Type 2 Diabetes and Healthy Eating - Are You Eating One Continuous Daily Meal?

By Beverleigh H Piepers            

Some people say it is best to eat two or three main meals a day. You might agree with them if you don't believe several smaller meals are the way to go. There is an idea going around suggesting breaking up all your main meals into smaller portions. This approach is supposed to be a superior way to manage your food intake because it is implied eating many smaller meals will keep your metabolism active. Eating smaller meals often each day is one of the most mistaken widespread beliefs regarding nutrition in recent memory. But we digress.

Now, what if you are not doing any of the above? What if you are primarily eating one continuous meal every day? Don't take this too literally. If you have been eating so regularly throughout the day, however, and you are unable to count how many separate occasions you have eaten, there is a good chance you are mostly eating one continuous, never-ending meal (so to speak).

On a serious note and to be fair, you may not have realized this is what you were doing. Most people are not aware of their eating behaviors. The majority of eating plans lack any structure these days. The average person...

• does not cook as often as he should,
• doesn't eat the variety of foods he needs, and

is likely nutritionally deprived to some extent.

Since snacking between meals has become the norm, along with the idea we need to eat many smaller portions, it is not uncommon to see people eating what is essentially one continuous meal throughout the day, with short breaks in between. If you are guilty of this in any way, even to a slight extent - stop. This pattern can only harm your health. There are many issues with this type of behavior.

Notably, you should be reminded where the idea of eating three full-sized meals each day stems from. It all began at a time when we needed to eat three daily meals. Back then, the majority of people were involved in manual labor and led a highly active lifestyle as part of their job or natural way of life.

Today, most of us sit for many hours every day, even if we are not in an office. So three meals are unnecessary. Never mind snacking, which just makes it much easier to overeat and gradually become overweight. Two daily meals are enough. You can eat a snack guilt-free, but only before or after physical activity. Otherwise, you will leave yourself vulnerable to a host of problems and complications down the road.

Although managing your disease can be very challenging, Type 2 diabetes is not a condition you must just live with. You can make simple changes to your daily routine and lower both your weight and your blood sugar levels. Hang in there, the longer you do it, the easier it gets.

For nearly 25 years, Beverleigh Piepers has searched for and found a number of secrets to help you build a healthy body. Go to http://DrugFreeType2Diabetes.com to learn about some of those secrets.

The answer isn't in the endless volumes of available information but in yourself.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Beverleigh_H_Piepers/123142

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Is Your Health Food Really Healthy?

By Brad Longazel

The world is becoming more health conscious every year. Food companies are making so-called health food products, the fast food industry is trying to make healthier menus, and people are making smarter choices when it comes to their food.

This is a wonderful thing and is much needed with obesity continually affecting more and more families. It is still a challenge to eat right with all of the "health food" options and media dictating what we see as healthy. Every day I see advertisements and articles promoting food products that really aren't the best choice. From high fructose corn syrup to 100-calorie snack packs, people are being bated into poor health choices. Making the weight loss journey and the quest for 6 pack abs continually harder.

The easiest way to avoid all of this and stick to a healthier path would be to eat natural foods that have not been altered by humans. This grocery list would include fresh meats, veggies and fruits, raw nuts, and less altered dairy products. This can be a tough thing to do, since most foods on the shelves have been influenced by humans one way or another.

For that reason I am going to give you three things to pay attention to the next time you go to the grocery so you can make smarter, healthier choices for you and your family:

#1: Food Source

This one can be a little tricky but many stores are getting better at providing this information. If you have access to a health food store you won't have as much trouble, but even Kroger stores are getting better.

Pay attention to where the food you buy is coming from. This pertains more to meat and animal products than other items. Many food companies are using hormones and feeding processes for their animals that can affect the quality of the meat.

Hormones added to an animal to make it grow bigger can be absorbed into our bodies once we eat the meat, messing with our hormone balances and bodily processes.

Look for more natural meats that were grass-fed and hormone free. The same goes with sea food; try to find more natural sources and not closed water fish. This meat will not only be healthier but will also be much fresher and taste better.

#2: Ingredients

When buying food, pay attention to the ingredients. Many times a food will claim to be healthy because of the calorie amount but in reality those calories are quite unhealthy.

Calories are important, but just as important, is the quality of the food. Generally, the lower the number of ingredients the better the food. If you pick up a 100 calorie snack pack you will see a long list of ingredients whereas with more natural foods like veggies there is only one ingredient.

If you lessen the amount of ingredients in your pantry you will increase the quality.

#3: Sodium

Sodium is one of those things that's overlooked by many people. It plays a huge part not only in weight loss but also heart health, joint health, and overall wellness. It kills your path to success with water retention and overall decreased mood.

Many foods have added sodium to increase the shelf life. Just about every canned food will have a large amount of sodium, which is why canned food last so long. Start looking at the sodium content of your foods and try to limit your intake to fewer than 1500mg per day. As an example, one can of "low sodium" soup has 900mg of sodium. If that's "low" then I would hate to see normal!

Lessen your sodium for a couple of weeks and notice how much better you feel.

Start paying more attention to the details at the grocery store. Making the decision to eat healthier and be healthier is good, but it's hard out there with all of the trickery that goes on with big food companies. Look at the little things and your food choices will start to change.

For more health and fitness information visit https://www.everydayafs.com/

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brad_Longazel/2529701

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Eating Healthy Is the Key to Happiness

By Rahul Singh 

The importance of health has been ingrained in our minds since time immemorial; so much so that we are often reminded of the phrase that if health is lost then everything is lost. It is a challenging task to remain hundred percent healthy nowadays thanks to inorganic food, polluted drinking water, smog filled air that we are breathing and last but not the least, lifestyle disorder. It is important to have a balance diet and regular exercise. Keep checking your BMI and make sure that it is under control. Obesity leads to a number of disorders and diseases so try to cut down on carbohydrates and avoid junk food as much as you can.
Healthy eating should start as early as an infant. Babies should be fed only mother's milk because that is the only and most nutritious thing that a baby survives on during the first few months. When the baby is breastfed, the mother should maintain a diet specifically focusing on iron and zinc rich food. Calcium is also needed to give strength to the bones because a new mother has to do a lot of running around. Malt based food, which is mainly extracted from barley, is a highly nutritious substance. Aqueous extracts of barley malt, called "wort" contain all the essential vitamins in the B family (niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, thiamin, nicotinic acid, Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), biotin, and folic acid); plus amino acids and protein, minerals, (such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and zinc), and soluble fiber (glucans). Malted Food beverages like Choco Malt, Malto Vitaa, Champion, Choco Vita, etc are excellent sources for a healthy life.

Once the baby becomes 5 to 6 months old, the weaning process will take place. The mother will gradually replace or add other sources of food with breast milk. Usually mothers feed formula or mashed banana and sometimes mashed rice with boiled lentils. It is prudent to give the baby a specially prepared weaning food, mixed with fruits, vegetables and various pulses. In other words, kit should be a judicious mix of Protein - easy to digest and helps in rapid growth, Carbohydrates - acts as energy booster, Vitamin, Calcium and Phosphorus for strong teeth and bones, Iron and Zinc for rich blood formation. Such type of weaning food is very good for nurturing the health and growth of the baby.

These days, the supermarkets are filled with processed foods. Before buying anything off the shelf, do check the labels - if there are more than 6 ingredients, most likely it is a processed food. Please avoid them because you should thrive towards eating wholesome food that has no other ingredients but themselves. It is very difficult to change food habits once our taste buds develop a fondness for a particular food item. So the trick is to develop taste for healthy food. Consuming sugar in the form of ice cream or sweets is alright once in a while but not always. Instead you can replace them with natural sugar available in dates, grapes, homemade honey, maple syrup, etc.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Rahul_Singh/2310613

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