Health & Wellness
Articles
Tips
Creating The Ultimate Summer Salads
The summer season offers up a beautiful bounty of some of the most flavorful and nutritious fruits and vegetables. With such a plethora of fresh produce to choose from, salads are a quick, simple and satisfying way to experience a wide variety of summer’s finest foods. Whether you love them tossed, chopped or layered, for an energizing lunch, complementary side dish, or light supper, deciding what delicious ingredients to use for your salad is part of the fun! When you get creative, make healthy choices, and combine a variety of colors, tastes and textures, you can enjoy spectacular salads all summer long.
- Get Green
Building your salad on a bed of healthy greens is an easy way to get the most nutritional value out of your salad. With at least 13 different flavonoid compounds and almost 200% of the daily value of vitamin K in one cup of fresh spinach leaves, spinach salads are incredibly healthy. Another great choice when it comes to salad greens? Classic Romaine. It is an excellent source of vitamin A, and a very good source of fiber! - Think Lean
Make salads more substantial by adding cooked and diced lean meats such as chicken breast or turkey. They are full of flavor and excellent sources of protein. Four ounces of chicken provide more than 67% of the daily value for protein, while turkey is believed to contain nutrients that can help protect against cancer. - Go Nuts!
Excellent sources of omega-3 essential fatty acids, walnuts are a favorite when chopped and sprinkled into salads because they provide more than just a satisfying crunch and interesting texture. Offering numerous health benefits, walnuts are good for your heart and contain an antioxidant compound called ellagic acid, which appears to have anticancer properties and can also help support the immune system. - Dress Up
Homemade dressings are healthy, easy to make, and a great way to experiment with flavorful vinegars, herbs and seasonings. Vinaigrettes made with extra-virgin olive oil are simply luxurious tossed with or drizzled over lettuce. Rich in beneficial monounsaturated fats, olive oil can be blended with balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, champagne vinegar and other varieties to compose a dressing that is truly unique. When you’re whisking up some tantalizing vinaigrette, adding finely diced fresh herbs is a great way to infuse your salad with eve more flavor. - Pack It With Produce
Variety is the spice of life, and adding your favorite seasonal fruits and vegetables is a simple way to keep your salads interesting, and full of flavor. Try some of these peak-of-the-season picks!
Tips
Foods That Can Help Ease Allergy Symptoms
Spring can be a difficult time of year for those who suffer from seasonal allergy symptoms. When the body overreacts to things in the air that don't cause problems everyone, such as dust or pollen, it is an allergy. This overreaction can cause symptoms such as watery eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, itching and pressure in the nose and cheeks.
Tips
Have A Healthy Picnic
Picnic season is upon us! The next time you're packing up your basket for a meal that celebrates not only the beautiful weather, but the freshest foods of the season, consider including nutritious classics along with some healthier alternatives to traditional picnic favorites. Your outdoor feast will be full of flavor, and you'll feel healthy, energized, refreshed, and ready to enjoy your outdoor environment.
Tips
Hit The Hay!
Tips For Keeping Hay Fever At Bay
The season of spring is a special time of year. Houses are cleaned from top to bottom, barren trees and shrubs bloom with leaves and flowering buds, and dry lawns once again become carpets of tender green grass. We welcome the season with spring-cleaning, and celebrate it by spending time outdoors, enjoying the beauty of Mother Nature as the earth awakens from its winter slumber.
Sustainable Eating
Buying and Eating Local:
Are You Up to the Challenge?
When it comes to sustainable eating and buying and eating local foods, community advantages are numerous and prosperous. Buying and eating locally grown foods help build more self-sufficient food economies where the sustainable food production, processing, distribution and consumption are taken into consideration to promote the economic, environmental and social health of a specific place. It is a part of the sustainability movement on a broader scale.
Sustainable Eating
Hot Off the Grill!
In-Season Summer Fruits and Vegetables
One of the greatest joys of summertime is the act of barbecuing, and most everyone has a favorite grilled food that they look forward to indulging in. When it comes to sustainable eating and grilling, options for the grill are endless. With a cornucopia of in-season fruits and vegetables, you can cook a table-full of vegetarian entrees, side dishes and desserts right on the grill. And, eating seasonal produce helps cut down on carbon emissions that are produced by oil-drinking boilers that are used to heat greenhouses and by power plants used to keep things frozen.
Sustainable Eating
What is Sustainable Eating?
Today, more than ever, the word sustainability is heard on a regular basis. Sustainability, simply put, means to keep going, to supply with food, drink and other necessities in life.
Special Lifestyles & Diets
Dairy-Free Lifestyle
For people who are allergic to dairy products, or who are lactose intolerant, a dairy-free diet is crucial to one's well being.
Special Lifestyles & Diets
Gluten-Free Lifestyle
Gluten, made from the proteins gliadin, glutenin and others, exists with starch in the endosperms of some grass-related grains - notably barley, rye and wheat. Gliadin and glutenin comprise about 80% of the protein contained in wheat seed.
Special Lifestyles & Diets
Low-Fat Lifestyle
Low-fat diets are followed for many reasons, such as weight loss and/or weight maintenance and for the prevention of some diseases like cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease.
Special Lifestyles & Diets
Low-Salt Lifestyle
For people with cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease and other medical problems, a low-salt diet may be beneficial and is often prescribed by physicians.
Special Lifestyles & Diets
Sugar Free and Low Sugar Lifestyle
Sugar, once considered a luxury that only the wealthy could afford, comes in many forms and is used in many ways. For many people, a low sugar or sugar free diet is either necessary or desired.
Special Lifestyles & Diets
Vegetarian Lifestyle
Vegetarians build their diets around plant foods, but did you know that there are several types of vegetarian classifications? Lacto-ovo vegetarians consume dairy foods and eggs, but no fish, meat or poultry; Pesco-vegetarians include fish into their diets; and Vegans are strict vegetarians who do not eat any animal products, including dairy products, eggs and honey.
Healthy Entertaining
Healthy Holiday Hors D'oeuvres
Celebrate The Season With These Festive & Flavorful Favorites
With so many events filling up the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, maintaining a healthy, well-balanced diet can seem nearly impossible. From office parties to holiday get-togethers there are plenty of opportunities to indulge, and some of the hardest foods to resist are those holiday d'oeuvres. Whether they're on a buffet table or conveniently passed on trays, appetizers are intended to be incredibly enticing. The good news, however, is that there are some fantastic hors d'oeuvres that are flavorful and satisfying, and good for you, too! Whether you're hosting a party or bringing an appetizer to share, these favorites will help you go from one holiday gathering to the next while still maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Hummus
Healthy Entertaining
Super Snacks
With Fresh Fruits & Veggies, Everybody Wins!
Hosting a game day gathering? Give your guests a winning spread that shines the spotlight on avocados and other fresh fruits and vegetables. Offering great taste—and great health benefits—avocados are a flavorful, healthy addition to your football watching festivities.
Healthy Eating & Entertaining
Healthy Summer Snacks
Convenient Ways To Curb Your Hunger!
Days are longer and the kids are out of school for the summer, which means it's more important than ever to have plenty of fun, healthy and easy snacks on hand. Staying hydrated and energized during the summertime is crucial. Fuel-up this summer with plenty of water and some quick snacks that are good for your schedule—and good for your body. These nutrient-rich munchies are easy to prepare and enjoy, which means more time for you to soak up the summer!
Baby Carrots
Healthy Eating & Entertaining
Lemons and Limes
The Stars of Summertime Citrus
Although they're available in markets throughout the year, lemons and limes reach their peak of perfection during the summer season, lending their lip-puckering flavor and bright, acidic zing to everything from refreshing lemonade to grilled seafood.
Healthy Eating & Entertaining
The What, Why and Where of Anthocyanins
When popping a sweet, juicy strawberry into your mouth, have you ever wondered about the brilliant red color of it? What makes blueberries so blue, or red raspberries so red? The answer lies in antioxidant flavonoid compounds that lend color to fruits, plants and vegetables: plant pigments. One group of these coloring compounds is known as anthocyanins, and they are found in flowers, fruits, leaves, roots and stems.
Healthy Eating & Entertaining
To Her Health!
Celebrate Mother's Day With Fresh & Healthy Morning Favorites
Treating Mom to a special meal in honor of Mother's Day is a favorite holiday tradition that lets her know how much she is loved and appreciated. This Mother's Day, honor her with a relaxing breakfast or brunch that is not just delicious, but healthy too. By highlighting the freshest foods of the spring season, and showcasing delicious, nutrient-rich favorites, you can lighten up the morning, and get her special day off to a fantastic start.
Healthy Eating
5 Super-Healthy Snacks
Curb Your Hunger With These Nutritious Noshes!
The perfect snack when you're craving a little crunch. Heart healthy almonds are one of the best plant sources of protein, and their delicious, delicate flavor makes them a tasty addition to savory and sweet dishes, from salads to trail mix. Convenient and easy to enjoy on the go, they're also great in recipes: sprinkle chopped almonds atop sautéed veggies or pasta for extra flavor and crunch!
Apples
Healthy Eating
A Fresh Start
Tasty Tips for a Happy, Healthy New Year
For many, the New Year marks the beginning of a fresh new approach to living and eating well. Start the New Year off right by keeping these goals in mind for this year, and beyond. An integral part of any healthy lifestyle, these three simple approaches to eating can help you look and feel your best, now and for years to come!
Begin With Breakfast
Healthy Eating
A Healthier Twist
On A Lunchtime Classic: Chicken Salad
With just a little creativity and a few fresh ingredients, it can be easier than you think to lighten up your favorite dishes and satisfy your cravings. Full of flavor and texture, creamy chicken salad is a tried and true lunchtime favorite that can easily receive a healthier twist, without compromising on flavor.
Healthy Eating
A Healthy Mind & Body
How The Foods You Eat Can Influence The Way You Think
A well-balanced diet is crucial for overall good health. The foods we eat, and the nutrients they contain, help keep every part of the human body functioning properly. Diet impacts not just physical health, but mental health as well. Our abilities to relax, concentrate, retain information, and perform day-to-day tasks can be greatly influenced by our diet. Certain foods seem to be especially significant when it comes to the health of our brains; and a few specific foods are especially beneficial when it comes to keeping your brain healthy, and functioning at its best.
Healthy Eating
Apricots & Almonds
A Sensational Spring Combination
Loved for their velvety smooth texture and sweet, slightly tart taste, apricots are a succulent stone fruit that reach their peak during the spring and summer seasons. Though small in size, apricots are packed with nutritional benefits. The nutrients they contain can help maintain vision health, while their beta-carotene and lycopene content make them a great heart-healthy fruit. They're also a source of fiber, which plays an important role in a properly functioning digestive system.
Healthy Eating
Calling All Chocolate Lovers!
Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth & Enjoy the Benefits of Antioxidants
An indulgent piece of dark chocolate offers more than a treat for your taste buds. It is a source of beneficial antioxidants, the vitamins, nutrients and minerals that protect cells from destructive molecules called free radicals. The damage to cells caused by free radicals are believed to contribute to the development of a number of conditions and diseases, ranging from certain types of cancers, to arthritis, to infections caused by a weakened immune system. Because antioxidants can help repair cell damage and prevent some of the damage from occurring in the first place, they are crucial for good health.
Healthy Eating
Eggs-traordinarily Delicious!
Make a Mouthwatering Morning Meal with Eggs & Fresh Produce
Fruits and vegetables are an essential part of any balanced breakfast, and with a light and healthy egg dish as your main course, it's easier than ever to incorporate fresh produce into the menu. Whether you like them scrambled or made into an omelet or frittata, eggs are a versatile source of protein that match up well with a wide variety of fresh ingredients that are low in fat and calories, and high in flavor and nutrition.
Healthy Eating
Fresh Asparagus
Take a Taste of Spring
The arrival of spring marks the arrival of asparagus season! With its uniquely delicate flavor and tender texture, asparagus has been regarded as a delicacy since ancient times. Originating in the eastern Mediterranean region, it's believed that asparagus was cultivated in ancient Egypt, and was used for both culinary and medicinal purposes in ancient civilizations. Today, it is cultivated in many temperate and subtropical regions around the globe. At its peak during the spring season, it is the perfect complement to an array of dishes and cuisines, adding an elegant, impressive touch to any menu.
Healthy Eating
Fresh Herbs
The Benefits of Basil
The secret to well-flavored, well-seasoned dishes often lies in the utilization of fresh herbs. Healthy and delicious, herbs are a fantastic way to add flavor—and not a lot of fat or calories—to a wide range of palate-pleasing recipes.
Healthy Eating
Fresh Herbs
Delightful, Delicious Dill
The secret to well-flavored, well-seasoned dishes often lies in the utilization of fresh herbs. Healthy and delicious, herbs are a fantastic way to add flavor—and not a lot of fat or calories—to a wide range of palate-pleasing recipes.
Healthy Eating
Fresh Herbs
Wonderful Rosemary
The secret to well-flavored, well-seasoned dishes often lies in the utilization of fresh herbs. Healthy and delicious, herbs are a fantastic way to add flavor—and not a lot of fat or calories—to a wide range of palate-pleasing recipes.
Healthy Eating
Fresh Herbs
Say yes to Oregano
The secret to well-flavored, well-seasoned dishes often lies in the utilization of fresh herbs. Healthy and delicious, herbs are a fantastic way to add flavor - and not a lot of fat or calories - to a wide range of palate-pleasing recipes.
Healthy Eating
Frozen Veggies, Fresh From The Freezer
Convenient To Cook & Great For A Healthy Diet!
During the winter, incorporating the proper amount of fruits and vegetables into your daily diet can be a bit of a challenge. Full of flavor, vitamins, minerals and nutrients, produce is an essential element of any well-balanced lifestyle. And with frozen vegetables, it's easy to enjoy the fresh flavor and many health benefits of veggies, all year long. Unlike fresh fruits and vegetables, which lose some of their nutrients during the time it takes for them to be transported from farm to grocery store to your kitchen table, frozen vegetables are typically frozen within a few hours of being picked.
Healthy Eating
Go Green
With Crunchy & Colorful Cabbage
Whether you are Irish or not, St. Patrick's Day is a great reason to get together with friends and family to enjoy a delicious meal of corned beef and cabbage. And while cabbage is a classic accompaniment to corned beef, it's also an excellent complement to a range of other foods, proving there's no reason to reserve cabbage just for St. Patrick's Day dining!
Healthy Eating
Have A Healthier Holiday
With Five Thanksgiving Favorites
There is no denying that Thanksgiving is a time to indulge. The good news, however, is that many of the dishes found on the holiday table have, at their heart, fresh and flavorful ingredients that are recognized for being not only delicious, but healthy, too. Feasting on rich foods is a favorite tradition, yet these five healthy holiday ingredients can be savored in ways that make the most of their nutritional benefits.
Healthy Eating
Healthy Hydrators
Ways To Stay Refreshed, Energized & Hydrated
There's no denying it: consuming sufficient amounts of water every day is an absolute imperative for good health. As the principal chemical component of the human body, water is needed to keep every system of the body functioning properly.
Healthy Eating
Lighten Up Your Lunches!
Enjoy Healthy and Refreshing Midday Meals with Fresh Produce
When it comes to breakfast, lunch and dinner, the one meal that is probably the most difficult to stay on a healthy path with is lunch. From not having enough time to prepare yourself healthy lunches to needing to run errands during the day to keep your life on track, life's continual to-do list makes it convenient and easy to pull into a fast food drive thru, more often than we'd like!
Healthy Eating
Multi-Purpose Pumpkins!
The Many Benefits Of This Favorite Fall Fruit
Not just for Jack-O-Lanterns, pumpkins provide some fine eating, as well as plenty of good nutrition. A source of fiber, potassium, riboflavin, and vitamins C and E, pumpkins are particularly rich in carotenoid pigments such as alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, and lutein. Beta-carotene, typically found in yellow and orange-colored fruits and vegetables, helps the body in numerous ways, from keeping your reproductive system functioning properly, to strengthening the immune system.
Healthy Eating
Peachy Keen
Pick The Perfect Peaches
Succulent and sweet, fragrant and juicy, peaches are among the most anticipated of all summer fruits. They are the epitome of summer produce perfection. There's nothing quite like biting into a sweet and succulent peach, and whether it's freestone or clingstone, yellow-fleshed or white, a perfectly ripened peach is a true summertime sensation.
Healthy Eating
Pineapple Paradise
Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth With A Guilt Free Treat!
Craving something sweet? Indulging in a piece of fresh fruit is the perfect way to go. Sweet and juicy, fruit can satisfy your hunger—and your sweet tooth—while offering a variety of beneficial vitamins and nutrients.
Healthy Eating
Salads For The Season
Healthy Fall Favorites
During the warmest months of the year, when juicy berries in every shade of red and blue are bursting with sweet ripeness, and cool, crisp greens are sensationally light and satisfying, summer salads are enjoyed morning, noon and night. Whether it's a colorful fruit salad served alongside breakfast, lettuces tossed in flavorful vinaigrette for lunch, or a beautiful salad savored as a starter, side dish or main course, salads are a favorite of the season.
Healthy Eating
Satisfying Salads
Dress your greens deliciously
A green salad can be a very healthy meal – if you don't overdo it on the dressing!
Healthy Eating
The Incredible Artichoke
A Spring Delicacy
In certain respects, the artichoke might be regarded as the vegetable equivalent of lobster: it's somewhat labor-intensive eating, but well worth the effort! The fleshy, succulent, flavorful artichoke heart, which, like the lobster's tail, is often considered the tastiest morsel, takes some time to reach, but getting to it is half the fun!
Healthy Eating
The Joys and Benefits of Seasonal Eating
As the seasons come and go one thing is for certain when it comes to eating fresh, seasonal produce - the taste just can't be beat. And, when produce is at its freshest, the nutrient content is higher. If you've never made a fresh tomato gazpacho in August when tomatoes are at their peak, or have used sweet Vidalia onions to top your grilled burger in the month of June, when Vidalia's take center stage, you're missing out on some serious flavor. Long, long ago, before travel allowed for the shipment of out-of-season produce across the country, eating seasonal produce was a necessity. Those necessities created some favorite traditional dishes such as corn on the cob in late summer, pumpkin pie in the fall, potato soup in the winter, and radishes on salad during springtime. Eating seasonal is not only great for the freshest tasting produce possible; it also carries on beloved food traditions.
Healthy Eating
The Skinny On Healthy Fats
...And How To Enjoy Them
When it comes to keeping the body healthy and properly functioning, fat is an essential nutrient, one that helps protect vital organs, provides energy, maintains the health of skin and hair, and more. And for optimum health, it's also important to choose healthier unsaturated fats over saturated or trans fats, and to enjoy these healthier fats in moderation, as too much fat—or too much of certain types of fat—can be harmful to the body.
Healthy Eating
The What, Why and Where of Antioxidants
Chances are, you hear and see the word 'antioxidant' on a regular basis. On television and radio commercials, and on food packages found throughout grocery stores, the word 'antioxidant' has become an important word when it comes to our health. Have you ever found yourself asking, "What are antioxidants?"
Healthy Eating
Winter Produce
From A-Z
The coldest months of the year bring forth a variety of healthy and delicious winter fruits and vegetables. For side dishes, snacking, or as ingredients in your favorite cool weather classics, these produce picks, at their peak of freshness and flavor, are perfect for healthy eating.
Oranges
Health And Wellness
Calcium
The What, Why, and Where?
One of the most important, and plentiful, minerals in the body is calcium. Calcium allows proper functioning of the heart; builds and repairs bones and teeth; clots blood; helps nerves function; and makes muscles contract. The majority of calcium found in the body is stored in the bones, with the rest in the blood. If the calcium levels in blood drops, then the body will begin to take calcium from the bones. The body needs calcium to function properly, while bones need calcium to be strong and firm.
Health And Wellness
Getting to the Root of Root Vegetables
Why You Should Not Overlook These Nutritious Veggies
If you are passionate about buying vegetables in season, then fall and winter root vegetables should be on your shopping list for comforting, autumnal cooking. Root vegetables are exactly what their name implies, the [edible] roots of vegetables. Beets, celery root, parsnip, rutabaga, and turnips – each one is a root vegetable, and just a sampling of root vegetables available for consumption.
Health And Wellness
Glorious Garlic
Enjoy the Flavor and Nutritional Benefits of "The Stinking Rose"
Long considered an herbal super drug, garlic has been used to cure everything from the common cold to the plague, to toothaches. It has been a historical folklore legend and used for numerous purposes in addition to consumption, including: warding off evil spirits, embalming, curing broken bones, and keeping vampires at bay.
Health & Wellness
A Guide To Winter Wellness
How The Foods You Eat Can Help You Feel Your Best
Does the cold winter weather, a busy schedule, or extra-stress make you feel a little less than your best? Try adding a few healthy, nutrient-rich foods to your diet. They may help you avoid, or reduce, the severity of some common cold-weather conditions that often plague us during the winter season.
Dry Skin
Health & Wellness
Copper
The What, Why and Where?
Copper is an important trace mineral that plays an essential role in bodily processes, such as iron utilization, the development of bone and connective tissue, and the elimination of free radicals. It is stored mainly in the liver, but is present in every tissue of the body.
Health & Wellness
Healthy Drinking and Eating Habits for Better Sleep
Promoting Sleep with Food and Drink
Late at night, when your tired, overworked body begs for sleep but your busy mind is wide awake, you may decide to slide your feet into your slippers and head straight into the kitchen to warm yourself a glass of milk. While we do not need to eat certain foods to get essential shut-eye, there are foods that help promote sleep.
Health & Wellness
Iron
The What, Why, and Where?
When it comes to the body, iron plays several, key roles. It is an important mineral that helps the functioning of hemoglobin (the protein component in red blood cells that transfers oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body) and, iron helps support proper muscle and organ functions. In the body, the majority of iron is tied to hemoglobin via red blood cells, while the rest is stored in other body tissues or tied to other proteins such as ferritin (found in bone marrow).
Health & Wellness
Lycopene
The What, Why, and Where?
Lycopene—a carotenoid phytonutrient—is an antioxidant that may help prevent some cancers and heart disease. Lycopene gives pink grapefruit, tomatoes, watermelon, and other produce, its coloring. The antioxidants in lycopene neutralize free radicals that may damage the body's cells. Research has shown that the lycopene in tomatoes can be more (efficiently) absorbed by the body if tomatoes are processed into juice, ketchup, paste or sauce.
Health & Wellness
The Fantastic Four
Super-Veggies Abundant in Antioxidants
If want to incorporate more nutrition into your diet, then the next time you're grocery shopping, head straight to the produce section and pick up these four vegetables that pack a nutritional punch: broccoli, carrots, spinach, and sweet potatoes.
Fruits
Three Tropical Fruits with Amazing Health Benefits
Tropical fruits are not only incredibly flavorful, but they also offer multiple health benefits. And they’re a great way to perk up your taste buds up during winter and enhance springtime menus.
Coconut: When many people think coconut they think shredded coconut. But did you know that coconut water offers health benefits, too? It’s low in salt and sugar and high in potassium. And coconut milk can help sooth a sore throat and stomach ulcers.
Mango: High in vitamins A and C, the wonderful taste and texture of a mango can enhance multiple dishes. Try this: chop a mango and add to your favorite cooked stir-fry dish right before serving. Other nutritional benefits that the mango provides include beta-carotene, omega-3 fatty acids and some B vitamins.
Papaya: This tasty tropical fruit contains calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, vitamins A and C, and more. The antioxidants in papaya may help prevent the oxidation of cholesterol, which may prevent heart attacks or strokes. And papaya contains papain, an enzyme which aids digestion.
Add these tasty treats to your menus and reap healthy rewards!
Foods For Healthy Eating
A Guide To Spring Produce
Discover The Health Benefits Of The Season’s Freshest Picks
It is easy to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet when you choose ripe, seasonal produce. When it comes to flavor, freshness and nutritional value, locally grown, peak of the season produce is unsurpassed. The spring season produces a plethora of fruits and vegetables that are popular for their delicious flavors, versatility and exceptional health benefits. Here's a guide to a few of the favorites:
Apricots
Food In The News
Disappearing Honey Bees
Losing the Foods We Love to Eat
With its rich texture and lovely golden hue, honey is a natural sweetener prized for its wonderful flavor and unique composition, making it a deliciously healthy antioxidant and useful antimicrobial agent.
Food In The News
Low Fat Grilling in the Good Ole Summertime
No doubt about it, summer is the season for barbecuing. It's also the time of year when, for some, watching our waistline is a top priority. If you love barbecued foods but don't want all the bad saturated fats found in foods such as red meat, beef and pork sausages, and butter, good fats can be found in foods such as fish, vegetables and olive oil. And, the intense heat of the grill brings out food's natural flavors; that means that there is no need to overload with calorie-laden butter. If you need to use an oil to keep foods from sticking, choose a monounsaturated one such as olive oil. Monounsaturated fats lower LDL cholesterol while saturated fats raise LDL cholesterol.
Food In The News
Mad for Melons
A Slice of the Sweet Life
Cool, crisp melons elicit the essence of summer. With their refreshing flavor, cantaloupe, casaba, honeydew and watermelon are thirst-quenching fruits that you can feel great about indulging in. Low in calories, melons contain key vitamins and nutrients.
Food In The News
The Decline and Abundance of Wild Salmon:
A Balancing Act
Wild Salmon—firm in flesh, rich in oil, almost nutty in taste. All across the United States, from consumers to fish vendors to restaurants, there is no other fish that gets people as excited as the first wild salmon of the season. For people in the Pacific Northwest, grilling the first wild salmon fillet of the season is an obsession and ritual combined into one. Salmon are not only beloved for their flavor and texture; they are also high in omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to have certain health benefits.
Articles - Healthy Eating
Have A Healthy School Year
A+ Choices For Nutritious Snacks & Meals
With a new school year starting up again, it's very important for everyone in the family to enjoy a well-rounded, nutrient rich diet. Making good choices for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack time can help you and your children stay healthy, focused and energized.
Articles
Healthy Ways to Help Relieve Stress
Tasty Tips for Stress Prevention
With the summer ending and school starting again, schedules tend to fill up with a variety of activities. Often, this means more physical and emotional demands, and less time allotted for much-needed rest and relaxation. For many, this can cause an increase in unhealthy levels of stress.
Article
Beta Carotene
The What, Why and Where
Beta carotene is a carotenoid with antioxidant properties. Carotenoids are compounds that give color to orange, red, and yellow fruits and vegetables, and are also found in dark green vegetables. Beta carotene is stored in the liver, where the body converts it into vitamin A. Because of this function, beta carotene is known as a 'provitamin A' compound.
Affordable Meals
Explore Your Pantry and Refrigerator
Three Affordable and Healthy Recession-Proof Meal Suggestions
During difficult economic times it just makes sense that more people would eat at home, but in conjunction with difficult economic times there generally comes spikes in food costs and the added frustration of trying to keep a variety of affordable, flavorful and healthy meals on the table. If you're struggling with your menus, the following meal suggestions will help you mix things up at mealtime.
- Prepare foods with in-season produce, because bountiful crops mean more savings. For culinary comfort, prepare a hearty lentil soup with root vegetables. Lentils are inexpensive, and they are a good source of iron and phosphorus. Nutritional root vegetables such a sweet potatoes, celery root, and butternut squash are true winter treats. Sweet potatoes are a great source of beta-carotene and vitamins C and E, and butternut squash is an excellent source of vitamin A and a very good source of dietary fiber, manganese, and potassium.
- When you come across a great deal on canned beans stock up on the low-sodium versions. Beans are filling, loaded with soluble fiber, low in fat, and full of protein. When you're short on time but craving something healthy and satisfying, try tasty black bean tostadas. If you want to enhance your bean tostadas with added flavor and texture, drain a can of boneless, skinless wild Alaskan salmon then gently combine the salmon with diced avocado and minced jalapeño. Use this flavorful mixture to top your black beans when you're assembling your tostadas. Alaska canned salmon provides a good source of vitamin B12, and it is one of the most calcium-rich dairy foods. Avocados are a good source of dietary fiber, folate, potassium, and vitamin K.
- For a fulfilling, healthy breakfast, prepare convenient oatmeal then top with a couple of almonds and dried cranberries. Oats offer many nutrients, including copper, iron, magnesium, and vitamin E. Almonds are a very good source of manganese and vitamin E, and dried cranberries are a good source of dietary fiber.
A Healthy Harvest Guide
It's Time To Enjoy The Nutritious Foods Of Fall
With its vibrant colors, crisp cool air, and bountiful harvest, fall is a season that evokes a sense of comfort. It's a time to gather around the table with family, and enjoy the hearty comfort foods you crave. Chili, stew, pot roast, casseroles, pork chops and roasted chicken are just a few of the much-loved favorites of the season, and they all go exceptionally well with the glorious fruits and vegetables that reach their peak of ripeness during the autumn harvest. When you celebrate the season by indulging in these 10 favorite foods and flavors of fall, you'll be pleasing your palate and reaping in numerous health benefits as well.
Apples
Color Your Menus with Nutritional Winter Squash
Incredibly rich in nutrients, vibrantly colored winter squash are at their peak from early fall through winter. And they come in uniquely fun shapes and varieties, including Acorn, Buttercup, Butternut, Delicata, Kabocha, Turban and many more.
Healthy Ethnic Fare
Good Global Foods
Flavor. Flavor. Flavor. There are so many fabulously flavorful ethnic foods from all around the globe: Chinese, Greek, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican and so many more. And there are many healthy low-fat and low-calorie ways to enjoy global foods, from cooking methods to specific types of foods.
Here are four global fares from around the world for you to consider and enjoy:
Keeping Obesity at Bay
Easy Tips to Help You Reach and Maintain a Healthy Weight
Many people struggle with weight gain during different times in their life, and in some cases weight gain can lead to obesity. Obesity can be caused by a number of factors, including bad diet and eating habits, inactivity, and some medications and/or medical problems. Mayo Clinic defines obesity as having an excessive amount of body fat, and doctors determine if someone is obese by using a formula known as the body mass index (BMI). If someone has a BMI of 30.0 and higher their weight status is obese.
Copyright 2003 - 2012 © DW Green Company and County Fair Foods
