Posts Tagged ‘nutrition’

Stress Busters – the foods that fight stress…

The recession isn’t easy on most of us – stress levels will undoubtedly be shooting through the roof as cash and employment worries become more and more taxing.

So read on to discover which food you should be munching on if you want to beat away the daily stress and anxiety;

Sweet Potatoes

Our bodies cry out for carbohydrates and sweets on a daily basis but when we’re under stress we feel the urge even more.  Sweet potatoes could be the key to quashing that urge and thus relieving your unwanted stress.

Contains: Beta-carotene and other vitamins as well as fibre which helps to burn through the carbs.

Oranges

Vitamin C has been proven to eat away at stress and return blood pressure back to a healthy state – an orange will work wonders in a stressful situation and could also help towards your immune system.

Contains: Vitamin C

Spinach

So just because Popeye piled on the muscles when he munched down a can of spinach doesn’t mean the same thing is going to happen to you.  Spinach is good for fighting off headaches and fatigue though so your insides will be stronger after a bite.

Contains: One cup of spinach supplies 40 per cent of your daily magnesium needs.

Avocados

These little beauties can actually bring down your blood pressure thanks to the amount of monosaturated fats and potassium they contain.  According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in the United States munching on an avocado is one of the best ways to lower your blood pressure.

Contains: Monosaturated fats and more potassium than bananas.

Dried Apricots

This little treat can blow away the stress of the day and also relax your muscles at the same time – great to munch on at the end of the day while you’re enjoying a relaxing bath – goodbye stress!

Contains: Magnesium and a lot of it…

Salmon

We all know about Omega-3 and the benefits it has on our brains, but were you aware that it can also protect you from heart disease?  Omega-3 manages to put a lid on your adrenaline and cortisol (a stress hormone) letting you put less stress on your heart.

Contains: Omeg-3 fatty acid.

Green Veg

Your dark greens plagued you through your childhood but now they’re back and they need to be cleared from your plate!  Dark green vegetables are full of great treats that keep our bodies refreshed when stressed – isn’t that nice of them…

Contains: Green vegetables are stuffed to the rafters with vitamins.

Stress – Can you beat it?

Do you have any tips to control stress levels?  Did you find out stress busting foods helpful?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think…

Surprise: White bread isn’t good!

Taste

For a start there is a difference in taste – after all if brown bread and white bread tasted the same then we’d probably all choose the healthier option for breakfast.  Brown bread can be quite an interesting taste experience if you’ve spent the last 3 decades chewing on the white stuff.

A good idea if you are thinking of making the exchange from white to brown is to take it slowly.  If you make a sudden move for the brown you might be put off but if you work your way through the steps, stopping at all the breads in between white and brown, then you should find that brown bread is actually the way forward.  Give light rye a try and work from there…

No Nutritional Value

White bread is made from wheat flour and is bran and germ free – as you can imagine these are the nutritional bits that you won’t be getting with your morning egg soldiers.

White bread falls short when it comes to the likes of zinc, thiamine, fibre, niacin, and trace elements and not to mention our old favourites the “good” fats and oils that we need in our daily diet.

Bleached

So what’s left in the white bread?  Flour of course…but don’t get on your high horse just yet!  The flour that’s left in the bread is bleached using oxidising agents that could actually kill you if you were to swallow them, inhale them or rub them on your skin – you’re eating it!

The people at the bakery will be throwing in anything from Potassium Salt, Bromic Acid, Potassium Bromate, Benzoyl Peroxide or Chlorine Dioxide – a cocktail of hazardous chemicals that you would stick your nose up at if you saw at your local Asda.

Brown doesn’t mean brown!

So you might be thinking that you are one of the good guys munching on your ‘brown bread’ – well don’t be tricked…just because it says ‘brown bread’ doesn’t necessarily mean it is any different to white bread!

Real brown bread is whole wheat or wholemeal.  Check out the ingredients on the side of the packet and make sure you know exactly what you’re putting into your mouth.  If you see enriched/wheat flour then forget it – this is exactly the same stuff they chuck into white bread so you won’t be getting all the added benefits of the wholemeal goodness!

As a basic rule of thumb the few ingredients the better so keep that in mind the next time you’re out shopping for bread.

White or Brown?

What do you choose when you have a sandwich?  Do you reach for the white or do you go down the healthier route and go wholemeal?  Leave us a comment and let us know…

Is it time to stop eating meat?

Could you live without meat?  Some people do it right now…others couldn’t even think about it…but by giving up meat you could be doing more than protecting your arteries.  Not only will you be saving countless innocent animal lives but you will also be doing great things for the greenhouse crisis and you will be reducing your footprint!

Meat is good for you – it has important nutrients like iron and protein that we need for energy and fuel and above all most of us like the taste of it.  But unfortunately for meat lovers there are some pretty reasonable arguments against the consumption of meat.

Methane

It is interesting to find out that methane is actually far worse for the environment than the usual suspect carbon dioxide – did you know it came out of the wrong end of a cow?  Furthermore were you aware that farming is responsible for a staggering 38 per cent of the United Kingdom’s entire methane emissions?

One cow standing on its own produces from between 100 and 200 litres of methane every single day!  Think about that next time you drive past a field full of cows…

Water

The waste of water involved in making a hamburger is just too much to think about – it takes around 2,400 litres of water, from the growth of the cow to the actual process of making the burger.  Now imagine how little water it takes to grow some veg?

A portion of green beans from Kenya uses only 80 litres of water to produce from start to finish – an insignificant number in comparison.  Water is one of the big problems of today’s climate issue as it is increasingly becoming scarce.

In this light, a vegetarian only consumes around 2,000 litres of water while a meat eater contains 5,000 litres.

Deforestation

We are eating more and more meat and so we need to find more and more room for all the animals we are eating.  The Amazon and areas of South-East Asia have been ripped up to make room for cattle while we are already worried about the lack of trees left in the world.

However the argument against this worry is that most meat eaters in Britain actually eat meat farmed in Britain so there is very little, if any, contribution to deforestation from Britain.

Land

The population of the Earth is growing at amazingly scary rates and while this is a problem in itself we could be helping the issue if we turn away from meat.  Cattle farming takes up massive amounts of land areas which could be used for other things such as providing areas for people to live in.

What do you think?

Would you say goodbye to meat to save the planet?  Are you a veggie and think that others should follow in your footsteps?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think…

We don’t always have time for breakfast – but are you aware that by skipping the most important meal of the day you could be ruining the rest of your day?

By giving yourself a few minutes at the beginning of the day could you really be doing yourself a favour for the rest of the day?

Read on to find out exactly why you should be waking up a bit earlier to make time for that all important meal…

Wake up that metabolism of yours…

When you don’t eat all night your bodies metabolism slows down – by skipping breakfast you aren’t giving your metabolism that all-important boost that sets your body up for the rest of the day.

Wake up, it’s breakfast…

Did you know that breakfast makes you more alert and wakes you up.  If you have been finding your attention lagging in those early morning office meetings then make sure that you haven’t been skipping your breakfast!

Breakfast diet?

Research has shown that by eating breakfast you will actually increasing your chances of losing weight.  Think about it, if you skip breakfast you are so hungry by lunchtime that you can only think about stuffing your face, and you’ll end up consuming more calories than you would want.

Mood swings…

Studies have shown that by skipping breakfast you could actually be setting yourself up to be in a bad mood, and no one likes a moody guts.

You are what you eat, after all, so start your day with a healthy and nutritious dish to set yourself up for a good day!

Cereal bars are not a breakfast substitute!

Cereal bars are crammed with fat and sugar and don’t make up for a good old healthy breakfast – some cereal bars contain as much sugar and fat as a chocolate bar!

Take the chance to get healthy…

Breakfast is the perfect time to ditch the morning sweets and take the healthier route – if your appetite isn’t what it is in the afternoon then think about munching on some nuts, berries or whole-grain cereals.  You’ll feel better and so will your stomach.

More about sweets being bad…

If you like to tuck in to that morning Danish then perhaps it’s time to rethink your logic.  Sweet foods are great for lifting your mood for all of a couple of hours and then you’re down further than where you started.

A couple of hours after a sweet your blood sugar will drop way down and your energy will be sucked right out of your body.  What do you turn to?  More sugar – talk about a vicious cycle…

Whatever you plans and whatever your routine, think about introducing breakfast to them!  You won’t look back…you’ll be feeling better, lighter, happier and more focused so stop fighting the breakfast and set yourself up for a good day!

What about you?

Do you munch on a breakfast of friend eggs and bacon or are you a nuts and berries kind of eater?  Do you skip breakfast altogether or are you a breakfast lover?  Let us know…