You are what you eat:

Despite the vast amount and variety of foods available, you may NOT be getting the best nutrition.

Surprised?

In fact, the most recent report from the Congressional General Accounting Office notes that only 23% of Americans get the recommended servings of fruit and about 41% get the recommended servings of vegetables (and that was before serving recommendations for fruits and vegetables were increased in 2005).

In addition, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 65% of the U.S. population is overweight or obese.

Yet many don’t realize that they have a weight problem, and so they ignore health advice and warnings. They think they are ‘stocky’ or ‘muscular’ or that it is middle-age spread, or that they will lose the baby weight soon.

In reality, they are overweight, and the longer they keep the fat on, the more damage they can do to their bodies in both the structural and chemical senses.

Nutrition on the Go: It IS possible

There are many obstacles to eating well: your busy lifestyle, the ready availability of convenience foods, super portion sizes, and conflicting information on nutrition and weight loss.

You might also think that dietary changes made later in life will have little effect on your health.

But there is GOOD NEWS:

Any change is better than none.

Changing dietary habits and losing weight at any time, even in middle or old age, can significantly improve how you feel—and decrease your risk of chronic diseases.

This series of articles will provide you with simple, effective strategies for achieving good nutrition and, in the process, help you keep your weight under control, and increase your chances of good health and disease prevention.

In this series of articles, you will learn the basics of good nutrition and how much of each nutrient you should be consuming.

The focus will be not on fads, but on what we know based on the latest research about  the nutrients that play the most important roles in preventing and managing chronic diseases.

In particular, we will deal with fats, fiber, and specific minerals and vitamins.

You know that eating right will help you maintain a healthy weight and may even protect you against a variety of chronic diseases, including coronary heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and certain types of cancer, such as colon cancer.

So why is it so hard to eat right, keep our weight at a healthy level, and get the best foods to help us live longer?

That is the goal of this series of articles.

Due to our busy lifestyles, we are not always making the right food choices.  All of us can probably use some tips on the best ways to stick to a healthy diet.

And what about the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the new food pyramid called MyPyramid?  In this series, you will learn about how to apply these to your daily life as well, to get good affordable nutrition.

One thing is for sure, we all want to look our best now that the warmer weather is here, and we certainly don’t want to carry around more extra pounds than we have to, for it is a strain on the whole body.

If you don’t believe me, do the bag of flour experiment. Get a 5 pound bag of flour, put it in a plastic bag, and carry it with you EVERYWHERE for one day, the shower, the bathroom, work, dinner, exercising, in bed, walking, everwhere. You will soon get sick of it.

Now think of that 5 pounds as extra weight on your body that you are carrying everywhere. How much easier would your life be without it.

Now be honest. Are you actually carrying MORE than 5 pounds of extra weight on your body? HOW MANY bags of flour are you lugging around all day?

If you find that you are more than 20 pound overweight, you definitely need to think about healthy eating.

So here’s hoping you enjoy the articles in our upcoming Food for Life series.

If you want to make sure you don’t miss any articles in the Food for Life Series, why not take a moment to sign up now for our free Nutrition Goddess newsletter.  Every time we post a new article, it will be delivered straight to your inbox. It’s fast, FREE, and easy.

Here’s wishing you happy, healthy eating, from the Nutrition Goddess Team.

With the pace of medical research accelerating each year, and thus so much health information in the news, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to sort fact from fiction, and attempting to cram all of the To Dos into your busy day. Eat right exercise, drink enough water, get enough fiber, try to get enough sleep…

It sounds like that commercial with the woman jogging on the treadmill and eating a huge hunk of broccoli at the same time!

Yet because we ARE so busy and stressed in our daily lives, there has never been a time when keeping up with the latest health information is so important for your overall wellbeing.

The goal of this nutrition blog is to help you do just that, empowering you with the best advice on nutrition to help you stave off many health conditions that impact your life, but can be influenced by a good diet rich in nutrients and disease-fighting properties.

With the recent and sudden passing of Tim Russert and George Carlin from heart disease, we can see now more than ever that heart disease IS preventable.

If it runs in your family, you will want to take steps NOW, no matter what your age, to stave off heart disease and other family illnesses, before it it too late.

If you are already struggling with a medical condition, now might be the time to look at your lifestyle to determine whether or not you need to tune up your healthy eating regimen a bit more.

Grilled veggies also work well, since they have a nice caramelized taste.

So do roasted veggies. You can have them as a salad on their own out of a little tupperware container, or as a side dish with some grilled chicken breast strips.

Roasted eggplant rounds with a slice of mozzarella in the middle, or a stuffed portabello mushroom cap, is another way to eat your veggies in a semi-sandwich form, great for taking with you when you are on the run.

Vegetables can be excellent snacks for those times when you are hungry but it is not time to eat a full meal.

You can sit in front of the television and eat an entire bag of carrot sticks or cucumber chips without guilt.

You can have a salad or some roasted vegetables, qucik and filling, without spending ages preparing a meal, and without having to resort to junk food.

Take your veggies them in the car, on the job, or outside for a quick energy pick-me-up.

No matter what way you choose to eat them, vegetables make healthy snack foods for everyone.

Meal Planning 101

Save Time And Money By Planning Your Meals

Carrots can be cut into sticks or a veggie slicer can cut them into chips. Don’t waste time buying baby carrots. It is easy enough to take a regular sized carrot and cut it into shape, and most say they are better for you, with more nutrients, and less pesticide absorbed compared with the tiny carrot.

The same goes for cucumbers, beets, peppers, squash, zucchini, and other rigid veggies. They can all be sliced and diced for handy eating.

Tomatoes are classified as fruits, but we will consider them vegetables here. Many people just eat them like a fruit. Add a pinch of salt and bite in. Little cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes are also ideal when you are on the run.

Broccoli and cauliflower can also be eaten raw, or you can lightly par boil them to make them a bit less crisp.

Celery is a good veggie because it is filled with water. It can relieve thirst and hunger at the same time.

What are vegetables without dip? Dip adds a flavor to veggies and even kids who turn their noses up to vegetables will eat certain ones if they are dipped in something. My kids love carrots and broccoli with low fat ranch dressing dip.

Many dips can be made at home with dry seasoning packets and fat free sour cream. Just be careful of the salt content.

For a different taste add your own fresh herbs to low fat sour cream or low fat, unsweetened yogurt.

Sweet dips, like sweetened yogurt based ones, are also good with veggie snacks. Dip can be stored in a container or a two-piece salad bowl. With the salad bowl, the dip doesn’t mix with the vegetables until you are ready to eat them.

Meal Planning 101

Save Time And Money By Planning Your Meals

What is the one food that is most often fed to the dog at the dinner table? No, not meat. Nine times out of ten, someone is going to say vegetables.

They really aren’t that bad and they are very good for you. Vegetables come in so many shapes, sizes and flavors, that you are bound to find at least one you like.

Veggies don’t need any dressing up to make them taste good. Nature has done that all by itself. They are picked fresh from the earth filled with sweet and succulent taste.

The best veggies are the ones found fresh in stores, at farmer’s markets, or even better, your own garden.

Vegetables can keep without freezing or refrigerating them which is good for snacking on the run. You can grab a bag of veggies and hit the road. Most vegetables will do well when sliced into sticks, cubes, or chips. In this form, they are easier to manage, like celery and carrots.

One of many people’s biggest problems is eating while driving. We tend to try to do everything while driving, and eating seems to be the hardest. No one wants to end up in a tree or someone’s yard because of a sandwich.

To avoid these and other eating mishaps, pack your vegetables in plastic bags or small containers which you can put in your cup holder to have at the ready.
Meal Planning 101

Save Time And Money By Planning Your Meals