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Clean Eating Snacks


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Posted by Booklady – Top-Rated Recipes with nutritional data and Weight Watchers points!! #cleaneating #snacks | Food and Eat #WeightLoss #WeightLossTips

Green Smoothie Formula


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Posted by Qistina Osmand – Green smoothies #healthy #drink #Weightloss

It’s no secret that green vegetables are tremendously healthy and beneficial to our bodies. But chewing down on a big salad every day can get a little old and boring after a while, no matter how many variations you’ve been trying out. Fortunately, there are also other delicious ways to get your daily dose of leafy vegetables in!

Green smoothies have been on everyone’s lips lately – quite literally so. These nutritious and convenient liquid meals or snacks can be made up of various different ingredients and range from a light to thick texture, having either a sweet, sour, bitter, or even spicy taste. Now, that’s quite some diversion!

Here are three reasons why green smoothies are a great addition to your day:

Rich In Nutrients

Raw fruits and vegetables have the highest amounts of vitamins and minerals in regards to their calories. Especially the vitamins A and C give your immune system quite a boost and the calcium and magnesium make for healthy, strong bones. On top of that, green smoothies are rich in chlorophyll which enhances the immune system, purifies the blood and rejuvenates the body. They also contain lots of antioxidants, which help you fight off diseases and prevent aging.

Their alkaline effect on the body makes for a great environment in which ailments don’t stand a chance. This high nutrient density is extra beneficial to your health because of the blending process that takes place. This allows for a way better digestion of the food since blending it is a form or pre-digestion: it breaks down cellular walls and makes it easier for the body to extract nutrients and assimilate them.

A blender does a way better job at that than your teeth ever could! It really unlocks those nutrients and maximizes their delivery to your body. Naturally, this gives you a boost of energy since the body doesn’t have to do all the work in the intestines. This rush of natural sugar and hydration can also make for amazing mental clarity.

You’ll Get That Radiant Glow

On top of preventing or even healing many acute and chronic diseases thanks to the high amount of nutrients found in green smoothies, they also work on another level. You see, if you support your body to become really healthy, it can finally get things done like repairing tissue, releasing toxins and everything that’s not that important in order to keep you alive.

This means your skin gets tighter and clears up, your hair grows stronger and becomes shinier. It’s also due to the fact that fresh fruits and vegetables have a high amount of water and therefore secretly hydrate your body. If you mix them up with even more liquid and call it a meal – you’ve just done a huge favor for yourself. But they can also do a lot of good when it comes to your weight!

Smoothies keep you full for quite some time, not just due to their water content, but also, because they contain a lot of fiber. This little helper improves your digestion and really gets things moving through your bowel. It also helps to keep your blood sugar stable, especially when combined with natural sugars from fruit – the green vegetables make for a wonderful balance.

Since smoothies are rather low in calories, weight loss can happen with ease while on the same time you fill your cells up with micronutrients. This helps tremendously with cravings since your body is satiated on a cellular level and you won’t really reach for these chips or chocolates.

They’re Delicious & Convenient

Lastly, I want to mention the fact that it’s really no big hassle at all. Whipping up some green goodness with the help of a blender can be done within literally 2 minutes – plus you get to choose the exact ingredients. As opposed to getting your food and drink outside somewhere at a store, where you have limited options but a juicy price, you can be the chef here. Buying greens in bulk cut down on your cost tremendously.

Wanting to opt for organic? Go for it. Having to watch your budget? Get the regular stuff. You can even grow them yourself without having your own garden. Especially if you keep the ingredients seasonal and local, you’ll be sure to get the most nutrients from freshly picked or harvested food that wasn’t shipped thousands of miles. With produce ranging from apples, oranges, persimmons and pears during winter time to berries, peaches and melons over the summer – you won’t get tired of the taste.

There are endless possibilities to combine your ingredients! Throwing some seeds, nut butter, spices like vanilla, cinnamon, cayenne, nutmeg or turmeric, different plant milk or juices, fresh herbs – do you think it will get old at one point? I often find myself just freestyling with the ingredients I have laying around and, unless you’re looking for some new inspiration, you usually don’t even need a recipe book for them.

Be aware of the strong and bitter tasting vegetables, though, make sure to mix them with enough fruit, at first, to mask the flavor and get used to it. You can always change the ratio to up a number of greens. Once you’re ready, aim for more greens and vegetables than fruit! Your taste buds will learn to love it, I promise!

It’s also a great way to get your kids to consume fresh food – its so much fun to choose colorful food, put them in a jar and press the button on the blender. I would definitely recommend to let your kids choose the ingredients and to keep it more on the fruity side. This makes for a really fun and healthy treat! And it’s not just made in a matter of a few minutes – you can pour it into a Mason jar or bottle and take it with you. Now, that’s about as convenient as good eating gets!

60 Healthy Snack Ideas!


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Posted by Alexis LeCrone – So much better than the GM processed alternatives out there #weightloss #weightlosstips #snacks

Tips For Keeping Your Eyes Healthy!


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Posted by mwadelewis – Tips for Keeping Your Eyes Healthy #infographic #eyes #health #vision

by ROSALIND RYAN, femail.co.uk

Your mother’s advice that carrots can help you see in the dark may have been more than a ploy to get you to eat vegetables.Research has now proved that eating certain foods can improve your eyesight, reverse the signs of optical ageing and keep your eyes in good health.

One of the most common causes of poor sight is a condition called macular degeneration. This condition accounts for 50 per cent of all blindness and sight problems in the UK.

Imagine that your eye is like a camera. There is a lens and an opening at the front that focuses objects onto the retina at the back of your eye. The macula lies in the centre of the retina, which is sensitive to light.

Sometimes the cells of the macula become damaged and you lose the ability to appreciate colours or focus on detailed activities like reading. The condition rarely causes total blindness but can blur your central vision and sometimes make you sensitive to light.

It normally affects those over 60 years old, earning the name age related macular degeneration (ARMD), but a genetic form of the condition can also affect children and young people.

Doctors do not know exactly why the cells of the macular start to fail. One theory is that ARMD is triggered by free-radicals, harmful chemicals that your body picks up from sunlight, the atmosphere and cigarette smoke.

But there are some steps you can take to protect your eyes for the future. Follow our guide to eating your way to better eyesight.

Eat your greens

A recent study by the Florida International University found that eyes containing higher amounts of a nutrient called lutein were up to 80 per cent less likely to be suffering from ARMD.

Lutein protects the eye by forming pigments in the macula. The pigments help with vision by filtering out harmful blue light wavelengths that can damage the eye. The more pigments your eye contains, the less likely it is to fall prey to ARMD.

The Eyecare Trust, a national charity devoted to raising awareness of eye health, says, ‘There is increasing evidence to show that eating vegetables containing lutein is crucial to maintaining pigment density levels in the macula.’ Unfortunately lutein is not generated naturally by the body so you need to make sure you are getting enough from other sources.

These are mainly green leafy vegetables like spinach, broccoli and kale. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating a teaspoon of green leafy veggies with a small amount of fat raised blood lutein levels by nearly 90 per cent.

You need to eat lutein-rich vegetables for several months before seeing any benefits. But if you get bored of eating spinach, you can take a vitamin supplement to boost your lutein levels. These are available from all major health food stores.

A study published in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science discovered that volunteers taking 10 mg of natural lutein supplements every day for 12 weeks significantly increased the amount of macular pigment in their eyes.

Start crunching on carrots

It is true – eating carrots can help you see in the dark. The essential nutrient responsible is carotene which is turned into vitamin A by the liver.

Vitamin A protects the eyes by helping to absorb the light energy that passes into the eye. Increased levels of vitamin A means

your eyes can absorb more energy and become more sensitive in dim light, helping you see more effectively.Karen Sparrow, spokeswoman for opticians Vision Express, says, ‘Children that are deficient in vitamin A often have dry eyes and in extreme cases can suffer from night ‘blindness’ where they have trouble seeing in the dark.’

Good sources of carotene are carrots, mangoes and cabbage. You can also find it in cod liver oil, milk and eggs.

Another fruit famed for its ability to boost night vision is blueberries. Anecdotal evidence from RAF pilots in World War Two shows they felt their night vision improved after eating blueberries.

The ‘magic’ ingredient in blueberries is a group of compounds called anthocyanosides. These attach to the area of the retina that is responsible for adjusting the eye to see in the dark.

You will need to eat blueberries for more than two months before starting to notice any effects. If they are difficult to get hold of, you can take them in capsule form or tablets, available from good health food shops. Aim to take up to 600 mg every day.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-99368/Can-eat-improve-eyesight.html#ixzz3uisUgsa0
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Low Calorie Food That Helps You Stay Full!


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Posted by Kelly – Healthy Eating. You need to make healthy food choices that will keep you full and satisfied without packing on extra pounds. #Weightloss #Foods

Very low calorie diets are effective for many people, particularly the HCG diet, but a lot of people still believe that very low calorie diets don’t work. They actually do work quite well, even for patients who may not have had success with other diets. There are several scientific reasons why very low calorie diets can result in rapid weight loss. Although they are not a permanent solution, they offer a transition to a healthy lifestyle and a way for people who haven’t had success with dieting or weight loss in the past to see rapid results. Very low calorie diets are not dangerous when they are properly medically supervised, and they offer a safer alternative to many of the other weight loss options available.

Very low calorie diets lead to weight loss

The HCG diet utilizes the effect of the hormone HCG along with a very low calorie diet to achieve its weight loss goals. The only real way to lose weight quickly and safely is by restricting your caloric intake, which very low calorie diets accomplish. During a very low calorie diet the human body switches to a ketogenic state which results in rapid fat loss. This state can be continued as long as the dieter restricts their calorie intake to be more than what they need. Diets that are structured in this way can be continued for an extended period of time without serious complications for the majority of people.

Very low calorie diets end up being significantly more convenient than other types of diets that require exercise or other difficult to follow requirements. The HCG diet is a perfect example of such a diet, as its requirements are designed to be simple and the specific foods that are allowed on the diet and their servings is detailed completely. Many other very low calorie diets are not as effective and don’t have the clinical research backing them up like the HCG diet. The HCG diet has very direct and simple instructions, and dieters benefit from this. It also has a few other distinct advantages compared to many other diets, and it does not take very long to complete.

Very low calorie diets are short in duration

One of the biggest reasons why very low calorie diets are often successful is because of the fact that most of them are short in duration. It’s important to note that even longer duration very low calorie diets are safe if they are medically approved, as many obese patients can have calorie restrictions in the long term without suffering major medical problems. The HCG diet lasts for just a period of three to six weeks, which means that most people can handle the length of time required for the diet without any major issues. It’s also an easy diet to learn for most people, and the protocol has been around for a very long time with minimal modifications compared to most other diets.

The best very low calorie diets focus on food quality

For many things in life, quality is more important than quantity. For a very low calorie diet, it’s not the number of calories that you are eating that matters as much as the quality of those calories. The best very low calorie diets like the HCG diet are more focused on food quality, which is why it does not result in nutritional deficiencies like many other diets. The foods for the HCG diet are carefully selected based on the minimum nutritional needs of the average person. Only natural whole foods are allowed on the diet with strict restrictions, and there is a sufficient amount of protein on the diet as well which helps to ensure that muscle mass is not lost.

Some people may need additional tweaks to the diet such as increasing the calorie amount slightly, increasing the protein amount, or other changes to the diet, but most people can follow the standard protocol without any issues. Some people also take a multi-vitamin while they are on the HCG diet, and this can be a good idea for many dieters. If for no other reason, it can give dieters the peace of mind that they can safely stay on the diet without having to worry about nutritional deficiencies. When the diet is properly followed, there are no nutritional issues, and an experienced medical provider will be able to tell the patient about any particular precautions that they need to be aware of before they start the diet.

Very low calorie diets need to be medically supervised

Although very low calorie diets are safe and an excellent alternative to traditional medical treatments like bariatric surgery, they always need to be attempted under the direction of a medical provider. There are some contraindications to these diet that have to be reviewed by a medical professional before a person attempts the diet. With the wide range of very low calorie diets being made available online, and with many patients attempting these diets without medical advice, there have been more people who have had nutritional deficiencies, gallstones, or other health problems. There is really no circumstance where a person should attempt a very low calorie diet without getting some sort of medical advice.

With the proper medical supervision, a very low calorie diet can help a patient get back to a healthy lifestyle and change their eating habits. It’s happened already for thousands of people on the HCG diet, and within just a matter of three to six weeks, many patients report that their appetites have changed, that they no longer feel the urge to eat the same unhealthy foods that they used to eat, and most importantly, they report substantial weight loss. All of these results are accomplished without having to rely on dangerous bariatric surgery, medications, or other weight loss treatments that come with major risks and can be very expensive.

Excellent Example Of An Eating Schedule!


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Posted by Ashley Heinen – Healthy eating…Paired with workouts can do wonders. “excellence is a habit” – Handy eating schedule. Your body loves routine! #healthy #living #Weightloss

Posted by Chris Garner – Do you have great intentions to make good choices about your health every week, but then rush into your busy day making bad choice after bad choice. One of the best ways to overcome this is to put your choices on auto-pilot.

What do I mean by auto-pilot? You accomplish this with simple planning. According to Wikipedia, the definition of planning is “the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve the desired results.” In order to achieve the results of good health that you and so many of us are after, incorporate a time of planning into your weekly like. Take a few minutes on the weekend, before the week begins to create your plan for the week ahead. Here is an example of a plan to simplify your choices when it comes to your meals and snacks for the week.

Determine three breakfasts, three lunches, three snacks, and three dinners to make for the week. Do the same breakfast/lunch/snack/dinner on Mon/Thur, do the second B/L/S/D on Tues/Fri, and the third on Wed/Sat. You can have a day off of planning for your Sunday, but you still want to make good choices. A free day from planning is not permission to unravel all your good work you did through the week, it just gives you a break from planning.

This is just a simple example of how you can plan your week to minimize the eating on the run, which many times results in too much processed food and unhealthy sugars in one’s diet. It also helps you prepare containers of food ahead of time to take with you for days when you are on the go. Take the time to find the right plan for your week that works for you. Everyone is different and so is your schedule, but putting your eating on auto-pilot can help to increase your chances of making good choices along the way. Plan on! Visit thrivinghealthylife.com for healthy vitamins, supplements and more.