By: Rebecca Vitali

Everyone is thinking about diet this time of year. Time to think about bathing suit weather. To have a healthy diet, consume your food from the four basic food groups. Think about eating them in proper proportions and you will lose weight. If you are an average person, not too large or too small, you will most likely consume about 2000-2500 calories a day. The best proportions are 50% of your calories will be carbohydrates, 30% will come from fat (some fat is good for you) and 20% will come from lean proteins.

Carbohydrates are the main source of compounds needed for energy. Simple sugars, such as glucose and fructose, are rapidly broken down in the intestine and absorbed. Some processing starts the minute they hit your tongue. Complex carbohydrates – starches, such as those found in potatoes – take longer, but are also healthy in moderation.

Fats have a bad rap. Fats are chemically on par with carbohydrates. They contain fatty acids that are essential to health. When you consume Proteins they are lysed (split) in order to create amino acids. The amino acids are then recombined to make up the proteins used in muscles and other parts of the body.

Meat is a valid and healthy source of protein for almost everyone. About 3 ounces per meal is about right for the average sized person. A cup of pasta is a good source of carbohydrates. Two cups of leafy green vegetables supply fiber, minerals and vitamins.

A balanced meal can be made up of a serving of meat or other protein source, starchy carbohydrates such as pasta, rice, corn or potatoes, and fruit. Easy on the butter or margarine, go light on cheese, sauces and anything high in sugar or fat.

Fat contains nine calories per gram, which is double than other energy sources. Thus, you need to keep those foods high in fat down to modest levels. That also helps control cholesterol levels.

Carbohydrates, on the other hand have just four calories per gram. Some of our favorites are fruits (strawberries, apples, pears), nuts (pistachios, macadamia, walnuts. Try to avoid fatty peanuts or cashews) and grains (they supply fiber and minerals).

Why is candy bad, unless consumed in very modest portions? Because they are designed to be high in fat, high in sugar with much lower amounts of helpful nutrients. Neither fat nor sugar are harmful in moderation. Indeed, they’re essential to good health. But when consumed in a form that contains an excessive proportion, they provide enormous calories and fewer other nutrients.

If you create a list of items that you consume daily, it will show you the amount of helpful nutrients broken down into how many calories each contains. There are numerous calculators that can help you put a little math into your diet plan. This information will aide you in reducing the other number you obsess over – what shows on your scale in morning.

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Back in the day they called it “roughage” and still then it was understood how fundamental this important nutrient was to our healthiness. The indigestible part of plant foods is called fiber. It is critical in that it helps to push food through our digestive systems. It will take up the water in our systems and make certain that the waste is removed in a timely and comfortable way.

Numerous of us do not get enough of this valuable nutrient in our diets. The recommended daily intake of fiber is 20 to 35 grams yet the average American will only get about 12 to 15 grams a day. Surprisingly many people in Asian countries eat up to 70 grams of fiber per day.

Fiber can be classified into the 2 diverse categories of soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Both types are undigested and as a result they are not absorbed into the bloodstream. Rather than being used for energy, fiber is just excreted from our bodies. Soluble fiber forms a gel when mixed with a liquid, while insoluble fiber does not. Insoluble fiber moves through our intestines mainly intact.

The functions of insoluble fiber are to push bulk through the intestines and to control and balance|maintain equilibrium of/spin] the pH acidity in the intestines. This kind of fiber promotes regular bowel functions and prevents constipation. Insoluble fiber can be found in vegetables such as dark leafy greens and green beans along with fruit skins and root vegetable skins, whole-wheat products, seeds and nuts.

If you have ever taken a psyllium supplement for constipation you will notice that it forms a gel when mixed with a liquid. That is a property of soluble fiber. Part of the function of soluble fiber is to prolong the time it takes to empty the stomach and make sure that the sugars are released and absorbed more slowly. It can also lower the total cholesterol and the LDL cholesterol, which is the bad type. Because of that it helps in dropping the risk of heart disease. It has also been indicated that soluble fiber can help regulate blood sugar, which can be a huge benefit for those with diabetes.

You can find soluble fiber in oats and oat bran, dried peas and beans, barley, nuts, flax seeds, fruits like oranges and apples and pysllium husk. Soluble fiber can be dissolved in water. It is critical to intensify your water intake as you raise your fiber intake because your body will require the additional water in order to help with the removal of the excess fiber.

Food labels will specify the total of total fiber per portion yet they will seldom discern between the two types of fiber. It is easiest to accomplish the recommended daily amounts of fiber by consuming a healthful diet that is rich in high fiber vegetables, fruits and whole grains. A astonishing source of fiber even for plant foods is the acai berry. Two different research groups determined that the dietary fiber content of the freeze-dried powder form of the acai berry was between 25-44% of the total mass.

Fiber is an key ingredient of the diet and it does supply numerous health benefits. Eating balanced meals and snacks consisting of fresh vegetables, fresh fruits and whole grains will guarantee that you are meeting the correct recommend allowances.

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Vegetables are essential to the human diet. The latest recommendation from dieticians is a minimum of five serves of vegetables per day. The truth is we can get the majority of our daily vitamin and mineral content from vegetables.

We need to ensure that how we prepare them does not wash away vitamin contents and benefits of consumption.

Cooking vegetables can be a bit tricky. Over cooking can make vegetables bland and soggy. My belief is that vegetables should not be boiled. Boiling not only robs us of vitamin content, it is the main culprit in turning vegetables to a lifeless, tasteless mass.

If we cannot boil, what do we do?

Steaming vegetables is always a good choice. This will leave vegetables full of life. They will be crisp and colorful. It will also not deplete the vegetables of their vitamin content.

It is a speedy method of cooking also. By rule of thumb, vegetables will only need a few minutes in the steam. In some cases you may be able to steam your vegetables on the table and immediately serve them up.

For those who do not have purpose made vegetable steamers, an easy steamer can be fashioned out a of pot, a metal colander, and a pot lid.

Place a small amount of water in the bottom of a given pot. Fit the metal colander into the pot. Start to boil the water. You will begin the see the steam rise. Place your vegetables into the metal colander and place the pot lid over the metal colander and pot. This collection of kitchen items will allow you to steam vegetables as good as any fancy store bought steamer.

Another good option is to cook your vegetables in a wok. The secret to the wok is that it cooks quickly at a very high temperature. Vegetables retain their flavors, textures, and colors with very small amount of vitamin loss.

My favorite wok recipe for vegetables is to cook broccoli, carrots, bok choy, and snow peas in a very light chilli sauce. The vegetables remain crisp and the herb adds just the right amount of flavoring. This combination can be served with any cut of meat including chicken, beef, pork, lamb or fish.

I hope you will see that secret to cooking vegetables is not to over cook. Vegetables need to remain crisp and full of color. As you learn different tricks to bringing your vegetables to life, these will become the most requested dishes on your dinner table.

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