Healthy Food & Snacks

Eating out at work or having office food adds unnecessary calories and makes you lethargic. Food at hotels and restaurants seems tasty, but is loaded with extra fats. Thus extra calories get added to your waistline. This should serve as a warning signal as most health problems are related to obesity.

To avoid these problems you need to adopt healthy cooking methods. Try to get healthy and nutritious food at work. This will not only keep you healthy and fit, but will also be more cost effective. You can save on all the restaurant bills and snacks by getting yourself a healthy cooked meal from home.

You can take salads, veggies and fruits to work. All these are highly nutritious and healthy. Try to avoid heavy snacks such as donuts, cookies, chocolates or chips. Instead opt for crackers, cereals, bagels and dried fruits or yogurt.

Don’t keep having cups of tea or coffee to be attentive; these have high sugar content. Instead, opt for fresh fruit juices. These are not only invigorating, but also healthy and provide essential vitamins.

Taking food to work need not take time and much effort on your part. You can take foods that don’t take much time for preparation. You can take the leftovers from the previous day to work. This saves time and requires no extra effort. Another thing could be to opt for tinned products. These are quick and healthy options. Salads don’t need much preparation time either. Fruits are a readily available source ready at your disposal.

Also, while preparing a meal you can opt for healthy cooking methods such as grilling or toasting your food with less oil or butter. This works well in comparison to fried foods. Also minimize high calorie foods such as cheese and potatoes.

So, opting for healthy food at work need not be a tedious job. By adopting simple measures you can keep fit and also enjoy a tasty meal. You just need to inculcate the habit of healthy cooking and cut down on junk food, fried food and outside meals.

It’s a new year and many are anxious to start their diet off on the right foot, maybe lose a few pounds, eat better and make smarter food choices overall. Here is a list of great, healthy food substitutes for your usual choices that will help you keep your New Year’s Resolution. They are lower in fat, calories but high in taste!

Love chocolate milk but not so fond of the stomach pain and gas you get afterward? There is a new healthy choice available and it’s not soy! As a lactose intolerant woman, I typically drink soy and rice milk, but my latest choice is wonderful, especially in chocolate and it’s Almond Milk! It has such a clean taste and you’d swear you were drinking the real thing! You’ll want to look in your grocer’s healthy/organic or dairy case. They offer a shelved brand as well, but the refrigerated kind is the best. This yummy treat is from the makers of nuts, Blue Diamond Natural Almond Breeze. Even if you’re not lactose intolerant, it only has 120 calories and has less fat than even soy so drink up!

Do your kids adore grilled cheese sandwiches but avoid them due to the lactose? One great option for cheese slices is ‘Veggie Slices’ found in the vegetarian section of the dairy case and/or produce area. They offer flavors like cheddar, mozzarella, American, jalapeno, smoked provolone and the best thing is they are low calorie, cholesterol free and have 0g of trans fat! The Veggie Slices brand also offers regular bricks of “cheese” as well as shredded and they are all fantastic, you’d swear they were dairy!

The avocado is a great delicacy and when you want to whip up some guacamole or just put some slices on your salad it’s great to know there is a low fat option. A large avocado trademarked as the “SlimCado” let’s you eat this wonderful fruit (that’s right, if you didn’t know it, the avocado is actually a fruit!) without piling on the calories. It is still meaty like a regular avocado but does have a slightly higher water content, so it’s best used in guacamole. These are about 3 times the size of a regular one and a little can go a long way. read more »

Many healthy foods to lose weight are readily available. Over time, they have proven that they are much more effective than fad diets and keep the fat off those troublesome areas of the body longer. Healthy foods provide their benefits in three main ways. These include creating the sensation of fullness, helping the body burn more fat and calories and acting as natural weight loss hormones.

Foods high in fiber are actually quite easy to find. Insoluble fiber expands after it is eaten, making the stomach feel full. This is a classic way to trick the body into thinking it has eaten its normal amount when it has actually only consumed a moderate amount of fiber. Virtually all fruits and vegetables are high in fiber. It is especially recommended to not cook these prior to eating, as heat can break down some of the fiber as well as reduce the nutrients in the food. Other items high in fiber are oatmeal and high-fiber breads and cereals. In addition, nuts, mushrooms, eggs and beans are excellent choices in this category.

Certain foods actually cause the body to burn more calories or fat than normal. Hot spices such as crushed red pepper, chili pepper, cinnamon, garlic, hot mustard and others increase the body’s metabolism by raising the body’s temperature. This benefit can last for up to three hours after eating a spicy meal. Green tea has also been recently proven to increase metabolism and is especially effective to drink directly before exercise;a green tea drinker will find that he has a very high endurance level. read more »