What Exactly is Vegan?

There are so many different phrases and slang terms that are used to describe a healthier lifestyle that often it is virtually impossible to determine exactly what Vegan is and what it is not. In order to fully understand something it is vital that you be fully aware of what is expected and for many Vegan is just an insult if they are confused accidently with another type of eating style.

The primary difference between a Vegan lifestyle and that of a typical person primarily is the lack of meat consumed in a Vegan lifestyle. However, many people believe that vegetarians will still eat dairy products and other similar foods. While this is correct, it is a major difference between vegetarian and vegan. People who are true Vegans do not eat any animal related products, they do not encourage the consumption of animal related products and they also do not wear any animal related products. This would include items such as milk, yogurt, butter, eggs, leather clothing and also anything that can cause harm to animals during production.

Many people mistakenly believe that Vegetarianism and Veganism are the exact same thing. However, those who are vegetarian will consume animal related products such as eggs, milk, dairy, yogurt and other similar foods that do not particular cause the animals life to be in danger. Foods such as meat are still avoided though. This is a significant difference from Vegan's who do not consume such foods. In order to really determine which type of lifestyle is best for you and your family, you would need to look over your typical eating habits. Many people discover that Vegan is something that is far too strict for them to abide by on a normal basis and instead opt for a vegetarian lifestyle instead.

Choosing to live a Vegan lifestyle is not always easy. It can make things a bit complicated when it is time to plan meals, as well as will typically involve a bit more planning ahead since you will not be able to easily pull everything for meals straight from the freezer. While it is still possible to use some frozen foods in the Vegan lifestyle, many fruits and vegetables simply do not taste the same once they have been frozen. If this is a problem that you are encountering it may be necessary to invest some money into planting a garden that you can use to obtain many of your foods so that they will always be fresh.

It is not necessary under any circumstances to think that you absolutely must take the time to grow a massive garden as well. Many people work with only a small garden growing a very limited supply and quantity of foods until they are able to devote more space to their homegrown foods. What becomes a frequent problem is many people do not realize that they really can start their garden with only a small supply. If you wait until you have the room to add a massive garden you will be severely discounting many of the delicious benefits that really are possible to achieve.

By making some small steps and changes to your lifestyle you might find that working on a vegetarian lifestyle is much easier for you to handle initially. This can make a great starting point when you are working to move to a healthier vegan lifestyle for your entire family. If you are busy trying to ensure that you are fully aware of all of the benefits then knowing all of the differences between vegetarianism and veganism is very important. Working to improve your health as much as possible is extremely important and really is possible as long as you take the time to really study your options. A healthy lifestyle is possible, even if you are not comfortable with the idea of converting over to an entirely vegan way of life.


 

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Do Diet And Food Choices Affect Your Blood Pressure?

Are you aware that what you eat can affect your blood pressure? Watching your diet can be very beneficial to keeping your blood pressure normal. Even if you have never had a problem with high blood pressure, taking necessary precautions can be beneficial.

You could try a Vegetarian diet. In this diet you will get many of the following:

• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Vitamin A & C
• Potassium
• Complex Carbohydrates
• Polyunsaturated Fat
• Fiber

All of these can have a great influence on your blood pressure.

Sugar can increase your blood pressure, especially the common table sugar sucrose. Try to limit your intake of this. A diet high in fiber has been proven effective in lowering blood pressure. Along with lowering your blood pressure this diet will also help you reduce your cholesterol levels and even promote weight loss.

Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is very important as well. Any diet that includes consuming fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy foods and is low in total fat, cholesterol and saturated fat has proven to be effective in lowering blood pressure.

Many people use more salt than they are aware of. Maybe because some of us are just used to automatically salting our food unaware if it was salted when being cooked. (If eating out) Reducing your salt intake will also help lower your blood pressure.

A diet high in potassium and low in sodium reduces your blood pressure rise by reducing the effect of adrenaline. If you reduce your sodium intake you must also increase your potassium intake.

There are some vegetables and spices that help control your blood pressure. Many of these are very common vegetables and spices so you may be helping your blood pressure and not even know it.

Onions’ essential oil is very beneficial. If you have two to three tablespoons of this essential onion oil a day, it could help reduce your systolic levels. Tomatoes are also a beneficiary to controlling blood pressure. They are high in GABA, a compound that helps lower your blood pressure.

Broccoli contains several blood pressure reducing ingredients. Carrots also have many compounds that do the same. Introducing these vegetables to your diet will do wonders for your blood pressure. Even if you don’t suffer from high blood pressure, it’s best to keep it at a safe level and take the extra precautions to get there.

Garlic and celery are also great to add to your diet. Garlic is good for the heart which you’ve probably been told before. Eating just one clove of garlic a day has been proven to be beneficial.

Whatever diet you choose or whatever foods you try to limit, remember you are doing it for your health. Many people learn to enjoy healthier foods as they get older. If you have any questions or concerns about your blood pressure get with your doctor. They will be happy to assist you and answer any questions you might have. Taking care of your health is very important and will make you feel much better.

[tags]blood pressure, high blood pressure, foods that lower blood pressure, diet, nutrition, healthy eating[/tags]


 

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Addicted To Food? Food Addiction Can Become Unhealthy…

There are many different things that a person can be addicted to, but food addiction has to be one of the toughest addictions to break. Food is necessary to survival, so you can’t give it up like you can with other things such as drugs, alcohol, or tobacco. Are you addicted to food? It seems like it wouldn’t technically be possible, but research has shown that some people actually have an addictive personality when it comes to eating food.

How can researchers be so sure it’s not just a lack of control on the part of the patient? After all, addiction and low willpower are not the same thing. What the researchers did was hook people up to brain reading machines, and compared the active parts of the patient’s brains. They discovered that some people who thought about food had the same reactions as drug addicts who were thinking about drugs. This indicates that food addiction is very real.

Just like any other addiction, food addiction needs to be taken seriously. Going through a twelve-step program, talking to your doctor, or attending in-patient treatment are all possible course of action for getting your addiction under control.

Here are a few more things you can do to help keep your food addiction in check:

1. Keep a food journal. Write down the food you eat, when and where you eat, who you are with at the time, how you’re feeling before you eat, and how you feel after you are done eating. Just being aware of your eating is often enough to get you to make improvements to your diet. Having a food journal will also help you to recognize eating patterns, for better or worse.

2. Slow down and savor your food. Food addiction is difficult because you have to eat, but how you eat will make a difference in how you perceive food. Don’t gulp down your food without giving it any thought. Instead, take your time when eating, and make a habit of savoring every bite.

3. Find out what your triggers are, and then do your best to avoid them. As you start to pay more attention to your eating habits, you will notice that certain things cause you to eat. For example, maybe you always pig out on potato chips while watching the evening news; if so, then not watching the evening news would mean you are avoiding a food trigger.

4. Eat for nutrition, not for comfort. Imagine only eating because you are hungry and want to fill your body with the nutrients it needs. This may seem like a dream if you are addicted to food, but it can be done. Before you eat, ask yourself if you are really hungry. If you aren’t hungry, then don’t eat. If you are hungry, then take a moment to remind yourself of the true purpose for eating, and then make food choices that do a better job of accomplishing that purpose.

5. Drink plenty of water. Often the signals we interpret as hunger are actually signs of thirst, so when you first start to feel a bit hungry, drink a large glass of water. If the hunger impulse subsides, you’ll know it was probably just thirst that triggered the signals.

[tags]food addiction, addicted to food, food addiction tips, healthy nutrition, proper nutrition, nutrition[/tags]


 

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Vitamins Good For Flu-Not Sure There Are Any

The flu is not something anyone wants to deal with, it is a miserable experience. So the fact that the flu season also coincides with the holiday season makes it all that more important to stay healthy and avoid the flu so you can enjoy the holidays to their fullest extent. There are a lot of ways you can avoid catching the flu, such as routinely washing your hands and getting plenty of rest or using Vitamins good for flu.

But sometimes you can not avoid catching the flu, but all is not lost just because you catch this nasty little bug. If you act early you can nip it in the bud before it becomes a real problem. But to do this you need to be able to determine whether or not you are sick, and for this you need to know what symptoms to look for.

1. Fever. One of the main symptoms would be a high fever of around 100F. If you feel flushed and find out you have a fever, you should take medicine and get plenty of rest so that your body can fight it off before it drags you down too far.

2. Coughing. We all cough, of course, so no need to get paranoid. However if you find yourself coughing a lot more then usual, this may be a potential sign that you caught the flu. Check to see if you have any other symptoms and again, make sure to get plenty of rest.

3. Headache. Another symptom of the flu is headaches. While, like the cough, headaches can be caused by a number of things so you do not need to jump the gun and start taking Vitamins good for flu or something. But just be aware that it may be a symptom of the flu.

4. Tiredness. Major illnesses like the flu require a lot of work for your body to fight off, this will leave you consistently fatigued and feeling tired. This is why it is so important to get plenty of rest, so that you body can properly fight off the invaders.

5. Limb and joint ache. One of the unique symptoms of the flu is that your limbs and joints feel sore. This can be a tell tale sign that you have the flu when your limbs and joints ache without any real reason behind it.

6. Upset stomach. Another symptom is the common stomach ache. This is not always present when you have the flu but often times it is, so make sure to go light on your meals and drink plenty of fluids to keep yourself hydrated if you find yourself vomiting.

7. Sore throat/running nose. A sore throat and/or runny nose can also be signs that you have the flu. Vitamins good for flu can help calm down these issues and speed up your rate of recovery as well.

8. Loss of appetite. This symptom is pretty easy to spot, if you find yourself never really feeling hungry it is a good bet you have the flu. Since you are ingesting less food, and especially if you are suffering from an upset stomach, you need to make sure you keep your fluids up.


 

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Healthy Eating Plans Should Stress Moderation

There are so many different diets out there that it's nearly impossible to figure out which ones not only live up to their claims, but which ones would qualify as healthy eating plans. A big thing to look for is moderation. That's because the more wild fad diets tell you to eat as much of one food as like (cabbage soup, anyone?), avoid whole groups of foods (stay away from those carbs!), or both. Therefore, a good rule of thumb for finding a good diet is to see how moderate it is; not only in the foods you can eat, but also the quantity of the food you eat.

While the idea of gorging yourself on cheeseburgers, pizza and bacon may sound like the perfect diet. Low-carb eating plans aren't all they're cracked up to be. Sure, you may enjoy eating all of those foods, but the novelty will wear off sooner than you think. Not only that, but you will also crave carbohydrates like never before. Imagine not having ice cream, bread, certain vegetables or pasta. You might lose some weight at first, but once you can't control your cravings, you will gain it all back (and probably more).

Even assuming you could lose weight, and keep it off by being on a diet high in protein and fat, you still need to question the long-term effects on your health. Researchers are still learning about how the food we eat impacts our health, but one thing most of them agree with is that too much saturated fat isn't good or you. So it stands to reason that a diet that lets you eat all the saturated fat shouldn't be counted along with other healthy eating plans.

If you stand back from it and look at it objectively, it should be easy to see that such a diet couldn't possibly be healthy…even if you lose weight. But that's why so many diets make amazing claims. It gets you excited about the possibilities and then your brain shuts off its ability to reason. This is not your fault! These people are professionals at convincing people to try new diets. But once you learn some of the basics and know what to really look for, you don't have to worry about falling for the hype ever again.

As mentioned earlier, it's all about moderation. You should, of course, eat healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and good fats. The closer foods are to their natural source, the better. But you can also enjoy the occasional treat. There is no need for you to give up your favorite foods, as long as you don't overdo it. You can also find some very good recipes that will reduce the calories in your favorite foods. Either way, healthy eating plans don't have to be complicated. Find a few you would like to try, then see how well they work for you.


 

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