Eat Up and Get a Good Night’s Sleep

February 22, 2010 By marie 1 Comment

Do you have trouble sleeping? Maybe you need to check your diet. Food can help solve your dilemma and get you that eight hour rest that you deserve. Here are some food suggestions that you should eat in order to catch your forty winks.

Food and sleep actually affects each other. If you do not eat right you also do not rest right. And at the same case, if you do not get enough sleep, your eating habits are also affected. The lack of sleep causes leptin which is an appetite regulating hormone. The leptin crashes if you do not get enough sleep and this causes you to eat more. This is why sleep deprivation can lead to weight gain and obesity.

Here are some foods that promote sleep and try to add this to your diet so that you can adjust it accordingly:

  • Fruits – instead of getting a high calorie dessert after your dinner why not get fruits instead? Mangoes, Bananas and Dates are rich in tryptophan which is a sleep inducing hormone. Another benefit that you can get when you eat these fruits is that they have a high antioxidant content so as you sleep, your body gets all cleaned up.

  • Herbal teas – this is the perfect way to unwind at night. Instead of taking the usual night cap of wine or your favorite alcohol drink get a cup of tea instead. Teas that have chamomile, mint and lavender are ideal for those that want to get some sleep. Drinking caffeine free tea made out of gentle herbal varieties helps the body relax as it calms the digestion and it also helps soothe down your stomach. Make sure that you take your cup of tea in a cozy spot so that you can relax well.

  • Soup – soup and stews are usually filled with veggies and legumes that are rich in fiber. These low fat casseroles helps you relax and stay calm compared to meats and spicy foods. The cooking process alone can help you calm down and relax as it would require a long period of time to cook over low temperatures.

These are just three of the many sleep enhancing foods that you can add to your diet in order to get a good night’s sleep. Remember that sleep is important for our overall health. Make sure that you have enough z’s to help your body rejuvenate.

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Fun Ways to Eat Fruit and Vegetables

October 29, 2009 By marie Leave a Comment

A diet dominated by fruits and vegetables looks unappetizing and dull but there are actually a lot of fun ways to cook and prepare your vegetables and fruits in a way that the whole family would be willing to eat them well. Here are some tips:

These days almost about everyone owns a microwave and you can use them to cook your vegetables and fruits as well aside from the occasional heating of foods. One great way to steam vegetables quickly is to use a microwave pressure cooker. When you cook vegetables this way, it allows the vegetables to retain the important nutrients that your body needs. You can also use the microwave to bake potatoes. If you bake them this way it will be easier for potatoes to retain their natural moisture so you will need less fat laden butter or sour cream.

Another great way to cook is using the grill. You can make vegetable kebabs which you can serve with lean cuts of beef and green peppers, pineapple chunks and red peppers for a colorful look. This makes a cool meal for the whole family. Take note that medium hot coals are the best way to grill vegetables.

Aside from vegetable skewers you can also have fruit skewers. You can stack melon slices, pineapple chunks, grapes and strawberries. Then you can use non-fat yoghurt as a dip.

If you have a blender you can make a lot of smoothies with fruits that you can buy fresh from your grocery store. Some of the best smoothies can be made with nectarines, fruit juice of your choice and crushed ice.

If you are the type who is always in a rush then you can give yourself a quick fruit salad. All you have to do is open a can of fruit cocktail, add a banana, strawberries or raisins. This will only take you about five minutes to prepare.

Aside from all these vegetable and fruit serving suggestions, there are a lot of ways that you can do in order to easily apply them to your daily diet. Eating healthy does not have to be so hard.

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Blueberry Secrets

September 1, 2009 By marie Leave a Comment

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blueberry2Our physicians often talk about eating the right kinds of food especially eating fruits and vegetables but because we did not grow up knowing which vegetables or fruits are good for this kind of prevention, we subject ourselves more on taking vitamin tablets than getting it straight from the fruits and the vegetables.

Science has a new discovery regarding blueberries. Most of us doesn’t know that blueberries contains antioxidants that are very effective on fighting the process of aging. Studies shows that when you consume blueberries, you would have more tendency to retain memory and there is also an improvement in brain function.

They say that it can fight against cancers and also act as an anti-inflammatory agent and are very effective in reducing cell damage and can protect you on urinary tract infections.

Blueberries are affordable especially in summer seasons. You can eat them raw or in processed or those in frozen packs. You can use blueberries in eating or either in baking

Blueberries comes in juices too. Weather it is on juice or in fruits, it gives the same health benefits. Blueberry juices comes in purees or in concentrated juices.

If you are in diet and you think that blueberries can make you fat, then you don’t need to worry at all. Blueberries contains forty calories and has two grams of fiber per one and a half cup. It also contains vitamin C good for preventing diseases and boosting up your immune system, potassium and as well as iron.

It is very important that you know the good benefits of blueberries so that you can share it to your friends and to your family members. It is really amazing how a single fruit can prevent disease at the same time improve your health. Make sure that while you are consuming this fruit, you won’t also regret the importance of fluid intakes such as clean water, healthy vegetables and of course daily exercise. You have to be sure to put a balance on everything. We still have to practice a healthy lifestyle with the help of many factors for you to be able to reach the highest level of optimum health.

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