A Healthy Christmas Menu

Healthy Christmas dinner recipes are often hard to come by, so check out these hints and tips on eating healthily this holiday season:

- For starters, ditch the trays of sweets and biscuits for some vegetable crudites and salmon wraps. It might mean a little more preparation, but will definitely be worth it.

- Cook your roast Christmas dinner with a chef's approach, rely on flavours from herbs and spices rather than fats and oils. This is especially important when it comes to cooking your turkey. Stuff it and massage in some aromatic spices, everyone will enjoy such a new and delicious flavour.

- Be more experimental with your vegetable sides, and let them take over the menu. Enjoy roast butternut squash and red pepper, leek and cauliflower bake and don't forget the brussel sprouts! Melt lots of low-fat, vegetable butter on the veg to give them a delicious creamy consistency.

- Cook the stuffing with half wholewheat bread, as well as lots of veg and dried fruit, like apples, onions, cranberries (unsweetened), parsley, rosemary, celery and sage. As well as your sausage meat of course.

- For dessert, ditch the super rich and sugary traditional Christmas cake and mince pies for something far more enjoyable. Individual chocolate puddings are the perfect naughty but nice dessert to have on Christmas Day:
Simply, melt 85g butter with 85g dark chocolate over a pan of simmering water. Beat 2 eggs plus 1 extra yolk with 50g caster sugar, and whisk until pale and twice its original size. Pour in the melted chocolate, and fold in with 50g plain flour. Dust 4 ramekin pots with cocoa powder, and fill two thirds full with the mixture. Bake in the oven at 180c for about 12-15 minutes, until set at the edges. Serve with soya cream.

Christmas dinner is not only about the food; it's about spending time with family and enjoying the company of good friends. Make sure you lay the table nicely, with candles, ornaments and individual place settings. Always put a cracker and a party popper out for each person to enjoy!

Most of all remember to have fun, and not get stressed out by the whole experience, Christmas should be joyful, so enlist your family members to help you with some of the cooking, and put some Christmas carols on in the background.

Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?A-Healthy-Christmas-Menu&id=3220365

Nutritional Benefits of Pineapple

Pineapple is one of the most popular tropical fruit that is well known for its juicy sweet taste. This delicious fruit is also known as Pina, Nanas and Ananas. This fruit is rich in nutrition. It has a high content of vitamins, minerals, fibers and enzymes. This fruit is totally fat free and so help to maintain an ideal body weight and provide a balanced diet for those who want to be fit.

Pineapples are a good source of vitamin-C and cholesterol free. This healthy nutritious fruit can be eaten raw as well as can be used in preparing various tasty recipes. The sodium content of the fruit is also very low. The micro nutrients content of this fruit helps to protect us from many diseases like cancer, stroke and other heart problems. Pineapple juice also helps to kill intestinal worms and helps to relieve intestinal disorders. The chemicals that this fruit contain stimulate the kidneys and aids in removing toxic elements in the body. An enzyme called bromelain that blocks the production of kinins which is formed during inflammation. This helps reducing swelling brought by arthritis, gout, sore throat and acute sinusitis. Surgical wounds or any wounds received due to injury can be healed fast by having pineapple juice. So do not think more just include a slice of pineapple in your five day plan meal. Drink a glass of juice or have a slice of it. If eaten during or after meals, the enzymes will be utilized for digesting food. You can try out various recipes with this fruit.

Make a Pineapple slaw; it is very easy just shredded cabbage, carrots. Then take these shredded vegetables in a bowl and mix 1 cup pineapple slices in it, add few raisins and two tablespoon pineapple juice. Just freeze it and taste this healthy nutritious dish. While preparing a chicken dish you can also add pineapple juice into it to make the taste different as well as good. Crushed pineapple is great to add extra taste on any recipes even desserts.

You will be stunned to know that a molecule found in pineapple has shown to be anti-tumor activity. This fruit helps to prevent cancer. The eating of pineapple each day for aged person helps them a lot, it lower the risk of age related muscular degeneration and vision related problems.

In all, the pineapple fruit has many beneficial effects to our body. For the patients of tuberculosis, the juice of this fruit is found to be very helpful and effective to cure the disease by dissolving the mucus. Pineapples are also rich in manganese that is needed for your body to build bone and connective tissues. Pineapple also strengthens the bones of older people as well as the growth of bones in younger generation.


Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Nutritional-Benefits-of-Pineapple&id=1296753

Heart Healthy Menus

Eating a heart healthy meal is essential to the overall well-being of the human body. A healthy menu is the first step in living well. Choosing the right foods to eat now will help to improve your health, and avoid costly trips to the doctor later. Some of most common illnesses associated with poor eating habits and lack of exercise include:

-anorexia
-cancer
-diabetes
-heart disease
-kidney disfunction
-obesity

Creating a nutritional menu is a great first step in combating these types of illnesses. Contrary to common beliefs, a healthy menu does not have to be a "bland" recipe. There are many different healthy recipes that all offers a low carb alternative to some recipes that are packed with carbs. A lot of natural foods such as fruit,vegetables, legumes and grains are very high in complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, while at the same time they are low in fat, and free of cholesterol. A healthy menu also takes into consideration the right calorie intake. A balanced diet can be achieved whether you are looking to lose a few pounds, or you simply want to maintain the proper weight levels.

Eating healthy is not about depriving yourself of all of the foods that you love, or starving yourself. Eating healthy is all about healthy weight loss and diets that brings your body to a level of healthiness as recommended by doctors everywhere.

DAILY MEAL PLANNER

A daily meal planner is a menu planner that could be used to make it easier to get started and to stick with a healthy menu. It makes it easier to prepare and create a healthy menu at home. It helps you by organizing recipes and meals for each day.

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

And of course, a healthy menu would not be complete if we did not mention the importance of exercise!

It is very important to exercise regularly, while limiting your calories, and always make good menu choices...with this balance, you should live a long, happy and healthy life!

It is always best From planning your meal to reaping the benefits of a heart healthy lifestlye...enjoy!

Source : http://www.ezinearticles.com/?Heart-Healthy-Menus&id=3149327

Heart Healthy Recipe That Taste's Great

When it comes to our heart health it's important that we follow a heart health diet, that we get enough exercise and that we learn to control our response to negative stress in our lives.

It's true that heredity plays an important role in our susceptibility to heart health problems, but there are many aspects of our diet and lifestyle we can control, starting with a heart healthy recipe that you will enjoy.

Many studies have demonstrated the benefit of extra virgin olive oil, vegetables and garlic to overall health and wellness, yet it can be tough to combine these into something that is simple to eat, so here is a tasty pesto heart healthy recipe that will not only do wonders for your overall wellness but will taste great too.

I have to admit straight up that I have often had trouble digesting pesto recipes that I get in Italian restaurants, I'm not quite sure why, but my feeling is that there is too much oil or the garlic is perhaps too heavy.

That's the great part about making your own heart healthy recipes such as this pesto is that you can alter the amount of ingrediants to suit your preference.

There are 2 major ingredients in pesto that make it especially healthy for the heart.

Several studies have demonstrated the benefit of quality olive oil to heart health. By swapping other fats or carbohydrates for unsaturated fats such as olive oil you can have a positive impact on both lowering blood pressure and on lowering cholesterol. The impact on lowering blood pressure is a relatively recent finding by scientists and just one more added benefit of a heart healthy recipe that includes olive oil.

Another great ingredient in pesto that benefits the heart is garlic. Once again, several studies have demonstrated a beneficial impact on heart health with garlic including the ability to control and even remove existing plaque build-ups in your arteries. Even more important is that recent findings suggest that pure garlic (as opposed to supplements) is better for your system, pesto heart healthy recipes certainly fill that requirement.

In addition, the fact that this heart healthy recipe is low in salt and includes the tasty and healthy basil herb, also makes it a superb food for our heart.

HEART HEALTHY RECIPE - BEST PESTO

To make pesto you will need a food processor to combine and even liquify the ingredients turning them into a marriage of flavors that is just simply incredible.

You will need...

1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil (I've even done 1/4 cup and had good success)

2 peeled garlic cloves (move to 1 if you not garlic crazy)

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 Tablespoon of lemon juice

2 Cups of fresh Basil leaves (if you find the Basil overpowering, substitute some parsley)

Fresh ground pepper

Combine everything together except the cheese into your food processor and puree until smooth - I like it when it's combined into a thick paste. Finally, stir in the cheese and store it for at least a day in your refrigerator - it will keep for days and the taste will actually get better.

You can east this heart healthy recipe with thin toasts such as Melba toast or oven roasted toast that you make in your own oven. You can also serve it with meats or bump up the flavor of many other recipes. Of course, this pesto recipe will also be great with any pasta. Just remember, keep it cool until you pour it over your pasta.

There you have it, a heart healthy recipe that is quick and simple to make, lasts for days, is big on flavor and inexpensive to make over and over again.

Healthy Lifestyles and Longevity

Foresight is something generally lacking in most people's lives. We live in a society predicated on instant gratification. Fast food restaurants are a good example. When hungry, just go to the drive-thru and eat to your heart's content. Two weeks later, you are left to wonder how the weighing scale can possibly register an increase of 5 pounds.

The opposite of this is deferred gratification. Where instant gratification is geared towards getting something as soon as possible, deferred gratification is the ability to wait patiently in order to get a greater reward. This is also known by more common terms such as will power and self control.

The Marshmallow Experiment is a good example of instant vs. deferred gratification. In this test (conducted during the 1960s), subjects composed of four-year olds were given a marshmallow. They were told that they could eat the marshmallow now, but if they waited for an unspecified amount of time, they would receive another marshmallow. Researchers later followed the progress of these children and discovered that, on average, those who waited to get another marshmallow had higher SAT scores.

The average life expectancy in humans has steadily increased through the years. This serves as an incentive for individuals to prepare for the future by having a healthy lifestyle. It would be difficult to live a long and happy life without an active mind and body to go along with it. Advances in medical technology has also improved longevity, along with the means to further improve it. For this reason, there is greater emphasis in our society to exercise regularly and eat a healthy and balanced diet.

One reason why health care programs are crumbling is due to the aging population. As the population ages, the amount of people earning income becomes disproportionate to the amount of people relying on the benefits of health care. Many couples opt to have children after first establishing a career, which only exacerbate the problems of an aging population. Current projections show most health care programs to be unsustainable as we progress into the future.

It is easy to compain to the government to fix things by restructuring the health care program, but we can't rely on that. We have to do what we can to change our lifestyles and stay physically and mentally fit to prepare against these increasingly unreliable health care programs. Thinking about the future and planning for it will reap great benefits as we progress further and further into old age.

Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Healthy-Lifestyles-and-Longevity&id=3185438

Vitamins and Antioxidants - Necessary For Optimum Health

For optimum health, the most important elements that are needed in our body is the correct and balanced amount of vitamins and antioxidants.

Antioxidants help protect our body from free radicals and protect your cells from damage and go a long way to ensuring that we maintain a healthy body.

There are lots of vitamin and antioxidant supplements to choose from to ensure that your body will always have all it needs. Your diet is obviously the ideal way to take in a good balance of vitamins and antioxidants but, with a busy life and the advent of convenience foods, we can not be sure that we are consuming the right amount for optimum health. There are lots of different supplements available today and, due to the increase in internet shopping, they are very easy to obtain.

You should however, make sure that you buy the very best quality vitamin and antioxidant supplements that are available. Try to buy supplements that contain only natural ingredients. Yes, there are cheap, synthetic supplements available but always go for the ones with natural ingredients. They will dissolve and be absorbed better in the body giving you the full benefits almost immediately.

The ideal time to take supplements is with your meals. Your body can absorb the nutrients better, as your digestive system will be stimulated with food. If you are using time released supplements, you should take them with food to ensure that they move through your body at the right pace and release the proper amount of nutrients and vitamins your body needs at the right time.

Not everyone will need the same type of vitamins and antioxidants, your lifestyle will help you to determine the right supplement for you. A good beginning is to buy a good quality multi vitamin supplement. This will ensure that you are getting a good all round selection of vitamins and minerals. You could then begin to consider narrowing down your specific requirements. If you are currently on a weight loss diet, look for a higher than average RDA (recommended daily allowance) on the label because you may not be getting all the necessary vitamins, antioxidants and minerals due to a change in your diet. Pregnant women, women experiencing the menopause, bodybuilders etc. all have different needs, so do some research to find the perfect supplements for your situation.

Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Vitamins-and-Antioxidants---Necessary-For-Optimum-Health&id=3190388

Sleep Vitamins - Healthy Supplements For Sweet Dreams

More often than not, people experience insomnia or sleeping problems due to a deficiency of vitamins and minerals. A simple and natural way to improve your sleep is to feed your body the vitamins it needs with specific foods or supplements. There are a few supplements known to improve sleep.

The three most basic and important vitamins that should be taken to combat insomnia include calcium, magnesium, and the B vitamins. Calcium has sedative effect on the body and without it you may experience restlessness and excessive wakefulness. Drinking calcium rich liquids such as milk or calcium fortified orange juice before bedtime may help calm this restlessness. Calcium in food form is the effective way to induce sleep but a supplement may also be taken.

Magnesium is also helpful when trying to induce sleep. Magnesium can be found in foods like wheat bran, almonds, cashews, and brewers yeast, but can also be taken in the form of a supplement. Sometimes people wake from sleep with painful leg cramps. This may be a sign of both a calcium and magnesium deficiency.

B vitamins along with calcium and magnesium are necessary for normal sleep and have sedative properties. Of the B vitamins, B6, B5 (pantothenic acid) and B12 are the most helpful. These vitamins can be taken as supplements or found in foods like whole grains, liver, wheat germ, tuna, bananas, peanuts, and walnuts.

Other helpful supplements include tryptophan, 5-HTP, phosphatidylserine, chromium, and melatonin. Tryptophan is most commonly known as the reason why everyone falls asleep after eating Thanksgiving dinner. Tryptophan is the amino acid that turns into serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a natural sleep-inducing chemical. Yes, it is found in turkey but is also available in milk.

Tryptophan supplements are not legal in the United States. Usually high amounts of tryptophan must be taken in order for an effect to seen, but in most cases, the intake of tryptophan is not an effective method of treating insomnia.

5-HTP is a form of tryptophan that is one step closer to serotonin production and has proven to help insomnia patients fall asleep faster. It also increases the length of the REM cycle as well as sleep stages 3 and 4 and by so doing makes sleep more restorative rejuvenating. It should be noted that the higher the dosage of 5-HTP, the longer the REM cycle will be.

Phosphatidylserine is an amino acid that helps regulates how much cortisone your body produces. In normal cases, cortisone is found in high levels in the morning, for wakefulness, and at lower levels in the evening, for sleepiness. But people with increased stress produce high levels of cortisone and have trouble getting to sleep at night. Phosphatidylserine can help those with stress minimize the amount of cortisone their adrenals are producing and thus fall asleep easier.

Chromium can be found in brewers yeast and in supplement form and may be helpful to those people who can't sleep due to blood sugar problems. Melatonin is a sleep hormone that is produced by the pineal gland. A deficiency may be a cause for insomnia and can easily be remedied by taking a supplement.

Source : ttp://ezinearticles.com/?Sleep-Vitamins---Healthy-Supplements-For-Sweet-Dreams&id=2039902

Healthy Sauna Benefits - Discover the Secret

The Scandinavians have known all about sauna benefits for years and gradually the rest of the world is catching on. There are now many studies that can show that not only does a sauna session help you to relax, but it also gives you many different health benefits.

There are a few different types of saunas: those that you dry heat and a steam sauna, but both have a long list of health benefits.

Saunas a particularly good at reducing stress levels, which brings a great deal of health problems. If you have ever used a sauna, then you know that you leave floating on cloud nine and completely chilled out. People with stress related conditions such as sleep disorders have often reported positive results from using saunas and find they have no problems catching forty winks after a sauna session.

Another of the sauna benefits is that they effectively open up the pores. The heat brings the blood to the skin surface and the steam opens up pores, which allows toxins to escape. All the different creams, lotions and oils that we apply to the skin often block up our pores and keep toxins in the body. By releasing these toxins your skin is left refreshed, younger looking and it can prevent acne.

Some studies also indicate that saunas can improve your immune system. With your body's largest organ, your skin, functioning effectively it can remove toxins and infections that can make you sick.

While it is true that saunas can help with weight loss it is also true that much of this is due to water loss and will be regained immediately. However, there is substantial evidence that a sauna session can reduce blood pressure and offer a mild aerobic workout due to oxygen being drawn away from the heart and the heart having to work harder while in the sauna. It is estimated that around 300 calories are burned in a typical sauna session.

Another of the sauna benefits is that muscle tension can be relieved through saunas regardless of whether it is caused by exercise or stress. The increased blood flow to the skin surface helps to repair torn muscles and reduce swollen and strained muscles. The sweating also helps to get rid of lactic acid stored in the body after rigorous exercise.

There are many sauna benefits that can positively impact your health and they have been backed up by scientific studies. From acne to stress and everything in between everyone can benefit from regular sauna visits.

Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Healthy-Sauna-Benefits---Discover-the-Secret&id=3162390

Healthy Juice For If You Are "Down and Out"

For the past two decades, many people have been claiming that we can get several benefits from noni juice. It is quite difficult which of these benefits are actually real and which are just made up. Since there are several types of noni juices such as Tahitian, Polynesian and Hawaiian, we can not really tell to which variety the benefits actually belong to. However, there are two benefits that are common to all three.

What are the two major benefits of noni juice?

A healthier skin is probably the most sought after benefit of the noni juice. For several years, people from the South Pacific islands have drank this juice to keep their skin healthy, smooth and young looking. Even if they are under the sun for many hours everyday, the juice protects them from acquiring skin blemishes like acne and pimples. When noni juice was first introduced to the rest of the world, people then discovered that they could produce something else from noni aside from the juice. A noni cream was invented for skin problems like blisters and rashes.

Another good thing about the product is its ability to prevent hair loss. We can not deny that many people lose their hair for a lot of reasons: stress, hereditary and other serious illnesses. There are also men who lose their hair at a young age, and this often causes them to feel ashamed and have low self esteem. By drinking noni juice regularly, this problem can be remedied. It acts like those anti hair loss soap and shampoo products that you see on tv. It acts on the source of the problem by helping regenerate more hair cells. You will also not experience any kind of side effects because the noni juice does not have preservatives or harmful chemicals. It is made of natural and organic ingredients that are safe and healthy.

When looking for a noni juice be sure to list your requirements and check out the supplier and read reviws.Sold in capsule form, pulp powder was the first noni product brought to the commercial market in Hawaii by Herbert Moniz of Herb's Herbs in 1992 after patenting a unique noni dehydrating method. (US patent 5288491) In 1995, David Marcus, of Hawaiian Herbal Blessings Inc., began marketing the first traditionally fermented noni juice from Maui, Hawaii.



Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Healthy-Juice-For-If-You-Are-Down-and-Out&id=3129692

Staying Healthy When Pregnant - Look Fabulous and Enjoy a Healthy Life Throughout Your Pregnancy

Being pregnant, especially if it is the first time could be tough for most women. A major issue when being so is how to stay healthy when pregnant. This is because our bodies act differently when we are pregnant. We are more sensitive and our activities are limited when we are pregnant. However, staying healthy even when pregnant is not impossible as there are a lot of ways of which you can do to keep you healthy. These would not only make it easier for you to be pregnant but could even make it easier for you to give birth.

Doctors recommend regular exercise even when pregnant. You can start with moderate workouts during the first few months and decrease intensity as you go through your pregnancy. Another essential method of how to stay healthy when pregnant is to follow a strict diet. Exercise alone is not enough to keep you healthy, exercise with diet along with clean living is healthy. When dieting while being pregnant, you must never do it to loose weight. Aim to provide sufficient nutrition for you and your baby.

You are more sensitive when you are pregnant so make sure to refrain from alcohol, smoking, staying up late and stressful activities. It is also very important for you to get your full 8 hours of sleep every night. When pregnant, you should also refrain from carrying heavy loads especially during the later months. For the best of you and your baby, you should take great efforts in keeping yourself healthy when pregnant.

Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Staying-Healthy-When-Pregnant---Look-Fabulous-and-Enjoy-a-Healthy-Life-Throughout-Your-Pregnancy&id=2310343

Good Nutrition Equals Healthy Life

To lead a good and healthy lifestyle it is very important to have sufficient intake of nutritious food. You know that the human body and the organisms obtain their food through a physiological process and it is required for it's development and growth. This entire process of developing food is called nutrition.

Just by eating food you cannot add the nutritious portion of it to your body. The food that you have has to be converted into energy by breaking it down which in turn helps the organisms to develop and grow. It is very important for a human body to have sufficient intake of nutrition as it helps in reconstructing and strengthening the tissues of the body with the help of food and other nutritious supplies.

Nutrition is the other name of sustenance and has originated from the Latin term nutrition or the French term nutritional. The growth of the human body depends on this and without it the body would suffer and the growth would stop. It would become difficult for the human body to live with the support of this sustenance. Thus when people starve and thus the human body do get sufficient food the growth of the body stops and gradually and slowly the person dies.

Just by being physically fit it cannot be ensured that you have sufficient intake of nutrition. Apart from food other important way of adding to the nutritious level of your body is by maintaining a spiritual and a healthy mind and maintaining an optimistic viewpoint about your own lifestyle. You can here connect and understand the significance of the famous saying that says healthy mind leads to a healthy body.

If there is a lack of nutrition then your body will not be healthy and it will thus affect the mind and its capacity to think clearly. This would lead to stress and it would in turn affect your viewpoint towards yourself and life in general in a negative way. The mechanisms in the body are fueled by the nutritious level that is there in the body and if there is a lack of it then it will affect the body in a negative way and thus the consequences will be dire.

Today everyone leads a very hectic life and hence it is very important to maintain sufficient nutritious level in the body. Thus, since the stress level has increased it is important that you think about what you eat and avoid anything that can damage your body. Not eating healthy can become a hurdle in you leading a balanced and a healthy life.
To maintain the nutrition level in your body you do not have to do anything extra.

Just ensure that you have healthy food like fruits and green vegetables. Also drink a lot of water and get involved in some form of exercise to keep the balance. By following these simple steps you can ensure yourself a good and healthy life.

Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Good-Nutrition-Equals-Healthy-Life&id=2784508

Three Tips For Keeping Kids Healthy

Habits children develop at an early age can shape their view of health and diet as adults. Below are three tips for keeping kids healthy and active.

Set A Positive Example

Most parents understand the logic behind setting a good example, because kids are prone to follow your behavior. Equally important, but often overlooked, is setting a positive example. Your kids may see you eating a healthy meal, and you may even reinforce the habit by telling them, but are you sending negative signals?

Parents don't always give their kids enough credit for thinking on their own. It's part of the transition from dependency to independent thinking. When children reach four to six years old, they quickly link behavior and mood. Your expression, or a negative joke can be enough for a child to develop a negative association with health.

Don't Make Exercise A Punishment

Exercise is very important for kids to stay healthy, but pushing too hard for your kids to get active can back fire. If you make the mistake of forcing your children to exercise too many times, it can develop into an on going argument. They will subsequently avoid future activities, not because they don't want to, but because they associate the exercise with being ordered.

You can avoid being too forceful by thinking of their actions as "playing" instead of exercising. It's more important for your child to have fun, and enjoy the activity because they'll be more likely to repeat the behavior in the future.

Help Them Understand Cause And Effect

Young children have simplistic reasoning with most subjects. They want to eat unhealthy food because it tastes good to them. At some point you need to help them link the cause and effect of unhealthy eating habits. It's important not to reprimand them while explaining how the body handles excess calories, or they may find joy in defying your wishes. Approach the subject objectively, and help them understand the facts of eating healthy without using emotional, or threatening language.

Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Three-Tips-For-Keeping-Kids-Healthy&id=2973138

Easy Healthy Snacks For Kids

After a long and active day at school, our children tend to come home hungry, hence the popularity of the afternoon snack. Most store bought or commercial snacks are rich in carbohydrates, sugar, sodium, and fats. Things like packaged cookies, pastries, and other quick fix snacks are low in nutrition, and are generally unhealthy.

While most of us don't have to the time to make elaborate snacks for our children, there are many easy healthy snacks that we can prepare the minute they ask for it or make in the morning and leave in the fridge for when our kids come home. These snacks should focus on fruit and dairy, the two food groups that seldom go into the other meals of the day. If you can supply your children with either a serving of fruit or dairy or both, then you are sure that they are getting the kind of nutrition they need.

Here are some snack ideas:

Fruit Juice Popsicles:

This is the easiest snack to prepare! Just get store bought Popsicle makers or containers and fill them with 100% fruit juice. Freeze these containers, and don't forget to stick a Popsicle stick in it if it doesn't have one already. They're really healthy, and you can make many at a time and in varying flavors. You can even make one flavor for every day of the school week, and then you'll be done with all the snacks for that week!

Low-Fat Yogurt or Pudding:

This is a great and healthy snack!! A cup of yogurt or pudding will fulfill one dairy serving for your child. You can buy these at almost any grocery store. Yogurt would be the healthier option. They even have yogurt cups that come with fruit mixed in it. For a child with a sweet tooth, pudding is good too. Be sure to look at the nutritional facts posted on the package of pudding. Things to look for are: low-fat and no trans-fat, these would be your best picks.

Home Made Oatmeal Cookies:

Make these during the weekend and your kids can have them anytime during the week for as long as supplies last! Oatmeal cookies are high in grains and fiber, and if you make them at home, you can control how much sugar you put in. Try using no sugar with your cookies, and putting a few bittersweet chocolate bits on top of each one before popping them into the oven. These will provide sweetness, and it's a good twist to an old recipe.

Fruit and Cheese:

One of the simplest and easiest healthy snacks. Your kids can even prepare these themselves. Just a few slices of cheese and some apples and grapes are already enough to fill one serving of dairy and one serving of fruit. You can also choose to serve some whole wheat crackers with the cheese in order to throw in a grain serving.

Fruit Men:

These are fun to make snacks. They can be as simple as a banana with raisin eyes and a cut out mouth. You can prepare fruit men ahead of time and place them in a Tupperware container then in the fridge. These snacks require a bit more time than most, but they're fun to eat, and can actually be a fun activity for you and your kids.

Easy healthy snacks are usually just hiding right under our noses. If you can't think of anything, poke around your fridge and kitchen. You will see thousands of healthy possibilities!

Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Easy-Healthy-Snacks-For-Kids&id=2553287

Aplastic Anemia Treatment

People living with mild to moderate aplastic anemia are in serious condition but do not have to be hospitalized for treatment. With extremely low counts of all types of blood cells, the disease is considered severe and life-threatening that hospitalization for treatment is immediately required.

There are different treatment options recommended for every level of the illness. For the mild to moderate aplastic anemia, blood transfusions and medications are still appropriate choices; but for the severe cases, bone marrow transplants may be the only option. Some of the treatments that will be considered are:

• Blood transfusions
• Immunosuppressants
• Stimulants for the bone marrow
• Bone marrow transplants
• Antibiotics
• Prevention (stop exposure to harmful chemicals like benzene)

Blood transfusions do not provide permanent cure but they help relieve the symptoms through giving the blood cells that are not produced by the bone marrow. Transfusion of red blood cells helps reduce signs of fatigue and anemia. The transfused cells are expected to remain inside the body for a month or so. However, there are risks like over-accumulation of iron in the body and development of antibodies that fight the effectiveness of transfused blood cells.

Transfusion of platelets is made possible through hemapheresis. It is a process of separating platelets from a donor's blood by a special machine. The blood is returned to the donor and the isolated platelets transfused to the patient. Transfusion of white blood cells is not easy because these blood cells have very short lives and are very difficult to isolate.

Autoimmune disorders can lead to the immune system attacking and damaging blood cells inside the bone marrow. Treatment is in the form of drugs that will suppress or control a hostile immune system. Examples of drugs: anti-thymocyte globulin and cyclosporine.

Stimulants for the bone marrow are drugs that stimulate production of new blood cells in the marrow. Examples are: filgrastim, sagramostim, and epoetin.

Bone marrow transplants promise a permanent cure without recurrence in 1 out of 5 cases.

Antibiotics may help alleviate frequent and life-threatening infections caused by the illness.

Other aplastic anemia treatments like supportive care and prevention may help improve the symptoms. Stop taking the drug that induce the disorder. Avoid exposure to environmental toxins like benzene.

Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Aplastic-Anemia-Treatment&id=2056527

Gluten Allergy Symptoms - Why You Should Care

Gluten allergy symptoms can be a very serious indicator of an underlying condition: celiac disease. If you are reading this than it is quite likely you are concerned about your body's reaction to your consuming gluten.

Despite the term gluten allergy symptom, it is important to recognize that celiac disease does not usually manifest allergic reactions like the kind we associate with hay fever or peanut allergies. Gluten intolerance is in fact more systemic. It is a condition that will wear your digestive tract down over time.

As your body overreacts to the gluten in its system, your immune response slowly kills off the villi in your intestines. These villi are tiny hairs which act to capture and help absorb the nutrients from your food. When they die off, you are less capable of digesting and processing your food and the nutrients in it.

Gluten allergy symptoms often begin mild, with intestinal discomfort such as bloating and flatulence. Then over time they both increase in number and type as well as become more severe. Intestinal discomfort, for example, would go from bloating and flatulence to constipation and diarrhea. Other common gluten allergy symptoms include headaches, fatigue and a lowered immune system (you become sick more easily and more often).

Later stages of celiac disease are similar to severe malnutrition, only people don't think they could be experiencing malnutrition because they believe they're eating plenty of healthy food. However, if you are unknowingly gluten intolerant and you are eating foods which contain gluten, no matter how healthy you eat you can become malnourished.

So it is vital that if you suspect you may be gluten intolerant you must immediately cut gluten from your diet. This may be difficult at first, but you will soon learn that many major grocery chains and manufacturers are becoming more and more helpful to people with gluten intolerance. You will find that dealing with your gluten allergy symptoms is easier than you initially expect.

Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Gluten-Allergy-Symptoms---Why-You-Should-Care&id=2936948

Teeth Whitening, Health Benefits For Whitening the Teeth

Sometimes for the reason of being busy everyday of our lives, we just tend to disregard our teeth. We didn't know that these mighty white structures inside our mouth, regardless of their rigidity needed regular attention and care also. All that gets inside our intestine will virtually pass through our teeth. All kinds of food residues as well as beverage stains got stuck in our teeth over a long period of time. As all of those debris accumulates in our teeth, discoloration occurs, often characterized by yellowing of the teeth. When our teeth reached this point, all it needed is an effective teeth whitening regimen.

Healthy Teeth for Healthy Body

When the enamel on our teeth got stripped off due to some abrasives and acids from the food we eat, all we get is a very annoying sensitive tooth. Sensitive teeth make us feel awkward when we eat and prohibit us from eating some more. As a result, our body will eventually succumb to malnutrition. Healthy teeth depend on how we took care of them. All the elements our teeth had been exposed to since we had our permanent ones had an effect on them even though it is not felt and seen right away. The continuing process of wear and tear in our teeth through our everyday use of them makes them vulnerable to damages.

Many factors contribute to the demise of our teeth and when we are not vigilant enough to stop these causes from damaging our teeth, chances are, our overall health will suffer too. Everyday microscopic cracks and fissures develop within the enamel of our teeth without us knowing it. Normally our enamel is built to be virtually "impenetrable" but as these dents develop into cracks it became easily permeable to offensive dirt and stains altogether now.

In order for our body to stay healthy, we should restore our teeth first to its original shining glory. Our entire health depends greatly on foods that we take in everyday. This healthy balance in our body might be cut off if the part of our system that cuts our food to become digestible in our stomach becomes weak.

Teeth whitening are the first option if we want to stay healthy. Well, you want to know the processes in making your teeth white and healthy everyday? Here's how:

• Regular brushing of teeth. Regular brushing means brushing of teeth at least twice daily to take away the majority of dirt and stains that had accumulated for the day.
• Flossing. Make this a habit of flossing your teeth after every brushing session. Even if brushing is impossible, at least don't forget to floss your teeth. It will free your teeth from the dirt that gets in between teeth that brushing alone cannot get rid of.
• Avoiding of stain sources. Daily intake of beverages like tea, coffee, red wine and other sources of teeth stain can make our teeth dull and wipe away the luster out of it. If those elements cannot be totally avoided, at least take it with smallest amount possible.

Teeth whitening can give us a lot of healthy benefits. When we have white teeth we can smile as often as we want to without the feeling of being conscious with our teeth. Every time we smile many neurons in our brain can be stimulated and exercised and would eventually produce many positive and healthy effects on our body.

Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Teeth-Whitening---Health-Benefits-For-Whitening-the-Teeth&id=2697082

Important Eye Health Care Tips

Today's hectic work schedule and unhealthy lifestyle has a detrimental effect on our body. Especially, our eyes which are the first ones to suffer. They become tired, puffy and sore by the close of the day. However, you can always prevent this stressful impact on the eyes by the means of learning and using a few simple yet healthy tips.

Some of such eye health care tips are:

• Once a year you should get your eyes checked by the ophthalmologist. Often people delay their visit to the doctor thinking that it has not yet been an year since their last visit to the doctor. However this can enhance the vision problems. Wearing glasses and contact lenses which are not suited for your developing visual problem increases the problem of uncorrected vision and causes severe headaches and vision problems. Therefore, if your glasses or contact lenses do not feel right or comfortable anymore, it is advisable to consult the doctor as soon as possible.

• You should always wear sunglasses in summer to protect your eyes. People wearing high quality contact lenses may think that they do not require sunglasses but little do they realize that contact lenses just protect the eye. And in reality the whole eyes need protection from the harmful UV rays of the sun. The harmful UV rays can cause serious damage to the eyes. Which is why, you should wear effective sunglasses to protect your eyes from damage. Though people have this popular belief that dark sunglasses offer more protection as compared to the light ones which might be true to some extent, in reality both dark and light sunglasses offer adequate eye protection. While purchasing sunglasses you should ask if it can block 98% of the UV radiation.

In fact the little known fact is that you require sunglasses even on cloudy days.Surprised?Well,not everybody realizes that clouds are form of mere water which are transparent and hence though they might provide shade but they do not block the UV rays in anyway.

Eat food which is nutritional and healthy to your eyes. Researches have shown that there is no food which is detrimental to the eyes. In fact, most of the foods that we consume do not have any impact on our eyes. Therefore if you are expecting that the healthy diet can restore lost eyesight, then you are wrong. However, a healthy diet will definitely slow down any kind of disease and also prevent further ones from afflicting. The right vitamins and minerals can do the trick.Vitamins, especially of the antioxidant group can prevent age related disorders like development of cataracts or macular degeneration.

Though the effects of most of the vitamins have not been determined yet, Vitamins C, A and E, folic acid, selenium and zinc are known to be effective and essential for the eyes. One thing you can be sure of that whatever is healthy for the body will be healthy for the eyes. Therefore instead of going through they thousand pages book written eye care in the market, it is advisable that you simply add carrots and grapes to your lunch box.

Healthy break is important for your eyes. Working all day on the computer reduces blinking of the eyes by 25% and hence causes eye dryness. Hence, one should take breaks while working on the biggest invention of the 20th century.

Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Important-Eye-Health-Care-Tips&id=2998672