American Diet – More Processed Foods, Less Natural Foods

The impact of refinement and food processing is a nutritionally poor diet.

Changes in our food habits took place over history, more so in the past 100 years. Processing has now become wide spread. It’s a sign of changing times and economic prosperity as Americans look for more and more foods that are quick and easy, and minimize the needs for home cooking. Many traditional and time tried balanced and health food habits were lost. Organ meats have taken a back seat to muscle meats that are relatively lower in several minerals, vitamins and essential fatty acids. After the domestication of wild animals, changes have occurred through breading and feeding. Commercialization of a limited range of stocks results in limitations in diversity, quantity, and quality of fats in animal foods. This implies a reduction in the essential fats and the possible increase in saturated fats.

The way the American food industry is set up, all foods undergo more processing than foods in other parts of the world, which strips the nutrients and dissociates food from its natural state. The dependence on canned and preserved foods is high, which results in nutritionally inferior foods.

For example, canned tomatoes and tomato puree will not contain as many phytonutrients and vitamin C as a regular, fresh tomato. Read the rest of this entry »

Junk Food Junkie – Time to Get Healthy!

We are a junk food nation. Just look at the number of aisles in the grocery store devoted just to junk food. We are a nation of pizza, chips and fries. It is these types of foods that are at the heart of our propensity toward obesity and poor health. Junk food is a slang word for foods with limited nutritional value. Every person has their own list of foods that they call junk foods. It usually includes foods that are high in salt, sugar, fat or calories and low nutrient content. Salted snack foods, candy, gum, most sweet desserts, fried fast food and carbonated beverages are some of the most popular junk foods. They generally offer little in terms of protein, vitamins or minerals and lots of calories from sugar or fat. The term “empty calories” refers to the lack of nutrients in these foods.

Rather than banning all but the simplest foods, try to judge each food based on the list of ingredients and nutrition labels found on packages. When reading the list of ingredients, look for sugar, fat or salt as one of the first three ingredients mentioned. If this is the case, you can probably consider that particular food to be very high in sugar, fat or salt.

A look at the nutritional information on a package label will list the number of calories per serving, grams of fat, as well as the food’s sodium, cholesterol, fiber and sugar content. This nutritional information will make you more knowledgeable in selecting foods that will contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Read the rest of this entry »

Beauty Foods: Natural Cures For Dry or Calloused Feet

With clunky boot season upon us and the cold winter air following closely behind our feet can become dry and even cracked. And we all know that there is nothing attractive about dry or cracked feet. Well over the years I’ve spent my fair share of time getting my feet summer ready with almost every beauty product on the market. Now my mom on the other hand has always a natural cure kind of woman and she often shared her natural beauty tips with me and my sister.

Now when I was in my twenties, I absolutely loved to wear high heels. I’d wear them every single day, to and from work – even though I had to walk thirteen blocks to the train station. Well after a few years of tight shoes and high heels I started to notice that my feet hurt like hell and that I now had a callous on my foot. I immediately went to my local drugstore to see what I could pick up to help my aching feet. But almost every product contain some sort Salicylic Acid to burn away the dead skin *ouch*. I asked my mother for advice and she shared her natural wisdom with me and now I’ll share it with you. There are several natural options for smooth feet, I call them beauty foods because they help to keep us looking beautiful!

Common causes of dry feet or calloused feet:

  • Standing for long periods of time
  • Wearing shoes that do not fit properly: tight shoes, shoes with narrow pointed toes, high-heeled shoes etc.
  • Sweaty feet can cause blisters
  • Health issues: Diabetes, Obesity, Skin Disorders etc.

Beauty Foods for dry cracked feet:

  • Milk: Soak your feet in a milk bath! Milk contains lactic acid that can help loosen calloused skin.
  • Baking Soda: Mix 3 parts baking soda and 1 part water, massage feet for a few minutes and rinse. Read the rest of this entry »