Healthy Eating 101 - No Red Meat

 

4 years ago, I decided to change my diet for health benefits and personal reasons. I decided to stop eating red meat FOREVER! That means no eating beef and no eating pork. This is a lifestyle change I decided to include into my healthy lifestyle. Click 'Read More' to learn about the benefits of a red meat free diet.

Green Tea is Green Tea if it's Just Green Tea

Green Tea. 

I drink it for it's health benefits and because I love the taste. Instead of plain and tasteless water, it's nice to drink something just as good as water but with more taste. Green tea is one of the healthiest beverages we can consume and it contains incredible health benefits for our body. So what exactly makes green tea so good and why everybody raves about it? Click 'Read More' to find out more about green tea and it's health benefits.

Healthy Eating 101 - Beginners Level 3

 

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Ever heard of this quote? This applies to healthy eating as well. Planning for a healthy eating lifestyle makes it easier to eat healthy. Welcome to Level 3 where you will learn the importance of meal prep.

(To read more about meal prep, click the link below to“Read More”.)

Healthy Eating 101 - Beginners Level 2

 
Level 1 was a simple way to eat healthy and save some money. Did you pass Level 1 or did you fail? If you failed, go back to Level 1. If you beat Level 1, congratulations!!! Welcome to Level 2, where you will learn the basics of calories. 

(To read more about calories, click the link below “Read More”.)

READ THE LABEL!

Do you check the label on the packages you buy? How often do you do it? Do you know how to read them? It is important you do so, not only because you'll know what you are introducing into your body, but it will also help you choose between different products. Here are a few considerations to help you through it.

Nutrition facts labels usually include: 

1. Serving size and servings per container. Packages may contain more than one serving. If so, it is stated on the label along with its size. Pay particular attention to this section since the nutritional information that follows refers to only one serving. 
2. Calories are a measure of the energy that each serving will provide to your body. Moreover, they are an easy way to control your diet and manage your weight. 
3. Fat, cholesterol and sodium are "the bad stuff", so make sure this section is as low as possible. Good fat (nuts, vegetable oil) is vital for our body, but don't exceed. Keep in mind that 1g of fat is 9 calories (kind of high compared to the 4 of carbs and proteins).
4. Fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals are good for you, so the more you eat them, the healthier you'll be. The best carbs are those from whole grains, vegetable and fruit since they need a longer process to digest and they contain a good amount of fibers. Also, make sure you'll get enough protein, which helps your body regenerate tissues. Vitamins help you prevent diseases and stay healthy.
5. The percentage of daily value considers a 2000 calorie diet, which is what an avarage adult man burns every day. However, it changes from person to person depending on age, gender, weight, height and exercise level. If you want an estimate of yours, you can calculate it by clicking here.

One more section we highly recommend you to read is the ingredients, which includes all the ingredients of the product in descending order of quantity. You may check the list to look for a special ingredient, to avoid food you are allergic to or just to be aware of what it contains. The less preservatives, colorants and artificial flavours, the better. Also, bare in mind that some ingredients go by different names (e.g. sodium can be salt, disodium, monosodium glutamate just to name a few). The ingredient lists also include the percentage of each ingredient. If you want to buy a strawberry yogurt and it only contains 1% strawberries, is it really good?

Some products don't have a nutritional facts label? No problem. Online you can find many webpages that can provide that information. Here is an example.

"Thai Carrot Soup" Recipe for a cold day!

Winter is coming and what is better than soup for the winter season!  Thai Carrot Soup is a dairy-free soup.  It is blended any many flavor and taste like it takes time to make, but its a three step easy process! All you need is shredded carrots (10 ounce), a can of coconut milk (14 ounce), 1 cup of vegetable broth, 1 pouch of trader Joe's vegetable concentrate. 1/2 cup Trader Joe's Thai Yellow Curry Sauce, and kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Step 1:  Chop some shredded carrots into little bite size piece.

Step 2:  Add the carrots, coconut milk, vegetable broth, and curry sauce to a medium pot and bring to a boil over high heat.  When the soup starts boiling, lower the temperature to medium and let it cool off.  You should wait about 20 minutes until the soup cools off, so the carrots can be cooked properly.

Step 3.  Last but not least add salt and pepper for a bit of seasoning.

~ College Menu

Healthy Eating 101 - Beginners Level 1

Let's face it; if you want to eat healthy or get that ideal body type, there is a lot of work to it. From counting calories to purchasing more expensive food, it can be time consuming as well as costly. But if you do want to eat healthier, you have to count calories and purchase the more expensive food. Let's take baby steps first before we jump into the more advanced stuff. Start by changing your food habits.