Grandma was right when she said to eat your vegetables. Vegetables are the primary source for many of the nutrients our bodies need to function. From fiber to vitamins, vegetables are packed full of what the body needs. If you do not have a garden, but hopefully you will take a look at our gardening guide for some inspiration, buy your produce as fresh as possible, and from as close to home as possible. If you want to eat healthy, get your organic health food from a local producer. If the vegetables come from Chile, I don't care how good they look, they traveled a few thousand miles to get there, were grown under who knows what conditions, and had a lot of handling in the process.

Did you know that the tomatoes you eat, those pretty rosy red spheres that look so inviting, are picked green? They are then gassed to make them "ripen" once they arrive at their destination. Tomatoes are shipped green because they are tougher and less likely to bruise. Sad to say, with hybridizing, all the flavor of tomatoes has been lost in favor of a thicker skin to make shipping more efficient. All the more reason to buy local produce for Diet Health!

Tomatoes are just an example, most vegetables today have suffered the same fate. Hybridizing for the sake of ease of handling changes the vegetable internally as well as externally. Nutrients are lost, and the longer a fresh vegetable sits, the more nutrients it loses.

Diet Health top of page.

A basic food that has gotten a lot of bad press over the last few years is eggs. Good news! Cage free and free range eggs have higher Omega 3, vitamins A and E, and lower, yes, I said LOWER, cholesterol and fat than regular store-bought eggs. Another little known, but important fact, egg white has almost none of the nutrients that are packed into the yolk, so it is better to eat the whole egg, cooked through, to get the most from what it has to offer.

An amazing source of many nutrient that can be included in your healthy diet that is high in protein, iodine, calcium and iron is seaweed. For more information on this nutrient packed ocean vegetable see Seaweed and your body at www.oceanvegetables.com.

Diet Health has no room for dangerous, empty foods. Avoid margarine! According to a Harvard Medical School study, there was a 53% INCREASE in heart disease in women who ate margarine. Margarine is not a natural food, the hydrogenation process makes it one step up from PLASTIC, does not contain the nutrients in natural butter, adds nothing but fat calories, and can increase the risk of cancer and aging because it contains trans-fatty acids that can deform the body's cells. Certainly, butter has a bit more saturated fat and the same amount of calories as margarine, but the nutritional benefits of butter out-weigh the potential dangers of margarine. A pat of butter on your morning toast with a glass of milk and your body says, "Thank you. I can now process the calcium in the milk the way Nature intended."

NOTE: Trans fats, which harms the heart may also increase breast cancer risk. European researchers found in a seven year study of 20,000 women, those with high trans fat levels in their blood had TWICE the risk of breast cancer, as those with low trans fat. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil found in many cakes, cookies, pies and other processed foods is the culprit. Limit your intake and check the label!

Another "food" to avoid: soft drinks. Aside from being high in sugar (soft drink consumption accounts for one quarter of the sugar consumed in the US), soft drinks are also high in phosphorus. Excess phosphorus can cause kidney stones. 99% of the calories of soft drinks comes from sugar. Did you know the fizz is created by a reaction of chalk, limestone or bicarbonate of soda with sulfuric acid. Drink four 12 oz. soft drinks a day, you add an average of 576 empty calories to your diet. Soft drinks, and their high caffeine content, are more addictive than alcohol or nicotine. Withdrawals range from headaches to nervousness and diarrhea. Acid in soft drinks erodes tooth enamel. Children should never drink soft drinks as it interferes with vitamins and calcium absorption, and hence, growth. Your body is 63% water, give it what it needs to stay healthy. For diet health, drink water, or flavor your water with a lemon wedge, skip the calories and other risks.

Fiber is one of the easiest, necessary, elements to include in a healthy diet. It is needed for keeping your bowels regular, prevents colon cancer and other intestinal diseases, but also plays a roll in reducing the amount of cholesterol. Oats especially have been proven to reduce cholesterol. Whole grains, beans, vegetables, and fruit all contain fiber and should be part of a Diet Health plan. See our Healthy Recipes section for some terrific recipes and snack ideas. Calcium is another very important part to a healthy diet. Milk is not the only source, yogurt, buttermilk, and cheese and cottage cheese, have significant amounts of calcium. So do many other foods, almonds in particular. With calcium, you need fat and vitamin D, but to complete the requirements for healthy, strong bones, you also need potassium and magnesium. Again, that confusing mix they so happily put in mega-supplements seems to come to the rescue. No. Nature knows what the body needs and packs it right into a healthy diet.

For example:

Breakfast, get a glass of milk, some whole wheat bread or whole grain cereal and orange juice, and you've covered the vitamins A, C, E, iron, calcium, folic acid, and your fiber. Or add an egg or two for protein. Just remember, processed food does not have the nutritional value that the whole, nature grains contain, so stay away from over-processed, high-sugar content cereals. Granola or whole grain oats or wheat cereals, or minimally processed cereals that need to be cooked are best. The closer to how Nature made it, the better.

Next, for lunch, cooked dried beans covers fiber, calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium, and for the vegetarians out there, have plenty of protein. A slice or two of whole wheat bread, some cheese, and your good until dinner-time.

And, for dinner, something easy to remember, one green and two yellow vegetables supplies vitamins A, C, B's, calcium, potassium, folic acid, and the micro-nutrients, such as magnesium. A salad of lettuce and tomato, green beans, peas or broccoli, whole grain pasta, rice or potatoes, and a meat of your choice. A rule of thumb here, or should I say palm, one meat serving should by the size of your palm, no larger. Chicken and lean pork are good choices, and beef should be limited to once or twice a week. Another important factor that cannot be emphasized enough here in Diet Health, buy locally grown meat! The large producers of poultry, pigs, and cattle inject their animals with antibiotics and steroids which end up in you! Locally grown, all-natural meats are far safer, and taste better than the mass produced, although cheaper meats. But, we are talking about your health, and that is worth the extra dollar or two! Buy Natural.

Diet Health top of page.

The above is just and example, there is plenty of room for variety, covered in other sections of the Live Healthy Guide. All your bases are covered for the day and you gave your body the simple, basic, whole foods that it needs. See our Healthy Recipes section for some hints to making everything from the long cooking cereals to dried beans and vegetables simple and fast. Another excellent information source for how nutrition, supplements and vitamins benefit a healthy lifestyle can be found here at Healthy Life-Healthy Planet.

Wait! What about snacks? I heard you. Diet Health has plenty of healthy, wholesome snacks. Fresh fruit, nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, popcorn, whole grain crackers, granola bars, just to name a few. And a nut butter and whole wheat bread sandwich is an excellent snack with a glass of milk.

I hear the other WAIT! "I can't LIVE without my chocolate!" Okay, you can have it. A natural diet doesn't mean Diet or Suffer. There is no reason you can't have a treat of something you truly love to eat, but, in moderation. The human mind it a funny thing, if you tell it you can't have it, you want it more. Don't deny that pesty little voice that is begging for a piece of something you know isn't close to natural or one bit healthy for you. Indulge. Life is too short to not enjoy. Diet Health should be a healthy lifestyle choice, exploring all to wholesome, natural and organic ways to achieve good health.

Now, the best news of all. A natural diet of organic health food has the benefit of slimming those who have a few extra pounds, adding precious calcium to bones that have weakened with age, strengthening the body by supplying nutrients necessary for good health, providing energy to those who are fatigued before the end of the day, and lengthening life by removing the damaging effects of a less than adequate diet filled with fat, sugar and over-processed, empty calories. By choosing to eat healthy, the few extra minutes it takes to plan and cook food are far surpassed and rewarded by health regained. Diet Health means a healthy YOU.

Diet Health Home