Author Archive
The road to good heart health
January 29 2014
Good health starts with the right food choices, deciding what to eat and more importantly what not to eat.
Fad diets come and go but a whole food diet and active lifestyles never go out of fashion. Yes –you have heard all this before but somehow the message gets lost in translation.
Too often people are too stressed and have too little time to make the right food choices. Instead, they turn to packaged foods high in processed sugars (high-fructose corn syrup) and fats (trans-fats), and filled with chemical preservatives and artificial colors and flavors to curb their cravings.
The price paid for the convenience of their ready-to-eat, shelf-stable food is in the quality of their health and well-being. The advent of the industrialized food industry has mapped closely with the emergence of many chronic auto-immune, inflammatory and neuropsychiatric diseases in the developed world. Myriad problems including diabetes, obesity, and thyroid disease have been linked to the toxic effects of the industrialization of our food supply.
But we can choose to be pro-active in shaping our health through our lifestyle and life choices. Good health, vitality, a sharp mind and strong body all start with our fork.
Using a meal planning tool such as the MealEasy system which focuses on lean meats, whole foods and healthy fats like omega-3 can help you find a way to reduce your stress and the stress you are putting on your health.
Gluten Free is on the Rise
January 23 2014
The number of people shopping for Gluten Free products is poised for continued growth in 2014.
According new research, four in ten health conscious respondents (41%) are planning to buy more gluten-free products this year, with 57% intending to buy the same amount as they did in 2013. Notably 70% of those surveyed said they regularly purchased products that were labeled gluten free.
Researchers found it particularly interesting that gluten intolerance or celiac disease was only a factor among about 3 in 10 of these gluten free shoppers, and that about half of the shoppers said they viewed gluten free as ‘healthier’.
Whether you choose to eat Gluten Free because you’ve been diagnosed as a Celiac or whether you feel it’s simply healthier, you must make sure and look out for the hidden sources of gluten found in so many processed and store bought products.
The MealEasy’s Gluten Free meal plan offers over 900 complete meals that have been tested and tasted to ensure that they’ll meet your requirements. The automated grocery list indicates which ingredients “may contain” gluten so that they are easily identifiable when you go shopping.
If you’re going Gluten Free this year, do it with confidence using the MealEasy Gluten Free Meal Plan.
Is MealEasy right for you?
January 22 2014
Losing weight and eating healthy is not easy. It requires commitment, determination and direction.
The determination and commitment have to come from you.
MealEasy provides the direction.
By offering a wide selection of low calorie, low fat and low sodium meals, MealEasy provides you with a cornucopia of meal possibilities; all healthy, all nutritious. The automated grocery function means that there’s no way you can forget an important ingredient. With detailed nutritional facts for each and every meal and recipe, you will see that what you are eating gives you the energy to get through your busy day.
Nutritionists agree that most diets aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. They realize that the key to losing weight is adopting a sound, sustainable eating plan and then sticking with it, rather than opting for some wacko quick fix.
An amazing 95% of diets fail! Why? Because people are looking for the easy quick fix solution…and it doesn’t exist.
If you’re determined to eat healthy, are willing to commit to a plan, then MealEasy is right for you.
Better Food Choices to Fight Diabetes
January 17 2014
Healthy food choices make a big difference; however, it is difficult to know what food choices are healthy. It seems like every other day we get a news story about the latest miracle food or are warned that a food could kill us all.
The truth is no one food will make you live to 100 years, nor will any one food choice kill you tomorrow.
Following these tips can help:
• Eat smaller portions. In this age of super-sized meals and huge servings at some restaurants, it can be hard to know what a healthy serving is.
• At restaurants, share an entrée, take some of the meal home, or order a couple of appetizers instead of a full meal.
• Eat smaller portions.
• Cut back on sugar. This does not mean you have enjoyed your last cupcake, but it does mean that foods high in sugar (cane or corn sugar, corn syrup, or any other kind of sugar) should be a rare treat rather than a daily indulgence.
• Packaged foods, including some peanut butters, breads, and breakfast cereals often have added sugar. Read labels to pick foods without added sugar.
• Opt for whole grains. Try whole-wheat pasta and whole-grain bread, pizza crust, and flour. I use whole-wheat pastry flour in cooking; it is ground finer than regular whole-wheat flour and I am usually happy with the results.
• Eat more vegetables, especially non-starchy ones like carrots, cauliflower, tomatoes, squash, and green beans. If you buy frozen or canned vegetables, check labels for the lowest salt options.
• Plan your meal and snacks. Planning ahead avoids the pangs of hunger which often lead to overeating. Try using a meal planning service such as MealEasy.com.
• Eat protein with every meal. That doesn’t mean you have to eat steak at every meal. Try nuts, nonfat yogurt, low-fat or nonfat cheese, beans, lentils, tofu, fish, and skinless turkey and chicken. If you crave beef or pork, choose the leanest cuts available.
Don’t let them fool you
January 15 2014
Just because they are offering apple slices instead of sugary treats in their kids’ meals does not mean that fast food joints are providing healthy and nutritious alternatives.
A new report from the Yale Rudd Centre for Food Policy & Obesity shows that despite their “efforts” less than 1% of foods available and marketed towards kids are considered healthful.
The 2013 Fast Food FACTS report follows up on a similar report the center published in 2010. “FACTS” is an acronym for “food advertising to children and teens score,” but the report focuses not only on the ways in which fast-food companies try to hawk their products to kids (as young as two) but also on just how healthy—or, really, unhealthy—that food is.
“As in 2010,” the report states, “less than 1 percent of all kids’ meal combinations met recommended nutrition standards: just 33 possible kids’ meals met all nutrition criteria for elementary school-age children and 15 met standards for preschoolers.”
That’s 33 out of a possible 5,427 combos!!!
One fast food chain garnered lots of positive press by replacing their kids’ meals toy with a book promoting healthy eating and yet not one of this chain’s meals meet the nutritional standards for healthy kids’ meals.
Don’t let the “convenience” of fast food and their claims of “healthy” alternatives lull you into thinking that they’re a healthy substitute. There simply is no substitute for a nutritious home cooked meal.
What makes your heart tick?
January 10 2014
Your heart is the “heart” of your cardiovascular system, and it is responsible for just about everything that gives your body life, everything from the transportation of oxygen to the success of your immune system. According to medical experts, the foods you eat and the amount of activity you choose to take part in can dramatically affect the overall health of your heart.
Blood Pressure
Your blood pressure is one area of heart health that needs to be regularly checked and regulated. High blood pressure can be affected by your overall weight, especially once you reach a body mass index score of 30 or higher, which is classified as obese. Excess fat increases the work your heart has to perform to pump blood throughout your body. The harder your heart works, the more pressure is placed on the walls of your arteries, which can increase your risk for blood vessel damage. Lowering your body weight by even as little as 5 to 10 percent can lower your blood pressure and increase your heart health.
Cholesterol Levels
Controlling your cholesterol is also an important part of heart health; it decreases your risks for heart disease, heart attack and stroke. The two main kinds of cholesterol are low-density lipoprotein — LDL or the “bad” cholesterol — and high-density lipoprotein — HDL or the “good” cholesterol. The LDL cholesterol is found in foods high in saturated fat, especially animal proteins. When consumed in high levels, LDL cholesterol can build up in the bloodstream and calcify into hard plaque. This plaque makes it difficult for blood to circulate through the affected arteries, increasing your risk for cardiovascular damage.
Circulation
Taking care of your heart also affects your circulation. Good circulation is needed to transport oxygen and nutrients to the many different cells in your body. Without proper circulation, tissues begin to die, which can result in amputations or even death, depending on what tissues are not getting enough oxygen. High blood pressure, cholesterol plaque and other heart diseases can all affect your body’s ability to transport blood efficiently throughout your body.
Ways to Keep Your Heart Healthy
To keep your heart healthy, your body needs a good amount of exercise accompanied by a heart healthy diet. Try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise five days a week. A heart healthy diet consists of the majority of your calories coming from vegetables, fruits and high-fiber foods like legumes and whole grains. These foods are accompanied in moderation by lean proteins, especially fish, as well as low-fat dairy products, nuts and seeds. MealEasy’s Heart Healthy meal plan has everything you need to keep your heart healthy.
The way to a healthier you in 2014
January 06 2014
Lose weight. Eat better. Finally get fit. The vagueness (not to mention blind optimism) of New Year’s resolutions also makes them near-impossible to achieve. Here are some tips to help you get healthier this year.
• Eat more pickles. Once upon a time, fermented foods were common with every meal. Research has now shown that fermented foods are full of good germs that improve our overall health. By bringing foods such as sauerkraut, kimchee, fermented vegetables (pickles and garlic), cheeses, yogurts and of course, probiotic beer and wine back into our diet, we can live better in a natural and delicious way.
• Plan your meals. Planning your meals avoids over eating and unnecessary snacking. Maintaining a regular schedule of healthy meals with carefully controlled portions will not only improve your health, but you will eat out less and you will waste less food; both of which help you save money!
• Don’t fill your calorie count with liquids. If weight’s a concern, avoiding high calorie drinks such as soft drinks and sugar heavy sports or energy drinks is a great way to start you on your way to better health.
• Try walking instead. Next time you’re about to drive over to the store or about to take the elevator up a few stairs, try walking. It’s cheap, it’s fun and it will help you achieve your weight goals.
• Get a good night’s sleep. Good-quality sleep keeps your appetite hormones in check, cools those inflammatory chemicals that promote heart disease and cancer and keeps your waistline trim. A recent study in the American Journal of Science showed that a good night’s sleep is like clearing your neurological cache. In other words, sleep clears out the clutter. So aim for 7 1/2 to eight hours of shut-eye a night for these benefits.
• Eat more slowly. According to research from the University of Alberta, if you spend less than 60 minutes a day eating – you are eating too fast. It takes at least 20 minutes for your gut to tell your brain that you’ve eaten. Paying attention to what you are eating, chewing and savoring each bite, eating without distractions, such as driving, phone calls or texting, goes a long way to reduce overeating. Vegetables, fruits and complex carbohydrates all take more time to eat than prefabricated processed foods.
• Be mindful of what you are eating. In the words of Hippocrates: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” The best medicine is preventative medicine. With that in mind, thinking about what you are eating and the quantity of that food is the best medicine for a healthier you. Try to stay away from too many processed foods and convenience products and look to increase your intake of fruits, vegetables and legumes.
• You’ve got to move it to lose it. If your goal is to lose weight this year, then healthy eating is an excellent way to start but it’s not the only thing you need to do. Move regularly and you’ll think, sleep, work, play and even love better. Move every day for as little as 15 minutes and the rewards are even greater. How great? How’s reducing your risk of some types of cancer by up to 50 per cent? So swim, walk, run, shovel snow, do yoga, play golf, it doesn’t matter what it is as long as it gets you moving. This is the advice from Greg Wells, assistant professor at the University of Toronto and associate scientist of physiology and experimental medicine, the Hospital for Sick Children.
Try these simple steps for a healthier 2014.
Control you waste and your waist
January 01 2014
One of the biggest food stories of 2013 was without out a doubt the amount of food wasted by the average American household. In the United States 30% of all food, worth US$48.3 billion, is thrown away each year. It is estimated that about half of the water used to produce this food also goes to waste, since agriculture is the largest human use of water.
That’s a lot of wasted food. So, what can you do? You can start by planning your meals. Meal planning is an excellent way to reduce the amount of excess food that is purchased and also a great way to use up leftovers.
Another advantage with meal planning is that it can help reduce the amount you eat by eliminating overeating and a reliance on fast food and processed foods. When you plan your meals for the week and stick to that plan, you will find that you are eating less of what’ unhealthy and more of the foods that are good for you.
So let’s make 2014 the year that you take control of your waste and your waist.
What are your New Year’s resolutions?
December 30 2013
Are you like the 38% of Americans who’s New Year’s resolutions include “losing weight” this year? Did you also have “losing weight” on last year’s list?
If so, then MealEasy’s got the answer.
For a limited time, MealEasy is offering a yearly membership for 50% off!!! And with the new Weight Loss Meal Plan, reaching your weight goals has just become very easy. Based on the idea of “mindful eating”, the Weight Loss Meal Plan takes a whole new approach to weight management. Without severely restricting your diet, this plan is designed to succeed where so many others have failed.
With a calorie based approach, the Weight Loss Meal Plan takes the guessing game out of meal preparation and weight loss. Now you can eat the foods you love and know that they are nutritious and are helping you get your weight where you want it.
Now that’s how you start a new year!
There’s still time
December 23 2013
You still have time to get that special someone the perfect gift…the gift of good health.
MealEasy has just launched a revolutionary Weight Loss Meal plan that is guaranteed to improve your health and help you achieve you weight loss goals. It’s simple. It is based on the premise of “mindful eating”; being mindful of what you eat and how much you eat. It’s based on simple calorie reduction to help you get to your perfect weight…but don’t worry, there’s no math involved. All you need to do is choose the amount of calories you want to eat and MealEasy does the rest.
You’ll get unlimited access to over 800 meals all within a reduced calorie range. And a reduced calorie range does not mean reduce flavor, on the contrary. The meals you’ll be able to choose from are as delicious as Lemon Herb Pork Chop and as sumptuous Linguine with Clams.
So, if you’ve got someone you love that might need an extra hand in the kitchen choosing and preparing mouthwatering, healthy and nutritious meals, then the time is NOW to take advantage of this offer of 50% off a MealEasy yearly subscription.