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Stacy

Stacy
In Eating Healthy, Healthy Diet Tips, Healthy Eating, Healthy Eating Basics, Healthy Eating for Pregnant Women

5 Foods to Avoid in the 3rd Month of Your Pregnancy.

Good news and congratulations for walking the great journey of pregnancy into the third month. However, escaping from the hands of being unable to eat due to nausea, vomiting and other discomforts of morning sickness, you may need to know how important a healthy eating habit is to you and your baby, especially at this stage of the pregnancy. Your practical class of healthy eating habits just began. The food a woman consumes during pregnancy is her baby’s main source of nourishment and diabetic pregnant women need to start with the diabetic portion plates, this may help put them in check in what they eat.  During the 3rd month of your pregnancy, a lot of development is happening to that little treasure inside of you. It is during this time the baby begins to experience any developmental changes and growth; it period marks the beginning of the baby:

  • Gaining more definite shape
  • Joints are beginning to form
  • Eyelids are getting formed
  • The four chambers of the heart are formed
  • Vital organs
  • Fingers no longer webbed
  • You may start to hear his heartbeat as the baby also is becoming more active.

Nevertheless, a lot have been said about the type of healthy foods that a to-be-mother should take during pregnancy; foods which may include: lean protein (fish, meat, eggs, beans, tofu, and cheese), whole grains (breads, whole wheat, oatmeal, and brown rice), fruits and vegetables, dairy foods, and many more. However, only little information is available on the type of foods that needed to be avoided during the period or perhaps a diet plates portion control for pregnant women in their third month; foods which are capable of mocking your healthy eating habits or program. And that’s exactly what will be revealed in this article.

Nevertheless, a lot have been said about the type of healthy foods that a to-be-mother should take during pregnancy; foods which may include: lean protein (fish, meat, eggs, beans, tofu, and cheese), whole grains (breads, whole wheat, oatmeal, and brown rice), fruits and vegetables, dairy foods, and many more. However, only little information is available on the type of foods that needed to be avoided during the period or perhaps a diet plates portion control for pregnant women in their third month; foods which are capable of mocking your healthy eating habits or program. And that’s exactly what will be revealed in this article.

Foods you should avoid in your 1st trimester Raw Sea foods
Many sea foods such as shark, king mackerel, swordfish and tilefish contain high level of methyl mercury; a toxic compound which has been found capable of crossing the placenta to cause brain function impairment in the developing baby. So stay off them.

Unpasteurized dairy foods
During this crucial stage of your pregnancy, it’s advisable you steer clear of unpasteurized dairy foods such as milk, blue-veined cheese and camembert. This will prevent you from possible food poisoning that may result from the bacteria; Listeria monocytogene found mostly in these unpasteurized foods. This bacterial infection could cause miscarriage, still birth, preterm labor, and illness in newborns.

Fruits
Yes. Not all fruits are good for your consumption during pregnancy. If you are concern about having a healthy eating habit during pregnancy, this implies that you need to avoid such fruits as they are obviously not meant for you. Some of these fruits may include:

  • Papaya or Paw-paw: except very ripe, taking semi-ripe paw-paw may cause uterine contractions and thus leads to premature labor due to the high proportion of latex in them.
  • Grapes: may lead to body heat, especially during the last trimester. So avoid them.
  • Pineapples: may also cause premature labor due to Bromolain found in them.

Therefore, it’s clear that it goes beyond only ‘what to eat’ when it comes to talking about healthy eating habits in pregnant women. It also extends to what ‘not to eat’ or an appropriate diet plate portion control plan. A diabetic pregnant woman may consider the diabetic portion plate. As a matter of fact, these foods that are meant to be avoided, when continuously taken due to lack of knowledge, can go as far as sabotaging the effort put into healthy eating habit during the first trimester of a pregnancy.

Stacy
In Eating Healthy, Healthy Eating, Healthy Eating Habits, Portion Control

Diabetic Portion Control Plate

A diabetes portion control plate is an important tool in the management of diabetes – whose complications are among the leading causes of death and morbidity. While these plates are important in the management of type 2 diabetes, they also have a role in the management of the type 1 (that depends on insulin therapy). In addition to these; people in the pre-diabetes phase and the obese can all reap health benefits from using the precise portion plates.

Many people with type 2 diabetes are also obese. Therefore reducing weight by the use of  a diabetic portion plate not only promotes better sugar control in the body , but also helps to keep it at bay for those at an increased risk due to obesity.

The benefit of using diabetic portion control plate
Smaller, healthy portions support good insulin metabolism and prevents insulin resistance – a significant factor in the development of type 2 diabetes.

How to plan your diabetic portion control plate
There are two ways.

  1. Use an ordinary plate

Draw 2 imaginary lines on your plate. One line divides the plate into two halves. The other divides one half into two to make 3 sections.

  1. Section 1 – half of the plate is filled with non-starchy vegetables such as cauliflower and carrots.
  2. Section 2 – a quarter of the plate should contain lean proteins like tuna and turkey
  3. Section 3 – the last portion to contain starchy foods such as whole grain products or tubers such as potatoes.

    2. Use of a precise diabetic portion control plate

This removes the guesswork from the portions you eat. Many types are available including kids-friendly products. You can find more information about these here. For a variety of diabetes portion control plates and related products see these.

 

Stacy
In Eating Healthy, Healthy Eating, Portion Control

Diet Plates for Portion Control

What are diet plates for portion control?

These are plates with information printed on it about various servings for dinner. Other types of dishes are designed for cereals. These have printed differently sized guiding lines that correspond with the size of particular amounts of dry cereals.

Diet plates for portion control are perhaps the best tools to ascertain that you manage your weight effectively. People looking to reduce or maintain a healthy weight soon find out that it is not easy to maintain controlled food portions without an accurate reminder of how much of each type of food they are supposed to take. Sticking to the use of a diet portion plate consistently and accurately determines more than just what goes into your mouth.

What a diet portion control plate achieves

These include:

    1. The amount of food you eat. Here referred to as portions
    2. Helps you to regulate the foods you eat
    3. For people with blood sugar control problems, they enjoy better control and more energy throughout the day.
    4. Helps you to know the amount of calories you are taking in.
    5. Guides you in eating a balanced diet
    6. It removes the hassle of measuring food quantities by weight

Is there an ideal food portion plate?

The market offers a wide range of dieting portion plates. Choose one that you find easy to understand. Look for the type that gives you as much information as possible without confusing you. A plate with a wide range of food names printed in each section is better that one with a few or general groups of foods. The former helps people with different education backgrounds do better in their healthy eating efforts.

Does it work?

In a study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity of 2006, it was found that smaller food portions topped the 5 best weight loss measures usually taken by different people. So diet plates for portion control are important tools in weight management efforts. See how it works and the various types here.

Stacy
In Eating Healthy, Healthy Eating, Healthy Eating Basics, Healthy Eating Habits, Tips for Healthy Eating

Healthy Eating Habits

“Let food be thy medicine and thy food medicine.”

This widely known quote is attributed to Hippocrates – the father of modern day medicine. While it sounds paradoxical, some critics have even dismissed it; it has important content to think about. The essence of it is that the foods you eat can have both immediate and long-term effects on your health.

For example; eating high sugar foods (high glycemic) raises your blood sugar fast. This in turn leads to a sudden spike of insulin. If this process is repeated over many times for long enough the body tissues will respond to insulin poorly and may increase the riskof developing type 2 diabetes. Other foods also increase risk of obesity and its associated disorders such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis among many other health issues.

Healthy eating habits defined
Healthy eating habits that promote good health include:

  • Right amounts of foods from all the classes of food groups
  • It is a lifestyle that is followed throughout and not just for a while
  • It involves different types of foods under the main classes of foods because no one type of food is exactly the same as another even in the same group
  • People with specific types of health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease or high cholesterol needs modified eating habits as guided by a qualified health dietary professional.

How to improve your eating habits
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC offers 3 easy to follow steps in the healthy eating habits journey. These are:

  1. Assess how you are currently eating. This includes what you consider to be good or bad eating habits.
  2. Remove any bad eating habits from your current eating plan.
  3. Continue with your good old or adapted new eating habits.

An important part of healthy fresh food eating habits is to consume the right quantities of the right foods at the right time. To help you with this, the resource here will help you to overcome the constant struggle many people go through in their efforts to start and maintain healthy eating habits.

Stacy
In Get Healthy With us, Staying Active

“DON’T FRY DAY” 4 Safety Tips to Prevent Sunburn

You might probably be thinking of something else right now; perhaps you are thinking this is going to stop you from making that delicious meal of yours. You also don’t have to worry about your diet ration or your diet plates portion control. But “Don’t Fry Day” is absolutely referring to something very different from your thought anyway. It’s simply a wake-up call to warring against skin cancer resulting from overexposure to the sun. So you don’t have to worry about altering your healthy eating habits in anyway. In the bid to help curb the rising rate of skin cancer which results from overexposure to ultraviolet rays coming from the sun, the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention has designated every last Friday before Memorial Day to be the “Don’t Fry Day”.

It all started in 2008 when the motion was moved to designate a day (Friday) as a day to emphasize avoidance of overexposure to the sun and to therefore, encourage and remind everyone to prevent their skin while enjoying the outdoors. The proposal was accepted and the Friday before Memorial Day was chosen to observe this every year.

The “Don’t Fry Day” for this year, 2017, was May 26 but it is still hot and sweltering out there. We care for your healthy lifestyle and so please stay aware…

What about skin cancer?
Skin cancer is now the most common type of cancer around us today. It is increasingly tending to the high side every year, especially in the United States. Skin cancer is usually caused as a result of too much exposure of your skin to ultraviolet (UV) radiations from the sun or sunbeds.

Though there may be a couple of other causes of skin cancer, the most serious type of skin cancer (Melanoma) has its cause from sun or sunbeds.

What is UV and Sunburn?
UV (ultraviolet rays) could be of three types and all of them are capable of damaging our skin resulting in cancer; the UVA; UVB; and UVC. The last of them (UVC) has been completely prevented from reaching the earth’s surface by a strong ozone layer serving as a barrier against it. However, having sunburn doesn’t necessarily put you on the list of people going to get skin cancer, but it’s definitely sending out a signal to you.

Just like some people say; “healthy eating habit is a key to all health issues”. Anyway, that may be correct in some way. Developing a healthy eating habit could help you reduce the growth of skin cancer; foods rich in antioxidants and Omega-3 fatty acids have being found to be very promising. However, what is the need of going through ‘healthy eating habits’ to suppress skin cancer, when we can actually prevent it in the first place. You don’t need to have nice healthy eating habit, the below recommendations are only measures to protect you from UV rays and be on the good side.

Tips for protecting yourself:

1. Don’t forget to use sunscreen whenever you are outdoors. Always make sure you apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen with SPF (Sun Protection Factor) of at least 30 before you set out for outdoor activities. Make sure you apply the sunscreen 15 minutes before setting out and don’t forget to reapply again after every 2 hours when outdoors. A broad-spectrum sunscreen usually provides protection against both UVA and UVB.

2. Is the sun too strong? ; stay indoors.
When you notice the sun is at the strongest, it’s advisable you stay indoors.

3. Be more careful with sand and water.
The sun’s rays are stronger and burns faster when they reflect off sand and water. So you should be careful when around one.

4. Cover up more skin as much as possible.
Endeavor to cover up as much skin as you can; either by wearing a long shirt, wide brimmed hat for your face and sunglasses for your eyes.

 

 

Stacy
In Eating Healthy, Get Healthy With us, Healthy Eating Facts, Healthy Eating Habits

8 Powerful Habits to Naturally Slim Down!

Discover healthy tips your whole family can benefit from!

If you’re like a lot of Americans, there’s probably something about your diet that you’d like to change or improve. It could be late night snacking, or you miss breakfast too often, or fresh fruits and vegetables are like a foreign language. No matter how you’d like to eat healthier, it is possible with the healthy eating habits listed below.

We won’t be getting into all of the things not to do (as we know that you know the drill: reduce sugar, eat-this-not-that, add specific nutrients, and so on), but instead, you’ll be able to incorporate these fun, easy tips into your current diet, and they’re great for your whole family. Overtime, the healthier choices you make will far outnumber the treats you can still enjoy, helping you lose weight naturally.

1. Variety is Key.
Enjoy a vast array of foods throughout the day from the recommended food groups. And you don’t have to put pressure on yourself to ONLY eat these foods. Just start by adding one or two healthy choices a day, or a week, and that will pick up momentum to help you continue adding more and more.

2. Swap the Proteins.
Numerous studies have been performed and found that our bodies do benefit from protein. But, with that said, it’s best if you regularly change the types of protein you consume. Some nights choose lean meats, other nights enjoy fish. Not to mention nuts and nut butters on your morning toast will offer protein and fill you up!

3. Color Your Meals.
Make healthy eating for your kid’s fun by adding a rainbow of vegetables and fruits to most, if not all, of your meals and snacks throughout your day. A great way to add flavor, nutrients, and healthy carbohydrates.

4. Don’t Eliminate Anything!
Forget the diets of eliminating carbohydrates, fats, or whatever else it’s emphasizing. Enjoy regular foods but, simply watch your portions. Portion control can be a wonderful tool to losing weight andthen maintaining a healthy weight without losing foods you enjoy.

5. Eat Often.
Don’t skip any meal. Eat regular meals and snacks throughout the day and this will help your metabolism regulate and become much more efficient. By enjoying regular-timed meals can also reduce those afternoon sugarcravings!

6. Get Hydrated.
Drink water often throughout your day. This helps your body rid itself of toxins, hydrates your entire body from the inside-out, and is also a great way to trick your body into thinking that it’s full if you’re trying to lose those few pesky pounds!

7. Increase Your Fiber.
Adding healthy fiber is vital to anyone’s health regime. Fiber helps regulate your body and even reduces risks of some diseases. Try adding more vegetables, such as potatoes, and wholegrains.

8. Make Any Change Slowly!
Diving into anything can set you up for instant failure. Instead, if you want to be successful at incorporating new eating habits, make one change per day, or even per week! Gradual changes are always easier to commit to so why not make it easy for you “win”? Add one fruit or vegetable a day could be a great place to start.

No matter if you’re trying to lose weight naturally, or boost your family’s health, or encourage your kids to eat healthier choices, remember that balance can also be a key factor. Cutting back on “junk”, or unhealthy high-fat or sugary-laden foods will offer you more room to begin adding healthier choices to your palette. You’ll benefit from better health and plenty of new-found energy!

And don’t forget to get your body moving! Do exercises you enjoy and you’re more likely to continue with it and see results. Walking, jogging, biking, swimming, resistance training, and yoga are all terrific methods to get your body fitter and slimmer.