How to get fit and healthy

These are a few tips that will help you enjoy a healthy meal during the holidays:

1. Start your meal with soup as your appetizer. Research shows that people who eat soup regularly lose more weight than people who don’t.

2. Thicken your soup and sauces with cornstarch instead of cream. Cornstarch is very low in calories. One tablespoon of cornstarch contains 30 calories and 0 gram fat. In many occasions, you will only need two tablespoons of cornstarch to replace one cup of cream. One cup of cream contains 580 calories and 60 grams of fat so if you use cornstarch instead of cream, you will reduce 520 calories and 60 grams of fat from your soup.

3. Eat a healthy staple food. After the low-carb diet craze, it seems like Americans don’t know what a staple food is, let alone a healthy staple food. In Asia, people always eat their dishes with a healthy staple food which is big in volume but low in calorie content. This kind of food makes us full while contributing a small amount of calories. Rice is a healthy staple food because it is rich in water content. Seventy percent of the volume of steamed rice is just water. So when you eat rice with your dishes, you will feel full quicker, thus prevent you from overeating. The healthiest type of rice is brown basmati rice. Brown basmati is rich in fiber and resistant starch. According to experts while 1 gram of carbohydrate gives us 4 calories, 1 gram of fiber and resistant starch give us anywhere between 0-3 calories. In addition to that, fiber and resistant starch help control our blood sugar level and satiety.

4. Drink plain tea, water or diet drinks. Many people watch what they eat but they don’t realize that they consume a lot of calories from their drinks. A 12 fluid ounces of soda or juice contains about 150 calories which is equal to 6 Hershey kisses. Most people drink three to four cups of soda or other caloric drinks every day which is equal to about one bag of Hersey kisses!

5. If you serve salad, make sure that you use low calorie dressings. Many people who go on a “salad diet” become frustrated because even though they eat healthy all the time, they still don’t lose weight. A small 2 oz package of ranch dressings contains 170 calories and 15 grams of fat which has almost as many calories as 7 Hersey kisses.

6. Boiled corns and yams are healthy side dishes because they are rich in good carbs and fiber and they are very low in fat content; one ear of corn or 1 medium sized yam contains less than 1 gram of fat. Corn and yam are naturally sweet so you don’t have to add sweetener, oil, or fats to make them tasty. And since they are not processed foods, they are rich in water content and fiber which will make you feel bulky and full with fewer calories than processed foods.

7. Serve fruit for dessert. Fresh fruits are rich in water, fiber and very low in calories. Most fruits contain 0 grams of fat, making fruit to be the healthiest dessert on the table.

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A well balanced diet is responsible for maintaining a healthy weight, protecting the body from chronic diseases and providing enough energy to meet life’s demands. That is why it is absolutely crucial to eat a well balanced and healthy diet every single day. On top of its quick weight loss properties, a healthy diet can improve our mood, our sleep, our energy levels, and our health. So what exactly does a healthy diet consist of and how can you get started?

Eating a healthy diet means consuming foods that contain very little or absolutely no saturated fat, trans fat, sodium and cholesterol. This usually means eliminating all fried foods and majority of other surprisingly healthy sounding foods. Some foods which contain trans fat and a high number of sodium include crackers, cereals, and canned soups (to name a few). The best way to avoid these weight loss damaging additives is to look at the nutrition facts label. By examining a product’s nutrition facts, we can make smart decisions about our calorie intake and weight loss goals. Some of the foods that we should be consuming include: fruit, vegetables, fat-free or light dairy products, lean poultry, and whole grains. Consuming raw fruit and vegetables is especially beneficial because it enables us to get our daily vitamins and minerals. Aside from the vitamins and minerals, raw fruit and veggies are also excellent sources of fiber. Fiber is very beneficial for those of us who are trying to lose weight.

It is a proven fact that consuming foods which are rich in fiber can help us feel full longer. What this means is that we are less likely to snack in-between meals and less likely to overeat during lunch and dinner. The same idea goes for protein rich foods. If quick weight loss is your goal, then it is strongly recommended to include both protein and fiber with breakfast, lunch and dinner. So as you can see, a healthy diet is not that difficult to attain, all that it takes is a little bit of motivation and self control.

Lyla Feldman writes health articles about fitness and nutrition. Some of her favorite passions include studying the medicinal benefits of herbal remedies, colon cleansing and weight loss products.

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“The best six doctors anywhere, are sunshine, water, rest, air, exercise and diet.”

The importance of good health cannot be overlooked. With good physical health come a stronger, more resistant body and a fit mind too. Overall fitness leads to happiness, and hence a healthier, more satisfying life. Adopting a healthy lifestyle is something that more and more people are trying to achieve, as the awareness of the necessities of good health expands. Everybody knows that it is important to exercise, but most people think “exercise” means going to the gym. With the ever increasing swiftness of life, a lot of us don’t find the time to do such things. Or, if we’re not overweight, we simply assume we don’t need any exercise.

Exercise is for everybody – young and old, think and fat. The human body requires 20 – 30 minutes of continuous exercise, at least 3 times a week. Exercise, in any form, tones your body, burns the excess fat, makes your body a lot more resistant, and makes you a happier person. It keeps your heart healthy, and helps prevent many diseases, apart from helping you feel good about your body and yourself.

Here are some simple ways to exercise, if you think you don’t have the time to go to the gym, or get a trainer, or go jogging!

Walk! Walk everywhere you can. If it’s just a few minutes away, walk up the distance. Don’t take your car everywhere! Walking is the best form of exercise, and many times, you don’t even realize you’ve exercised. If you find walking by yourself boring, find some company. If you don’t like it anyway, try some music.

Take the stairs. At home, at work, at the mall, avoid the escalator/elevator and take the stairs. Climbing stairs increases heart rate, and is just one of those easy ways to try and stay fit.

Get cleaning. Working around the house is a brilliant, hardly ever noticed way to exercise all those lazy muscles in your body. If you need inspiration, get some music on and clean away. Vacuuming, gardening, mopping, cleaning up windows, painting your fence and everything else you do around your house will help. All you have to do is start doing it.

Indulge in a sport. Sports are excellent, for body and mind. Swimming, tennis, basketball, volleyball, or even running around playing with your dog, release stress, relax your mind, and give your body the exercise it needs.

Cycle. Cycle to wherever you can. Apart from toning your muscles and forcing your body to work, you also save on fuel.

Use your TV for some exercise. While you’re watching TV, get some exercise done. A few simple stretches, or easy yoga exercises, or simply dancing away is going to be of immense help.

The more you exercise, the better you are going to feel.

Rice is one of the very important constituents of our daily meals. In some form or the other, it is an important part of the diet for most people. Any weaknesses or deficiencies in the rice strains that are consumed can therefore be incorporated in the body too. This makes it really a risk factor for those who are consuming rice. The best strains are therefore suggested out of which organic strains of basmati rice have really no match.

The basmati rice which is available for consumption has superiority over the other strains of rice available. The superiority is for the presence of a fragrance or a special flavor in the rice which makes it delicious and supreme over other usual and common rice strains. Also, the grain of the basmati rice is certainly longer than usual rice and also on cooking, rather than being sticky it is very soft and non-sticky. All these factors make this special rice strain better than the usual ones. Organic farming of basmati rice makes it an even better food which is completely healthy for the body.

Basmati rice is available in the brown and white forms. The brown basmati is the rice which has its husk, bran and germ intact with the grain. This kind of rice is far healthier and nutritious than white rice and is also chewier than the latter. White rice however has the husk, bran and germ removed and is called milled rice in other words. This kind of rice too is very healthy since it has the necessary nutrients present in it. The basmati rice which has been grown organically is the best substitute to any other strain of rice that may be consumed.

Organic basmati rice can now be availed online. Certified products are available easily and the best products can be chosen and ordered online. With such organic products now so easily available, maintaining a good healthy body is not difficult at all. Ensure good health with these foodstuffs easily.

Janne Clarke is an expert on parenting, organic food and related items, who writes articles for numerous websites on parenting & gluten free products. For more of her articles on parenting, basmati rice and baby care, please visit

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