See what Pru and I are up to in our Daughter and Dad Podcast Episode #5.
If you enjoy the podcast, hit the subscribe button and never miss an episode.
Tag: healthy eating
Today’s Health Tip ~ Eat the Rainbow for Good Heath
Focus on the Color of Your Food
One easy way to spruce up a simple dish and make it a mindful exercise is to be aware of the colors going into your recipe. Eating food that’s a monochromatic beige is way less interesting than eating a dash of green, a shock of red, and a burst of yellow.
Adding color to your meals brings your senses into the experience. Your eyes get to engage and enjoy the food as much as your mouth does. As a bonus, eating your colors also ensures you’re getting varied nutrition and a range of phytonutrients. Red, purple, yellow, blue, and even white foods all offer a variety of vitamins and minerals our bodies need. Certain colors in foods may even help prevent disease.. Next time you’re making a spinach omelet, take a moment to notice how satisfying it is to your sense of sight to throw in the vibrant red of a cherry tomato and the crumbly white of a bit of feta cheese.
An integral part of mindfulness is enjoying the beauty in simple, everyday things. Focusing on the color of your food is one way to attenuate the senses to the sensual pleasure of mealtime.
Today’s Health Tip ~ Are Pears a Healthy Choice?
Pears Are a Super Healthy Choice
A medium-sized pear (178 grams) provides the following nutrients:
-
- Calories: 101
- Protein: 1 gram
- Carbs: 27 grams
- Fiber: 6 grams
- Vitamin C: 12% of the
Daily Value (DV) - Vitamin K: 6% of DV
- Potassium: 4% of the DV
- Copper: 16% of DV
This same serving also provides small amounts of folate, provitamin A, and niacin. Folate and niacin are important for cellular function and energy production, while provitamin A supports skin health and wound healing.
Pears are likewise a rich source of important minerals, such as copper and potassium. Copper plays a role in immunity, cholesterol metabolism, and nerve function, whereas potassium aids muscle contractions and heart function.
What’s more, these fruits are an excellent source of polyphenol antioxidants, which protect against oxidative damage. Be sure to eat the whole pear, as the peel boasts up to six times more polyphenols than the flesh.
Today’s Health Tip ~ Are You Too Concerned with Eating Healthy?
It is Possible to be too Concerned with Eating Healthy
In recent years, researchers have recognized that people can become overly fixated on healthy eating, to the point where it could become detrimental to their well-being. A new term has emerged for this behavior: orthorexia nervosa. “Orthorexia” literally means “proper appetite.” This describes a pathological obsession with eating “clean” or “healthy” food.
People living with orthorexia engage in restrictive or ritualized eating behaviors and avoid certain foods that don’t fall within their definition of “clean” or “healthy.” These diets can be so strict that they impact the physical or mental health of the people who follow them.
Psychologist Kasey Goodpaster explains that the line between a commitment to healthy eating and orthorexia really lies with the ability — or inability — to practice moderation, and whether the drive to eat healthily creates distress. “Eating is so complex that it is downright impossible to be perfect,” Dr. Goodpaster notes. “A more sustainable, healthy lifestyle comes from recognizing that deviating from intentions to eat in a particular manner is completely normal and not a sign of personal failure.”
Today’s Health Tip ~ Eating Slower Is a Healthy Option
Slow the Pace – The Food Will Wait for You
The pace at which you eat influences how much you eat, as well as how likely you are to gain weight. Studies comparing different eating speeds show that fast eaters are much more likely to eat more and have a higher body mass index (BMI) than slow eaters. Your appetite, how much you eat, and how full you get are all controlled by hormones. Hormones signal to your brain whether you’re hungry or full. However, it takes about 20 minutes for your brain to receive these messages. That’s why eating more slowly may give your brain the time it needs to perceive that you’re full. Studies have confirmed this, showing that eating slowly may reduce the number of calories you consume at meals and help you lose weight. Eating slowly is also linked to more thorough chewing, which has also been linked to improved weight control. So, simply eating slower and chewing more often may help you eat less.
Today’s Health Tip ~ 10 Healthy Eating Tips
10 Tips for Healthy Eating
1. Choose good carbs, not no carbs. Whole grains are your best bet.
2. Pay attention to the protein package. Fish, poultry, nuts, and beans are the best choices.
3. Choose foods with healthy fats, limit foods high in saturated fat, and avoid foods with trans fat. Plant oils, nuts, and fish are the healthiest sources.
4. Choose a fiber-filled diet, rich in whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.
5. Eat more vegetables and fruits. Go for color and variety—dark green, yellow, orange, and red.
6. Calcium is important. But milk isn’t the only, or even best, source.
7. Water is best to quench your thirst. Skip the sugary drinks, and go easy on the milk and juice.
8. Eating less salt is good for everyone’s health. Choose more fresh foods and fewer processed foods.
9. Moderate drinking can be healthy—but not for everyone. You must weigh the benefits and risks.
10. A daily multivitamin is a great nutrition insurance policy. Some extra vitamin D may add an extra health boost.
🍎 Health Hack ~ Eating & Exercise – Keys to Feeling Great
Eating healthy is important to not only your physical health, but your mental well-being too. Incorporating a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy foods, and lean meats, poultry, and fish into your diet can help you stay healthy and energized. Along with exercising regularly and getting enough sleep, eating a well-balanced diet can do wonders for your mental well-being.
🍎 Health Hack ~ How to Choose the Best Kale
Choose smaller-leaved kale for tenderness and mild flavor, especially if you plan to eat the greens raw. Coarse, oversized leaves are tough. Look for moist, crisp, unwilted kale, unblemished by tiny holes, which indicate insect damage. The leaves should not be yellowed or brown. Kale stems are edible, so check to be sure that this part of the plant is also in good condition.
🍎 Health Hack ~ 10 Tips to Live a Longer Life
Tips for a Longer Life
No matter what your age, you have the power to change many of the variables that influence how long you live, and how active and vital you feel in your later years. Actions you can take to increase your odds of a longer and more satisfying life span are really quite simple:
- Don’t smoke.
- Enjoy physical and mental activities every day.
- Eat a healthy diet rich in whole grains, vegetables, and fruits, and substitute healthier monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats for unhealthy saturated fats and trans fats.
- Take a daily multivitamin, and be sure to get enough calcium and vitamin D.
- Maintain a healthy weight and body shape.
- Challenge your mind. Keep learning and trying new activities.
- Build a strong social network.
- Follow preventive care and screening guidelines.
- Floss, brush, and see a dentist regularly.
- Ask your doctor if medication can help you control the potential long-term side effects of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, osteoporosis, or high cholesterol.
Source: HarvardHealthBeat
🍎 Health Hack ~ Small Steps Yield Big Results
THINK SMALL
Often the biggest deterrent to improving health is feeling overwhelmed by all the available advice and research. Try to focus first on one small, seemingly inconsequential, unhealthy habit and turn it into a healthy, positive habit. If you’re in the habit of eating as soon as you get home at night, instead, keep walking shoes in the garage or entryway and take a quick spin around the block before going inside. If you have a can of soda at lunchtime every day, have a glass of water two days a week instead. Starting with small, painless changes helps establish the mentality that healthy change is not necessarily painful change. It’s easy to build from here by adding more healthy substitutions.
