Eating For Health

Want an easy habit to adopt for better health?   Just add a handful of nuts a day.   So easy to do and so many great health benefits.   Nuts are packed with good nutrition including protein, fiber, healthy fats, and many vitamins and minerals.   Health benefits of adding a handful of nuts a day include reducing your risk of heart disease, reducing your risk of type 2 diabetes and helping with weight management. What nutrients are in nuts? Protein: Nuts are a good source of protein.   Not as good as animal foods like dairy, eggs, or meat but a good plant-based source of protein providing about 3-7 grams of protein per ounce.   Which nut provides the most protein?   Peanuts with about 7 grams of protein per ounce.   Next are almonds and pistachios providing about 6 grams of protein per ounce.   (See: How can you add some high-quality protein foods to your day? ) Healthy fats:   Although nuts are high in fat , they are rich in monounsat...

Are you one of the people who have made a resolution to lose a few pounds in 2025?   If you or someone you know wants to drop a few pounds, what are the best weight loss diets to be on? So many diets don’t change your lifestyle but offer a quick solution but for many a temporary solution.   You may lose some weight but once you go “off” the diet, you gain the weight back.   Every year U.S. News & World Report ranks the Best Weight-Loss Diets .     What makes a weight-loss diet a winner?   A diet you can stay on for the long haul.   Not really a diet but an eating pattern that keeps the weight off. A diet that promotes healthy weight loss, not quick weight loss due to loss of water and muscle and not fat.   A diet that doesn’t slow your metabolism like some quick loss diets do. A diet that doesn’t give up any food groups so you can stay on it long term. U.S. News and World Report notes a healthy diet focuses on lean protein, high fi...

Every time you turn on the TV, there are ads for all kinds of foods and supplements.   Not everyone provides reliable information based on scientific facts. If your goal is to eat healthier in 2025, what are some easy tips to start with?      1.        Start a heart-healthy diet plan. Want a heart-healthy diet that is good for your heart and helps lower blood pressure?   Then look at the DASH diet.   It stands for D ietary A pproaches to S top H ypertension.   Much like the Mediterranean Diet, the DASH diet focuses on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy (real dairy), poultry, fish, and beans.   (For more information see:   Best Diets for Healthy Eating in 2024 .) 2.         No need to skip the seed oils . I just finished reading Good Energy by Casey Means, MD.   She provides a lot of good advice except perhaps for her recommendation to avoid seed oils.   As the ...