Are you getting the right amount of calories?

How Many calories does my body need?
Calorie Range
Children                                                  Sedentary                                              Active
2-3 years                                           1,000                                                      1,400
Females
4- 8 years old                                    1,200                                                       1,800
9-13 years old                                   1,600                                                        2,200
14-18 years old                                 1,800                                                        2,400
19-30 years old                                2,000                                                       2,400
31-50 years old                                1,800                                                        2,200
51 plus                                                  1,600                                                        2,200

Males
4- 8 years old                                   1,400                                                        2,000
9-13 years old                                  1,800                                                        2,600
14-18 years old                                2,200                                                        3,200
19-30 years old                               2,400                                                        3,000
31-50 years old                               2,200                                                        3,000
51 plus                                                2,000                                                        2,800

By the USDA
Sedentary means a lifestyle that includes only the light physical activity associated with typical day to day life
Active means a lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking more than 3 miles per day at a 3 to 4 mile per hour, in addition to light physical activity associated with typical day to day life.
These are guild lines and the numbers may vary on the individual. Health and other factors can also raise or lower the calorie intake number.

The Great Benefits of Juicing

Part three of Juicing VS the Smoothie

• Freshly made juice gives you all the nutrients without any of the associated digestion. A freshly made juice bypasses your need to digest through the fibers before you get all the nutrients of the fruits and vegetables. This is ideal for people who have digestion problems and who need to heal themselves before they can absorb nutrients from whole foods. This ability to bypass your digestion and go straight into your nutritional system is important for giving your body a break and allowing it to heal itself fully.
• Juice is ideal for cleansing and healing. Many people have healed themselves and undergone complete transformations by following a supervised juice fast or juice feast. The idea is to drink only freshly made juicer for an extended period of time to allow your body to take a break and work on deeper issues that require healing. Remember to consider the benefits of organic produce when you’re juicing, especially if you aren’t peeling your produce.
•  Vegetables are better juiced whereas fruits are better eaten whole. Fruits need all of the fiber in order to slow down the absorption of sugar in your blood stream. The exception is that of mixing apple juice with vegetables. Vegetables contain less sugar and therefore don’t need as much fiber to slow down the absorption.
• Juice gives you an instant energy boost. When you’re drinking freshly made juice, you’re getting all of the energy right away without waiting for your body to digest through it.
• Cleaning a juicer can be quite a task. Both take just as long to prep the vegetables before using them. No time is saved on one or the other.  A juicer definitely requires a little bit more time for cleanup.  A juicer is also more expensive than a blender.
• Juices don’t make you feel full. After drinking juice you might be satisfied for 30 minutes to an hour. After drinking a smoothie, you might be satisfied for two to three hours. So if you look at juicing as  away  to add nutrition into your day with natural products instead of  a meal that is right on track. A Smoothie will fill you up as a meal.
• Juice allows you to juice almost any produce. You might never put a beet or a carrot in one of your smoothies, but you can definitely make juice out of these ingredients.  It is a great way to sneak in vegetables that you normally would not eat or don’t like the taste.
•  Juicing and smoothies can potentially lead to increased absorption of nutrition. This is certainly the case for the elderly, or people who have a hard time chewing through foods properly.
• If money is an issue then I definitely think a blender is a better investment because you’re not wasting the fiber of the fruits and vegetables that you’re blending.
• If you have gardens full of fresh vegetables and don’t know what to do with it. Juicing is a great option.
•  Juice does have an advantage in terms of nutrition because it is already broken down so that your body can absorb the nutrients better.

A smoothie or a juice? Let’s hear your thoughts and comments on blender verse juicer!

Benefits of Smoothies

 Smoothies keep longer in the refrigerator than juice does. Smoothies contain all of the fiber that the fruits and vegetables naturally have. Because everything is still in the drink itself, you can actually store smoothies but must drink it within 24 to 32 hours.
• The fiber  is also good laxative. Since smoothies still contain all of the fiber from the fruits and vegetables, the fiber cleanses the colon as it passes through. It will help keep you regular, and cleanse your body on their way out.
• Sugar is absorbed slower because of the built-in fiber.  Green smoothies allow you to have fruit without experiencing the aftermath of a sugar spike and crash. The fiber will keep the flow of sugar regular as your body digests it and it enters the bloodstream. Fruit smoothies will have the same effect as eating whole fruits, so you may experience fluctuation in sugar levels, but nothing compared to fruit juice.
• Blenders are easy to clean. Because blenders are so easy to assemble and clean a lot of people tend to use the blender instead of juicing. Also the blender can be used for other things and if you stop making smoothies you will still have a good blender for everyday use.
• You can easily add supplements and nuts into smoothies. When you’re making a smoothie you can add a spoonful of hemp protein powder, spirulina, flax seed. You wouldn’t necessarily add these supplements to a glass of juice, either because of the taste or the texture

An Apple a Day

An Apple a Day May Keep the Doctor Away

Apples are low in sugar but high in pectin (fiber). It can slow the digestion and  the absorption of sugar. So, it fills you up.  I like to sprinkle cinnamon for taste and it also has a regulatory effect on blood sugar, making it especially beneficial for people with Type 2 diabetes and it also lowers LDL cholesterol.

Bone Protection
A flavanoid called phloridzin that is found only in apples may protect post-menopausal women from osteoporosis and may also increase bone density. Boron, another ingredient in apples, also strengthens bones.

Asthma Help
One recent study shows that children with asthma who drank apple juice on a daily basis suffered from less wheezing than children who drank apple juice only once per month. Another study showed that children born to women who eat a lot of apples during pregnancy have lower rates of asthma than children whose mothers ate few apples.

Lower Cholesterol
The pectin in apples lowers LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. People who eat two apples per day may lower their cholesterol by as much as 16 percent.

Diabetes Management
The pectin in apples supplies galacturonic acid to the body which lowers the body’s need for insulin and may help in the management of diabetes.

Weight Loss

eating three apples or pears per day will help weight loss.Many health problems are associated with being overweight, among them heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea. To manage your weight and improve your overall health, doctors recommend a diet rich in fiber.  High fiber foods will fill you up without costing you too many calories.

 Get whiter, healthier teeth

An apple won’t replace your toothbrush, but biting and chewing an apple stimulates the production of saliva in your mouth, reducing tooth decay by lowering the levels of bacteria.

 Protect against Parkinson’s

Research has shown that people who eat fruits and other high-fiber foods gain a certain amount of protection against Parkinson’s, a disease characterized by a breakdown of the brain’s dopamine-producing nerve cells.

Heart

Apple skins also prevents the cholesterol that gets into your system from solidifying on your artery walls. When plaque builds inside your arteries, it reduces blood flow to your heart, leading to coronary artery disease.

Prevent gallstones

Gallstones form when there’s too much cholesterol in your bile for it to remain as a liquid, so it solidifies.  Fiber can  to help you control your weight and cholesterol levels.

 Beat diarrhea and constipation

Whether you can’t go to the bathroom or you just can’t stop. Fiber can either pull water out of your colon to keep things moving along when you’re backed up, or absorb excess water from your stool to slow your bowels down.

Juicing vs smoothies

To Juice or Not to Juice that is a Big Question

Has the juicing crazye left you confused? Eating your fruits and vegetables shouldn’t be so complicated. I will give you some pointers that might help you out.

The average American is eating less than a fifth of the recommended five servings of vegetables and three fruits a day.  If  the only way people can squeeze in getting in their daily allowance of fruits and vegetables is by juicing then,  juicing will  help make up the shortfalls in your diet, so juicing  has a vital role in many peoples healthy lives.

With smoothies you are drinking all of the vegetable / fruit and, including the fiber. These juices digest more slowly and are even healthier. One of the health benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables is to increase your source of heart- and digestive-healthy fiber. The  fiber also can help fill you up.

Juicing has become popular in recent years probably due to the fact that it makes for an additional way to get more fruits and vegetables in one’s diet. Juicing as prevention and a treatment for cancer has also gained popularity. However, when looking at the pros and cons of juicing, I would recommend caution when evaluating some of the claims you may see about cancer cures, many of which are unsubstantiated.

Drink your home-squeezed juice right away, to prevent the risk of contamination.  A good quality juicer is expensive and the time investment needed to prepare the fruits and vegetables and the cleanup afterward is labor intensive.  Some fruits and vegetables can contain more sugar than you might realize, and this can add unwanted calories and lead to weight gain. Juicing removes the fiber, so the vegetable juice metabolizes or goes into your system too quickly, with an effect similar to sugar.

More tomorrow on Juicing

Food your child should eat to help their concentration

Food your child should eat to help their concentration

Here is some food for thought.

Standardized testing is starting at school and your child needs to  concentrate , so that means having good food so that they can do their best.  Hopefully everyday they eat well and get plenty of sleep so they can be star performers.  Here are some great foods to eat  that  can improve your whole families  brain power.

Almonds and other nuts

Great snack and it also boosts your memory and increases the blood flow to the brain.

Beans

Beans provide additional energy from protein and complex carbohydrates in addition to fiber and loads of vitamins and minerals.Beans are an excellent brain food as they keep the energy levels up perking up their thinking as well if they had them as part of lunch. Pita and hummus makes a great snack or lunch.

Berries

Berries; all of them especially blueberries, contain powerful antioxidants. Improved memory is noticed in those kids that consume berries regularly.  So the Peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat is a great choice for lunch.

 EggsEggs are a great protein source.The yolks also contain choline which is absolutely necessary for brain development it boosts the memory center in your brain. They  can be eaten as a scrambled egg for  breakfast or egg salad for lunch but also make a great dinner time meal. Eating the whole egg is good for you, the yolk has the most nutrients in it.

Lean Beef

Lean beef is one of the best absorbed sources of iron. Iron is a mineral which is especialy important for the growth of children and helps in beter concentration at school.Beef also contains zinc which aids memory. Grass fed beef has the most nutrients.

Milk and Yogurt

Protein and B vitamins present in dairy foods are essential for the growth of brain tissue,enzymes and neurotransmitters.Milk and yogurt are packed with protein and carbohydrate which is a source of energy for the brain. It improves alertness and memory

Oats/Oatmeal

Oats is “grain for the brain”,say nutritionists. As a breakfast cereal,kids get the first energy for their brain from oats.Fiber rich oats also keep the children energized throughout the morning at school.Oats are also rich in vitamins B,E potassium and zinc which helps the brain and body to function to optimum levels.

Peanut Butter

Peanuts and peanut butter are an excellent source of Vitamin E,a potent antioxidant that protects nervous membranes.Thiamine is also present which helps the brain and nervous system convert glucose to energy. Peanut butter can be used in sandwiches or along with vegetables or fruit ( apples or bananas)

Salmon

Salmon is an excellent source of Omega 3 fatty acids DHA and EPA which are essential for brain growth and function. Eat salmon at least twice a week  to have sharper mind.Tuna is also very beneficial.

 Vegetables

Brightly colored and fresh vegetables are tremendously beneficial due to the antioxidants develop the immunity and also keep the brain cells strong.

 Whole Grains

The brain needs an optimal level of glucose for energy throughout the day which is provided by consuming whole grains.It also increases the blood flow to the brain. The vitamin B that it contains makes sure your kids develop a healthy nervous system.

I saved the best for last, Dark chocolate! 

Dark chocolate enhances focus and concentration. It is a great midway reward for hard work

Go Nuts!

A great snack for on the go.

Nuts,  Almonds, Walnuts, Macadamia. We all have grown up eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ants on a log, and peanut butter cookies. They are a great source of many great vitamins but should be eaten sparingly.  Nuts are a fatty food, but this fatty food actually helps you burn body fat!  80 percent of a nut is fat. Even though most of this fat is healthy fat, it’s still a lot of calories. That’s why you should eat nuts in moderation.  If you want to get rid of fat and lose inches on your stomach then you’ll want to incorporate nuts to your diet. Nuts are perfect as a light snack. Instead of reaching for the chips or other quick junk foods, eat dry roasted nuts.

Although nuts are loaded with fat, this fat is healthy fat ( omega-3 and unsaturated fats) . Nuts are packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein which are all vital for controlling blood sugar level and encouraging fat loss. Nuts also maintain fat burning hormones, and they suppress your appetite fill you up quickly and keep you feeling full longer.

Type of nut	Calories
Almonds, dry roasted	169	High in bone building minerals
Brazil nuts, raw	186	exceptionally high levels of selenium
Cashews, dry roasted	163	help prevent gallbladder disease
Chestnuts, roasted	69	rich in vitamin-C and folate
Macadamia nuts, dry roasted	204	slows digestion and reduces hunger
Pecans, dry roasted	201	protecting body from cancers
Pistachios, dry roasted	161	protect skin from dryness
Walnuts, halved	185	may help relieve hyper tension