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Healthy Snacks for Kids

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Healthy Snacks for Kids

In addition to their three regular meals, kids often get quite a few calories from the snacks they eat throughout the day.

Unfortunately, for too many kids, that means a lot of extra calories, sugar, and fat. In addition to increasing the risks of childhood obesity, snacks that aren’t healthy can put your kids at risk for cavities, especially if they are eating sticky foods like fruit snacks or candy.

Snacks can be a good part of your child’s diet, though, including low-calorie snacks and low-fat snacks like fresh fruit.

Healthy Snacks

In addition to fresh fruit, which are often high in fiber and vitamin C, low in fat, and have no added sugar, other healthy snacks that are quick and easy for kids to eat can include:

  • fresh fruit, such as apples, bananas, grapes, oranges, strawberries, watermelon, etc.
  • dried fruits, including raisins and prunes, although these are considered sticky foods that can put kids at increased risk for cavities, so consider having your kids brush and floss after eating
  • fruit cups or canned fruit in water, 100% fruit juice or light syrup
  • raw vegetables, including carrots, celery, or broccoli, that can be served with a low-fat dip or dressing
  • dairy products, such as low-fat cheese, yogurt, and pudding, or a homemade fruit smoothie
  • whole grain snacks, which can include some breakfast cereals, crackers, cereal bars, baked chips, and popcorn (without added butter), or pretzels
  • popsicles made with 100% fruit juice

Although not low in fat or calories, nuts and trail mix can also be considered a healthy snack from if a child is only given a single serving and it is not eaten on a daily basis.

What your child has to drink when he snacks can also be important. Many kids drink juice, tea, soda, or fruit drinks when they have their daily snack, which can greatly increase the amount of calories they are getting at snack time. Instead, limit your child to drinking water, low-fat or fat-free milk, and 100% fruit juice.

Unhealthy Snacks Habits

In addition to getting snacks with a lot of sugar and fat, getting too many snacks or snack serving sizes that are simply too large are habits that are unhealthy for kids.

You can avoid most unhealthy snack habits by:

  • not letting your kids eat unhealthy snacks, including high-fat snacks and high-calorie snacks, except as an occasional treat. These can include cookies, chips, candy, doughnuts, fruit drinks, soda, etc.
  • having a regular snack time for your kids — usually late morning and early afternoon for toddlers and preschoolers and just after-school for older kids. Keep in mind that most kids shouldn’t need a bedtime snack though.
  • having nutritious snacks handy and ready for your kids to eat
  • limiting snacks to just 100 to 150 calorie servings so that they don’t turn into an extra meal
  • not allowing snacks to be too close to lunch or dinner

If you do nothing else, at least monitor the serving size of your child’s snacks, especially if you give your child prepackaged snack foods. For example, if your child’s after-school snack consists of Oreo cookies, keep in mind that it takes just three Oreos to 160 calories and a lot of extra fat and sugar in his diet. And if he eats six or nine Oreo cookies, that quickly adds up to an extra meal — and not a very healthy meal.

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Oats (Super Foods!)

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Oats (Super Foods!)

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The common oat (Avena sativa) is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other grains). While oats are suitable for human consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats, one of the most common uses is as livestock feed. Oats make up a large part of the diet of horses and are regularly fed to cattle as well. Oats are also used in some brands of dog and chicken feed.

Uses

Oats have numerous uses in food; most commonly, they are rolled or crushed into oatmeal, or ground into fine oat flour. Oatmeal is chiefly eaten as porridge, but may also be used in a variety of baked goods, such as oatcakes, oatmeal cookies, and oat bread. Oats are also an ingredient in many cold cereals, in particular muesli and granola. Oats may also be consumed raw, and cookies with raw oats are becoming popular.

Oats are also occasionally used in several different drinks. In Britain, it is used for brewing beer. Oatmeal stout is one variety brewed using a percentage of oats for the wort. The more rarely used Oat Malt is produced by the Thomas Fawcett & Sons Maltings and was used in the Maclay Oat Malt Stout before Maclay ceased independent brewing operations. A cold, sweet drink made of ground oats and milk is a popular refreshment throughout Latin America. Oatmeal caudle, made of ale and oatmeal with spices was a traditional British drink and a favorite of Oliver Cromwell.

In Scotland a dish called Sowans was made by soaking the husks from oats for a week so that the fine, floury part of the meal remained as sediment to be strained off, boiled and eaten (Gauldie 1981). Oats are also widely used there as a thickener in soups, as barley or rice might be used in other countries.

Oats are also commonly used as feed for horses – as plain whole or rolled oats or as part of a blended food pellet. Cattle are also fed oats, either whole, or ground into a coarse flour using a roller mill, burr mill, or hammer mill.

Soluble fiber

Oat bran is the outer casing of the oat. Its consumption is believed to lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and possibly to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Oats contain more soluble fiber than any other grain, resulting in slower digestion and an extended sensation of fullness. One type of soluble fibre, beta-glucans, has proven to help lower cholesterol.

After reports of research finding that dietary oats can help lower cholesterol, an “oat bran craze” swept the U.S. in the late 1980s, peaking in 1989, when potato chips with added oat bran were marketed. The food fad was short-lived and faded by the early 1990s. The popularity of oatmeal and other oat products again increased after the January 1998 decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when it issued its final rule allowing a health claim to be made on the labels of foods containing soluble fiber from whole oats (oat bran, oat flour and rolled oats), noting that 3.00 grams of soluble fiber daily from these foods, in conjunction with a diet low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and fat may reduce the risk of heart disease. In order to qualify for the health claim, the whole oat-containing food must provide at least 0.75 grams of soluble fiber per serving. The soluble fiber in whole oats comprises a class of polysaccharidesBeta-D-glucan. known as

Beta-D-glucans, usually referred to as beta-glucans, comprise a class of non-digestible polysaccharides widely found in nature in sources such as grains, barley, yeast, bacteria, algae and mushrooms. In oats, barley and other cereal grains, they are located primarily in the endosperm cell wall.barley, yeast, bacteria, algae and mushrooms. In oats, barley and other cereal grains, they are located primarily in the endosperm cell wall.

Health

Oats are generally considered “healthy”, or a health food, being touted commercially as nutritious. The discovery of the healthy cholesterol-lowering properties has led to wider appreciation of oats as human food.

Protein

Oat is the only cereal containing a globulin or legume-like protein, avenalin, as the major (80%) storage protein. Globulins are characterized by water solubility; because of this property, oats may be turned into milk but not into bread. The more typical cereal proteins such as gluten and zein are prolamines (prolamins). The minor protein of oat is a prolamine; avenin.

Oat protein is nearly equivalent in quality to soy protein, which has been shown by the World Health Organization to be equal to meat, milk, and egg protein The protein content of the hull-less oat kernel (groat) ranges from 12–24%, the highest among cereals.

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Drink To Your Health

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Drink To Your Health

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Scientists have found a substance in red wine that is slowing down the aging process in mice. Will it someday lengthen the lives of humans, too? Morley Safer reports.

Ingredients

Generally energy drinks include methylxanthines (including caffeine), vitamin B and herbs. Other common ingredients are guarana, acai, and taurine, plus various forms of ginseng, maltodextrin, carbonated water, inositol, carnitine, creatine, glucuronolactone and ginkgo biloba. Some contain high levels of sugar, and many brands also offer artificially-sweetened ‘diet’ versions. The central ingredient in most energy drinks is caffeine, the same stimulant found in coffee or tea, often in the form of guarana or yerba mate.

The average 237 milliliter (8 fluid ounce) energy drink has about 80 mg of caffeine, with 480 mL (16 fl. oz.) drinks containing around 150 mg.

Desirable effects

A variety of physiological and psychological effects attributed to energy drinks and/or their ingredients have been investigated.

Two studies reported significant improvements in mental and cognitive performances as well as increased subjective alertness. Excess consumption of energy drinks may induce mild to moderate euphoria primarily caused by stimulant properties of caffeine and may also induce agitation, anxiety, irritability and insomnia. During repeated cycling tests in young healthy adults an energy drink significantly increased upper body muscle endurance. It was also suggested that reversal of caffeine withdrawal is a major component of the effects of caffeine on mood and performance.

Restorative properties were shown by a combination of caffeine and the sugar glucose in an energy drink, and some degree of synergy between the cognition-modulating effects of glucose and caffeine was also suggested. In one experiment, a glucose-based energy drink (containing caffeine, taurine and glucuronolactone) was given to eleven tired participants being tested in a driving simulator. Lane drifting and reaction times were measured for two hours post-treatment and showed significant improvement.

Two articles concluded that the improved information processing and other effects could not be explained in terms of the restoration of plasma caffeine levels to normal following caffeine withdrawal.

Adverse effects

Caution is warranted even for healthy adults who choose to consume energy beverages. Consumption of a single energy beverage will not lead to excessive caffeine intake; however, consumption of two or more beverages in a single day can. Other stimulants such as ginseng are often added to energy beverages and may enhance the effects of caffeine, and ingredients such as guarana themselves contain caffeine. Adverse effects associated with caffeine consumption in amounts greater than 400 mg include nervousness, irritability, sleeplessness, increased urination, abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmia), and stomach upset. The concentration of sugar in a sports drink is recommended to be 6-7% carbohydrate to allow maximum absorption and minimize spikes and crashes in blood sugar. Higher concentrations such as those seen in energy drinks will slow fluid absorption into the blood and energy system, increasing the possibility of dehydration. When a high level of sugar is in the blood stream the body cannot get the water into the cells that it needs because the water is busy trying to dilute concentration of sugar in the blood stream. The actual number of people suffering from adverse effects is difficult to measure since many cases go unreported.

In the United States, energy drinks have been linked with reports of nausea, abnormal heart rhythms and emergency room visits.The drinks may cause seizures due to the “crash” following the energy high that occurs after consumption.Caffeine dosage is not required to be on the product label for food in the United States, unlike drugs, but some advocates are urging the FDA to change this practice.

Until 2008, France banned the popular energy drink Red Bull after the death of eighteen-year-old Irish athlete Ross Cooney, who died as a result of playing a basketball game after consuming four cans of the drink The French Scientific Committee (J.D. Birkel) concluded that Red Bull has excessive amounts of caffeine. Denmark also banned Red Bull. Britain investigated the drink, but only issued a warning against its use by pregnant women and children.

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