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Who Needs Extra Water and Electrolytes?
Sodium, potassium, and chloride are electrolyte nutrients found in so many foods that a dietary deficiency is a rarity. Most Americans have sufficient amounts, but sometimes you actually need extra water [more…]
Calcium: Essential Nutrition for Teeth and Bones
Calcium is a critical mineral nutrient. You must include calcium in your diet because your body can’t manufacture it. Calcium is essential for the formation and maintenance of bones and teeth. [more…]
Grocery Shopping with Lists and Smart Planning
You may intend to eat healthy nutritious meals and snacks, but if diet-friendly foods aren’t within reach, you’ll have trouble shedding pounds and reaching your dietary goals. Shoppers who use lists spend [more…]
Helping Your Mood with Amino Acids Phenylalanine and Tyrosine
Phenylalanine — an essential amino acid— is readily available in most food sources, particularly high in meats and milk products, with lower levels found in oats and wheat germ. To make use of phenylalanine [more…]
Becoming a Calorie-Conscious Cook to Help Your Dieting
Dieting may mean changing your cooking habits. Standard cooking methods need some reworking to make them lowfat and low calorie, and some foods can be used as substitutes, making them great, nutritious [more…]
Eating When You're Hungry versus Eating on Schedule
The human body needs nutrition every 3 to 4 hours to prevent energy dips, metabolism slowdowns, crankiness, and cravings from interfering with life. Eating based on time rather than hunger is one of the [more…]
Saturated, Monounsaturated, and Polyunsaturated Fats: What's the Difference?
What do the terms saturated, unsaturated, and monounsaturated fats mean to your diet and health? These words describe how many hydrogen atoms occur in a molecule, or fundamental unit, of fats and oils, [more…]
Mineral Overdoses Can Be Toxic, Even Deadly
The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) and Adequate Intakes (AIs) for minerals and trace elements are generous allowances. They recommend enough of these nutrients in your diet to prevent deficiency [more…]
Good Health with B Vitamins in Your Daily Diet
It’s easy to get B vitamins in your diet. These water-soluble nutrients include thiamin (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), folate, B12, biotin, pantothenic acid, and [more…]
How Your Body Uses Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that promotes absorption of calcium and phosphorus. Most people associate the nutrient calcium with healthy bones and teeth, but no matter how much calcium you have in [more…]
Nutritional Needs of Pregnant and Nursing Women
Eating for two means that you’re the sole source of nutrients for your growing fetus. If you don’t get the vitamins you need in your diet, neither will your baby. The Recommended Daily Allowances [more…]
How to Know What Vitamins — and How Much — Your Body Needs
Vitamins in your diet regulate you bodily functions. They prevent nutritional deficiency diseases, promote healing, and encourage good health. Vitamins are essential for building body tissues ,such as [more…]
How High Fructose Corn Syrup Relates to Health Risks
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) — linked to the obesity crisis and a staple in American diets — is metabolized just like the fructose in fruit, but with some significant differences. The first is that [more…]
Fat Replacers Found in Food You Eat
The problem with eating high-fat foods is that fat doesn’t immediately satisfy hunger the way that sugary carbohydrates do. Therefore, eating too many fat calories before realizing that you’ve had enough [more…]
How Your Body Uses Vitamin K
Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin. You need a miniscule amount in your diet. About 300 mcg (from the diet and additional supplements) is the optimum daily intake of vitamin K. Supplements are used for [more…]
Taurine: For a Healthy Heart and Nerves
Taurine is one of the most important, useful, and safest amino acid supplements. Your body can produce this nutrient from cysteine with the help of vitamin B-6. Dietary sources of taurine are fish and [more…]
Methionine: Amino Acid Support for Your Liver
One of the essential sulfur-containing amino acids, the nutrient methionine is important for many bodily functions, including immune cell production and proper nerve function. Dietray methionine is a potent [more…]
Saving Calories by Substituting Nutritious Foods in Cooking
Dieters have to brave going into the kitchen and preparing nutritious foods to eat. Cooking and eating low-cal and lowfat, nutritious foods needn’t be difficult. The following table lists a few diet-friendly [more…]
Eating Out the Low-Calorie Way When You're Dieting
Eating out can pose special problems for dieters. Serving sizes are too large, and many professional kitchens don’t use low-calorie cooking methods necessary for dieters. [more…]
Tryptophan: Treating Depression and Insomnia
The nutrient tryptophan is an essential amino acid well known for its ability to affect the levels of the neurotransmitter, serotonin. Tryptophan is important in helping your body create vitamin B-3 and [more…]
Easy Ways to Cut Calories for Healthier Diets
Losing weight is simple math. If you cut 3,500 calories out of your diet in the course of a week without reducing your daily activity, you can say good-bye to one whole pound of fat. [more…]
Assess Your Weight with Quick Estimate Method
To quickly estimate your healthy weight, you can use the following method. First, figure the median weight for your height by using the appropriate formula: [more…]
How Your Brain Announces You've Had Enough to Eat
Scientists have discovered that your hypothalamus, a small gland on top of the brain stem (the part of the brain that connects to the top of the spinal cord), seems to house your appetite controls. [more…]
Getting Enough Protein in Your Diet for Good Health
Really, you don’t have to worry about your getting enough protein in your diet — unless you live on Twinkies and Dr. Pepper. Then maybe you could end up protein deficient. But you’d be lacking in many [more…]
Medically Supervised Weight Loss Plans Moderate Health Risks
Some diet plans require medical supervision because they involve rapid weight loss that can stress your body. For example, a complication of some of the very low calorie diet [more…]
