  Free Gourmet Recipes opens up the realm of delicious, mouth-watering flavors that will mesmerize your taste buds.
Our healthy free recipes are designed to help reduce your blood cholesterol level and thus improving your health and longevity.  
Facts About Food Labeling
Under regulations from the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the food label offers more complete, useful and accurate nutrition information than ever before.
With today's food labels, consumers get:
- Nutrition information about almost every food in the grocery store
- Distinctive, easy-to-read formats that enable consumers to more quickly find the information they need to make healthful food choices
- Information on the amount per serving of saturated fat, cholesterol, dietary fiber, and other nutrients of major health concern
- Nutrient reference values, expressed as % Daily Values, that help consumers see how a food fits into an overall daily diet
- Uniform definitions for terms that describe a food's nutrient content--such as "light," "low-fat," and "high-fiber"--to ensure that such terms mean the same for any product on which they appear
- Claims about the relationship between a nutrient or food and a disease or health-related condition, such as calcium and osteoporosis, and fat and cancer. These are helpful for people who are concerned about eating foods that may help keep them healthier longer.
- Standardized serving sizes that make nutritional comparisons of similar products easier
- Declaration of total percentage of juice in juice drinks. This enables consumers to know exactly how much juice is in a product.
  Before diet plan,embarking on any diet plan or weight loss plan - even a natural you should meet with your doctor first. Healthy Wrap ......
Tuna Salad Wrap
- 5oz can chunk white albacore tuna
- 1 Tablespoon light mayonaise
- 2 Tablespoons chopped red onion
- ¼ cup quartered red seedless grapes
- 1 large (70g) whole wheat tortilla
Mix up the first 4 items, chill. Then place tuna salad in the tortilla then fold over end and roll up. |
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on pasts
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Increases Your Energy Levels ...
Iced Tea
- 1/3 cup loose tea
- 1 quart hot water
- 1 to 2 quart cold water
Bring 1 quart of fresh cold water to a boil; pour over 1/3 cup of high-quality loose tea; stir. Let steep for about 5 minutes; strain into a pitcher filled with 1 to 2 quarts cold water, depending on the desired strength. Let tea come to room temperature before you refrigerate it; otherwise it will become cloudy.
When serving, add ice cubes, sugar and mint leaf to taste Pineapple-Cucumber Juice
- 3 ounces peeled cucumbers
- 1 ounce fresh pineapple
- 2 sprigs parsley
- ½ coarsely chopped apple
- 3 ice cubes
Combine and liquify in blender
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  Fresh Fruit and Vegetables
More and more research shows that fruit and veg contain essential nutrients to protect your health.
What are the health benefits of fresh fruit and veg? The vitamins and minerals in fruit and vegetables can help reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes.
People whose diet is rich in fresh produce have more energy and are less likely to gain weight. And fruit and veg also help reduce the effects of ageing.
Slice banana on to cereal, or sprinkle over a handful of berries. Fruitify muesli with half a chopped apple, or some chopped dried apricots or prunes – yes, dried fruits count. Spread mashed banana on to wholewheat toast. Have a glass of fruit juice. Make it more interesting by mixing two types. Whiz up a fruit smoothie with fresh fruits and yoghurt, for a quick, gluggable breakfast.
Snack sense
Carry fresh fruit and vegetables to cope with snack attacks. Firm varieties, like apples, travel well, or you can pack vegetable sticks – carrot, celery, pepper – or mini fruits like cherries into a little airtight box or ziplock bag. Dried fruits work well, too. A handful of raisins, or a couple of dried apple rings can keep hunger at bay.
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Ge More Fresh Fruit and Vegetablest
- Breakfast ideas
Slice banana on to cereal, or sprinkle over a handful of berries. Fruitify muesli with half a chopped apple, or some chopped dried apricots or prunes – yes, dried fruits count. Spread mashed banana on to wholewheat toast. Have a glass of fruit juice. Make it more interesting by mixing two types. Whiz up a fruit smoothie with fresh fruits and yoghurt, for a quick, gluggable breakfast.
- Snack sense
Carry fresh fruit and vegetables to cope with snack attacks. Firm varieties, like apples, travel well, or you can pack vegetable sticks – carrot, celery, pepper – or mini fruits like cherries into a little airtight box or ziplock bag. Dried fruits work well, too. A handful of raisins, or a couple of dried apple rings can keep hunger at bay.
Lunch time suggestions
If you're at home, whip up a quick healthy soup. It takes only a few minutes, and tastes fantastic. Never make a sandwich without adding some salad to it. Put together a nice big mixed salad. Give it substance with avocado, or some cold roasted vegetables. Make your dessert a whole piece of fruit – a succulent pear, a perfectly ripe banana. Try something exotic – a kiwi, a slice of fresh pineapple, a handful of kumquats. Or finish lunch with a crisp slice of watermelon, or a rich and sumptuous piece of mango.
Dinner time
Add extra fruit and vegetables to meals you already serve. A few tablespoons of sweetcorn on a pizza, steamed broccoli florets on pasta, fruit slices – oranges, peaches – added to salad. Liven up veg by combining two colourful types – baby carrots with peas, chopped cucumber and tomato mixed. Serve raw vegetable sticks as an appetiser. If you're in a hurry, buy read-prepared fruit and veg from supermarkets. Fresh fruit salad makes a great dessert.
 Ingredients of a Healthy Food
We understand that food provides certain essential macronutrients, namely protein, fats, and carbohydrates. Without these nutrients in balance no diet can be completely healthy. However, some qualities of certain nutrients are healthier than others, and some foods provide these healthy items better than others. Understanding the "ingredients" of a "healthy" food will help you to build a diet that can better fuel the body and prevent disease.
Good Fats, Bad fats
Not all fats are created equal. We know that an excess of fat can lead obesity, heart disease, and chronic illnesses like cancer. However, there are several kinds of fat that are not only beneficial but essential to healthy living. They are needed for the transportation and absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K, which cannot be absorbed and used by the body without fats; the regulation of cholesterol in metabolism; for the creation of certain chemicals used by the body; and for healthy skin and hair. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are actually good for cardiovascular system, lowering bad cholesterol. Additionally, some fats that exist in the form of fatty acids, like Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, help prevent disease, lower bad cholesterol, control high blood pressure, and treat ailments like depression and anxiety disorder.
Polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats, Omega-3's, and Omega-6's are elements of healthy food; even though a serving of nuts may appear very high in fat, you'll notice that saturated fat quantities are low; the rest of come from this "good fat" category. Most ingredient labels now list poly and mono unsaturated fats, so knowing a good fatty food from a bad fatty food is as easy as checking the package. Some sources of good fats include:
- Olive oil
- Walnut oil
- Flaxseed oil
- Sesame and sunflower seed oils
- Avocado oil
- Nuts like walnuts, almonds, brazil nuts, pistachios, and cashews
- Oily fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel, bass, and sardines
- Whole grains like flaxseed and wheat germTry to replace bad fats, like butter and margarine, with the good oils and fats listed above. Replacing sources of saturated fats, like excessive quantities of cheese, fried food, or red meat, a few times a week with the healthier options above can add an extra nutritious edge you your diet. Sautee items in olive or walnut oils rather than frying in tradition oil and use ground nuts as flavorful sauces instead of cheese or cream, and substitute fish for red meat at least once a week.
Lean Protein
Protein makes up our hair, nails, skin, blood, hormones, enzymes...the list goes on. Suffice to say that protein is essential to the human diet. Broken down by special acids and used to perform countless functions, protein must be replenished daily through our diet, making it a very healthy ingredient in food. Good sources include:
- eggs
- meat and poultry
- fish
- milk and other dairy products, like yogurt or cheese
- legumes like beans, peas, and nuts
- whole grainsThe problem with protein is that when consumed in the form of many meats and/or animal products, protein can be accompanied by saturated fat. Lean protein, or protein that is accompanied by less than 10grams of fat, is the best choice for weight and health conscious eaters. Choosing lean meats, like chicken, turkey, or lean beef (beef that has been trimmed of excess fats) provides plenty of protein without the added calories and fats.
Fiber
Fiber, though not scientifically considered an essential nutrient, plays many important roles in healthy living and nutritious foods. It lowers cholesterol, stabilizes blood suger levels, slows the digestion of carbohydrates, regulates the digestive system/prevents constipation, and slows the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream. Fiber rich diets have been linked to lower instances of heart disease and obesity
Fiber, like the different fats, is also listed on all food labels. Good sources include: whole grains, unrefined grains, grains, whole grain products like bread and pasta, brans, oatmeal, wheat germ, fruits, and vegetables.
Vitamins
These food elements work together to fill in the rest of the nutritive properties of food. Deficiencies often lead to illness and death, as is often in the case in third world countries where well rounded diets are not easily accessible. The list of these elements and the roles they play is long... B vitamin salone could take up an entire page, but here is a guideline to some of the most important:
Vitamin A: helps build and maintain healthy skin and promotes eye health; found in dark leafy greens like spinach, and yellow/orange fruits or veggies like carrots
Vitamin B-complex: performs many roles, including releasing food energy, building healthy skin, aiding the development of red blood cells, and assisting metabolism; found in dairy, meat, nuts, legumes, some fruit, and vegetables (individual vitamin sources vary)
Vitamin C: maintains healthy blood vessels and tissues, speeds healing, and boosts the immune system; found in citrus fruits, dark leafy greens, broccoli, cabbage, peppers, strawberries, and green tea
Vitamin D: maintains healthy bones and teeth and helps them harden, aids in calcium absorption; found in dairy, eggs, some fish, and sunlight
Vitamin E: fights the destruction of healthy cells and vitamins like A and C by free radicals; found in dark, leafy greens, vegetable oils, whole grains, wheat germ
Vitamin K: helps blood to clot; found in dark, leafy greens, milk, egg yolks . |
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 GO CRUNCHY TO LIVE LONGER
When selecting cereals, breads, and crackers, go for the earthy, chunky whole grains and you may actually increase your life span.
Among 12,000 people followed by University of Minnesota researchers, those who ate three servings of whole grains a day were 23% more likely to still be alive by the end of the 11-year study than those who ate none.
Why? In addition to their starch, whole grains provide a fibrous seed coat and germ, where fiber and nutrients that prevent disease are found. Refined grains offer only the starch, and so only the calories. 
People With Good Fitness Levels Live Longer
One of the most compelling reasons to maintain a regular fitness workout is because people who maintain a regular fitness workout live longer than those who don't exercise frequently or maintain fitness. Studies have shown that those who are in better overall health live longer than those who don't take part in a regular fitness workout.
Fitness Improve Many Aspects Of Your Life
A regular fitness workout won't just tone your body and help you look better, you'll actually feel better as well. Fitness can help you to feel more flexible, stronger and improve mental agility and concentration. Of course, it's also important to note that good fitness and nutrition will also lead to higher self confidence as you begin to feel great about your body.
Working Out Can Reduce or Prevent Health Problems
Finally, keep in mind that a fitness workout and general fitness may actually be able to improve certain health issues, including depression and anxiety. Being in good shape and getting proper nutrition and a fitness workout can also mean a decreased chance of serious health risks like heart disease and diabetes. The right workouts for you will depend on your current weight and health, in addition to your health goals. However, virtually everyone will see benefits if they begin to take part in regular workouts.  
A Good Fitness Diet Will Make You Feel Better Physically
When you think about food and a fitness diet, you should remember that the food you put into your body is your body's fuel. Just like you wouldn't put a low grade oil in your vehicle, you shouldn't put low grade nutrients into your body. When you're eating the right combination of fruits, vegetables, grains, lean proteins and are getting the right supplements, your body is simply able to function better.
A Good Fitness Diet Will Make You Feel Better Mentally
Of course a proper fitness diet doesn't just affect your body physically, it affects it mentally as well. When you're eating the right balance of foods, you'll find that you're more clear headed and motivated. The right level of nutrition during a fitness diet can make it easier to concentrate, can make it easier to cope with issues that come up in your life and can make you feel better prepared to face the world.
Nutrition and A Fitness Diet Go Hand In Hand
In order to get the most benefit from a proper fitness diet, you'll also want to make sure that you're getting the workouts your body needs. Your body is like a fine tuned machine and when you focus on nutrition and fitness, your body will run better and feel better. Find workouts that are fun and easy to do, be mindful of your nutrition and you'll feel like you can accomplish anything. |
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