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Bored with Your Healthy Diet? Try Quinoa!

July 3rd, 2010 by DietGal | Comments Off | Filed in Food & Recipes

[ReviewAZON asin="B002133Z56" display="inlinepost"] Are you bored with cooking the same old dishes? If so, maybe it is time to expand your culinary horizons. One way you can do this without blowing your diet is by cooking quinoa.

You may have heard of quinoa referred to as a grain before, but in reality it is a seed. This tiny seed is a relative of beets, swiss chard and spinach. Although only the seed is typically eaten in the western world, the leafy green parts of the plant are also edible.

Quinoa is great for people who are trying to lose a few pounds. It is packed with low-glycemic carbohydrates, meaning if you are on a diet like the South Beach diet, quinoa is a food that you can enjoy. Quinoa has gained a great deal of popularity in the vegetarian community because it is a terrific source of amino rich protein. Unlike other grains (other than Amaranth) quinoa provides a rich source of lysine, which is essential for your body to repair its cells. Quinoa is considered a complete protein as it contains all eight of the amino acids that your body must have to survive.
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Tags: cooking quinoa, how to cook Quinoa

Healthy Italian Restaurant Choices

June 14th, 2010 by DietGal | Comments Off | Filed in Food & Recipes

For most Americans, Italian food is synonymous with greasy pepperoni pizza, baked lasagna full of cheese and meat sauce, and high-carb pasta dishes.

But in Italy, Italian food is actually pretty healthy, with fresh vegetables, fish, and olive oil taking the lead. In southern Italy, you’ll find more of the tomatoes and cheese that are typical in American Italian restaurants. In Tuscany and northern Italy, the emphasis is on simply grilled meats, beans, and salt cod.

Most antipasto platters include several kinds of salty, processed meats like salami and capicola. If a vegetarian antipasto is available, order that instead. And skip the fried appetizers like calamari.

Minestrone is a great starter because not only is it chock-full of vegetables, it will also fill you up. A simple salad with a Balsamic vinaigrette is another smart choice. Stay away from the Caesar salad which is loaded with fat.

Pasta has a bad reputation with dieters, but it’s really the sauce that’s the culprit. High-fat favorites like Quattro Formaggi, Alfredo, and Gorgonzola cheese are strictly off limits. But a small serving of pasta – especially if it’s whole wheat – isn’t a bad choice.
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Tags: healthy italian dining, healthy italian food, italian food

8 Power Foods for Summer

June 6th, 2010 by DietGal | Comments Off | Filed in Food & Recipes

Your body is a product of genetics, diet, and exercise. Let’s face it some people are just naturally genetically predisposed to have solid muscles and an overtime metabolism. However, for the vast majority of us we have to work and work hard.

Eating right is an essential part of improving your health and life. When proper diet is matched with proper exercise your body improves. The best news is that we are all creates of habit. A simple commitment at first will quickly become a habit that can change your life and not require nearly as much motivational effort. Just get a plan and stick to it and you can have a body to be proud about.

No matter how much you lift you will not be able to build bigger muscles and increase strength without proper dieting. Getting a better body means you need to put better things in it. Most professional trainers will tell you that your diet counts for over 60% of your results.
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Tags: power foods, weight training, working out

Answers to the Top 5 Questions About Organic Food

June 3rd, 2010 by DietGal | Comments Off | Filed in Food & Recipes

You’ve no doubt seen organic produce and meat at the grocery store. And, you’ve no doubt noticed that the price tag is a bit higher. But, what you might not know is just exactly how food qualifies as organic. You might also be unsure as to whether buying organic food is really better for you, and whether it’s really worth the cost. Here are the answers to your most basic questions about organic food.

1. What does organic mean?
Organic gardening is not new. In fact, it’s been around forever. Organic gardening is simply gardening that uses only natural products for fertilizing and for removing disease and pests. It has been around for years, because it is, in fact, the original way of gardening. All gardeners were organic ones before chemical pesticides and fertilizers were available.
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Tags: nutrition, Organic food

Healthy and Natural Fat Burning Foods

February 26th, 2010 by DietGal | Comments Off | Filed in Food & Recipes

Vegetables that contain fewer calories than grains or meat are the best source for natural fat burning foods. In fact, often it is said that even to munch on celery uses up more calories than is being taken in. Whether or not that is true is still up for debate, but I can see how it might work so if you want to know how to burn off fat, looking out for those natural fat burners is one way to go.

Other fat burning foods are the leafy green vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli, spinach, and even green onions. Most of these foods are salad ingredients and add bulk to the diet rather than actual calories. However, you can sabotage their fat burning quality if you sprinkle on grated cheese, nuts and pieces of chopped chicken and, of course, calorie laden dressings. Also, keep in mind that you don’t want to be loading up on carbs. You don’t need to go on a no carb diet to lose weight, but low carb diets are usually a lot better at fat burning than their low fat counterparts.
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Tags: fat burning foods, foods that burn fat, healthy diet

Juicing – Health Benefits Of A Fruit Diet

February 13th, 2010 by DietGal | Comments Off | Filed in Food & Recipes

More people are discovering the benefits of going on to a fruit diet. A lot go on either a short term or long term plan as part of a cleansing or detox program. This is usually as part of a cleansing program in order to help maintain health and well-being. Some people can find the experience unpleasant but there are ways to make it a lot easier and more enjoyable.

I have met a lot of people who have decided to follow such a fruit diet and go out and eat vast quantities of fruit all in one go. The unfortunate result of this is that it can often make you feel bloated and nauseous initially.
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Tags: fruit, fruit juice, juicers, nutrition

Baked Chicken Breast: The Ultimate Health Food

February 8th, 2010 by DietGal | Comments Off | Filed in Food & Recipes

There aren’t too many win-win foods easily available on the market. When I say win-win, I’m referring to a meal that is both good for you and tastes fantastic. Chicken is one of the bar none healthiest foods around, and baking chicken breast is one of the healthiest, best tasting ways to make it. It gives you all of the advantages of an incredible protein source, while presenting it in a generally low fat package.

Now, if you’ve ever camped out and watched the Food Network for any extended period of time, you know that there are a million different chicken dishes; everything from Mexican to Italian to Buffalo (both in region and style), and though it’s great to get exposure to new ideas, information overload can sometimes lead to sheer confusion. What you need is something simple to get you started. The following recipe will give you a foundation that holds up not only as a fantastic entree by itself, but can provide a base to prepare an infinite number of other chicken featured meals.

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Tags: baked chicken breast, chicken recipes, recipes

Health benefits of Papaya

February 7th, 2010 by DietGal | Comments Off | Filed in Food & Recipes

The papaya is a fruit that grows in tropical countries like Brazil, India, Sri lanka and Haiti. It is a deliciously sweet fruit with musky undertones and a texture that is almost butter like. Some describe its taste as a mixture of a pineapple and a peach but without the tartness. Besides its wonderful taste the papaya can be very beneficial for health.

Health Benefits of Papaya
Papayas are a great source of antioxidants such as vitamin C, flavonoids, carotenoids, folate, potassium, magnesium and fiber. In addition to this papayas are also a great source of a digestive enzyme called papain.

Heart Health Benefits of Papaya
Fruits, like papaya, that are a great source of vitamin C and flavonoids go a long way to keeping our arteries healthy. Vitamin C and flavonoids together are a powerful combination that prevents the oxidation of LDL “bad” cholesterol cells. Only when LDL cholesterol cells become oxidized (damaged by unstable oxygen molecules called free radicals) can they stick to the artery wall and build up to form artery plaque – a condition called atherosclerosis that is the number one leading factor for heart disease. Studies show that vitamin C and flavonoids are among the most effective of antioxidants to protect us from the development of atherosclerosis.

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Tags: antioxidants, colon health, fruit, healthy eating, juicing, papaya juice

Health Benefits of Grapefruit Juice

February 5th, 2010 by DietGal | Comments Off | Filed in Food & Recipes

Wonderfully juicy with a tart tangy taste underscored with sweetness, the grapefruit may just be the taste of paradise as its Latin name suggests, citrus paradisi. Just like oranges, grapefruits are popular as a morning juice and offer many of the same benefits as oranges.

Brimming with Vitamin C
Grapefruit is a superb source of vitamin C, an essential nutrient for a healthy immune system. More than 20 scientific studies show that vitamin C rich foods, like grapefruit, help lessen the severity of colds or even protect us from them. Vitamin C also protects us from harmful oxygen molecules (called free radicals) that can set off inflammatory chain reactions in our cells. Therefore vitamin C intake has been associated with a reduction in the symptoms of inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and asthma.

The inflammatory effects of free radicals can also damage our arteries causing atherosclerosis, heart attack and stroke. So the anti-inflammatory effects of eating vitamin C rich foods can also considerably reduce our risk of developing heart disease. As all fruits and vegetables are a source of vitamin C (to one degree or another), it is not surprising that those who eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables are considerably less likely to have heart problems that those who eat very little or no fruits and vegetables.
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Tags: antioxidants, grapefruit, health benefits of grapefruit juice, juice, vitamin c

Which Olive Oil Should You Be Buying For Your Family?

February 5th, 2010 by DietGal | Comments Off | Filed in Food & Recipes

There are many types of Olive Oil on the market so how do you know which one to use?

The Olive oil we buy in the market typically does not have the benefits most people think it does, even in expensive extra virgin oil. Many bloggers who write olive oil reviews forget about this all important benefit when reviewing oil. The reason is an important beneficial ingredient called “phenol”. This key ingredient is removed during processing. It is phenol which gives us the benefit we all think olive oil has. The only time it’s intact is when olives are freshly pressed. Freshly pressed oil is not available in most stores if at all. However, if you can get your hands on this bottle of sunshine, you are far better off.

A lot of people think Olive Oil ages over time like fine wine and get’s better with age. It is actually the opposite with olive oil. It loses most if not all of it’s key ingredients if left on the shelf too long, It can also have a significant reduction in the flavors well.
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Tags: fitness, healthy food, olive oil