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HOW MUCH PROTEIN DO I REALLY NEED

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To stay healthy, we need to eat a healthy diet that contains all food groups, our meals should contain more carbohydrates, protein, and fat they are also referred to as macronutrients. As long as you keep eating a healthy diet, you can get all the vitamins and nutrients you need.

You want to know how much protein you really need to stay healthy; Well any straight answer to this questioned can be argued on because there are a lot of factors to consider before stating the amount of protein a person needs but we all know that when you don’t get the right amount of protein your body needs; you are bound to fall sick. If you consume meals that are low in protein, your body finds a way to generate protein. Since muscles are made out of proteins, the body now breaks down some muscle and supply the protein gotten to other parts of the body.

protein food

This mode of generating protein is giving extra stress to some organs and not a healthy option for you.

Children who do not eat enough protein usually do not grow well and when adults to don’t eat enough protein; their muscles reduces and become weak not leaving out the heart which is a vital muscle to the body. When you lack protein your immunes do not function properly; every cell in your body becomes weak and these may lead to death.

Eating protein is very important if you want to stay healthy and alive. Proteins are called bodybuilding food as they help build and repair muscle tissues, bones, cartilage, skin, and blood; it is also responsible for hair and nail growth.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommends that the amount of protein needed by an adult man is 56grams, adult woman 46grams, and a pregnant woman 71grams every day. Harvard School of Public Health says it should be 9grams for every 20 lbs of weight for both men and women. Take for instance if you weigh 180 lb; then you need to take about 81grams of protein every day.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) gave some guidelines about dieting in which it was stated that if a person eats 2000 calories per day, it should contain 18% protein, 55% carbohydrates, and 29% fat. A recent study conducted by the International Journal OF Sports Nutrition states that people who do rigorous training must eat at least 1.6 to 1.7 grams per pound, this literarily means that if a person weighs 200 pounds he or she needs 140grams of protein every day. This means that it is appropriate for us to eat about 7grams to 9grams of protein per pound of body weight daily. Since most women have more body fat than men it would be best for them to eat 7-8 grams of protein.

Some healthy sources of protein are;

Healthy Protein Food Sources

  1. Lean meat: eat more healthy lean cuts of meat that are without fat. If you eat chicken or turkey, it is best you peel off the skin.
  2. Fish is also a healthy source of protein because it contains low fat and cholesterol. it also contains Omega-3 fatty acid which is healthy for the heart.
  3. Eggs and most importantly egg whites: Egg whites contain proteins alone, it is the best source of fat and cholesterol-free protein.
  4. Dairy products: eat low-fat cheese, milk, and yogurt. Cottage cheese is a very healthy source of protein and can be added to meals if you don’t like the texture.
  5. Legumes such as peas, beans, lentils, and peanuts are also good sources of protein.
  6. Whole grains such as rye, wheat, rice, barley, and oat are very healthy too.
  7. Nuts especially almonds are very tasteful and a good source of fat and protein.

Protein cannot be stored in the body like fats and carbohydrates. It is usually used up immediately. It is not necessary to eat a lot of protein at once because too much protein that is not used will be processed into sugars and fatty acids. Therefore a moderate amount of protein is what you should consume.

protein supplements

Just so you know, taking protein supplements cannot make you fat instead it assists a person who is on a diet because the amino acids produced by the protein supplements in your body helps regulate your blood sugar levels. It is important you maintain a healthy body sugar level to prevent you from craving for food.

The post HOW MUCH PROTEIN DO I REALLY NEED appeared first on HealthBlog.


Good Carbs, Bad Carbs – How to Make The Right Choices

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In terms of carbohydrate in diets and how suitable they are health wise, it should interest you to know that the kind of carbohydrate you eat is actually much more important than the amount you eat. Carbohydrates perform relevant functions in the body like providing energy to our cells so we can freely carry out every of our daily activities. They supply the right nutrients to the body so our cells can function properly. If you do not have the right amount of nutrients gotten from carbohydrate, it will be very easy for diseases to attack you. The same thing happens if you lack any other nutrient.

What you really need to understand is how to identify the good carbs from the bad ones. Once you are able to understand the differences in carbs, you will realize that it is going to make a whole lot of difference. Do you want to know how to spot the difference between the good carbs and the bad carbs? Alright, stay close. The bad are the type of carbohydrate that causes the increase in blood sugar levels. They are popularly known as high glycemic foods.

Good Carbs, Bad Carbs

The glycemic index (GI) is a reliable test of carbohydrates and how they affect our blood sugar levels. If the blood contains a high level of glucose, the body releases a hormone called insulin. The insulin is to convert and store excess sugar in the blood in form of fat.

Do you know diabetes and obesity are caused as a result of the consumption of excess bad carbohydrates? If you are trying to trim down and also live a healthy life, you need to totally avoid all bad carbohydrates. Bad carbohydrates are normally processed and refined, and they also contain quite a number of additives. They include refined flour, bread, pasta and grains like white rice and table sugar.

Good Carbohydrates

Good Carbohydrates

You can get good carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables, Oats, Brown Rice, Seeds, Nuts, Quinoa, Chia, Whole Grain Breads, Whole Grain Pitas, Whole Grain Cereals and lots more. These good carbohydrates normally have low sugar and salt which are the three main enemies of the human body. Good carbohydrates such as fruit have complex sugars that cannot be absorbed directly into the body; making it impossible for your blood sugars to increase. Another thing you need to know is that Good carbohydrate foods usually contain fiber. It would be better if you replace the bad carbohydrates with the good ones in your diet in order to ensure that you stay healthy at all times.

Bad carbohydrates

bad carbohydrates

Theses group of carbohydrates are mostly gotten from refined foods, sweet snacks and desserts like candies, cookies, chips, doughnuts, brownies, Danish and the rest of them. These bad carbohydrates contain a lot of sugar. Not only that, some of the food may also contain fat, salt, and other calories. These bad carbohydrates have high calories as they burn off quickly and make you feel hungry. It is so unfortunate that most of the foods available in the western world are mostly comprised of bad carbohydrates.

The frequent consumptions of foods like pies, cookies, and cakes especially with people in the western world is an example of the consumption of bad carbohydrate. The frequent consumption of these kinds of products is not advisable as it only shows the consumption of meals with high sugar. Even the processing industries themselves share a part of the blame as well.

Considering the enlightenment of this article, it might leave you thinking about the fact that ‘how do you stop consuming the bad carbohydrate foods? This should not be a difficult thing, what you need to do is to simply stop buying these bad carbs. You can simply go through the list of bad carbohydrate food that has been stated above and checks your refrigerator and kitchen shelves for their likes. Whenever you go shopping at grocery stores, do not include these bad carbohydrate foods. Also, make sure that you take note of all the good carbohydrate listed above and add them to your shopping list. Be conscious of the kind of carbohydrate you eat and also avoid foods high in fat, sugar, and salt.

The post Good Carbs, Bad Carbs – How to Make The Right Choices appeared first on HealthBlog.

What Makes a Healthy Diet

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When people think of the appropriate way to eat in order to lose weight, many think it will be a strict diet that concentrates on the type of food you eat; how you eat, how to count calories and so on. You must have heard of different types of belly fat and weight loss diets like high protein and low carbohydrate intake, lemon diet, crash diets and lots more. If you must know, all these diets are not as healthy as they seem to be. Many times, they are not well created thereby making it unsuitable for some people.

What Is A Healthy Diet?

Healthy Diet

Basically, a healthy diet can be simply described as one that gives your body all the needed nutrients that it needs daily. Our body needs every food group it can get for it to be able to function properly. The most important of this food group consists of proteins, carbohydrates, and fat. The fact that our body needs these nutrients does not in any way mean that we can just take them the way we want. There are specific amounts we are allowed to consume daily though the percentages may vary due to the size, age or the gender of the individual. Therefore a healthy diet is one that contains macro-nutrients from all food groups in the right proportions.

The main aim of a healthy diet is not about losing weight but to help you attain and maintain a good health. The world health organization gave a list of five basic advice of a healthy diet and its includes;

healthy fresh diet

  1. Try to achieve a balance between energy and a healthy weight
  2. work towards unsaturated fat consumption as it seeks the elimination of trans-fatty acids
  3. increases consumption of fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts
  4. limits the intake of simple sugars
  5. Limits salt or sodium consumption from all sources and ensures that salt is iodized.

In a situation where you practice healthy dieting, you will realize that it helps you maintain good health and keeps all kinds of diseases at bay. Are you confused and do not know how to live a healthy lifestyle? Here are some tips for you. Take every healthy diet tips seriously and let it become part of your life. Don’t feel bad if you miss it sometimes, it will gradually become part of you.

I am not recommending a crash diet that will not work or other diets that may be efficient for a few weeks and voila! You are back to your former position. When you cook your meals, it is important for you to cook your food the right way because you learn to cook things with their natural juice, without adding fats and oils and cook on low heat.

Another important thing you can do is to include fish oils in your diet; they contain essential fat that is very good for the brain, concentration, and general coordination. Whenever you want to cook fish, be careful so you don’t kill the nutrients. Make sure you fry it on low heat so that you don’t destroy the omega-3 you need. Too much-saturated fat can increase your chances of developing a heart disease because it increases LDL cholesterol levels; you need to stop consuming them.

eliminate bad cholesterol

Try as much as you can to eliminate bad cholesterol from your diet. Bad cholesterol can cause you heart diseases and obesity. Check your cholesterol level and monitor it till it becomes normal and stable through a healthy diet. If your cholesterol level is on the high side, don’t expect it to normalize in a few days, because it didn’t accumulate in one day. Follow your diet strictly and reduce your intake of trans-fat, cholesterol and saturated fat. It is also important you drink a lot of water daily. Engage in exercises, make sure you follow the diet and cooking tips because doing exercise alone or the diet alone won’t work.

If you are thinking about what healthy diet you can follow, it is pretty simple. You need to go for a diet that works for you. Such diet can contain the foods you like and that have foods, meals, and recipes you can actually eat or prepare within your lifestyle.

The post What Makes a Healthy Diet appeared first on HealthBlog.

The Best Nutrition Advice and health tips

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All the nutritional advice given to us by our great-grandmothers have been abandoned we now stick to modern nutritional science. Have you not taken note of how people seem unaware of what to eat anymore? What you hear nowadays is questions on what is and what is not compliant.

What is health nutrition?

health nutrition

Health nutrition is defined as seeing what you consume as a way of improving your health. You should also know that whatever you eat has a lot to determine how healthy you are going to be. This tells you it is important you watch what you eat in order for you to stay healthy.

Eating becomes less complicated if you go back to the old way. Natural nutrition advice is simpler than most of the diet programs we embark on these days. What you need to do is eat all natural foods, most importantly, fruits and vegetables. It is quite easy.

The kind of food we eat has a strong effect on us. When we don’t consume the right nutrients our body requires, it can destroy our health and hinder us from achieving our aims in life. As humans, we have total control over what we eat. It’s obvious a lot of us are becoming more conscious of what we eat as we all know that a healthy diet is all we need to stay healthy and well.

Natural nutrition

To provide your body cells with the right nutrients you need start eating a healthy diet. The science of nutrition is all about understanding how your body breaks down and react to the things you eat. When you understand some basic rules of nutrition it helps you know that some health issues may not occur if you stick to a healthy diet. The science of nutrition studies the way our body cells digest and convert digested food into nutrients.

The science of human nutrition has gradually changed. A healthy diet is what is needed to maintain and enhance our health. A healthy diet consists of unprocessed food. In order to maintain a healthy diet, you should eat the right quantity of nutrients and drink a lot of water. To achieve this you need a balanced amount of carbohydrates, proteins, fat, vitamins and minerals.

The relevance of a healthy diet on our health can’t be quantified. To avoid heart diseases, cancer, and diabetes, it is important to maintain a healthy diet. A healthy diet also helps enhance your mental health. A lot of research has shown that consuming a healthy diet has positive effects on the memory and brain.

A healthy diet

healthy diet

Take, for instance, you have a plate of rice, with some vegetables and fruits add some protein such as meat, fish, and chicken and so on. This combination should give you the right nutrition. For you to maintain a healthy diet, the nutrients must be balanced that is every class of food must be present in the right proportion. Try as much as you can to avoid the consumption of too much of fat, sugar as well as salt. It is important for you to know that eating a healthy food and fluid is more important than calorie counting

A lot of diets and nutrition programs laid too much emphasis on calories. This is actually not the appropriate way to start your diet. Eating the right food naturally, eliminates the calories. Clean foods are used to dissipate hunger and provide you with strength during exercise.” Clean” foods are natural foods that contain the right nutrient without any additive. If you were served a plate of macaroni & cheese and another plate of plain sweet potatoes you definitely know the one that is appropriate for your health.

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Reality of food and nutrition in healthcare

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Food and nutrition are completely co-related to each other. Deficiency of vital nutrients can degrade the quality of diet and the nutritional balance of the body. To lead a healthy, wealthy and prosperous life, it is very important to maintain an optimum balance of your food and nutrition. To stay healthy, it is very important to maintain proper body weight. Obesity can cause huge problems to the body. An obese person can suffer from various complex diseases. To avoid such health complexity, try to concentrate on a healthy diet plan and get rid of the extra pounds.

A well-balanced helps you acquire all the vital nutrients that help in improving your body functioning. You should always adopt a healthy dieting plan that must comprise of eating veggies, fruits, lean proteins and mineral-rich foods. By taking proper suggestion or guidance from any professional dietician or medical practitioner you can choose a suitable diet plan. There are some people, who just think of starving when it comes to dieting. But you should remember dieting is not starving and becoming underweight. But in a proper diet plan, all the vital nutrients must be consumed in proper proportion, to keep your body fit and healthy.

healthcare

People concerned with healthy living, concentrate properly on their diet and regular exercise. People who focus on healthy dieting would love to have nutritious foods in their daily diet. Such healthy foods generally include green vegetables, fresh fruits and proteins like egg or milk. Healthy dieting must consist of the abundant amount of fresh fruits and dietary vegetables. By adopting healthy food and nutrition plan, one must easily lose weight and remain healthy for the whole life.

Some families do have hereditary problems of obesity with growing ages. In such family, they should definitely follow a healthy diet plan. Once the family gets habituated with the specific food menu, they can get rid of the problems of obesity. Moreover, in a proper diet plan, sufficient amount of water is to be consumed to keep the body fresh and active. It is better to drink fresh water rather than drinking sugary drinks, which can increase the pounds. Drinking ample amount of water is one of the healthy ways of losing extra body weight. People should make a habit of consuming different types of foods in their daily diet plan. It helps to maintain proper balance between calorie release and calorie consumption

Dietary tips to enhance your overall well-being:

dieting tips

To lead a healthy living and get rid of your extra pounds, you need to follow few important guidelines that are mentioned below:-
Having well-balanced diet:

Balanced Diet

 

  • For proper nourishment of the body organs and functioning, your diet must comprise of all the different nutrients and minerals in appropriate proportion.
  • Some of the essential nutrients, that should be present in a healthy diet are carbohydrate, protein, vitamin, fat and minerals.
  • These nutrients provide proper nutrition to the different parts of the body. Each and every nutrient has its own importance in the body.

Some of the essential nutrients, that should be present in a healthy diet

Consume dietary fibers:

dietary fiber

  • Fruits and vegetables rich in dietary fiber are great for your body.
  • These fibers help various vital functions of the body and help to reduce weight.
  • By consuming the high amount of fibers, the body will absorb small quantity of carbohydrate and thus can minimize body weight.
Avoid consumption of high-sugar foods:

high sugar foods

  • Sugary foods are extremely rich in fats, which can hamper the normal functioning of the body and can cause complex health diseases.
  • Obese people should always try to cut high-sugar foods from their diet, as these food groups aid in unwanted fat buildup in the body.
Drinking sufficient amount of water daily:

drinking water

  • Water is the primary liquid agent for the body. All the vital body functions are dependent on the water content of the body.
  • Try to consume 3-4 liters of water every day, to persist healthy living.
Eating calcium-rich foods:

calcium rich food

  • Calcium is greatly needed to maintain a healthy bone density of the body bones.
  • Calcium is necessary to make your bones strong. Low-fat sources like low-fat yogurt and skim milk provide calcium.

To sustain a healthy living, it is very crucial to maintain a good balance of food and nutrition. Many complex health diseases can be avoided by following a proper diet plan.

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