Posted on: October 21st, 2011 by Famous Phil
I bring you a guest post from Erinn Stam:
Making healthy changes can be difficult, no matter what your goal. If you are accustomed to a standard American diet — lots of processed and fast foods, foods that are high in fat and sugar, and few vegetables or fruits — then making changes to adopt a healthy diet may seem overwhelming. No matter how unhealthy your diet may be now, there are a few simple changes that you can make now that will have a significant impact on your overall health. Here are five easy ways to improve your diet now — no special meal plans or gourmet foods needed:
Choose Whole Grains
Most typical diets include a lot of bread, pasta, and baked goods — most usually made with white flours or other processed flours or grains. Simply choosing whole, unprocessed grains wherever you can — whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and so on — can make a big improvement in your diet. Not only will you be adding more heart-healthy fiber to your diet, you will also be helping to regulate your blood sugar levels to more easily maintain your weight and to prevent common health conditions such as Type II Diabetes.
Cut Sugar
Sugar can be found in almost every processed food — even those that aren’t inherently sweet. Salad dressings, bread, ketchup, yogurt, and spaghetti sauce are just a few of the common foods that have high quantities of added sugars. Reduce your intake of refined sugars by cutting back or eliminating obvious foods such as sweets and baked goods and by looking for hidden sugars in other products by carefully reading labels.
Eat More Fish
Increasing your intake of fish and seafood can have a number of health benefits, including improving your heart health, enhancing cognitive function, and helping to regulate your metabolism. The reason is the Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids they contain, as well as an acid called DHEA. Look for wild-caught varieties, as farm-raised fish can be injected with additional hormones and other chemicals. Also, be sure to choose varieties that are low in mercury, such as salmon or white fish. Large fish like tuna and swordfish are known for high levels of mercury, which can be toxic.
Make it Yourself
Many hidden fats, sugars, and chemicals can be found in processed and fast foods. Simply preparing your meals at home can ensure that you are consuming all-natural and whole-food ingredients, and you can monitor your true calorie and fat intake. Making your own foods will also significantly save you money in the long run, both on your grocery bill and your medical bills.
Drink More Water
Increased water consumption can help your body function more efficiently, improve your metabolism, promote anti-aging properties in your skin, and increase your energy. The minimum recommended intake is eight, 8-ounce glasses per day.
Adopting a healthy diet doesn’t have to mean making drastic, overnight changes to your lifestyle and habits. Making a few changes at a time and choosing healthier options at every meal will add up over time. You don’t have to give up all your milk shakes and french fries right away — just try adding a salad to your meals and maybe skip the fried apple pie.
Bio:
Erinn Stam is the Managing Editor for nursing scholarship programs. She attends Wake Technical Community College and is learning about nursing grants. She lives in Durham, NC with her lovely 4-year-old daughter and exuberant husband.
Tags: diet, Erinn Stam, fish, guest post, sugar, weight, whole grains
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Posted on: September 5th, 2009 by Famous Phil
A week ago in WalMart while coming back to school, I had a long shopping list. Of all the items on that long list, the bulkiest item is water. Water is the most abundant molecule on Earth if I recall correctly from all the useless physics classes I took in college. I wouldn’t say they were useless in the context that physics sucks and shouldn’t be studied but rather the way they were taught did me no good since I didn’t take anything away from them.
Regardless, every semester that I return to college, I end up carrying 10-15 cases (24 bottles / case) up the stairs to my room at UB. As you can probably guess, that is a lot of work (=F*D 
) and I’m the type of person that avoids a large physical work value in the end. This year, returning to UB, we had to go into the electronics for a fan and continuing on we passed the water filters in the kitchenware section (I’m not sure if that’s what they call it).
When we passed the brita filters, my father mentioned to me that some people swear by them and would never consider another alternative to tap water like bottled water (my solution). For there, that was about the extent of our looking and conversing about brita’s water filters.
Later that day at UB, I had to go to CVS for whatever reason (I believe I needed a power strip). While I was there, I passed by the brita filters again. This time, I thought to myself, its only $30 bucks and the filters are about $6 and last a month. I also figured that for the cost of a filter, I would go through 5 cases of water or an entire month’s supply (thus I’d save money in the end). I also figured that it is worth a try because if all else fails I could use it as a nice tea pitcher.
When I got the brita to my room and opened it, there were unusually long directions for it. Unfortunately, it got off to a bad start, but my friend has gotten them working before so he gave me a very short version. So after 15 minutes of soaking the filter in water and quickly rinsing the pitcher out afterwards, I was on my way.
To my surprise, the chlorinated water here at college acquired the taste of bottled water through the brita filter. I didn’t really expect the brita to filter out the water that well. Overall, I’m quite happy with it and it has curbed my usage of bottled water. At the same time, it has helped me become a little more environmentally friendly.
Next time you need bottled water and don’t really need it bottled, try the Brita solution, you will be pleasantly surprised, I know I was!
Tags: bottle, brita, h20, solution, water
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