Is the cost of fast food more than a financial cost

Chains and chains of fast food restaurants are endlessly making their way around the globe. It is the “American Way” of eating and seems to be progressing each day by encourage individuals to order more food to go for half the cost.

Commercials and advertisements display late hours and increased portions of food to attract consumers. With this easy method of stopping hunger pains, it is effortless for buyers to swing in and out of a drive through late at night, after work, or during the day for a quick bite. All the while, we, as consumers, are “saving money”, or are we?

Everyone has cravings and mouth-watering appetites for certain foods, and succumbing to those cravings every once in a great while is no big deal. However, our daily consumption of these fattening foods can be life threatening.

Is the fast food industry killing consumers? Has anyone questioned the contents of a McDonald’s cheeseburger, or how Kentucky Fried Chicken’s mashed potatoes are made? Often consumers take for granted the quality of foods, and eat them with out a second hesitation. They have no idea how these foods are made, or what their contents are.

Should the FDA require nutrition labels on fast food? Nutrition labels are required on purchased goods from the grocery store; do consumers not have the right to know what they are eating? Why is there not a law securing our right to know what are in the contents of fast food?

As time goes on, many restaurants are incorporating salads and healthier foods into the “fast food diet”. Improving the availability of these healthy foods will only improve the diets of consumers. However, at the end of the day, all consumers have a choice; we have a choice. We need to remember the severity of having a poor diet, and the danger of eating unhealthy food.

We must ignore the dollar double cheeseburger, and think about the average cost of bypass surgery, which is an astounding $44,820. We need to think about the damage to our body and the many health issues that may surface in the future. Some consumers may deny this point of view of eating at fast food restaurants, but, how do we know the food is not impairing our health when we do not even know what is in it?

In the end, buying fast food it is not saving money, or allowing money to go further. It only builds problems for a challenging future. It is at our expense.

Which is more important when it comes to health food: Taste or nutrition? – Part 4

If the true goal of one’s diet is to eat healthy then it goes without saying that the nutritional value of a food is of paramount importance and that taste is secondary. But the two are not mutually exclusive. Fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats and whole grains are delicious and nutritious.

This debate, however, seems to beg the question of what is most important in “alternative” food choices. Again the answer is nutrition. One tip will save you from yourself in every healthy alternative situation: never take the “Pepsi challenge”. By this I mean never compare a health food to its less healthy alternative. Foods with reduced fat and/or sugar can be delicious and satisfying if eaten by themselves, but when compared bite for bite or sip for sip with a fatty or sugar-filled counterpart, the healthy food will lose appeal by comparison.

The reason is simple: fats and sugars are addictive and activate pleasure centers in your brain. Whether this is a natural result of their chemical composition or a conditioned “comfort food” effect is debateable (it is probably a bit of both), but the psyiological arousal caused by these substances is not.

There are many alternative food products that will allow you to cut fat, sugar and calories out of your diet.

-Diet Soda Pop contains no calories or sugar, as compared to 150 calories and 40 grams of sugar in a normal soda pop.

-Skim milk has zero fat and half the calories of whole milk. The same can be said of fat free cheeses.

-Ice cream is available with reduced sugar and in fat free forms.

-A product called “Better’n Peanut Butter” contains 85% less fat, 40% less calories and less sodium than regular peanut butter.

-Jelly (or jam or preserves) can be purchased without added sugar, a choice that yields 80% fewer calories.

-Lays now produces a line of diet potatoe chips, which have only half the calories of original Lays.

Many more products such as these are available and can be found right next to their less healthy counterparts. Making these healthier choices can result in a significant reduction in caloric intake and therefore in weight as well.

Thoughts on food and beverages – Part 3

Go max-vegi and min-nonvegi, short go max-vegi-min-non. Max-vegi literally means taking vegetarian 70%-80% of the times and non-veg 20%-30% of the times. Creating the best mix that suits your physical & mental adjustment to new eating habits can do a world of difference to the quality of life. It is sure worth trying and enjoy the best of both the worlds and a renovated self as a bonus.

Develop your eating instincts. Developing better eating habits is better than reading nutrition books and following nutrition charts on the bottles and food packets. Remember “You are what you eat.” And do think about it when you’re making food choices? Gradually your food instincts will sharpen and you will feel better and healthier.

In some ways, we do become what we eat, literally. Consuming excessive sugary & fat-rich food, canned foods, non-veg specially red meat can have devastating effect on your physical and mental health. With over indulgence of these foods, a clear blood becomes thicker with the fat and cholesterol that’s absorbed from eating a high-fat foods.

Switch from eating meat to a max-vegi diet, you become less fat, less prone to many types of cancers. Our cholesterol can improve when we’re leaner and eating fewer animal products, then many other health and fitness problems are reduced.

Blood pressure falls into normal ranges. When you’re healthier, you’re taking fewer medications. Even if you have a prescription drug benefit in your health plan, you’re still saving money with fewer payments on medications.

If you have a family history of high cholesterol or high blood pressure, then it’s very important for you to revise your eating habits.

Moving towards max-vegi diete, or pure vegetarian diet has been proved to reduce the occurrence of many of the diseases in advanced & developing countries with high intake of non-veg food. Vegetarians are statistically healthier than non-vegetarian persons; they’re leaner and live longer.

While setting & developing your own Max-veg-min-non program, you will develop better eating habits, better eating instincts. Will Look leaner and fitter with a longer lifespan and also retain some of the benifits of non-vegetarian food. It’s never too late to change.

Once decided you can do it in steps and switch to lesser harmful non-vegetarian sea foods. Go Max-vegi-min-non. This means gradually you will need to understand the best level that suits you, it could be Veg. 70%-80% and non-veg 20%-30%. If needed you can further modify this mix to suit your situation.

Reduce your non-veg quantity and frequency slowly. Find the best mix and enjoy a healthier life

Does a vegetarian diet provide all the nutrients needed by the human body? – Part 3

I just have a comment on the mineral content of a vegetarian diet as I think that the amino acid/protein content had been pretty well covered.

It is true that iron is high in spinach, but the reason why iron deficiency is common in vegetarians (its high in the general population too) is that the iron from plant sources non-heme. Non-heme iron is less bioavaliable, which means you absorb a lot less. The iron in supplements is non-heme too. You can make it more bioavaliable by consuming it with an acidic food (like orange juice or tomato) as this will convert the ferric to more absorbable ferrous iron.

The calcium in fruit and veg is often bound to oxalate, and cannot be absorbed. High fiber and phytate (which is common in vegetarian eating) can also decrease calcium absorption.

Vitamin B12 is only found in plant foods in tiny amounts. If you eat milk you will be fine though.

The reason why protein is such an issue is that meat provides the full range of essential amino acids, whereas no plant does. Some vegetarian diets can become deficient in one or more amino acids (for example, lysine, tryptophan, niacin) if they are not planned properly. If your diet only consists of one type of grain, for example corn, you are at risk of becoming deficient in niacin. This can be combated by consuming “complimentary proteins” and a wide range of foods.

There is nothing wrong with a vegetarian diet, you just have to be more careful and plan it well. There is so much good literature on the subject, and if you are really worried, see a dietitian.

For my protein requirements, I like to keep a box of Kashi brand cereal on hand, or cereal bars- they are high in protein and fiber. You can also get power bars or protein bars in the diet/diabetes section of most pharmacies in Walmart and Target (in the U.S.).

Protein can also come from peanuts, soy nuts, any kind of nuts, all kinds of beans, eggs, whey protein and soy protein that is added to such foods as boca burgers. If you are going to include dairy in vegetarian diet, then cheese usually has a good source of protein too and calcium.

The cow made the meat by eating: soy beans, corn and greens; we do the same. You really need to buy or borrow a few books on the vegetarian diet and read up, so you know what you need to eat.

Then I take prenatal vitamins daily. No, I’m not pregnant, and yes, it is safe to take them even if you’re not pregnant. They are full of essential vitamins and minerals- especially folic acid and iron.

Lose Weight and Keep it Off by Tracking What you Eat- Diabetes Diet,counting Carb

One of the most effective ways to lose weight is to track what you eat. Tracking what you eat is a way to assess your eating patterns. By writing down everything you eat, you learn exactly what you eat and how it affects you. You can detect patterns and eating behaviors and how they impact your weight loss goals. Many people underestimate how much food they actually consume. Many wonder why they start a diet and can’t seem to shed the pounds. One reason is that people underestimate the quantity they eat. What people think of as a single serving can actually be equivalent to three or even four servings. A triple-sized portion can greatly impact your weight loss success. Another reason is hidden calories – what some people think of as a healthy snack is actually loaded with calories that head straight to your thighs. Learning how to track your food and calorie intake is a great way to take charge of your weight loss plan and have it work for you.

Start out by writing down everything you eat. Don’t change your eating habits until you know what your eating habits are. Record every morsel – from the cream cheese on your breakfast bagel to the duck sauce on your stir-fry. Write down portions and amounts of what you eat as well. Check for servings sizes and measure portions you consume. Just as importantly, track your calorie intake. That duck sauce might seem harmless – but in reality be loaded with calories. Understanding how many calories you consume is an important element of weight loss. The amount of calories you consume and the amount of calories you burn determines whether or not you lose weight. So knowing how many calories you consume is crucial to your success. Although it may seem daunting, there are resources that can make your calorie tracking easy and stress-free. Electronic calorie counters can provide you with the calories count of thousands of your favorite foods. Calorie counters can even tell you the calorie count of your favorite fast food items. So whether you are at home or on the go, an electronic calorie counter will help you stick to your weight loss plan.

Once you’ve determined how much you actually eat and the number of calories you consume, you can then look at changes you may need to make. By tracking how much you eat, you can see over a period of time how your food consumption affects your weight loss. You can also congratulate yourself for healthy habits you may not have known you have. Tracking what you eat provides you with the tools to be successful at losing weight and managing your goal weight once you’ve shed the pounds.

Calorie counting in the fight against excess weight – Part 3

Calories count!

There is just no way of getting around it. If you want to lose weight, you have to pay attention to your calories. People who don’t want to put in the time or effort into controlling the calories in their diet are doomed to a lifetime of obesity. I know!

I have been a dieter off and on for 60 years. I have been to Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous, university extension courses, private for-profit seminars, and so on. I tried to “take it off and keep it off” with some successes but mostly a creeping weight gain over the years.

I have spent my lifetime avoiding calorie counting and I have spent my lifetime battling weight gain. Counting calories was just too much bother. It took too much time and effort. I hated having to look up the dietary composition of foods and then calculating how much I ate and what it cost me in calories. I hated finding out that I had exceeded my calorie limit by noon. I hated giving up the foods I loved just to lose a pound or two. Most of all I hated the fact that I could not eat what I wanted, when I wanted and how much I wanted each and every day of my life. I hated the fact that my body became a battleship showing the world that I had no self control.

With this attitude, it’s no wonder I was fat and it’s no wonder I couldn’t lose weight. I was always looking for a Quick Fix and an easy program to follow. I wanted the diet to take the weight off with little thought of my own. Programs that gave me a list of what to eat at every meal were the ones I gravitated to. I wanted to follow a formula and not have to think about calorie counting. And I kept failing.

There is no weight loss program that does not limit calories. The books may say you don’t have to count calories and that your weight will just “melt away” following their plan, but, and this is a very BIG but, if you analyze their diets the calories are well below 2000 a day for both men and women.

The June, 2007, issue of Consumer Reports rated all the currently popular diet programs and diet books. They analyzed all the suggested menus and found, without exception, all advocated a daily food intake of less than 1500 calories regardless of the composition of diet. Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig sell their packaged foods with guidelines on daily menus. Their menu plans do not exceed 1200 calories a day.

Young, first time dieters and men seem to be able to lose weight more successfully than older, experienced dieters

Ten foods that will ruin your diet! – Part 5

Here are some foods to avoid (and as long as you eat healthy, and in moderation, you won’t have to fret over every calorie): candy, ice-cream, juices high in high-fructose corn syrup, rich alfredo sauces, ‘typical’ delivery pizza, canned ‘over-processed’ meat – and other foods, ribs, most varieties of garlic bread, most typical brands of peanut butter, challah bread – due to the egg content (I saw this written in an article about challah bread: “It is often referred to as ‘egg bread’ since the recipe usually has a large amount of eggs – I use a total of 6 of the largest eggs I can buy.”).

On the flip side – eating a lot of apples, carrots, melons, oranges, and the like, in between meals, will help you ‘fill up’ and at the same time, keep the hunger pangs at bay. Of course, those ‘hunger pangs’ can often mean your body needs liquid more than food (many times people are dehydrated and can be unaware of it, and grab a bite to eat instead of rehydrating!). Due to this, I recommend putting a few key ingredients in a blender (such as: milk/soymilk, banana, cantaloupe, strawberries, flax-meal, and a very small amount of organic/reduced fat peanut butter – just decide how much of each ingredient you prefer to add, I usually add about 1/4 cup each of cantaloupe/strawberries, and one banana) and blend them together, making a great tasting drink that will also provide your body with many nutrients it needs, thus eliminating some of those ‘hunger pangs’ – and should help you to eat less.

When you eat, try to eat ‘whole’ foods, which are foods that have all of their nutrients in tact. When you eat foods that are overly processed, they are missing many vitamins and minerals, causing your body to send signals to your brain that you need more food, when in reality you don’t – but you will feel hungry since your body is desperate for those missing nutrients. Take, for example, when a women is pregnant – her developing baby needs omega’s, and if the baby’s mother is not consuming any in her diet, the needed omega’s will be taken from the mother’s brain.

For the most part, making sure to keep up with taking needed vitamins/minerals (and being sure to stay hydrated), will help to curb any ‘false’ hunger pangs, and deter you from making the terrible decision to do the unthinkable (while on a diet anyways) and drive through Mickey D’s!

How to count calories in your food – Part 4

Counting calories is not as tough as it used to be. With internet, search engines, and books counting calories has become accurate, easy and a reliable indicator of weight loss.

There are many things which you can do to make the calorie counting much easier and faster. Some ways to make calorie counting easier is to:

* Use a calorie calculator: A calorie calculator provides the portion and the number of calories in the food. Calorie calculator also tells how many calories come from fat, carbohydrates, proteins and vitamins. This is by far the fastest way to count calories, especially for food items which don’t have a nutrition chart.

* Read labels: In Canada law requires food items to have a nutritional chart which contains information about the number of calories. Many people overlook this chart, but this chart contains a lot of important information such ass amounts of fats and nutrition.

Some labels can be misleading, as they are less in calories but high in fats. A good rule of thumb is to multiply the number of calories by 2 if the fat percentage is over 35%. Many foods have a lot of calories but a lot of nutrition as well. Also, some labels provide information based on 2,000 calorie diet or information for 150 pound woman. Your calories depend on many calories, but the chart does give a rough estimate of how many calories there are in the food.

* Eat proportion meals: To make calorie counting easier, another good way is to eat six measured meals everyday. By measured, it is meant that the calories are pre determined and each meal has the same number of calories. So you don’t have to count every single day.

There are meals available in many diets or grocery store which can be eaten everyday and have accurate calorie count. This makes the process of calorie counting easier.

* Estimates: This method is used by most people. Estimation of calories in most cases provides sufficient information about foods. After you have read all those nutritional information, you should be able to tell the number of calories in various foods without having to look at a calorie chart.

For example, an apple has approximately 50-60 calories. This is an estimate since apples do not have fats, but contain sugars. A scoop of ice cream is approximately 150 calories. Ice creams have fats and sugars making them over 100 calories.

Estimation works best if you have read the labels for the food before, but the brand is different or the portion is larger or smaller.

These were some of the ways to count calories in fast and orderly manner.

WHAT HIGH FIBER FOODS CAN DO FOR YOU

Dietary fiber cannot be digested by the body, unlike fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Fiber passes through the stomach to the colon. Fiber can be divided into two types:

• Insoluble fiber. This type of fiber cannot dissolve in water and helps eliminate constipation. Insoluble fiber can be found in various foods such as nuts, wheat bran and a variety of vegetables.
• Soluble fiber. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and creates a material similar to gel. This is beneficial in the sense that it lowers cholesterol. Abundant in peas, apples, carrots and barley.

Fiber is an important part of the day-to-day diet. Be sure to eat a variety of types of dietary fiber to achieve the best health results.

Benefits of a high-fiber diet

The benefits of a diet rich in fiber are widely known. A few of these are listed below:

• Avoiding constipation. As fiber can’t be broken down by the digestive system, they pass through the stomach unchanged right into the colon. The fiber solidifies your stool and softens it. This helps prevent constipation.
• Lower cholesterol levels. Fiber is known to help lower the cholesterol levels. Eating oats, flaxseed and oat bran contribute to a healthy cholesterol level.
• Weight Loss. Fiber has a tendency to make you feel full for a longer period of time after eating. This will prevent you from snacking or overeating.

These are only a few of the benefits. Others include hemorrhoid prevention and lowering blood sugar levels.
Fiber intake per day

The recommended daily intake is 14 grams of fiber per 1000 calories. An adult consumes approximately 2500 calories a day, which means that 35 grams of fiber per day is the recommended amount. However, this may vary depending on age, gender and build.

People who are not used to a fiber-rich diet may have difficulty adapting their eating habits.

Build up your diet gradually and drink enough fluids to avoid problems such as diarrhea and gas.

Plant foods such as fruits and grains are rich in fiber. Canned fruit has the same amount of fiber as normal fruit. However, dried fruit loses fiber in processing. Be sure to avoid removing seeds or peels from vegetables or fruit, as these contain fiber. Another way to increase your daily fiber intake is by switching to whole wheat bread instead of normal white bread.

Diabetes Diet and Calorie Counter

Diabetes is one of the most common health problems nowadays. With the lack of time and consideration towards eating habits, the victims of diabetes are increasing day by day. Upon diagnosis of diabetes, doctors probably used to mention that proper and extra attention should be taken care towards nutrition and diet.

To control diabetes, best remedy is to control eating habits. Whether you have diabetes or not, diet should always be healthy and diabetes resistive. If you are diagnosed with diabetes, managing the diet becomes essential like anything. Nutrition experts say that if you are battling diabetes, then eating right can save your life. It is much wiser to adopt a habit to upgrade ourselves about diabetic diet, health and nutrition tips, how to control diabetes and how to check diabetes.

How should I plan my Diabetic Diet?

As everyone is not the health expert and cannot judge what to eat and how much to eat, so here they can found certain tips about how can they plan their diabetic diet.

Eat more starches – include bread (wheat), cereal and starchy vegetables in your daily diet. Aim for six servings a day or more. For example, have cold cereal with nonfat milk or a bagel with a teaspoon of jelly for breakfast. Another starch-adding strategy is to add cooked black beans, corn or garbanzo beans to salads or casseroles.

Eat five fruits and vegetables every dayHave a piece of fruit or two as a snack, or add vegetables to chili, stir-fried dishes or stews. You can also pack raw vegetables for lunch or snacks.

Move to sugar free diet – Avoid intake of excessive sugar in the diet.

Eat sugars and sweets in moderation include your favorite sweets in your diet once or twice a week at most. Split a dessert to satisfy your sweet tooth while reducing the sugar, fat and calories.

Beware of food with high calorie – Avoid intake of junk food containing high calories and resulting in over weight.

What I can do to target my blood glucose level on target?

One could supplement the effort of diet control for controlling diabetes through proper eating habits with the following extra beneficial health tips:

Manage your diet

Exercise regularly

Quit smoking and alcohol

Check blood glucose level regularly

Follow your Doctor’s advice

How can Calorie Counter help in controlling Diet?

When it comes to control diabetes, along with managing eating habits, similarly important is to test the calorie intake to control the weight and causes of diabetes complications.

To check the daily intake of calorie, now there is no need to rush to the Doctor or health expert again and again and even it causes inconvenience. As science has developed so far, one can find many instruments or devices to check calorie intake at home. These devices can be easily located by the name of Calorie Counter.

A calorie counter is a device by which one can count daily calorie intake to manage the weight. It helps in calculating daily caloric requirement that needed to be met with the help of calorie chart and diet plan advised by the dietician.

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