Natural Remedy article

goji berries tasteFiberlady Reveals All For the New Year

Fiberlady here to refresh your memory and taste buds about high fiber foods and a healthy high fiber diet. I will guess all of your vows of intention for your New Year's resolution to increase your fiber intake have slipped back into old habits of white bread and donuts.

A tradition for the New Year's table has always been blackeyed peas. They supposedly bring good luck and prosperity for the coming year. But where they really provide prosperous benefits is that they are regarded as a high fiber food. What a brilliant beginning for a healthy New Year!

I shall remind you that a few small changes in your eating habits, say about 25 to 30 grams total, could offer remarkable health benefits. High fiber diets not only help ensure healthy bowel movements, they also reduce our risk of certain cancers. Fiber helps to reduce serum cholesterol and regulate blood glucose levels.

A diet rich in high fiber foods is essential for your ultimate health. Dietary fiber is vital for prevention or treatment of diverticulitis, diabetes, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's disease. Studies have shown that certain conditions such as constipation, hemorrhoids, diverticulosis and high blood pressure respond favorably to a high fiber diet.

Americans buy more laxative and stool softening agents than most other cultures. If we would just add a little more fiber to our diets, many of these products could be thrown out with the rest of the waste (sorry). Wouldn't you rather be eating your fiber in a wholesome delicious meal or snack rather than swallowing some pale orange concoction in a glass of drinking water?

How hard is it to switch from refined foods to whole-grain foods? Fiberlady guarantees it's as easy as changing from white bread to whole-wheat bread and from white rice to brown rice. Besides whole-grain products, there are other high fiber foods such as legumes, lentils, flaxseed and bran. Most fruits and vegetables are significantly high in fiber.

Nutritionists and scientists are recognizing dietary fiber as something more than just a nutrient on our plate. At this time in our evolution, we must be made keenly aware of the health benefits of a high fiber diet.

You can make as many resolutions as you have time to break. Maintaining your health by choosing high fiber foods should not be a casual health consideration just because you need a challenging resolution on January 1; it is a way of honoring your body every day of the year. Increase those grams of fiber, increase your longevity. But, please, don't do it for Fiberlady, do it for yourself. Happy New Year!

Stephanie Shank (a.k.a. Fiberlady) has studied good nutrition since her days of mothering began 15 years ago which prompted her commitment to a high fiber lifestyle and the development of her informative website High Fiber Health.

Nutrition Advice That Every Active Person Needs to Know

As you probably know, nutrition is of the utmost importance for achieving results in your fitness program and living a healthy life in general. Like exercise, nutrition must be goal specific. If you want to lose weight you cannot eat a high Calorie diet. If you want to gain weight you cannot eat a low Calorie Diet. No matter what your goals are, here are the most important tips for active people to consider about their diet.

You cannot take a once size fits all approach when it comes to nutrition.

It does not matter if you read a diet in a magazine or have an expensive nutritionist for your nutrition program. What works for other people may not work for you. To find what works for you, experimentation is a must. I stress eating for variety. The more variety of food and fluids you consume, the more satisfied you will be with your meals. Consuming a variety of foods, the more vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals you will get in your diet. Far less negatives such as saturated fats, simple sugars and excess calories will be consumed.

Having proper nutrition will allow you to achieve optimum and more rapid results in any training program. Nutrition cannot be overlooked when optimum athletic performance is considered as well.

Eating Healthy Food and Fluids is More Important than Calorie Counting

Many diets and nutrition programs focus strictly on calories in their program. This is definitely NOT the best way to approach your diet. Consuming the optimal foods will more than likely take care of the calories for you.

Most commonly referred to "clean" foods are better for satisfying your hunger and giving you the nutrients for energy for exercise. "Clean" foods are generally natural, nutrient dense foods without added fats and sugars. The healthier the food is blatantly obvious some times. If you had the choice between macaroni & cheese or plain sweet potato you can plainly see which would be better for your health. Steamed vegetables or fries? This is never really difficult.

Eating 5-6 small Meals and Snacks Takes Care of Food Timing

Have you ever been told not to eat, or not to eat or not to eat carbs after 6pm? This is something that is not good. Eating 5-6 small meals and snacks evenly spread out through the day is optimal. This will not only take care of your pre- and post- exercise meals but will also keep your energy levels stable throughout the day. When your body is constantly breaking down smaller portions, your energy, metabolism and fat burning will speed up.

Be a Cheater!

Sometimes sticking to a diet is very difficult. This is why cheating on your diet once in a while will keep you on track. If you are accustomed to cheating on your diet once a week you will be less likely to binge the next time you see a pizza, cookies or chips sitting in front of you. Cheating simply means eating an "un-clean" high calorie food that is not a normal part of your diet. Save this meal for a social occasion and don't overdo it.

I hope you find my advice useful. I have much more but it would take hundreds of pages. The advice I want you to remember is if it does not work for you, move on to something that may. Einstein once defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Good luck and I hope you are in the best shape of your life soon.

Michael Behnken, MS, NASM-CPT-PES, CSCS - http://FitSF.com - http://6packQuest.com

I am a career fitness trainer who has a passion for communicating with people. I speak English, Spanish, and learning Japanese. When I'm not training clients in the gym I am working on my websites. I have a BS and MS both in Kinesiology and hold 3 prestigious training certifications.

I am online trying to help every single visitor achieve their health & fitness goals.

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