Eat These Foods to Help Reduce Your Sodium Levels

Lower Your Sodium Levels Naturally

Many people suffer from high sodium levels.
Sodium is needed but high levels can cause high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney damage.

Foods that  will help balance your sodium levels are potassium rich such as;

Spinach

Chard

Bananas

Lima beans

Prunes

Baked Potato with Skins

Follow the DASH diet ( Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) it is a low fat and low calorie diet that is rich in potassium , magnesium and calcium. The diet should have no more than 1500 mg of sodium a day.
An easy way to start is by eliminate processed foods to reduce sodium levels. Also eat at home as much as possible and make homemade meals without adding salt.

Flavor your foods with spices. Spices are natures own natural medicine. Spices increase metabolism so it help the body detox, burn more calories and excrete sodium faster. Spices can add more flavor to food so there is no need for salt. Great spices that add heat are

Ginger

Mustard

Curry

Pepper

Fresh salsa – Use as a topping instead of a condiment like tartar sauce or a butter sauce

Exercise helps the body sweat out extra sodium. Drinking water also dilute the sodium levels. Another great benefit of potassium is that it helps reduce muscle cramps when you exercise.

For more about potassium rich foods read my post on “Muscle Cramps Slowing You Down From Working Out?”

Source Mayo Clinic

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Summer gardens are bursting with peas. Great recipes on how to eat them

Eat your peas! Here is the great reason why

Growing up your Mom would tell you eat your peas! And like most kids you did not like them. I remember my youngest brother eating them like he was taking pills. It was painful to watch  as he would take a mouth full of water and only a few peas in his mouth as he would try to swallow them whole. He would continue this grueling task till the pile of peas on his plate were gone. My other brothers and I would laugh at his funny tradition. The funny thing is if he ever tried them he would have realized they were tender sweet  morsels fresh from the garden. Now as an adult he actually enjoys eating his peas and we will  now see if his sons are like him and don’t eat their peas.
There are many varieties of peas. Peas date back as far back as the biblical days.
Peas are rich in Vitamin B and folate, which are important for in proper metabolism of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. They also provide antioxidant protection.

Garden Peas -
Snow Peas -Great in a stir fry or in a salad

Snow Pea, orange and jicama salad

• 4 cups snow peas (about 12 ounces), trimmed
• 2 oranges
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 small jícama, peeled and cut into matchsticks

for full recipe go to http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/snow_pea_orange_jicama_salad.html

Sugar Snap Peas – I like these raw on a salad or dipped in hummus or cooked lightly

1. Spread sugar snap peas in a single layer on a medium baking sheet, and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with shallots, thyme, and kosher salt.
2. Bake at 450 in the oven for 6 to 8 minutes, until tender but firm.

Green Peas promote bone health. The vitamin K that is found in peas helps activate the protein in the bone. It can help fight off osteoporosis. Peas also support your cardiovascular health as well.. These little peas help repair blood vessels that leads to a healthy heart. and helps the blood clot. The potassium and magnesium helps regulate blood pressure and the fiber helps lower cholesterol levels.
Peas also help promote eye health by protecting against oxidative stress. People with a diet high in lutein and zeaxanthin have less risk of developing cataracts and macular degeneration.
Peas a re a great source of energy producing cells and systems in the body. The high Vitamin B helps with the metabolism of protein , carbohydrates and lipids.
They are also important in normal blood cell formation and function. The iron in them helps fight off anemia, fatigue, learning problems and decreased immune functions.
1 Cup of green peas provides 17% of your Daily Value of protein
and 9% of the daily value of carbohydrates
and is 134 calories

Source

The World’s Healthiest Foods

Eating Well

Great Foods that help prevent muscle cramps after working out

Muscle cramps slowing you down from working out?

Speed recovery and decrease muscle cramping from working out.
Muscle cramps are no reward for your hard work out. So to avoid those nasty leg cramps try a few of my tips.
Avoid caffeine. Caffeine constricts the blood vessels and decreases circulation in muscles.
Potassium helps your body break down carbohydrates and build muscle.

Eat foods High in Potassium like:
Swiss Chard- it has 27 percent of you daily value and is only 35 calories per serving. Great way to eat it is raw in a salad or lightly saute in a pan with olive oil, garlic and crush red pepper.
Lima Beans- it also is 27 percent of your daily value. It has 216 calories per serving.
Potatoes and Yams are also great sources at 26 percent of the daily value and only 160 calories.
Spinach is 23.9  percent of the daily value with only 41 calories
Papaya is 22 percent   of the daily value with 119 calories
Pinto beans  21 percent of the daily value and is 245 calories
Lentils   pack 20 percent of the daily value and are 230 calories
Kidney beans  also pack 20 percent of the daily value and are 225 calories per serving.

These foods may make  great sit down meal  but, no one is walking around the gym eating their spinach salad with papaya dressing while working out. Besides juicing, the easiest ways to  consume extra potassium on the go would be -

grab a handful of dried fruit

a glass of tomato juice, citrus juice, or milk

a slice of melon, banana, or an orange

 Drinking  plenty of water will also  help flush the waste product from your muscles  and improve circulation.

Sources

World’s Healthiest Foods

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Help Keep the beaches clean. Guest writer Chris Gay

Guest Blogger Chris Gay

Today I will have a guest blogger, Chris Gay.

http://www.chrisjgay.com

http://chrisgay.wordpress.com

Chris  is a freelance writer, (including this national humor piece for Writer’s Digest) broadcaster, voice-over artist and actor. Just published in December was his theological, paranormal thriller novel Ghost of a Chance.  He has written three humor books: And That’s the Way It Was…Give or Take: A Daily Dose Of My Radio Writings, Shouldn’t Ice Cold Beer be Frozen? My 365 Random Thoughts To Improve Your Life Not One Iota, and The Bachelor Cookbook: Edible Meals with a Side of Sarcasm. ( Summer 2013)

July National Clean Beach Awareness Month

2013 marks the tenth anniversary of Clean Beaches Week, (CBW) which is celebrated July 1^stthrough 7^th each year. The festivities focus on four primary initiatives,* with those being Food, Recreation, Travel and Environment.

Seagulls, reclusive Midwesterners and the agoraphobic aside, I think we all can appreciate the beauty and serenity of a nice, clean beach. It’s in that spirit that we’ll take a closer look at what the Clean Beaches Coalition is promoting through those very initiatives. Let’s start in some particular order:

Food: Healthy eating is encouraged during CBW, with the spotlight focused squarely on seafood. While it’s unquestionably an integral part of a proper, well-balanced diet, (And sure to make oceanfront restaurants happy) the only seafood you’ll see me eating are Pepperidge Farm pizza-flavored goldfish and the occasional order of fried clams at some New England fair or another. But then, not everything is about me.

Recreation: What better way to celebrate CBW than with a beach activity? Ocean-based fun includes fishing (Which can also be a great workout; though generally more so for the fish) and surfing. For those who prefer their beach time with less action and drying salt-water, there’s walking and reading. (Though the risk of a paper cut from the latter cannot be entirely ruled-out.)

Travel: In a number obtained from the Connecticut Fictitious Statistics Bureau (Est. 6.26.2013, 8:56a.m. EST) more visits are made to the beach annually than to the …well, it’s not my blog, so let’s let the rest of that joke go. At any rate, what’s being showcased here is energy conservation. So if you’re going to the beach, please walk, bicycle, carpool or teleport there. (If you have the technology.) Also, be sure to engage in “green activities.” Which I can only guess means things like playing beach bocce with forest or olive drab-colored balls.

Environment: Other than Tiger sharks, no one likes to see litter at the shore. (And they can’t even reach the trash on the sand, anyway. Or…can they?) Moving along, the 4^th of July holiday is the biggest one spent at the beach annually, and it (I’m guessing not coincidentally) falls squarely in the middle of CBW. Look, those garbage cans you see sprinkled all along the sandy landscape aren’t the abandoned works of lazy sculptors; they’re there for use at your disposal. (Get it? I love double entendres. But I digress.)

The reality is that regardless of which beach you frequent, all people have to do to greatly enhance the experience for everyone, is to simply maintain respect for others and clean up after themselves. It’s easy, really.

Thanks so much for your time and attention. Now, go enjoy the beach!

*Information referenced on CBW from the Clean Beaches Coalition and cleanbeaches.com

Artwork by Amanda Dagneau

How to get healthier finger nails

Best Foods to Eat for Healthy Nails

Dry brittle nails can be a result of a deficiency in iron. Foods that are rich in iron are
eggs, spinach and fortified cereals.
If you pair them up with Vitamin C rich foods such as
citrus, bell peppers, and tomatoes
it will help the body absorb the iron.

A folate deficiency can make the nails look dull. Great foods that contain folate are
lentils, beans and spinach

For brittle flaking nails include more fatty acids in your diet to moisturize the nail beds.
2 Tablespoons of flax-seed oil or flax-seeds is an easy addition to your diet.

For strong hard nails eat about 6 ounces of protein like salmon, mackerel, lean meat, roast turkey, pork loin and cornish hens.
The protein helps make keratin. Keratin is what helps make the nails strong.
Great ways to eat these foods
smoothies or juicing
fortified cereal with strawberries
an omelette with green and red peppers. For an extra kick and some salsa
spinach salad with tomatoes

Your finger nails can tell a doctor a lot about your overall heath. Many illness can be found by inspecting a persons fingers.

The answers to your health problems could be found at the  tip of your fingers.

Mayo clinic has some good pictures of nail conditions and the health issues that it could be caused by

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nails/WO00055

Source

Readers Digest July 2013

Mayo Clinic

Great scents that will help you sleep better

Floral scents can help you sleep better and catch a few extra z’s

I love the smell of fresh flowers. Flowers can freshen a room with color and light fresh aromas.

Jasmine

Is great for light sleepers. The scent will help you experience deeper REM cycles. Put the flowers in a vase or plant the Jasminum polyanthum ( the vine like plant) outside of your bedroom window and let the aroma sooth you to sleep.

Lavender

This plant has amazing effects on sleep and stress.   The flowery aroma slows the heart rate and lowers blood pressure. People with insomnia  that sprinkled lavender oil on the sheets found that they slept better and woke up feeling refreshed.

Gardenia

This is one of my favorite flowers. The sweet scent soothes uneasy sleepers. It is also used to help manage anger and impatience.

These are great scents to incorporate into your home.  Weather it is used fresh or in an oil or candles. These soothing smells can help everyone sleep better and feel at ease.

Beets another powerhouse vegetable

Sharpen your mind by eating beets

These gems are great anti inflammatory and for detoxification.

These colorful root vegetables contain powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer.
These  vegetables are rich in antioxidant  carotenoids, and in particular, beta-carotene.

The nitric acid in beets increases the blood flow in your body including the brain that are associated with degeneration and dementia.

Eating beets raw packs more nutrients.  A great way to eat them raw is by juicing at adding them to a salad.

A great way that I like to eat beets is by roasting them

Oven Roasted Vegetables

• 4 beets ( Different colors looks nice )
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 medium red onion, cut into wedges
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary or 2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 apple sliced
• add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar if you want it sweeter

Directions

• Preheat oven to 425°. In a  bowl, whisk oil,
• vinegar and seasonings. Pour over vegetables and toss to coat.
• Transfer to two greased  baking pan. Bake, uncovered,
• 30-40 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Yield: 7
• servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 cup equals 152 calories, 6 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 347 mg sodium, 24 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber,