Nutrition & Diet

What’s The Difference Between Complex Carbohydrates and Simple Carbohydrates?

Complex carbs are healthier and provide significantly higher nutritional value. When you go shopping, purchase whole grain bread instead of white bread. Eat whole grain pasta instead of white pasta. Substitute a dessert or cookies with organic nuts or a small piece of fruit. The less sugar you eat, the better you will feel. Try to not eat foods with simple sugars. Stay away from waffles, cake, cookies, vending machine foods, and pastries. Whole-wheat foods contain many more nutrients than white bread products. White breads and white rice are stripped of their nutrients during processing and sugar is often added to them.

Protein Bars for Breakfast?

If you are trying to get more protein by eating protein bars, soy products are a healthier alternative. Soy foods are especially rich in some of the B-vitamins, such as niacin, pyridoxine and folacin, as well as protein. A rich source of calcium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, B-vitamins, and omega 3 fatty acids, soy “rocks” in nutritional value. The quality of soy protein is the highest quality equal to that of meat and milk products. Try incorporating soybeans into different recipes to get your daily source of soy protein. Fish and lean meats are good for you too as long as you purchase them at a natural health food store or your grocery store carries “free-range”/hormone-free meats. If you are looking for a quick way to get protein and don’t have time to cook. Buy some organic lunch meat and roll pieces of it up in some cheese. You could also boil a carton of eggs and when you get hungry for a snack you could eat a hard boiled egg instead of a protein bar. Way healthier for you!

Is There A Difference Between Vegetables?

Dark green leafy vegetables are the best for you, but eating any vegetable has great health benefits. Get your vitamins A and C through vegetables. Have a spinach salad for lunch or cut up some of your favorite vegetables to munch on at work if you get hungry, instead of eating a protein bar.

Is There Such A Thing As “Good Fat”?

Everyone needs to eat some fat. These are not the bad fats; they are called essential fatty acids, Omega 3 and Omega 6. Your body needs these fats. They keep cell membranes fluid and flexible which in turn affects the white blood cells that repel invaders of the body. They promote normal growth, especially of blood vessels and nerves. They keep the skin and other tissues youthful and supple through lubrication and are key components of nerve cells and hormone-like substances known as prostaglandins.

Omega 3 can be found in raw nuts, seeds, beans, fish oil, and unrefined vegetable oils such as flax, hemp, and walnut and the mainstay of many of the world's diets, the soybean. Omega 6 can be found in certain vegetable oils such as safflower, sunflower and sesame as well as hemp, walnut and soybean oils.

I know it is hard to cook if you are in a hurry and it’s much easier to just eat a protein bar. If you want optimum energy and health, eat fresh, whole, organic food products. Try not to eat out very often and cook most of your meals. Make sure your foods, especially meats and seafood, come from a natural health food store. Foods that you buy at a regular grocery store can have chemicals sprayed on fruit and vegetables to make them look nicer and grow bigger. Meats and seafood are also better to purchase at a natural health food store. Animals are often pumped with hormones to produce more milk; also meat and fish contain added dyes to turn their color bright red so that consumers will think that they are really fresh. So, start buying organic foods if you already have not started. Also purchase fresh foods instead of canned or packaged. These foods have preservatives in them to make them last for a very long time, which can be harmful to your body.

Changing your diet and eating lifestyle might be a big change for you and it could be hard at first, but give it a try. The more you eat healthier, the easier it will get and the better you will feel!