Best Food sources
* Dairy products, such as milk, yogurt, and cheese
* Kale, Chinese cabbage, broccoli, mustard and turnip greens, bok choy, parsley, watercress, some seaweeds
* Canned fish with the bones in
* Calcium fortified juice, soy milk, tofu, and cereals

Striking a balance between enjoying all the wonderful foods presented to you on your vacation and maintaining your diet goals can seem a daunting task, so we’ve chosen the 5 best tips to help you manage your vacation diet.

1. Pack a snack

When you’re traveling, always keep a healthy snack on hand. The best combinations contain a little protein and a high fiber carbohydrate to keep you feeling full as long as possible.

2. You don’t have to clean your plate

Desserts seem to materialize after every meal on vacation. And to make it worse, all the meals are little richer, and snacks are a little more frequent. But just because the food is there doesn’t mean you have to eat it all. Slow down and consider what you’re eating. Before you snack, decide whether you’re truly hungry or just mindlessly noshing. Make the healthiest choices when you can, and take small portions when the meal choices are high calorie and out of your control.

3. Your shoes are made for walking

Ask about safe walking routes around your hotel, then lace up your shoes and get going! There’s no better way than walking to see and really experience the area you’re visiting. Plus, it’s handy for burning off some of last night’s dinner, too.

4. Sipping calories

<< I will add my version of this advice here!!>>

A couple of glasses of juice or scoops of ice cream may seem like the perfect vacation indulgence. They’re cool, tangy, and refreshing… but you’ll probably be stunned to learn that they contain so many calories. Calories in sugary drinks add up very quickly, so limit yourself to one occasionally.

5. But when in Rome…

You are, after all, on vacation. Enjoy yourself in moderation. Stop and consider the choices you make. Pralines in New Orleans and key lime pie in the Florida Keys are special treats to savor. Candy from the hotel mini bar tastes exactly the same as it does back home. Choose wisely.

The Bottom Line

Be mindful about the choices you make on vacation. Vacation literally means to take a break—so it’s important to relax a bit from the way you normally function. Enjoy special foods and have a drink – but don’t overdo it. Remember: if you keep your diet on track, but splurge responsibly while on vacation, you won’t have to battle with a closet full of too-tight clothes when you get home!

Health Benefits

Our food ranking system also qualified pears as a good source of vitamin C and copper. Both of these nutrients can be thought of as antioxidant nutrients that help protect cells in the body from oxygen-related damage due to free radicals. Vitamin C functions as an antioxidant in all water-soluble areas of the body, and in addition to its antioxidant activity, is critical for good immune function. Vitamin C stimulates white cells to fight infection, directly kills many bacteria and viruses, and regenerates Vitamin E (an antioxidant that protects fat-soluble areas of the body) after it has been inactivated by disarming free radicals.

Copper helps protect the body from free radical damage as a necessary component of superoxide dismutase (SOD), a copper-dependent enzyme that eliminates superoxide radicals. Superoxide radicals are a type of free radical generated during normal metabolism, as well as when white blood cells attack invading bacteria and viruses. If not eliminated quickly, superoxide radicals damage cell membranes.

Treat your tastebuds to a delectable, juicy pear, and you’ll be treating your body to 11.1% of the daily value for vitamin C along with 9.5% of the daily value for copper.

Pear’s fiber also does a lot more than help prevent constipation and ensure regularity. Fiber has been shown in a number of studies to lower high cholesterol levels, good news to people at risk for atherosclerosis or diabetic heart disease. Fiber in the colon binds to bile salts and carries them out of the body. Since bile salts are made from cholesterol, the body must break down more cholesterol to make more bile, a substance that is also necessary for digestion. The end result is a lowering of cholesterol levels.

Fiber also binds to cancer-causing chemicals in the colon, preventing them from damaging colon cells. This may be one reason why diets high in fiber-rich foods, such as pears, are associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer. Additionally, the fact that low dietary intake of copper seems to also associated with risk factors for colon cancer (increased fecal free radical production and fecal water alkaline phosphatase activity) serves as yet another reason in support of why this delicious fruit may be very beneficial for colonic health. Your mother may have told you carrots would keep your eyes bright as a child, but as an adult, it looks like fruit is even more important for keeping your sight. Data reported in a study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology indicates that eating 3 or more servings of fruit per day may lower your risk of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), the primary cause of vision loss in older adults, by 36%, compared to persons who consume less than 1.5 servings of fruit daily.

It is difficult to believe how the hardy, crunchy often rough looking exterior of raw beets can be transformed into something wonderfully soft and buttery once they are cooked. While beets are available throughout the year, their season runs from June through October when the youngest, most tender beets are easiest to find.

Edible green leaves are attached to the tapered round or oblong root portions that we know as beets. While we often think of beets having a reddish-purple hue, some varieties are white, golden-yellow or even rainbow colored. The sweet taste of beets reflects their high sugar content making them an important raw material for the production of refined sugar; they have the highest sugar content of all vegetables, yet are very low in calories.

Health Benefits

Remember all those legendary Russian centenarians? Beets, frequently consumed either pickled or in borscht, the traditional Russian soup, may be one reason behind their long and healthy lives. These colorful root vegetables contain powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer.

How to Enjoy

Cook beets lightly. Studies show beets’ anti-cancer activity is diminished by heat.

Don’t peel beets until after cooking. When bruised or pierced, beets bleed, losing some of their vibrant color and turning a duller brownish red. To minimize bleeding, wash beets gently under cool running water, taking care not to tear the skin since this tough outer layer helps keep most of beets’ pigments inside the vegetable. To prevent bleeding when boiling beets, leave them whole with their root ends and one inch of stem attached.

Beets’ color can be modified during cooking. Adding an acidic ingredient such as lemon juice or vinegar will brighten the color while an alkaline substance such as baking soda will often cause them to turn a deeper purple. Salt will blunt beets’ color, so add only at the end of cooking if needed.

Since beet juice can stain your skin, wearing kitchen gloves is a good idea when handling beets. If your hands become stained during the cleaning and cooking process, simply rubbing some lemon juice on them will remove the stain.

Nutritional Profile

Beets are an excellent source of the B vitamin, folate, and a very good source of manganese and potassium. Beets are a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus.

]]> http://oceanhealth.wordpress.com/2007/05/04/%d8%b0%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%b7%d9%8a%d8%a8%d8%a9-%d9%88%d8%b3%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%85%d8%a9-%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%b6-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%81%d9%88%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%83/feed/ 0 Amatullah http://oceanhealth.wordpress.com/2007/05/01/nutrition-101-vitamin-a/ http://oceanhealth.wordpress.com/2007/05/01/nutrition-101-vitamin-a/#comments Tue, 01 May 2007 12:34:27 +0000 Jenan http://oceanhealth.wordpress.com/2007/05/01/nutrition-101-vitamin-a/ ]]> What’s Vitamin A for?

• Vital for vision, particularly night vision
• Repairs tissue and bone
• Involved in reproduction and fetal development
• Helps the immune system to fight off infections from bacteria and viruses

Best Food sources

• Whole eggs, milk products, beef liver
• Non-fat and low-fat dairy products. They are fortified with vitamin A to replace what is lost in fat removal
• Dark greens and rich yellow / orange fruit and vegetables, especially carrots, cantaloupes and sweet potatoes

Study suggested cocoa is better than tea in lowering blood cholesterol

Benefits of Chocolate?

In a more recent study published in Hypertension journal in August 2005, researchers from Italy found that dark chocolate may lower blood pressure in people with hypertension. The research also found that levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in these individuals dropped by 10 percent. It is important to note that this study also used a very small test group of only 20 subjects.

A few other studies also suggested that cocoa may have heart protective effects. In November 2001, researchers from Pennsylvania State University found that people with a diet high in polyphenol-rich cocoa powder and dark chocolate have slightly higher concentrations of HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) when compared with the control group. This study, however, only investigated the health effects of cocoa in 23 people.

The Bottom Line

It is good to know that chocolate contain ingredients beneficial to health. However, it does not necessarily mean you should eat more chocolate products. Moderation is always the key – having a decadent piece of chocolate once in a while is not going to harm your health. If you have a choice, choose dark chocolate for its higher antioxidant content!

Chocolate Recipe Substitution: When a recipe calls for chocolate, use dark chocolate (usually less sugar) or even better cocoa powder. To substitute 1 oz of unsweetened chocolate, use 3 Tbsp of dry cocoa + 2 Tbsp of sugar + 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil.

• Protects against the harmful effects of free radicals (an antioxidant)
• Assists in the formation of collagen, which is important for the health of blood vessels and gums, development of bones and teeth, and wound healing
• Helps resist infection, preventing and treating the common cold
• Has been found to decrease risk of cancer, heart disease, cataracts, and other diseases

Best Food sources

Fruit and vegetables. Particularly excellent sources are red bell peppers, kiwi, oranges, broccoli, strawberries, tomato juice, watermelon, potatoes, bananas, and carrots

Most people think that nuts are high in calories and fat… and they are right! Nuts are quite calorically dense. 15 cashews, for instance, deliver ~180 kcal! On top of that, it is very tough not to overeat these tasty snacks. If you can restrain yourself from overeating them, nuts can definitely be a part of a healthy diet.

Researchers found that people who eat nuts regularly have lower risks of heart disease.

Go Nuts

Nuts are one of the best plant sources of protein. They are rich in fiber, phytonutrients and antioxidants such as Vitamin E and selenium.  Nuts are also high in plant sterols and fat – but mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (omega 3 – the good fats) which have all been shown to lower LDL cholesterol.

The best approach is to reap the health benefits of eating nuts but not add excessive calories to your daily intake. So instead of simply adding nuts to your diet, eat them in replacement of foods that are high in saturated fats and limit your intake of these tasty treats to 1 to 2 oz per day . For instance, instead of adding chocolate chips when making cookies, sprinkle on some nuts. Or instead of making a deli meat sandwich, try a nut butter toast.

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