a bottle of water with you wherever you go.

6. BYOF: That is bring your own food! Do not put your health in other peoples hands…they do not feel the pain when your jeans do not fit! Taking care of yourself takes some planning. Is the party you will be attending only going to have greasy and starchy finger foods? (You can call ahead and ask the host what she/he will be serving–mention that you have some special dietary needs.) To be safe, bring a veggie platter with low-fat dip! That way you get what you need and you do not feel left out. Do not want to drink alcohol? Bring along a few bottles of seltzer. I do this often. It feels good to take care of myself and nobody minds. Do not leave your health to chance. Remember the adage: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

7. Do not eat diet food: How do diet food companies keep us shelling out dough for more diet food? They put chemicals and addictive ingredients in them that make us hooked! I am talking about ingredients like MSG, and many forms of addictive sugars like corn syrup and sucrose. Even NutraSweet has been proven to be a neurostimulant linked to stimulating appetite. Also, studies have shown that when people eat a diet food they feel like they can get away with eating more and end up overeating!

8. Avoid Sugar: The average American now consumes approximately 115 lbs. of sugar per year. Sugar is extremely addictive and it offers very few health benefits. There is no such thing as having only a little (have you noticed?)! If you like things sweet, like I do, try a truly healthy substitute: Stevia. Stevia Extract comes from the Stevia Rebaudiana plant and has been used traditionally for hundreds of years. It is sugar free and calorie free, and has no bitter aftertaste. It even comes in packets, just like Equal or Splenda (both of which have unhealthy side effects.) You can get Stevia at any health food store. I buy it in liquid form with a dropper. Just a few drops in my herbal tea or yogurt and I am happy!

9. Go Raw: I could write pages on the benefits of eating raw foods (fresh green beans instead of cooked or canned; raw, uncooked almonds instead of Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds). Besides the obvious nutritional benefits, another good reason to go is that your body has to work harder to process raw foods, thus burning more calories. In addition, raw foods have far more nutrients than cooked foods. Raw foods often take longer to eat so your body has time to feel sated: try a spinach salad instead of creamed spinach with your meal.

10. Do not go too long without eating: This is self-care 101! You listen to your children when they are hungry, why not yourself? The fact is, when you wait too long to eat your next meal, you are causing your adrenal glands to panic, believing your body is in starvation mode. Then when you do eat, they do not get the message when you have had enough. They are still attempting to save your life by causing you to believe you need to eat more. Take care of yourself! The biggest irony ever is that compulsive eaters do not know how to feed themselves

Tricia Greaves is the founder of Be Totally Free!, a non-profit organization helping others overcome emotional eating, eating disorders and various addictions. For a free 20 minute consultation, email Tricia at tricia@betotallyfree.com or call 310-281-8831. http://www.betotallyfree.com