A new study found that drinking diet soda may be related to increasing waistlines in older adults. Researchers studied how diet sodas affect the waistline over time, since fat in the midsection of the body can be dangerous to overall health. During the study, which lasted for about nine years, people who never drank diet soda saw their waistline increase by 0.8 inches. Occasional diet soda drinkers saw a 1.8 inch growth during that time, and daily soda drinkers saw a 3 inch growth. Waistline growth could be the result of diet soda consumption or other eating habits. Researchers recommend that diet soda drinkers balance their soda consumption with fresh-brewed tea, coffee, unsweetened mineral water, or fruit juices.
Healthy Eating for Kids and Grandchildren !
When you have children, one of the biggest challenges is making sure that your child eats all of the food that he or she needs to grow in a healthy way. Healthy eating is important from birth! If your child doe not get the right nutrients in his or her food, it is possible that his or her growth will be stunted or that he or she will become ill. However, if you have a child, then you also know that getting your young one to eat healthy foods is many times met with resistance. While it is easy to get a child to enjoy chocolate cake, broccoli is another issue! Here are some tricks and tips to helping your child get all the nutrients he or she needs.
A great way to teach your children new skills as well as get them to eat healthy food is to get them to help you in the kitchen. Children as young as three and four love to help with simply things like stirring and pouring, while older children can learn to crack eggs, measure ingredients, and teens can even help to cut vegetables and cook entire meals. When a child sees what is going into food, he or she will be more likely to eat it. Children also will be more likely to eat foods that they help to cook because they are proud of their accomplishments.
Another great way to get a child to eat healthy foods is to look for kid-friendly options. For example, if your child is not getting enough dairy foods, low-fat string cheese is a healthy snack option that is also very fun to eat! You can also find crackers that come in kid-friendly shapes and finger foods.
If you are extremely worried about your child getting enough of the proper nutrients he or she needs for daily life, you can also find vitamin supplements to help your child’s diet. A number of brands make vitamins that come in fun shapes and sizes so that you can convince your child to take them. There are also powered drinks and other enriched foods you can give to your child in order to make sure they get all of the nutrients they need.
The bottom line is that you need to make sure that your child is staying safe and healthy, no matter how picky they may be. If your child refuses to eat a specific food, he or she probably simply does not like that food, and you should provide another choice. However, if he or she is refusing most foods, you must be firm about eating nutritious foods. Talk to your pediatrician in order to find out proportions and types of foods that your child should be eating.
Healthy Soup Recipe – Quick & Easy !
Soup is not something you serve before the main course. It can sometimes be the main course. Here are a few quick and easy soup recipes you can try out.
The first is spicy clam soup and to make that, you need to know the ingredients. These include chopped onions, minced parsley, salt and pepper, strips of orange peel, red pepper flakes and the clams.
You begin by putting the clams in a large saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once the clams open, reduce the heat and discard those that did not. Now add the other ingredients and boil for 3 minutes. Divide the clam into 4 bowls and then top it off with orange peel and red pepper before serving.
A personal favorite is creamy bacon mushroom soup. To make this you can open a can of Campbell soup, boil and then serve. But if you want to make this from scratch, be sure you have bacon strips, some onions, minced garlic cloves, heavy whipping cream, chicken broth, Swiss cheese, chicken broth, corn starch, pepper, salt and water.
First, cook the bacon until it is crisp and then drain the excess oil using a paper towel. Sauté the mushrooms, onions and garlic while stirring the broth and cream. Gradually stir until the cheese is melted.
In a small bowl, mix water, cornstarch and pepper until it is smooth. When everything is ready, mix it together until it is thickened and then serve.
Craving for chicken? Well you can also make chicken and tortilla soup. To do that, you will need some skinless chicken breasts, olive oil, minced garlic, ground cumin, a can of chicken broth, frozen corn kernels, chopped onions, chili powder, lemon juice, salsa, tortilla chips and cheese.
To make chicken and tortilla soup, you have to sauté the chicken in oil for 5 minutes and then add the other ingredients. Afterwards, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about twenty to thirty minutes. Before you serve it, break some tortilla chips and put a few into each bowl. Pour the soup over the chips and then serve. If you want to add more flavoring, add cheese or sour cream.
Another great recipe you can try out is corn chowder soup. For this, you will need fat free margarine, diced carrots, all purpose flour, skim milk, frozen kernel corn, cream style corn, chicken granules, dried thyme leaves, black pepper and bacon bits.
The first step is to melt margarine in a large pot over medium high heat. When ready, add onions and carrots for about 5 minutes until these become soft.
Now sprinkle the sautéed vegetables with flour, stirring to coat. Add milk, frozen corn, cream-style corn, bouillon granules, thyme and black pepper then simmer over medium heat for 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 10 to 20 minutes. While the soup is heating, toast the bacon bits in a small nonstick sauté pan until crisp and add them to the soup.
Soup is great to have for any meal. It warms your stomach and makes you feel full after just a few minutes. So try out the different quick and easy soup recipes and see which one is your favorite. Just cut down on the ingredients if you are only serving yourself.
Healthy Options for Blood Pressure Control !
There are many things that you can do to naturally lower your blood pressure, and there are also many medications that you can take to make sure that your blood pressure stays as low as possible for your body.
First of all, you need to be sure that you are always eating a diet that is low in fat and cholesterol. This is your best defense against high blood pressure. If you can incorporate healthy food into your life as something that you are always doing, you are going to find that you are able to lower your blood pressure at least a little bit simply by eating the right foods. This is important to do, and it is important to start right now. Eating healthy food is something that can help your body, but it is something that you have to keep up, and something that you have to do for a long time. If you have been in the habit of eating foods that are bad for you, you are going to find that it takes a long time for a healthy diet to make a real difference. However, you should not give up, because it is something that will do wonders for you.
You should also be sure that you are getting plenty of exercise. This is something that is important, but you have to make sure that it is the right kind. Remember that the best kind of exercise for lowering your blood pressure is something that gets your heart moving. You want to make sure that your heart is very healthy, and that you are getting enough exercise.
However, it might be that even though you are eating right and getting enough exercise, you still have to deal with high blood pressure. This might be because you have abused your body for awhile and you need to have some time for your body to heal. It might be that you have been eating a high fat diet for many years, and you need to take the time to get your body back to where it should be. Or it might be that you have a condition that makes you have high blood pressure, even if you don’t do anything wrong. In these cases, it might become important to use blood pressure medication. This will help you to regulate your blood pressure. Talk to your doctor about the different medications, and what they can do for you when it comes to lowering your blood pressure. There are also a variety of natural techniques, like acupuncture and massage that can be used to lower your blood pressure. Look into all of these options before finding one that is right for you.
Quick and Easy Pasta Recipes !
Do you want to make a quick and easy recipe using pasta? Well there is and one thing you can make that is rich in carbohydrates is carbonara.
But what is carbonara? Basically it is spaghetti using white sauce. The core ingredients for this quick and easy recipe include a mixture of cheeses, eggs and freshly cracked black pepper. You can add cream, bacon, mushrooms and bacon to make it tastier.
There are two ways to make this dish. There is the Italian and the American version even if both use the same ingredients.
If you want to make the Italian version, make sure that you are using long pasta such as spaghetti, linguini, or fettucini. To make the sauce, be sure to mix pancetta and garlic together with butter and olive in a separate pan before setting this aside. You should all throw in some eggs and cracked better that are beaten in a bowl along with some cheese and pecorino.
When the pasta is ready, be sure to drain it and then save some of the water so you can use it to mix with the pasta and the pancetta. After several minutes, you can put this in a plate and then serve.
For those who want to try the American version, cook the pasta while frying pancetta or bacon in a pan with garlic and thinly sliced shallots. Make sure the pan is partially drained to remove some of the fat before adding heavy cream.
In a separate bowl, make the sauce using eggs, pepper and cheese. When it is ready, mix this with the pasta before being served.
Since we are talking about pasta, there are other dishes you can make using pasta and the simplest one is spaghetti.
For that, all you have to do is buy spaghetti sauce and then mix this with minced pork and sausages. Other alternatives to this include meatballs, tuna and a few other things so experiment a little so eating pasta is different each time you make it.
When this is being heated in a pan, boil the pasta while throwing in a few pieces of salt. Get a small piece off pasta from time to time to be sure that it is not undercooked before turning off the stove.
Once the pasta and the sauce is ready, mix it together or put one in a plate and the other in a bowl. That way, people have the choice to put as much sauce as they want. To make the pasta taste good, be sure to sprinkle some pepper and some cheese.
If these two dishes are too easy for you, try making lasagna. How to make this dish is very similar to spaghetti. The only differences is that this is done in layers since you are putting pasta and sauce alternately over a 10-by-18-inch baking dish until it reaches the top. You also bake it in the oven for several minutes before serving.
Pasta is one of the quickest and easiest recipes to make given that you just need to do some cutting, boiling and frying before putting everything together. Aside from following recipes that can be found in cookbooks or online, try coming up with a few concoctions of your own and share this with other people.