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Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables, which contain fiber, vitamins, and other valuable nutrients, can help lower the risk for heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and certain type of cancer. The right eating habits will do more than help you and your family stay healthy, they will in fact, improve your health. But health is only one of the reasons why we should make informed choices when it comes to food. Eating is also one of life's pleasures. There is no reason not to enjoy all kinds of foods, just do not overeat it. The key to healthy eating is balance. Eating a balanced diet means eating a variety of foods that supply the calories and nutrients you need without excess fat, salt, sugar, and alcohol.

Everyday we need more than 50 nutrients from food, including those that supply calories (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) and those that help with various body functions (vitamins, minerals, and water). Despite claims to the contrary, there are no known advantages to consuming large quantities of a specific nutrients or food. Each day, we should eat a variety of foods from each food group to get the nutrients we need.

The Food groups of the Food Pyramid

Bread, Cereal, Rice, and Pasta = this group will give us carbohydrates for energy, as well as B vitamins and iron. Use whole grains, 100 percent whole wheat bread, barley, oats, quinoa, and brown rice to give your meals a boost of fiber. Go easy on the fat and sugars you add on spreads, seasonings, or toppings. A sweet tooth is not a valid excuse to feast on high sugar and high fat goodies, such as cookies and cake.

Fruits and Vegetables = this group provides fiber and vitamins A, C, and E. Choose deeply colored vegetables and fruits like spinach, carrots, peaches, berries, plums, raisins, eggplants, cantaloupes, tomatoes and oranges, watermelons, peppers, to get the most nutrients. Eat at least five servings from a variety of fruits and vegetables each day. Limit fruit juices, they are low in fiber and high in calories. A diet rich in fruits and and vegetables is known to lower the risk for heart disease and stroke, and mat protect against certain forms of cancer.

Milk, Yogurt, and Cheese = Dairy products are great sources of calcium and also provide protein, vitamin A and phosphorus. Fortified milk has vitamin D added to it. Choose non fat or low fat products, such as skim milk, to get nutrients without adding a lit of fat and calories.

Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs and Nuts = this food group provide high quality protein, which contains all the essential amino acids for building body proteins. They are necessary for growth and development of children, and for maintaining body tissues in adults. B complex, iron and zinc. Choose lean cuts of meat. When preparing meat, trim the fat, remove skin from poultry, and drain grease used in cooking.

Fat, Oils, and Sweets = Fat is a essential nutrient, but many foods in this group, including ice cream, butter, gravy, and salad dressing, provide a lot of calories and only little vitamins and minerals. However, they add flavor and variety to our diets. Limit the amount of foods you consume on this group. Spread a smaller amount of butter, margarine, or jelly on bread, use less fat and oil in cooking, when you cook, cut down some of the fats and sugars by reducing the amounts of fat intake at less than 30 percent of your total calories.

We all know that vitamins and minerals are good for us, but have you ever stopped to think about which one is especially need by a teen. I am concern about this because of my nephew's who are really thin and no energy, so I tell them to try some vitamins for them to be more healthy. Many say that a balanced diet is all that's need to get their daily share of Vitamins and Minerals . However, it is becoming more difficult to do this because many are destroyed by cooking, freezing, exposure to air and light, and food processing. In Addition going overboard on junk food, fast food, as well as following fad diets and skipping meals make matters worse. This is why teens need their vitamins and minerals supplements. Other thinks the more they take in, the healthier they'll be, Be careful not to get more than 100% of the RDA or Recommended Daily Allowance, for a particular vitamin or mineral. The RDA is calculated to provide 100% dietary needs for 98.6% of the population. Excessive amounts of water-soluble vitamins C and B's will be flushed out in your urine, but fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, K and minerals can build up in your body to levels where they could cause problems.

Here are some of the Essential Vitamins specially for Teens:

Vitamin D = 10 IU daily

For strong bones and teeth, lending a helping hand to Calcium, we can also get vitamin D from sunlight and its free. 10 IU or international units daily (check the label for IU) Vitamin D are potent so take some caution, 50,000 IU or higher for adults and 2,000 IU or higher for children are too much. Some of Toxic effects of Vitamin D if not taken right are Anorexia, nausea, diarrhea weight loss, extreme sweating and thirst, weakness, disorientation and liver damage.

Vitamin C = 60 mg daily intake

For Healthy gum's, strong teeth and bones and shooting colds away, If you bruised easyly try some vitamin C. The body gets used to the amount taken so if takes less C than usual, you're prone to catch that cold. Its nontoxic, but doses larger than 1 gram may cause nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and kidney stones.

Here are 3 important Minerals for teens to get going:

Zinc = 12 mg daily intake

For growing up strong and healthy, fantastic skin, hair and nails. Healthy eyes and bones. A zinc lozenge may help get rid of a cold. Just don't overdo it, long term use of zinc lozenges can temporarily suppress the immune system, just the opposite of what you want when you're fighting off a cold, more than 60 mg is too much and can be toxic, damaging the immune system and arteries.

Iron = 15 mg daily intake

Helping red cells oxygen to different part of the body. If your suffering from recurring headache, chronic fatigue and irritability you may lack of iron girls need more because you lose more iron through menstrual blood. 15 mg daily better absorbed with Vitamin C, but iron interfere with the absorption of vitamin E and Calcium. Not much danger in getting a toxic dose of iron from food, but too much iron supplements can be lethal. Some of its toxic effects are stomach irritation or constipation.

Calcium = 1200 mg daily intake.

For strong bones and teeth, Teens weaken their bones by not drinking enough milk. Try two glasses of low-fat milk a day, try chocolate if you can't stomach milk, you can also try a calcium drink. Not enough calcium causes thinner bones, making it easier to fracture your bones. It can also leads to osteoporosis. Not know to be toxic, but may cause constipation.

Acne can hit you at the worst time, causing breakouts without regard to age or gender. Most of those that suffers from acne, though, are between 12 and 24. Just about 80% of people who are in this age group get some acne and of those 26% will get permanent scarring that will range from minimal to noticeable at a glance.

Those over 24, though, can still suffer from the effects of acne. The American Dermatologist Association reports that 20% of all adults have active acne. This translates to the fact that 60 million American teens through adults have active acne skin lesions and 20 million of those have acne that is extensive enough to cause scars. Surprisingly, only about 10% of those affected with acne will try to get treatment, but this is due, in part, to the way people look down on those with acne.

There is hope, though, for acne sufferers. Once you know what causes acne, the things that help and the things that don't help and how to prevent your acne, you can make the necessary changes to get skin that is clear and glowing.

What Causes Acne?

While acne is not contagious, there are some known factors that do increase your chances of getting acne skin lesions. Generally, acne is caused when the sebaceous glands produce excess oil. Other causes can include:

• An inherited tendency towards acne or genetics
• Hormones and hormone imbalances
• Some illnesses
• Over washing the skin
• Cosmetics that are oil based
• Some prescribed medications
• Stress and anxiety
• Poor cleansing of the skin
• Physical irritation

• Healthy diet
• Water
• Proper cleansing
• Adequate sleep

There is no magic food or exercise to slow down aging or extend our life, but the chances of staying healthy and living a long time can be improved. And it can only be done by who else? of course ourselves. here are some tips for a healthy aging.

• Keep a positive and welcoming attitude towards life. Make sure you always do things that can make yourself happy and contended.
• Exercise regularly if you cant do it everyday try at least trice a week. but first consult your doctor for a well planed diet and exercise that will give you more benefits.
• Keep personal and financial records in order to simplify budgeting and investing. Plan long term housing and money needs.
• Visit your doctor regularly get regular check ups.
• If you drink, moderation is the key, and if you drink let someone else drive who is not drunk. because drink driving can cause you your life.
• Don't smoke or if your smoking maybe its time to quit smoking, its never too late to quit smoking.
• Avoid overexposure to the sun and cold.
• Practice safety habits at home to prevent falls and fractures. safety first.
• Eat balanced diet include in your diets fruits and vegetables.
• Stay contact with family and friends, stay active trough work, play and community.
• Love yourself and your wife/husband, people who are in love are more likely to live longer than people who are alone in life.

Its really not that difficult to make the right food choices. we might already did some of it, but we need to introduce a wider variety of plant based foods into our diet. Add lots of fruits and vegetables to your meals brown rice and whole wheat bread are better. Keep in mind that plant based foods such as vegetables, fruits, grains,legumes, pasta, nuts, and seeds are always good for us.

Dr. Florentino scientific director of the International Life Services Institute. A leading authority on nutrition and a long time advocate of healthy eating, has devised an easy to follow healthy eating plan which will help protect us from cancer as well as other lifestyle diseases.

Eat the following foods liberally:

• Dark green leafy and yellow vegetables.
• Vitamins C-rich fruits and vegetables.
  
• Legumes (peas, beans, lentil, barley and others.)
• Other fruit and vegetables.
• Whole grain cereals such as oatmeal unpolished rice, and corn.

• Lean meat, fish poultry (all fatty portions removed).
• Milk and milk products cheese and eggs.

• Medium fat meats such as beef flank, brisket, plate fish, and poultry.
• Sausage, hotdog, ham, bacon, corned beef, canned and pickled vegetables
• Charcoal broiled foods.
• Smoke foods
• Peanuts
• Fats and oils
  
• Butter and margarine
• Table salt and other salty condiments

• Alcoholic drinks
• Softdrinks and candies they are empty calorie foods
• High fat foods such as cream and whipped cream, gravies , pastries, rich cakes, coconut, and deep fried foods.

To some of us this coming august 8, 2008 is a lucky day, but i think if really want to be lucky this day we have to do something for ourselves, not just waiting for that miracle to happen to us, so i decided to do a list of 8 healthy things that we can do on this coming lucky day. Maybe, it can help us not just on that lucky day :)


1. Have an 8 minute exercise - After you wake up do some stretching and some basic exercise for 8 minutes or if you want, run on the treadmill for 8 minutes.

2. Eat 8 Healthy foods -Try to eat this foods for the rest of your day tuna, eggs, beans, cocoa, citrus, cereal, banana, and brown rice. why? because all this food have the best vitamins and minerals you can have on that day, and they are all good for our diet.

3. Drink 8 glasses of water - I know this is a very common thing in a healthy tips but does everybody do drink 8 glasses of water? maybe not, maybe we can start to this lucky day and do it everyday.

4. Laugh 4 8 seconds -Laughing releases endorphins. Endorphins make you feel good. "Laughter is the best medicine"

5. Hug your love ones for 8 seconds - Hugging is the best way to tell someone that you care for them. So lets Hug

6. Relax for 8 minutes - If you have a busy day try to relax for 8 minutes, Its good to have a peace of mind on this lucky day

7. Tell yourself 8 good things about you - Go to the mirror and tell yourself 8 things you like about yourself. It helps us to appreciate on what and who we are, and can build us some self confidence.

8. Get 8 hours of sleep - Last but not the least after we accomplished the lucky healthy tips its for us to gets some rest and 8 hours of sleep is a good way to have that lucky sleep.

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