Radishes & Weight Loss

Radishes are cruciferous vegetables that are added to all kinds of dishes and salads and are often considered a type of garnish. Radishes are red, crunchy and contain vitamins and minerals that are good for your health. Adding radishes to your diet can also promote weight loss if you combine this food with other positive meal choices.

Low in Calories

Radishes are low in calories and if you replace some of your regular snacks that may be high in fat and calories with them, you will be consuming less. Vegetables, particularly when eaten raw or with little added fat or sauces, are low in calories but can be filling. Replacing foods that are high in fat and sugar with vegetables such as radishes will naturally reduce some of your caloric intake. One serving of 1/2 cup of radishes has only 12 calories.

Fiber

A half cup of radishes contains 1 g of fiber, which is important for weight loss: fiber not only helps to lower cholesterol by binding to low-density lipoproteins (LDLs), increasing your fiber intake may help you to lose weight. Fiber is a portion of the plant that goes undigested and when you eat foods with plenty of fiber, you feel full longer. By eating radishes, you can add some fiber to your diet and work toward the daily recommended intake, which is 25 to 38 g each day for adults age 19 to 50.

Glycemic Index

Eating foods that have a low glycemic index, such as radishes, may help you to lose weight. The glycemic index of a food is based on how long it takes to break down and digest in the body. Foods that have a high glycemic index break down quickly and can cause a rapid rise in blood sugar after a meal. The body responds by secreting more insulin to counteract the high blood sugar. Too much insulin inhibits the fat-burning processes in the body, and may actually cause your body to store more fat. Eating foods that have a low glycemic index will help to maintain stable blood sugar patterns, avoiding the rapid rise and fall of insulin and glucose in the bloodstream.

Other Considerations for Weight Loss

Although radishes are low in calories and provide some important nutrients for your health such as potassium and vitamin C, weight loss involves controlling calories through portion sizes and increasing your intake of vegetables — such as radishes. By decreasing your calorie intake by 500 each day, you can lose up to 1 lb. of weight each week. Adding radishes to a balanced diet, avoiding fad diets and increasing your activity levels each week can all contribute to weight loss.

Source: https://www.livestrong.com/article/482270-radishes-weight-loss/

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How to eat nuts the healthy way

Nuts are healthy, but limit portions to prevent calorie overload and use them as meal enhancers.

Nuts can seem like forbidden fruit to dieters. A heaping handful might contain up to 10% of the daily caloric needs for a medium-sized man. And the generous dusting of salt on packaged snack nuts says "beware" to anyone trying to control high blood pressure.

But nuts are worth the "risks" if you know how to eat them. Nuts are a good source of key nutrients, healthy fats, and protein. They can jazz up salads and side dishes, adding crunchy flavor.

The key is to consume nuts in a way that delivers health benefits without the weight gain. That means limiting portions and eating nuts instead of, not in addition to, certain other foods. "Nuts are a great source of good fats and protein," says Dr. Helen Delichatsios, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "But they should not be added onto everything else that you eat."

Nutrients in commonly consumed nuts (1 ounce)

Nut                              Calories                      Fat (g)                        Protein (g)

Almond                       168                             15                               6.2

Brazil                          184                             18.6                            4

Cashew                      161                             13                               4.3

Hazelnut                     182                             17.5                            4.2

Macadamia                 201                             21.4                            2.2

                       

Pecan                         200                             20.1                            2.6

Pistachio                    160                             13                                6

Walnut                       184                             18.3                             4.3

Health benefits

A one-ounce portion of nuts is roughly a quarter-cup. For almonds, that's about 18 to 22 individual nuts, packing 168 calories. Nuts are low in saturated fat, so consuming them instead of animal protein sources can help to lower your LDL ("bad") cholesterol. They contribute fiber, potassium, and calcium to your diet.

Although nuts are a healthy protein, you can't simply substitute nuts for meat, ounce for ounce. If you did, your waistline would pay a steep price. For example, a lean 4-ounce chicken filet has around 100 calories, but 4 ounces of walnuts contains 740 calories.

However, substituting a 1-ounce portion of nuts for equivalent small portions of red and processed meat is a good move, according to major based at the Harvard School of Public Health.

In the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, men who ate meat-rich diets tended to die younger (mostly from cancer and heart disease). But for each serving of meat replaced with a serving of nuts, the risk of premature death dropped 20%, compared with that of men who continued to eat meat.

The message is not that you should ban meat completely from your diet. Instead, try to favor lean poultry over red meat—especially cured or smoked meats—and consume moderate amounts of nuts instead of meat a few times a week.

Nuts to round out meals

But where should you toss those modest handfuls of nuts? Dr. Delichatsios has a few suggestions.

First, reboot your mental image of nuts as a standalone snack in a bowl. It's true that a small handful of nuts can kill hunger pangs between meals, but Dr. Delichatsios suggests you also use nuts to "round out" the nutritional mix of your meals.

If you are trying to reach or maintain a healthy weight, the fiber and fats in nuts can allow you to leave your meals with a fuller, more satisfying feeling.

"If you are trying to lose weight and all you have in your salad are lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and low-fat dressing, you may be hungry later," Dr. Delichatsios explains. "Nuts are a good way to make it more filling; they round out the meal. Otherwise it might not be calorically dense enough and leave you hungry."

Breakfast is a good time to go nuts. Throw some in your cereal or yogurt with fruit. At lunch, toss a handful into a meatless salad.

Nuts for dinner?

At dinner, nuts are a nutritious addition to grain-based side dishes like wild or brown rice and mushrooms. Or you can use them to create an appealing meatless main dish.

Dr. Delichatsios, in her practice as a primary care physician at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital, focuses on healthy eating. One thing she does is get a group of her patients together for nutrition information sessions and cooking demonstrations.

During the sessions, Dr. Delichatsios explains how to shop for, prepare, and store the kinds of foods that can have a positive impact on common health conditions. Nuts are usually on the menu. A typical meal would consist of some sort of cooked whole grain (such as quinoa or brown rice), beans, or legumes (chickpeas, lentils). Add to it cut up vegetables, fresh herbs, olive oil, and vinegar or lemon juice. "Throw in some nuts and you have a very delicious, appealing, filling, satisfying meal," Dr. Delichatsios says.

One of the impediments to getting people to eat nuts or whole grains in healthy meals, Dr. Delichatsios says, is just the lack of knowledge or experience with preparing them in such a way that anyone would actually want to eat them. "It requires some teaching and education."

After the healthy meal, though, don't fill the snack bowl with nuts and head for the TV, Dr. Delichatsios cautions. "You can take in 500 calories without even thinking about it."

Published: November, 2012

Source: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-to-eat-nuts-the-healthy-way

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What Helps You Use More Calories And Feel Full Faster?

What single item can literally make you use up more calories, while helping you feel full faster & stay feeling satisfied longer? The single answer is unprocessed foods... and more specifically... the fiber they contain. Unprocessed foods are more difficult for your digestive system to break down. It actually has to work much harder, and this effort burns calories. This means you can use up to 70 more calories digesting an unprocessed meal, as compared to a highly processed one. But... 70 calories isn't that much. Sure, it's a minor bonus but it's not going to do a lot by itself. What's really here to shine is the ability of unprocessed, fiber-rich foods to make you feel full faster and stay full longer.

Hunger is often a main enemy for people trying to lose weight. 

When you're hungry, you're more likely to give in to cravings, eat too much of something (that would have otherwise been fine) or feel run down/low energy. Unprocessed foods help with all three issues here, but what exactly are they, and what can you do to take advantage? This type of foods includes whole foods (where you eat the whole thing) like fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts. But, also included are leafy greens and unprocessed (or low-processed) whole grains. When you look at how lots of these are processed, you can find 1 thing in common: the removal of fiber. Fruit into juice, wheat into flour, the 'process' referred to us taking fiber out, and sometimes cooking or adding sugars in.

Why is fiber helpful? 

The body can't break down either kind of fiber (soluble, nor insoluble) for nutrition. It won't give you any energy, and it won't add any calories. It's this exact 'doesn't appear to do much' property though, that makes it as helpful as it is. Because it can't be broken down, it slows down the conversion of carbohydrates into sugars for steadier energy. Soluble fiber can't be used for nutrition by your body, but it can be used by beneficial bacteria (the probiotics in yogurt & other foods) which then, in turn, protect you from harmful bacteria, extract more nutrients from the food you eat, and provide a line of defense against viruses. Soluble fiber, by its very name suggests an association with water... and it's true, but insoluble fiber also helps with hydration. Both types of fiber, when mixed in with food, keep that food hydrated all through the digestive process, including the intestines. Good nutrients and bad byproducts are gathered and dismissed in the intestine... but only if there's enough water to move the food smoothly.

Taking up space: 

Hunger is controlled by a few factors, and a big one is "space". All food takes up some room as it's eaten and broken down... but if someone eats a small, but calorically dense food like a cookie with frosting cream all over it, that's not going to take up a lot of room. Hunger could arise again soon after-but it wouldn't be really 'justified' because of all the calories. The body is used to calories that take up space. For an extreme example, can you guess what two items have about the same amount of calories as a whole pound of spinach?

Did you give it a try? 

The answer is just two of the popular cookie brand that starts with O and ends with O & always features cream in the middle. No one's going to sit and eat a pound of spinach, but they'll easily go through more than two of these sandwich-type cookies. With this example, you can see the true power of fiber to help people feel full and stay that way.

How about cutting cravings for unhealthy items? That's also something fiber can do, because certain kinds of bad bacteria can create cravings for more of what THEY want, which may not be good for you. Sugar loving bacteria might release a chemical that your body mistakes for a signal to eat more sugar. Fiber feeds good-guy bacteria (the probiotics) and they, in turn, stamp out the bad bacteria. Also, keeping food moving smoothly through the digestive system doesn't let the bad guys have as much of a chance to hang around and disrupt your day with their common side-effects like excess gas, bloated feelings, & cravings.

Now how about taste... 

There's a reason processing is removing fiber from foods & it's sometimes about flavor. Whole grain bread with thick texture & wheaty flavor may not be as appealing to some people as a soft and fluffy white loaf. Also, from the example earlier, spinach may be fine for a salad but a couple of cookies are pretty much always going to be more appealing than handfuls of the stuff. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to get around the taste obstacle, and one of the easiest is a seed. The chia seed is the high fiber seed with so much of both kinds of fiber that you can actually see it. (Most soluble fiber is so small, its invisible to the naked eye) Its other remarkable property is that it has no flavor. Everything else on the menu is going to taste like something, and that means someone out there won't like it. However, with chia's flavor-free nature you can use it to add fiber to things you already like to eat. Having a white-bread sandwich? Sprinkle a batch of chia seeds into the PB (for your PB&J) or on the mustard... or really anything where they'll stick. Now, you get the bread you prefer and the fiber you need. It's easy enough to do at any meal, and it even works in cold drinks.

What are unprocessed choices? 

Making unprocessed choices can be easy and delicious at any meal. Put oats on the menu for breakfast instead of boxed cereal, bagels, donuts or pancakes on most days. Whole grain oats are extremely versatile-much more so than most people suspect. They can create anything from a cool mango-lime smoothie to a warm bowl of chocolate almond-butter delight when you have the recipes for Overnight Oatmeal. (Completely changes the texture, and flavors are endless!) Having eggs? They're good protein, but they're a fiber-free food, so a sprinkle of chia into the omelet or scramble will give you the fiber you need to stay full until lunch. Juicing or blending? Juicing removes the fruit's fiber but leaves all the sugar. You can achieve the same great flavors in the blender as you can the juicer. The other option is to juice something that doesn't blend well (a carrot, or ginger root for example) then add the juice to your blended drink where you used blender-friendly fruits like apples, mangoes or strawberries.

There are plenty of ways and recipes to help you with unprocessed choices and fiber rich whole foods all over the internet and in articles. Now that you know the benefits of fiber, what foods have more of it, and how it will help you, it's time to get it on the menu. But, remember: chia seeds are basically the best way to cheat your way to the top of the daily value for fiber... but they can't take care of every nutrient. Colorful fruits, crunchy nuts, fresh or frozen berries and good grains all combine for more power and better health, because like it or not, you really are what you eat.

Ready to put easy fiber into almost any food on your menu? Choose the easiest way to feeling full faster, with the benefits of chia seeds. MySeeds is the only chia that gives you 2 free recipe books so you'll always know just what to do with your mixed black & white top quality seeds. Don't just get your extra fiber, enjoy it too when you use easy, colorful and creative recipes.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Emily_N_Morris/260864

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