Recommended Sugar Intake for Good Health

The recommended sugar intake for each person will vary based on various factors such as age, gender, country and culture. Before we go further into this lets first define sugar. Naturally found in most plants especially beet and sugarcane, sugar is a carbohydrate. It usually goes through a process of refinement where it is crystalizes and made available for consumption.

After refinement sugar is added to processed food. If you look at labels of these items sugar are usually the ingredients ending with “ose,” for example maltose and sucrose. Other types of sugar include high fructose corn syrup, molasses, corn sweetener, raw sugar, syrup, honey and fruit juice concentrates.

Why include Sugar in your Diet

Sugars are usually added to food or in drinks to help enhance it. Sugar improves the taste of foods that provide important nutrients such as cereal and yogurt or low fat milk. This has help in the development of the human body especially in kids. Sugar function as the chief source of energy for your body. When sugar is consumes it is easily digested and gives the body an instant burst of energy. Sports drinks (energy drinks) and soft drinks are loaded with calories and sugar in an attempt to replace all the lost energy after a physical activity. However, water is recommended to be the main source of hydration especially for children after physical activities.

Why your recommended sugar intake should be that of a small amount?

Individuals who ingest a smaller amount of sugars over a period of time usually have lower body weight. So increasing the amount of sugar in your meals is like to be associated with your weight increase. Studies have also showed that kids with higher non-natural sugar intakes especially in drinks are more susceptible to becoming overweight or obese. Also keep in mind that a product that has no fruit or milk products in the ingredients is usually sweetened 100% by unnatural added sugars.

Also a recommended sugar intake of a small amount is also important because large sugar consumption over time can lead to sugar addiction. Sugar addiction is the addiction associated with the bingeing, withdrawal and craving of sugar. Some researchers posit that ingestion of sweets and other forms of sugar could induce a heroin like addiction effect.

Sugar is very beneficial because the human body requires sugar in the diet for strength and energy in order to carry out daily activities. In spite of the fact that sugar can result in weight gain and various disorders, it cannot be denied that sugar gives the body instant energy. Regrettably, this initial burst of energy is usually followed by a fall in energy levels. This fall in energy levels often leaves you hungry and craving more sugar and food. This causes you to eat more thus growing your calorie intake.

Sugar is definitely important in each and every diet because of its obvious benefits, but surplus sugar intake may lead to many serious health problems and diseases. The recommended sugar intake of a small amount also prevents sugar that is consumed beyond the needed amount from been converted to fat and stored under the skin and around internal organs. To reduce your likelihood of experiencing these difficulties, enjoy foods and drinks with added sugar in moderation and make an attempt to consume more natural occurring sugars.

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How to Prevent Obesity

Preventing overweight and obesity is very important because obesity is a big risk factors for a number of chronic (life style) diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Obesity was once only considered an issue in high income nations however overweight and obesity is now on the rise in developing and underdeveloped countries.

The risk of developing many mental and physical disorders is increased with obesity. These conditions are most commonly shown in illnesses such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and respiratory diseases.

Causes of Obesity - Disproportionate food consumption, lack of physical activity, and hereditary susceptibility is the causes of obesity for the most part. However, medications, endocrine disorders, or mental illnesses have also caused obesity in many cases. Body fat and obesity is difficult to measure and quantify. The BMI (body mass index) is a common scheme of outlining a healthy weight. With waist size, it is used as a guide to approximate the amount of body fat on a person’s body.

Doctors and other healthcare professionals are seeing Adult diabetes (Type 2), cardiovascular disease and depression in kids and teenagers. The length of time an individual is obese the more the risk of experience obesity related illnesses. The prevention of obesity is very important because of various reasons. These include the fact that there are many chronic diseases and conditions connected with obesity, and also because obesity is difficult to treat.

Avoiding obesity is vital. When fat cells are formed they stay in the human body forever. It is possible to reduce the size of fat cells but they cannot be gotten rid of them. Making healthy lifestyle decisions will help you avoid or reduce overweight and obesity. These lifestyle choices begin during childhood. Parents should embolden children to make healthier decisions, which should include eating healthy diet and being physically active. So encourage your kids to play. This will go a far way in prevent obesity in children.

Tips to Prevent Obesity

Make the following health goals:

• Practice healthy eating choices.

• Always keep in mind your calorie needs.

• Pay attention to portion size especially at fast food and other restaurants. Portions sizes served at these places are usually enough for two or three people. The portion sizes for children and infants should be smaller than those of older teenagers and adults.

• Be active. Put aside time to make personal and family time together very active. Carry out activities that everyone will love. Such as taking visits to the beach or to the park.

• Decrease screen time. Reduce the use of the television, phone, tablet, computers, DVDs, and video games because they drastically reduce time for physical activity due to their addictive nature.

• Use a fitness diary. Keep a record of your weight, BMI, and waist circumference.

• Keep track of your children's development.

Obesity is a condition being experienced by individuals of all ages including infants. The longer infants are breastfed, reduces the likelihood that they will become overweight as they grow into childhood and adolescence. Breastfed kids are less probable to become overweight and obese. 

Walking is one of the most common and highly recommended physical activities for individual to take part in. It is totally free and can be done in any areas, parks and can even be done in shopping centers. Why gym can be good it is not necessary to visit an expensive gym, pool or any other special sporting facilities to be physically active. Walking is an easy simple way to start.

Regular workout, a healthy balanced diet, and a longstanding commitment are what you need to prevent weight gain. These are also the same steps need to lose weight. Whether you are becoming obese, currently overweight or even if you are already at a healthy weight, you should take the necessary steps to avert unhealthy weight gain and the related health problems that it comes with. 

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List of Healthy Meal Ideas

Healthy Meal Ideas will include but not be limited to any of the below:

• A good place to start when thinking up healthy meal ideas is a delightful tasting salsa containing kiwis, apples and sweet berries. This is a juicy healthy delicacy when served with cinnamon tortilla chips.

• When you need a healthy dinner in a jiffy stir fries are always a great choice. It should have very little oil, shrimp of the low fat variety, broccoli which nutrient rich. All this can be prepared in 10 minutes or less. Serve with boiled rice these are excellent health meal ideas.

• An awesome source of vitamins and minerals berries helps to reduce the risk of heart disease and other chronic diseases. Beans and other grains are good sources of dietary fiber and protein, which helps you to feel full for longer. Garlic should be included in meals as often as you can as long as it’ll taste great.

• Green smoothies which combines blueberries, peaches, fresh spinach, strawberries, banana, etc. are also health meal ideas because of there abundant nutritional values.

• Broccoli, is similar to banana oatmeal it provides a start to your day with fiber. Put this together with the high protein that is in eggs and cheese and you’ve got a extraordinarily filling breakfast which will give you long lasting energy throughout the day.
  

• A roasted salmon served will a cucumber yogurt is a go to dish when you are in hurry. It’s easy to prepare and is an excellent source of vitamin D, vitamin B-12 and protein.

• Sandwiches are lunchtime staples around the world. Preparation usually involves stuffing whatever ingredients you want between slices of bread. This also makes it easy for individuals to put together healthy sandwiches using whole grain bread, their preferred cheeses and meats and various types of vegetable matter.

Healthy meal ideas can come in any form but the important thing is for you to enjoy each and every bite.

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Why Low Carb Diets?

A good low carb diet usually means replacing your natural energy source (carbs) with energy from natural fat obtained from butter, olive oil etc. Most types of carbohydrates occur naturally in foods, such tumors, grains and other starchy foods. In its natural form, carbohydrates are complex and fibrous such as the carbohydrates present in grains and legumes. Less complex forms of carbohydrates are found in foods such as milk and fruits. The human body’s two main sources of energy from foods are carbs and fats. Hence a diet that takes away most of the carbs will force the body to switch to burning fat for energy. Fat

which will be burned will come from fat stored in the body or the fat in food consumed.


People usually find it easier to maintain or reduce their body weight when they follow a low carb diet, that is by reducing and or avoid carb rich foods that they usually have an inclination to gorge in. However, if it is possible for you to control your intake, enjoy all the carbs you like. Making sure most of your carbs come from fruits and vegetables is the best way to prevent over indulgence on carbs.

Like many other types of diets being circulated, low carb diets can be healthy or not healthy, balanced or not balanced. The key is to stick with it until you see results and certainly not allow it to be boring. Science is indeed on the side of cutting carbs from diets, possibly not for everybody but for a lot of of us. 

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How to Lose Weight Fast

Drink Lots of Water

This is something I know for a fact that you’ve heard tons of time before and will hear many more times to come in the future. It would seem drinking water is a magic bullet on how to lose weight fast. So is it? Downing 64 ounces of H20 daily is indeed one of the easiest ways to speed up the loss of body fat.  For the smooth running of your biological system at least eight glasses a day is required. The efficient metabolism of stored fat requires water. No question asked. Depriving the body of an adequate supply of water will slow down this process, thus making it tough for you to burn calories.

Keep a Food Diary

Make a written note of every drink, snack and meal you ingest. Also write down the estimated amounts you consume for a week. The point of this is to develop a tool for motivation required to stay on the weight loss tract. Putting down what you consume on paper actually aids us to remain mindful of what we put into our bodies. Everything that you swallow should be included in this diary. How to lose weight fast will be answered in the diary. This diary overtime will make it possible for you to track progress or lack of.

Get busy around the House

This entails any activity other than sleeping, eating, or exercising. These activities may include first organizing your bedroom, mopping or vacuuming, mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, plant in your kitchen garden or cleaning the kitchen counter etc. All these physical activities burn loads of calories so increasing your overall everyday activity level will have many benefits for your overall health and body composition.

Do the Mediterranean Diet.

Studies have shown that persons following this diet have greatly reduced their risk of heart disease plus it has helped to shed pounds off the waistline of many. No diet has actually proven to work a 100% however the Mediterranean diet may come closest to this mark. The Mediterranean diet is based on traditional cooking styles and ingredients of people living around the Mediterranean Sea.  It focuses on the eating of foods such as fish, olive oil, vegetables, fruit, beans, spices, nuts and red wine. It also focuses on the elimination of bread, dairy and processed foods. The question how to lose weight fat still not answered?

Avoid Sitting during Your Workouts

The majority of us already for most of our days are seated, either it is at work, while watching TV on the sofa, or while driving your car from one location to the next. Avoiding sitting and being completely at rest during a workout is referred to as active recovery. Walk around, grab a sip of water, stand and do stretches, anything. Just don’t sit. This allows you to make the most of your workout by using active recovery instead of just sitting on a bench between sets. This will increase the amount of calorie you burn during a workout.

Avoid prepared food that contains sugar, fructose, or corn syrup, enter a marathon etc. These and many more little but important tips will help you to answer the question of how to lose weight fast. It will be a tough journey but will be worth in the end when all the weight is gone.

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Healthy Living for a Better Life

Healthy living is well within the reach of each and every individual, starting today. Sure, healthy living is a long-term lifelong commitment, not a flash-in-the-pan fad but something that that should be practiced each and every day in order to see the results. There are measures you can take right now that will make this day healthier than yesterday and pave the way for healthy living tomorrow and years to come.

There are various factors which affect our health and overall well being. Some we cannot control, such as your genetic makeup and your age. But you can make changes to your many lifestyle practices. By taking steps toward healthy living, you can help reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke and several other serious lifestyle diseases. Get the screening tests you need maintaining a healthy weight, eat a variety of healthy foods, limiting calories and saturated fat, be physically active, control your blood pressure, and cholesterol, don't smoke, protect yourself from too much sun, drink alcohol in moderation, or don't drink at all. Sounds simple enough but these simple steps toward healthy living have been difficult for many to follow.

Importance of Fitness to Healthy Living

For some fitness may mean having to perform vigorous and regular physical activities but for others this may include light to moderate activities such as walking a few times a week. There is no shortage of activities that you can make available to you, so you should easily be able to find some form of exercise that is manageable and enjoyable at the same time. If parent can get their children interested in physical activities when the are young, exercise and fitness are more likely to become a habit that lasts for a lifetime and will do well in promoting healthy living.

Importance of Healthy Diet to Healthy Living

Vital to any healthy diet is moderation. What is moderation? For many, moderation means eating less than they do now. But it doesn't necessarily means eliminating the foods you love and enjoy.  In essence, moderation means eating only as much food as your body needs. You should feel satisfied at the end of a meal, but not stuffed. Moderation is also about balance. Despite what fad diets would have you believe, we all need a balance of protein, fat, fiber, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals to sustain a healthy body and healthy living. Also, eating foods rich in dietary fiber will help you stay healthy and helps to lower your risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and help you maintain a good weight.

Eating bacon for breakfast once a week, for example, could be considered moderation if you follow it with a healthy lunch and dinner—but not if you follow it with a box of donuts and a sausage pizza. If you eat 100 calories of chocolate one afternoon, balance it out by deducting 100 calories from your evening meal. If you're still hungry, fill up with extra vegetables.

Healthy living should be practiced by all in order to promote a long and enjoyable life by all. Before individuals embark on any dietary or fitness plans they should consult their physicians.

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