Donna L Brogan.com

Do you know the important things you should know about healthy living, such as how to handle your food while preparing it, how to help your family enjoy certain foods, how to get your family involved in the every day style of healthy living?  How about the pitfalls of dieting, certain diseases caused by dieting and very important dieting along with exercise?  Well read on and find out all these things and much more.

Diet and Exercise

Nutrition and physical activity combine for us to have healthy bodies.  Exercise is going to give us fitness along with four major things: flexibility, strength, muscle endurance, and cardiovascular health.

Diet on its own is not going to be able to give you this.  You need to have the physical part as well.  One thing to remember is that a bad diet can affect the way that your fitness training goes even if you follow the best type of exercise plan that you can.

You need to put a healthy diet and a lot of exercise together to stay as healthy as you can.    The average amount of exercise is 20 minutes per day at least three times a week.  This will help to strengthen the cardiovascular health.

Another idea is 3500 calories must be used in a week by doing any sort of physical activity. This will benefit you and your heart as well. It is a good idea to speak to your doctor first to find out what exercise plan is going to be best for you and your body.

The energy nutrients that are stored, glucose and fatty acids, along with a few amino acids, enter into the bloodstream during exercise in order to provide you energy. This means that the body will respond to exercise by adjusting its fuel amounts.

There is also a way to use diet to control high blood pressure. Doctors are also finding out that exercise has a role in keeping blood pressure from ever increasing.  By reducing sodium, weight loss, limited alcohol use, a low fat diet, along with the increased amount of physical activity, a person can control their hypertension.

To build muscle in the body  proteins are used.   This is true when the body is at rest after exercise or any other type of physical activity. There is research that has shown that athletes will retain more protein and use more of  it as fuel for their body.

The American Dietetic Association has said that one gram protein per kilogram of body weight is recommended for people that do not exercise at all.  For the athletes, the amounts are going to be higher.  It should be considered that athletes also need more carbohydrates as well.  If they do not take in enough carbs, their protein will be used up for fuel and there will not be anything left for muscle building after exercise is done.

There is increasing evidence that weight bearing exercises such as walking, dancing, and running are very good for achieving good bone health.  Swimming can also be included as a good exercise.  These exercises alone cannot make your body healthy.  You must have proper calcium and other vitamins and minerals.  Diet can help keep your body working good and in the right mode for the rest of your life.

Family Dieting

It is true that it is hard to diet on your own.  You can turn to things like exercise classes, support groups, and even a partner.  Some like to go to special health clubs to get the help that they are looking for.  But wait, you may be forgetting an important thing, you have your family there with you to lean on and get great support from.

Families will come together to work through just about anything.  They can work through tragedies and successes.  You should involve your family in the dieting process as well.  Be sure to check with your doctor first before involving your family members in a group diet.

One of the best ways to get over temptation is to create a healthier environment.  When you get the junk food out of your sight and out of the house, you will be able to feel better because it won’t be tempting you anymore.  You have heard the expression “out of sight out of mind“.

Getting your whole family involved, will not only helpYOU diet but will help everyone in the house get into shape and live a healthy life.  At first, there may be some resistance to this idea, but you can all pull together and get this moving in the right direction that will benefit everyone and even pave the way to have a bonding with the whole family.

Finding diet activities that everyone can participate in can be a challenge. However, it will be worth the time and effort.

Cook together as a family and give your children the special skill that they will need to make healthier choices for their diet.  You can learn to cook healthier and find the good tasting and nutritious recipes that are going to be easy to make and fun as well.

You can also get the whole family involved in exercise. This is very important to do and helps parents bond with their children.  Get outdoors and play some games. Choose your favorite sports and get down to business.  This is fun for everyone and when the kids and the adults are having fun together as a family, everyone is growing together and getting healthier at the same time.

The last thing that you can do is learn about nutrition together.  There are different books  and videos that are helpful towards children and available for  learning about the food pyramid and other health concerns.

These books and videos are also a great place for adults to start the learning experience.  You can encourage your children to ask the doctor or the school nurses any questions that they may have.  You can incorporate eating healthy in your child’s science project too.

Family dieting can be fun and good for everyone’s health. Children that learn how healthy habits can help them from early on are less likely to make unhealthy choices in the future like smoking or drinking alcohol.  Work together as a family in the battle of the bulge.  EVERYONE WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS.

Diabetics

When you have diabetes it does not mean that you have to eat bland food for the rest of your life.  You do although need to learn what is going to be good for you as well as what  is bad for you.

You need to create a healthy diet that will keep your life healthy and give you the nutrients that your body needs to keep heart disease away.

What is really bad for the diabetic is what would be bad for everyone else also.  This would be a diet that is high in fat, salt, sugar and the over processed foods that you can find.  These sorts of foods are often filled with poly-saturated fats or trans fat, which cannot be burned off through exercise will clog up the arteries.

Having diabetes can increase your chances of getting heart disease, stroke, and other heart problems that can lead to future complications.

This does not mean that you have to cut out the fat forever. Fats are healthy and necessary.  It is very important if you have diabetes to know which fats and foods are good for you and which fats are harmful for you.  Fats are found mostly in processed foods.

Due to the fact that they can help decrease the risk of sudden heart attack, omega³ fatty acids, found mostly in fish, are very good for diabetics.  When you are working on your diet, you need to remember that you can still have some sugars and fats but in lower amounts.

It is important for diabetics to control their intake of carbohydrates because an excess of these turn to sugar in your body, thus affecting the body’s  blood sugar levels.  Diabetics can learn about how to count their carbs from nutritionists or many books that have been published on that subject.

When you are a diabetic it does not mean that you have to limit your diet to foods that have no taste.  You can still have the foods that you want as long as you keep the portions under control.

It is about taking control so that you are not eating more than what your body can process.  That is the diet that every person should follow to be healthy and happy .

Dining Out and Dieting

Dining out when you are on a diet is very stressful.  This is especially true for people that love to eat.  It may seem like torture and make a person not want to stay on their diet.  There is no reason why you have to give up dining out all together.  Remember that a diet is going to boost your health.

When you are going out to eat at a restaurant the menu may get you all worked up and could be a temptation.  You need to relax and think about eating your favorite salad or soup before turning to eat the main entrée.  Sometimes you have to watch though what type of soup and salads you are eating.

Some are rich in calories and can leave you feeling even hungrier than you were before. Try to take on things like a broth or vegetable soup.  Choose a salad with lemon and always ask for the dressing on the side.  More often than not, restaurants will give you more than just one serving size.

It is easy to have guilty pleasures with food when you are eating at a restaurant.  Many of the restaurants will have options for those that are dieting but it can still be hard to pass up the tempting calories.

You can make your meal healthier with a few things.  One example is to order a side salad instead of the fries that most likely come with the meal.  You can also order low fat cheese when ordering a burger or better yet, no cheese.

The sauces for a lot of people are hard to resist.  They are a large source of fat that you may not even notice.  A good idea is to remember that the creamy sauces are worse for your diet.

Always ask for your dressings and sauces on the side.  This will help to not eat more sauce or dressing than you need for that particular dish.

Having quality control is very important.  Restaurants will bring you a larger portion than what you need most of the time so ask for a child’s portion.  There is a saying in dieting, “always leave a little on your plate“.  If you do this your dining out experience can become as safe as your home dinner experience.

You can also share your meals with your dining partner, or take the rest of the meal home for the next day.  You do not have to go off your diet just because you are dining out.  Keep it under control and you will have no problems dining out and can continue eating foods that are good for you, and tasty at the same time.

How to Get Picky Eaters to Eat Healthy Foods

When you have children, one of the biggest challenges is making sure that your child eats all of the food that he or she needs to grow into a healthy adult.  Healthy eating is important from birth!

If you have a child, then you also know that getting your young one to eat healthy foods is many times met with resistance. A child must be given the correct foods from the beginning and as with other teachings the child will grow up knowing the correct way to eat.

Get your children to help you in the kitchen.  Children as young as three and four love to help with simple things like stirring and pouring, while older children can learn to crack eggs, measure ingredients, and teens can even help to cut vegetables and cook entire meals.

This is also a good time to start teaching your child about nutrition and what is good and bad for them.  Children also love to eat foods that they have helped to cook.  Make sure you let them know how proud of  their accomplishments you are. Tell them how good it tastes (even if it isn’t the best thing you have tasted).

Another great way to get a child to eat healthy foods is to look for kid-friendly options. For example, if your child is not getting enough dairy foods, try low-fat string cheese.  It is a healthy snack option that is also very fun to eat! Crackers come in kid-friendly shapes.  Some cookbooks have great recipes for children to fix.

If you are extremely worried about your child getting enough of the proper nutrients he or she needs for daily life, you can find vitamin supplements to help your child’s diet.  A number of  brands makes vitamins that come in fun shapes and sizes so that you can convince your child to take them. There are also drinks and other enriched foods you can give to your child in order to make sure they get all of the nutrients they need.

The bottom line is that you need to make sure that your child is staying safe and healthy, no matter how picky they may be. If your child refuses to eat a specific food, they  may just simply not like that food, and you should provide another choice. NEVER force your child to eat a food they really do not like.

However, if your child is just refusing lots of foods, you must be firm about eating nutritious foods.  This could lead to more serious eating habits in their teen years, such anorexia, bulimia and binge eating ( as talked about below).

Be sure to educate yourself about what your child really needs and talk to your pediatrician in order to find out the proportions and types of foods that your child should be eating.

Could You Have A Disease Caused By Dieting?

Do you have a self esteem problem? Someone always putting you down, calling you names, telling you that you are fat?   Would you really think that there could be diseases caused by dieting?    That’s right, DIETING.

These illnesses are called eating disorders.  There are three main types — anorexia, bulimia and binge eating.  Approximately 2 million people in the United States suffer from one of these disorders.  Eating disorders can affect both males and females, as well as people of any race, ethnicity, or age.

Most commonly, victims of eating disorders are teens. Many people die every year due to complications with eating disorders.  If you or someone you know suffers from this problem, seek help IMMEDIATELY.

1.  Anorexia - Anorexia occurs when someone is overly concerned with weight and simply refuses to eat. Someone suffering from this disease usually tries to hide it by discarding the food without anyone knowing, cutting the food into small pieces to make it look smaller, or lying about skipping entire meals.

Anorexia is dangerous because it does not allow a person to lose weight in a healthy way. Cutting fat out of a diet is fine, but not getting enough proteins, vitamins, minerals, water, and other nutrients can make your body lose muscle weight and weaken.

A person with anorexia will be more likely to participate in a grueling physical exercise in order to try to keep from gaining weight, which is their greatest fear.   The excessive weight loss that anorexics usually have will cause hormonal disturbances, bad bone health and many other  health problems in the future.

2.  Bulimia – With this disease the patient has an overwhelming urge not to eat but won’t have the power to give up food. They will have repeated episodes of binging in a very short amount of time.  The patients of bulimia are going to be very afraid of obesity and this will lead them to do self-induced vomiting in order to get the food out of their body.

Patients will also take laxatives, diuretics, do strict fasting, and dieting of any kind.  Like bulimics, they will participate in hard physical exercises to prevent weight gain.

These are all going to be hard on the heart and kidney functions as well as the digestive system, throat and mouth and will be robbing the body of key nutrients needed to function correctly.

3.  Binge Eating - This is a combination of anorexia and bulimia. A binge eater will, like a bulimic, not deprive themselves from food.  In fact, someone who is a binge eater will eat enormous amounts of food in a single sitting, and often these foods are not high in nutritional value.

Instead of vomiting, a binge eater will then refuse to eat at all and exercise rigorously for a day or two, but then slip into a binge once again. This leads to major problems with weight.

The real reasons behind  these disorders have not been found yet.  Health experts believe that biological, nutritional and psychological causes combined will lead to these disorders.

Social and environmental causes like puberty, a death in the family or any other stress related reason could lead to these disorders also.

There can be no one effective treatment for these disorders.  Medication may be used to help treat depression and there is counseling that can help as well.

Having the support of family is most important.  All of these diseases are dangerous and life threatening to anyone.  If you are or know someone that is suffering from any one of these disorders, help must be found IMMEDIATELY.

Healthy Shopping

Healthy eating starts with one key activity – healthy shopping. When you head to the grocery store, it is easy to pick up lots of foods that are bad for our bodies without even realizing it. Shopping for a healthy diet can be difficult if you do not know how to do so, but with these tips, you should find it easier to do the next time you head to the grocery store.

1.  Have a plan before you ever leave your house. Use the sales fliers to check out the great products that are on sale and take an inventory of your pantry and refrigerator to see what foods you need to purchase.

Make a list of all the foods you’ll need and stick to that list. Allow yourself one or two compulsory buys, but otherwise stay to the ingredients you’ll need to cook healthy meals for the rest of the week. Before you leave, review your list and take out any unnecessary junk food.

2.  Shop for a week at a time, or even longer if you have a large freezer. When you have to run to the grocery store every day, you are more likely to pick up junk food items every time you make a trip, and before you know it, your snack supply will be overflowing. You can shop for a week or two in advance by taking a day to plan meals for the week and packaging fresh product to be frozen.

When you’re shopping, it is also important to read the label. Try to avoid purchasing brand name items simply because they are brand name or store brand items simply because they are less expensive.

Actually look at the product’s nutritional value and try to get the most nutrients for your money. When you eat higher quality foods, you’ll feel more full and, in turn, eat less, so this really is the best way to bargain shop.

If you are shopping just for yourself, you should also consider picking up a basket at the door instead of getting a shopping cart. If you have a small basket, you simply won’t have room for chocolate brownies and ice cream with your load of other foods, so you’ll pass them by.

3.  Don’t forget to consider drinks into your healthy shopping plan. Most people don’t realize it, but sodas, punches, and beers can have many empty calories and are generally bad drink choices. Instead, look at the labels and choose diet drinks, water and sports drinks, or natural fruit juices.

With these tips, healthy eating—and shopping—should be much easier!

Food born Illnesses: Prevention for Healthy Eating

Eating healthy foods will help you to boost your immune system, but what if it’s the foods themselves making you sick? Foodborn illness can cause food poisoning and a variety of other more dangerous diseases, so they are a real threat to our bodies. Luckily, there are a number of things you can do to prevent foodborn illnesses. Following safety tips when handling, preparing, and storing food is very important.

First and foremost, you should be concerned with the temperature of your foods. When cooking meat, make sure to use a thermometer in order to be sure that your meat is at the proper inside temperature.

Some meats, like beef, can be served rare safely, but proper temperatures are crucial in order to kill any bacteria that may be growing on the meat.  Burgers and other loaf meats that have been ground and formed into patties, you should not be eaten rare. The bacteria may be found on the inside of the meat as well as on the outside.  You are at risk if you do not cook these meats for a long period of time to kill any bacteria.

After your food is cooked, you should continue to monitor temperature. Simply put, keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Hot foods should be kept at temperatures above 140° Fahrenheit, while cold foods should be kept at temperatures below 40° Fahrenheit. The range between that is where bacteria can grow. When letting food cool for refrigeration, place in the refrigerator after no more than two hours, and when thawing meals, do so in a bowl or pan in the refrigerator, rather than at room temperature.

Cross contamination is a huge culprit when you are concerned with preventing illness. Cross contamination is basically the moving of bacteria from one dish to another. This happens when you use dirty cutting boards, don’t wash your dishes properly, and use the same utensil for all of your foods.  For example, if you use a knife to cut raw chicken and then use that same knife to cut your food after it has been cooked, some of the bacteria from the raw chicken has probably remained on the knife, which can make you very ill. Make sure that you are using a clean work space and clean tools whenever you cook.

Along with using a clean environment, you should make sure that you are washing your hands regularly. Every time you touch raw foods, you should use disinfecting hand soap and hot water to make sure that no bacteria remains on your hands. Making sure that your food is safe is one of the most important parts of healthy eating, so don’t overlook this step the next time you prepare a meal.

Hate Exercising? Some Workout Tips for You

If you’re anything like me, you wouldn’t consider exercising your favorite pastime. In fact, some people downright hate exercising. However, exercising is a crucial part of a healthy lifestyle, and without it you definitely will not be able to lose weight. There are certain tips, however, for learning to love exercising, even if you truly hate it.

First, try finding some exercises that you like to do. Of course, you should work out all of your body, but if you absolutely hate doing one kind of exercise, then look for another to take its place. You don’t have to do crunches to strengthen your core muscles. You don’t have to do lunges to work out your lower body. You don’t even have to run – you can replace it with cycling or swimming. Find the exercise you like to do and your workout will seem more enjoyable right away.

You can also find other activities you like to do and make them work for your body. For example, if you like working on your garden, try doing some exercising surrounding raking or mow your yard by hand.  If you enjoy the winter weather, you can try ice skating or sledding with friends. No matter what you like to do, you can find ways to get some exercise. Thanks to the introduction of the Wii and games like Dance Revolution, you can even combine video games and exercise.

Another great tip to liking exercise is to find a training partner. When you work out together, you can help one another stay motivated, even if you don’t absolutely love exercising. With a partner, you can have fun as well, trying things like tennis or challenging one another to meet certain goals. Trainers can also provide this for you, as well as show you new and fun exercises to help you avoid getting bored or feeling overwhelmed at the gym.

Lastly, try taking some classes. Exercise classes are a great way to meet new people, learn new exercises, stay motivated, and above all, have fun. Most gyms offer low-cost or free exercise classes with membership or you can check out options at your local community center or YMCA.

Staying motivated if you hate exercising can be hard, but set goals and don’t quit. You need to exercise as well as diet if you really want to lose weight. Make exercise fun and it won’t seem like such a chore.

Dear Diary

When you’re trying to lose weight, one of the smartest and easiest steps you can take is to keep a food diary. A food diary is just like what it sounds – a notebook in which you record your daily food intake. You can track of a number of things in your food diary or you can keep it simple, but in either case, this is a great way in which to help yourself stick to a weight loss plan.

There are several types of information you can record in your food diary. First, consider just listing your daily menu. This will help you actually see what you eat on any given day and notice patterns of unhealthy eating that you never considered before. Some like to also record calories, protein, fiber, fat, and other nutrients. Portion size may be recorded as well.  If you truly want to use a diary, you can also list the reasons you’re eating other than hunger, the cravings you experience, and your feelings about your diet on any given day. It’s your diary, so do what is right for you.

When you start a food diary, keep in mind that you don’t have to keep a traditional journal by the bed with a lock and key. You can use whatever kind of recording and writing tools you like best. For some people, the traditional journal or just a plain notebook works fine. You can also keep a food diary on your computer. Simply open up a word processing program and keep the icon on your desktop. Others like to use Excel or other data entry programs, which help quiet a lot when it comes to adding totals at the end of the day. Yu can keep your food diary on a laptop or palm pilot, or slip a notebook into your bag during the day—whatever works best for your lifestyle.

Remember to update your food diary every day and review it at the end of each week in order to track your progress. You may wish to note in your diary when you hit certain weight loss goals or when you gain weight.   You need to do this  in order to look for causes of certain eating habits. You can show your diary to professionals to make sure that you are staying healthy as well. Food diaries work great for many people, so you should consider starting one today in order to lose the most weight possible.

An Easy Way Out of Exercising?  Gastric Bypass Surgery

For people consumed with losing weight, surgery may seem like an easy option.  Gastric bypass surgery has helped a number of people and has come to light in recent years due to a number of celebrities receiving this procedure.  Although  gastric bypass surgery may seem like an easy way to shed unwanted pounds, it is actually a very serious weight loss method and is not for most people. You should only consider gastric bypass surgery if you are significantly overweight and need to lose the weight for medical reasons rather than for cosmetic reasons.

Gastric bypass, which is also known as stapling one’s stomach, works by decreasing the amount of food that can be held in the stomach. You lose weight because the food bypasses a part of the small intestine and decreases stomach size, which means that you physically can’t eat as much without vomiting. You also don’t absorb calories as readily, allowing these foods to leave the body naturally.

Before you choose gastric bypass surgery, you should consider all other options. First, try losing weight on your own using diet and exercise. This requires lots of will power, but is much easier and safer than gastric bypass surgery. You can also talk to your doctor about medications that could possibly help you lose weight and alternative therapy techniques, like acupuncture and hypnosis.

If you and your doctor do decide that gastric bypass surgery is right for you, start by losing some weight on your own. The more weight you can lose through diet and exercise, the easier the surgery will be on your body. You should follow all of your doctor’s recommendations at this point to ready yourself for surgery.

After the surgery, you will also need to continue diet control and exercise, complete physical therapy, and take any prescriptions your doctor tells you to take.  The work you do after the surgery will help you to lose the weight you want to lose, and this work is not easy.

Gastric bypass surgery simply isn’t for everyone. Statistics show that as many as 10% of the people receiving gastric bypass surgery have medical complications, and even though these risks are decreasing with new technology, this is still a danger. Side effects could include infection, hernia, ulcers, blood clots, complications during the surgery, and even death. Make sure this is what you really need before you decide to go through with any type of procedure to help you lose weight.