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Healthy Foods For Pregnant Women Biography

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Try to eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day and with every meal—the brighter the better. Colorful, deeply colored fruits and vegetables contain higher concentrations of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants—and different colors provide different benefits, so eat a variety. Aim for a minimum of five portions each day.

Some great choices include:

Greens. Branch out beyond bright and dark green lettuce. Kale, mustard greens, broccoli, and Chinese cabbage are just a few of the options—all packed with calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc, and vitamins A, C, E, and K.

Sweet vegetables. Naturally sweet vegetables—such as corn, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, yams, onions, and squash—add healthy sweetness to your meals and reduce your cravings for other sweets.

Fruit. Fruit is a tasty, satisfying way to fill up on fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants. Berries are cancer-fighting, apples provide fiber, oranges and mangos offer vitamin C, and so on.

The importance of getting vitamins from food—not pills

The antioxidants and other nutrients in fruits and vegetables help protect against certain types of cancer and other diseases. And while advertisements abound for supplements promising to deliver the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables in pill or powder form, research suggests that it’s just not the same.

A daily regimen of nutritional supplements is not going to have the same impact of eating right. That’s because the benefits of fruits and vegetables don’t come from a single vitamin or an isolated antioxidant.

The health benefits of fruits and vegetables come from numerous vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals working together synergistically. They can’t be broken down into the sum of their parts or replicated in pill form.

Healthy eating tip 5: Eat more healthy carbs and whole grains

Choose healthy carbohydrates and fiber sources, especially whole grains, for long lasting energy. In addition to being delicious and satisfying, whole grains are rich in phytochemicals and antioxidants, which help to protect against coronary heart disease, certain cancers, and diabetes. Studies have shown people who eat more whole grains tend to have a healthier heart.

A quick definition of healthy carbs and unhealthy carbs

Healthy carbs (sometimes known as good carbs) include whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables. Healthy carbs are digested slowly, helping you feel full longer and keeping blood sugar and insulin levels stable.

Unhealthy carbs (or bad carbs) are foods such as white flour, refined sugar, and white rice that have been stripped of all bran, fiber, and nutrients. Unhealthy carbs digest quickly and cause spikes in blood sugar levels and energy.

Tips for eating more healthy carbs

Whole Grain Stamp

Include a variety of whole grains in your healthy diet, including whole wheat, brown rice, millet, quinoa, and barley. Experiment with different grains to find your favorites.

Make sure you're really getting whole grains. Be aware that the words stone-ground, multi-grain, 100% wheat, or bran can be deceptive. Look for the words “whole grain” or “100% whole wheat” at the beginning of the ingredient list. In the U.S., Canada, and some other countries, check for the Whole Grain Stamps that distinguish between partial whole grain and 100% whole grain.

Try mixing grains as a first step to switching to whole grains. If whole grains like brown rice and whole wheat pasta don’t sound good at first, start by mixing what you normally use with the whole grains. You can gradually increase the whole grain to 100%.

Avoid: Refined foods such as breads, pastas, and breakfast cereals that are not whole grain.

Healthy eating tip 6: Enjoy healthy fats & avoid unhealthy fats

Good sources of healthy fat are needed to nourish your brain, heart, and cells, as well as your hair, skin, and nails. Foods rich in certain omega-3 fats called EPA and DHA are particularly important and can reduce cardiovascular disease, improve your mood, and help prevent dementia.

Add to your healthy diet:

Monounsaturated fats, from plant oils like canola oil, peanut oil, and olive oil, as well as avocados, nuts (like almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans), and seeds (such as pumpkin, sesame).

Polyunsaturated fats, including Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, found in fatty fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and some cold water fish oil supplements. Other sources of polyunsaturated fats are unheated sunflower, corn, soybean, flaxseed oils, and walnuts.

Reduce or eliminate from your diet:

Saturated fats, found primarily in animal sources including red meat and whole milk dairy products.

Trans fats, found in vegetable shortenings, some margarines, crackers, candies, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, baked goods, and other processed foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

What is a healthy daily limit for saturated fat and trans fat?

Experts recommend you limit the amount of saturated fats you eat to less than 7 percent of total daily calories. That means, for example, if you need about 2,000 calories a day, no more than 140 of them should come from saturated fats. That’s about 16 grams of saturated fat a day.

No more than 20 of those calories should come from trans fat. That’s less than 2 grams of trans fat a day. Given the amount of naturally occurring trans fat you probably eat every day, this leaves virtually no room at all for industrially manufactured trans fat.

Source: American Heart Association

Healthy eating tip 7: Put protein in perspective

Protein gives us the energy to get up and go—and keep going. Protein in food is broken down into the 20 amino acids that are the body’s basic building blocks for growth and energy, and essential for maintaining cells, tissues, and organs. While too much protein can be harmful to people with kidney disease, the latest research suggests that most of us need more high-quality protein than the current dietary recommendations. It also suggests that we need more protein as we age to maintain physical function.

How much protein do you need?

Protein needs are based on weight rather than calorie intake. Adults should eat at least 0.8g of protein per kilogram (2.2lb) of body weight per day. A higher intake may help to lower your risk for obesity, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, and stroke.

Older adults should aim for 1 to 1.5 grams of protein for each kilogram of weight. This translates to 68 to 102g of protein per day for a person weighing 150 lbs.

Divide your protein intake among meals but aim for 25 to 40g of high-quality protein per meal; less than 15g won’t benefit bone or muscle.

Get plenty of calcium (1,000 to 1,200 mg per day).

Source: Environmental Nutrition

The key to ensuring you eat high-quality protein is to try different types, rather than relying on red meat and whole milk dairy products which are high in saturated fat. Trying different healthy protein sources such as fish, beans, nuts, seeds, peas, tofu, chicken, and soy products will open up new options for healthy mealtimes.

Our intention for this dinner was to put these pizzas on the grill, because we decided we wanted to have a week full of grilling ideas for you- and I'd seen folks grill pizza before. So, I thought- why not? Well, I'll tell you why not. Because I am not good around a grill. The first one I tried burned after only a few minutes. (scroll to the bottom to see). so, rather than ruining all our pizzas, I scrapped the idea quickly, and used the oven instead. I'm MUCH more comfortable around an oven!

Also, for us, Monday is grocery shopping day, so Sunday has been the day we try to eat up our leftover veggies from the week. We usually will throw them all in pasta, stir fry, or make pizza! But without time (or desire) to prepare the dough, we pulled out some ciabatta rolls I had bought last week and never used. They were perfect for some "french bread" pizzas.

We first chopped

Cherry Tomatoes

Shredded carrots

Yellow bell pepper

Broccoli

and red onion

And remember, since this was a "clean out the fridge" type of meal, we didn't have mozzarella or any marinara sauce prepared, so we used olive oil and feta cheese! We also found some parmesan cheese, but just enough for two of the pizzas.

Herbs

Vegetarian

Gluten Free

Crockpot

Nut Free

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10 Minute Veggie Pizza

I think I want a category for all our dinner ideas that are less than 15 minutes! Don't you agree? I can't even count how many times we get home at 5:00 and I need to get something on the table before my family starts snacking instead. I do have a lot of ideas, we just need them all in one spot!

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Now, because a lot of kids aren't going to like every single veggie on their pizza, we decided to make one of each!

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We first chopped

Cherry Tomatoes

Shredded carrots

Yellow bell pepper

Broccoli

and red onion

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After slicing the rolls lengthwise, we brushed the top with olive oil.

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We then added the veggies and cheese to the top, then actually drizzled a bit more olive oil over the top of the veggies. This helped them to cook up nice and tender!

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Once we arranged the pizzas, we put them on a cookie sheet to bake in a hot oven (375) for about 10 minutes (full details below).

Our final result: DELICIOUS! And perfect for summer nights when you don't want to heat up the whole house with an oven on for an hour. These also tasted great with our watermelon! A delicious meal that even picky eaters will love!

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The outtake:

(this is what you get when you don't know how to use a charcoal grill)

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10 Minute Veggie Pizza

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 and move one oven rack to the top rung.

Slice Ciabatta rolls, or French Bread in half, lengthwise.

Brush with olive oil.

Sprinkle with veggies of your choice. We used

red cherry tomatoes,

shredded carros

Yellow bell peppers

broccoli

and red onion.

Drizzle with some olive oil over your veggies.

Sprinkle with feta cheese.

Arrange pizzas on a baking sheet, and put them in the oven on the top rung. Increase the temperature to 425 and broil for 8-10 minutes. Watch carefully! These turn from browned and perfect, to crispy and burned in a matter of seconds!

Posted In Blog, Lunch, Dinner, Vegetarian, Nut Free | Jun 02, 2014 0

Amy Roskelley

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4 Quick Meals with Homemade Hamburger Helper

I do know that Hamburger Helper gives you everything EXCEPT the hamburger, but I thought the name was appropriate for our pre-made meat mixture that I often use as a dinner starter. Every time we prepare a meal at our house to make it healthier, we simply ask ourselves- How can we add fruits or vegetables to this dish? For this hamburger dinner starter, we pre-cook some lean ground beef and add peppers, onions, and seasonings. Then, we freeze into 1 lb bags.