Four Food Groups

Now that you understand a little of the what, why, and how of nutrients, how do you apply that information to daily eating patterns?
The "Basic Four" classification is now the basis of most nutrition education in the United States. In this classification, foods are divided into four categories according to their similarity in nutrient content. The groups are the Milk Group, the Meat Group, the Fruit and Vegetable Group, and the Bread and Cereal Group. Other foods that fall outside these four categories are included in an additional or Other Group.

Milk Group

The Milk Group includes all types of milk and milk products except butter and cream. These milk products are ice cream, cheese, and yogurt.

Milk is our main source of calcium. It also supplies phosphorus, protein, riboflavin, and vitamins A and D. Lowfat milks are fortified with vitamin A, and all milk you buy should be fortified with vitamin D. Foods from the milk group help promote the development of strong bones and teeth, healthy skin and tissue, good night vision, and a well-running nervous system.

Cheese, ice cream, and milk used in cream soups, sauces, puddings, or in other cooking all count towards the daily number of servings of milk. Cream and butter should be considered part of the Other Group.

Meat Group

The Meat Group includes beef, lamb, veal, pork, variety meats (liver, kidney, brains, and heart), poultry, eggs, fish, and shellfish. Meat alternates or substitutes are dried beans and peas (soy, pinto, navy, lima, kidney beans, chickpeas, split or black-eye peas), lentils, nuts, and peanut butter.

Foods from the Meat Group supply protein, iron, and the B vitamins (especially thiamine, niacin, and riboflavin). Two or more servings of meat a day are recommended. Preferably, something from the meat group should be included at each meal.

Fruit And Vegetable Group

All fruits and vegetables fall in this group, but special emphasis goes to those that are good sources of vitamins C and A. Fruits and vegetables also supply other vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates _all at little calorie cost. In addition, they add bulk.

Meals and snacks should include four or more servings from this group every day. One of those four must be a good source of vitamin C (or two servings of foods containing lesser amounts of C). One serving every other day should be a good source of vitamin A. A serving is usually one-half cup of the fruit or vegetable or an equivalent amount.

Bread And Cereal Group

Enriched, whole grain, or restored breads, cooked or dry cereals, cornmeal, crackers, flour, grits, macaroni, spaghetti, noodles, rice, rolled oats, baked goods, bulgur, or parboiled rice or wheat are all members of the Bread and Cereal Group.

Breads and cereals are an excellent source of carbohydrates, iron, and those important B vitamins. Three to four servings should be eaten daily. Check the labels-products that are not enriched, not whole grain, nor restored don't count! If one of the servings is not a cereal, have an extra serving of enriched or whole grain bread or baked goods. A serving is one slice bread, one ounce (about a cup) ready-to-eat cereal, or its equivalent in other cereals.

Other Group

Many of the foods in the Other Group are fun foods. Examples are sugars (candy, soft drinks, gelatin desserts, alcoholic beverages, and syrup), salad dressings, cream, butter, margarine, oils, and other fats.

These foods contribute fat, sugar, seasoning, and calories to our diets. They add flavor to other foods and help us meet our energy needs. Except for the recommended amounts of fat, they are not essential to a healthy diet.

Special Needs For Special People

Everybody needs the same nutrients, but some people need more than others because of special demands on their bodies at various times in their lives.

Prenatal care obviously depends on the kind of nutrition the mother gets. Nursing infants and preschool children also have special nutritional needs. For young school children, a good break fast has been shown to be essential to success in school. The poor eating habits of teenagers, especially girls, are legendary and must be avoided.

Senior citizens need fewer calories, but not less nutrition. Careful food selection can help prolong a healthy, happy life _even on a restricted budget. Special diets, such as for diabetes, are by definition "special." There is only one safe way to approach them: consult your physician and follow his advice.

History of the Noni Fruit

Traditional cultures have long used the fruit, bark, leaves, and roots of noni fruit. They have used it as food, medicine, and dye. The noni tree is native to Southeast Asia, but also grows in neighboring India and the Pacific Islands, and as far as New Zealand, Australia, and South America.

It is said that Polynesian Islanders first cultivated and domesticated the noni tree over 2,000 years ago. They used the leaves and fruit as a topical medicine, applying it to boils, lesions, and other skin maladies.

Various other cultures have used the fruit as famine food, livestock feed, topical and internal medicine, and dye. People in China, Japan, and Hawaii have used noni to treat fever, as well as problems with eyes, skin, gums, throat, stomach, digestion, and respiration. In Malaysia and the Philippines, the leaves have been used to relieve cough, nausea, colic, and arthritis. In Indonesia, the fruit has been eaten for asthma, lumbago, and dysentery.

The noni tree, and more specifically its fruit, has been scientifically studied for decades. In 1972, a scientist named Maria Stewart reported that native Hawaiians solve many of their medical problems by drinking noni fruit juice. A University of Hawaii professor named R.M. Heinicke latched on to this idea and began a 20-year study into the properties of noni fruit. In the 1990’s, when he pronounced the existence of an unknown molecule responsible for noni’s health value, people began paying more attention to the fruit. A multi-level marketing company called Morinda began marketing products made from noni fruit. Since then, demand for the fruit has increased dramatically.

Diabetes Diet, What Are The 10 Best Fruits And Vegetables For Diabetic Patients

This is the question my diabetic patients always ask. Hopefully this article will enhance your knowledge about diet for a diabetic patient.

AVOID THESE FOODS

If you are a diabetic patient try to avoid following list of foods.

1-Sugar, artificial sweeteners and honey. However you may take sweetner like stevia. It is difficult to omit sugar from your diet at-once, I will recommend you to decrease sugar in your diet gradually.

2-You should stop taking sweets and chocolates. If you are in a party and want to take chocolate, then preferably try to take Continental dark chocolate with at-least 70% or more cocoa solids, and try to avoid chocolates where sugar is the first named ingredient

3-Try to avoid foods containing ingredients end in (ol) or (ose) as these are mainly different forms of carbohydrates like fructose, glucose, dextrose.

4-Avoid grains like cakes, biscuits, pies, tarts, breakfast cereals, wheat, rye, barley, corn, rice, bread, pasta, pastry,

5-Avoid vegetables which contain larger amount of starch and carbohydrates like potatoes,carrots, peas, beans, parsnips, beet.

6-Also avoid fruits like water mallon, mangoes, banana, Chikoos(Pakistani), jackfruit, grapes, Strawberry, Sugarcane.

7-You may take milk but in small quantity. Avoid fat yogurts and cheeze. Also be careful not to drink too much coffee or tea and add only as much sugar as in needed for taste.

8-Avoid commercially packaged foods like TV dinners, "lean" or "light" in particular, and snack foods, fast foods.

9-Avoid fresh fruit juices as these are highly concentrated carbohydrates. If you like fruit juices you may dilute one part of juice with 3 or 4 parts of water.

10-Always avoid saturated fats like fatty meat, full fat dairy products, butter, lard. Try to prefer unsaturated fats like olive oil, corn oil, canula oil, sunflower oil,soya oil.Avoid cottage cheese as it has a high carbohydrate content and very little fat

You must be thinking that I have mentioned here all the stuff, and nothing is left to eat, these are foods you can eat:

1-You may take fruits like apple, Grapefruit, Lime, Peaches. You must divide your fruit and vegetable diet in five portions through all the day, by Spreading the fruit you eat through the day helps to avoid a sudden rise in blood sugar levels.

2-You must take high fibre diet. Fibrous diet is Cereals, Fruits, Nuts, Pulses, Seeds, Vegetables. Fibrous diet not only lowers your glucose level but also decreases blood cholesterol.

3-Always try to take whole grain rather than processed food and take things like whole-wheat spaghetti and brown rather than white rice(Indian Pakistani). Pakistani and Indian people do like white rice very much, but if you are diabetic, please avoid these.

4-You may take meat of lamb, beef once or twice a week. Organ meats can also be taken like liver kidneys and heart to meat your vitamin needs.

5-Try to take white meat like poultry chicken fish meat duck etc.

6-You may take Fish and seafood of all types. It is recommended to boil, steam, bake or grill fish rather than frying it.

7-Always prefer non-fatty dairy products such as "skimmed milk", non-fat cheese and yoghurt.

8-You may take eggs as well but try to take whitish part not the yellow one as it may increase your cholesterol level.

9-All cheeses can be taken except cottage cheese.

10-You may take all vegetables, onion and garlic are known for decreasing blood glucose level.

Generally Type 2 diabetic patients need 1500-1800 calorie diet per day to promote weight loss, however calories requirement may vary depending upon patients age, sex, activity level and body weight. 50% of total daily required calories should come from carbohydrates.One gram of carbohydrate is about 4 calories. A diabetic patient on a 1600 calorie diet should get 50% of these calories from carbohydrate. In other words it will be equal to 800 Calories from Carbohydrates, it means you have to take 200gms of carbohydrates everyday.It is better that you buy food tables with calories measurements to know more about your daily required food.

Raw Juice Feast - 4 Ways to Get Your Kids to Consume Fruit and Vegetables

Most parents have a real battle getting kids to eat any fruit or vegetables. The recommended intake is 5 a day which often feels a world away. Coupled with which if the vegetables are cooked, you are killing off many of the nutrients beneficial to your kids' health. One method which works well is to create a raw juice feast by adding a combination of fruit and vegetables to a juicer to make a delicious drink.

Here are 4 delicious raw juice feasts made from everyday fruit and vegetables

1. Apple and Carrot Juice
8 carrots - scrubbed and washed
4 large apples - washed
Juice the carrots, then the apples.
Stir and serve it immediately

2. Tropical Cocktail
400g watermelon
400g pineapple
Remove the hard skin of the watermelon and pineapple and reserve the watermelon seeds. Chop the flesh into chunks and mix together in the juicer.
Drink it straight away or turn it into a fizzy drink by adding sparkling water.

3. Grape and Plum Juice
1 large bunch of red grapes, destalked
7 or 8 plums, washed and stoned
Juice the fruit in a juicer.
Stir and drink it immediately.

4. Celery Juice
2 small bunches of watercress
Head of celery
2 yellow peppers, deseeded
Wash all the vegetables and cut them into juicer-size pieces then add to the juicer.
Stir and drink it immediately.

An alternative to juicing the fruit and vegetables is to create a smoothie. This involves adding fruit and vegetables to a food processor. You can also add fresh greens to your fruit smoothies (such as Romaine lettuce, celery, kale, or parsley) for a healthy, blood sugar-balancing smoothie.

One other big issue with kids is getting them to drink enough water. Cola and fizzy drinks are actually dehydrating, However the raw juices and smoothies are high in water content and very hydrating to the body helping with digestion. Fruit is also very satiating because it raises blood sugar and reduces appetite. Not to mention they're excellent for overall health because of having such a high vitamin content.

The recipes mentioned are only initial ideas to get started. Think of all the different fruit you could choose - pears, peaches, apricots, kiwi fruit, mango, bananas, citrus fruits, cherries & the many different berries.

Diabetes – Foods To Eat And Avoid

What one eats is very important from the point of view of his health.
The chief concern while monitoring and controlling diabetes is to see that the sugar level does not cross the normal range. This means that one needs to cut down on certain types of food and consume regularly those foods, which are good at regulating diabetes.
People with diabetes should try to maintain a healthy weight and eat a diet that is:

« low in fat

« low in sugar

« low in salt

« high in fruit and vegetables (at least five portions a day)

« high in starchy carbohydrate foods, such as bread, chapatti, rice.

There is no such food that people with diabetes should never eat. In addition, there is no need to cut out all sugar. But, people with diabetes should try and eat only small amounts of foods that are high in sugar, fat. So, if you have diabetes you can treat yourself to cakes and biscuits once a blue moon, as part of a balanced diet.

What foods to eat?

« A diabetic patient must eat lots of fruits and vegetables in which fibre content is very high. Such type of food lowers the requirement for insulin, the reason being it releases energy into the body cells slowly. A high fibre diet means more chromium, which is very helpful in the treatment of diabetes.

« As for vegetables, onion, garlic, ginger, radish, spinach, kale, cucumber, carrot, tomato, cabbage and cucumber are excellent in the treatment of diabetes. Moong, kidney beans which have been sprouted, and unripe banana which is cooked, are also recommended.

« Fenugreek seeds which have been soaked in water are good for diabetic patients.

« For fruits, take guava, Indian blackberry (jamun), fig, kiwi fruit, apples, citrus fruits and pomegranate juice. Let these things be a part of your morning breakfast. Since, fruit juice is high in fructose (fruit sugar) and can cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly, it’s best for diabetics to drink fruit juice with a meal and avoid having more than one small glass a day.

« Replace white sugar with palm sugar, dates and honey, if you want to have something sweet.

« Unpolished rice, sprouted grain should be taken in moderate quantity.

« Fats like olive oil and peanut oil are good in diabetes.

« Drink plenty of water, at least 8 to 10 glasses per day.

« Single helping of fish or seafood, as it provides omega 3 fatty acids.

« Condiments such as pepper, chilli, mustard, herbs and spices.

« Raw vegetables need to be taken in large quantity, as cooked food raises the level of blood sugar fast.

« Eat non-fat dairy such as skim milk, non-fat yogurt and non-fat cheese, plain yoghurt, avoid cottage cheese a sit is high in carbohydrates.

« Some herbs and vegetables are specifically prescribed for diabetes, like Bitter Gourd and bitter melon juice.
What to avoid?

« Processed foods, white sugar, white flour and junk food, must be totally given up. Avoid sweets, glucose, fruit sugar, cakes, ice cream, chocolates, soft drinks, cream and fried foods.

« Anything that contains harmful preservatives and too much salt should be avoided.

« Avoid smoking and alcohol.

« Try and abstain from sweets, ice-creams and chocolates, including the so-called sugar-free types.

« Foods made from white flour, rye, corn, polished rice, bread, pasta, pastry, cakes, biscuits, pies.

« Starchy vegetables such as potatoes in particular; and go easy with beet, carrots, peas, beans.

« Avoid concentrated dairy products, such as khoya, kheer, cheese, cottage cheese.

« Fruits such as bananas, mango, grapes, strawberry, custard apple, date.

« Cottage cheese (except in small amounts)

« Avoid commercially packaged foods such as fast foods, chips, ready-to-eat foods, snack foods and "health foods."

« Fruit juices, as these are much higher in carbohydrates than fresh fruit. Moreover, they also lack in dietary fibre.

A few helpful tips if eating out -

· Avoid items called jumbo, combo, giant, deluxe, as they tend to have more calories.

· Choose grilled, baked roasted or steamed food.

· Choose water and calorie-free "diet" drinks instead of regular soda, fruit mock tails, sweet tea and other sugar-sweetened drinks

· Avoid creamy toppings, like mayonnaise. Add flavour with pepper, tomato, and onion.

· Watch out for high-fat topping salads, dressings, cheeses, and croutons.

· Choose a thin-crust pizza with extra vegetable toppings. Limit yourself to one or two slices. Keep off the extra cheese, which add calories, fat, and sodium.

· End your meal with sugar-free, fat-free frozen simple yogurt or a small cone of fat-free yogurt. Better still, go for a platter of fresh fruit salad.

· Check out on your portion size.

SO, EAT WELL AND BE WELL.

How to Avoid Fruit Digestion Problems

Don't you make another mistake of reaching for that fruit salad in the fridge! And for that matter, even the fruit set that's sitting pretty in your dining table! I know it's better than junk food and a can of beer, but not until you have finished reading every word in this article and ensure that you can avoid fruit digestion problems.

Researchers and nutritionists are being alarmed of the growing number of people who are experiencing fruit digestion problems. What they don't understand is why conventional medicine hasn't been of much help. Doctors and their assistants seem to be prescribing more "band-aid solutions" for the symptoms, when the root cause is surprisingly simple.

As you know, fruit is the most perfect food in existence. It is often dubbed as "nature's candy", a reason why so many people have it for dessert. Its health benefits range from providing needed nutrients to getting rid of harmful toxins in the body.

Even so, many people admit having fruit digestion problems. They can't eat fruit, or have a tough time with it because they say it "doesn't agree with them".

Here's the real deal. In most cases, it's a certainty that the problem is not in eating fruit, but in when and how it is eaten.

Ask any nutritionist and you'll get the same answer. Fruit is a food mainly made up of water and natural sugars. Because of this, one's not supposed to have too much effort to digest it. There are exceptions to this in the case of more dense fruits (e.g. bananas and avocados), but in most cases when fresh fruit is eaten, it passes right through the stomach and into the intestines where it's digested.

No worries... when your stomach is empty. The problem occurs when your stomach is full of other foods and is working hard to digest them, and you reach for that fruit salad in the fridge or the apples and oranges sitting idly in your dining table! A perfect set-up for fruit digestion problems!

What happens is the fruit wants to head straight to the intestines, but its passage is blocked by other food. You obviously know what's coming next. The fruit gets stuck sitting on top of those other foods you took before (picture whole breasted turkey, mashed potatoes, and java rice) and quickly starts to ferment and putrefy.

And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know what's coming next - stomach aches, bloating, gas, diarrhea and cramps.

The next time that happens, don't head for the medicine cabinet like crazy and grab those antacids. Remember, you can eat fruit - but eat it on an empty stomach. Take it alone for breakfast, as a snack at least 3 hours after a properly combined meal, or as a first course of a meal, making sure that you allow at least 30 minutes before other foods are eaten.

Doing so will not only help you avoid fruit digestion problems but get you all those nutrients you haven't been benefiting from in a long time.

A High Carb Diet For Raw Food Success

Anyone who has ever eaten a meal of raw fruit knows how intensely pleasurable this can be. Fruit requires little to no preparation (all you need to eat a banana is opposable thumbs). It is easy to eat and digests quickly, usually in just 30 minutes.

Best of all, fruit tastes great and completely satisfies the sweet tooth in the most healthy way possible.

Just like avocado and nuts, fruit is calorically dense. However, fruit is also high in volume, like vegetables. This means that a meal of fruit both provides enough calories AND enough volume to leave you completely satiated until the next meal.

Just Fruit?!?

The idea of eating only fruit for a meal is very strange to people. Much of this confusion stems from the fact that we grow up thinking of raw fruit as a snack or part of a dessert. The idea of eating more than a couple pieces of fruit in one sitting is completely foreign to us.

As a result, people who are new to a low fat, high fruit raw food diet often under eat on calories at first.

To make the transition easier for you, here is a simple example of a sufficient fruit meal...

*Fruit Meal*

Let's say you need 2000 calories a day and you like to eat 3 meals a day. If each meal is divided equally, one meal would be between 600-700 calories.

One medium banana contains about 100 calories. In order to consume 600-700 calories in one meal from bananas alone, you would have to consume 6 to 7 bananas.

And that's it! It really is that simple.

Of course, if eating a meal of only one type of fruit seems much too boring to you, there are many alternatives. You can combine your favorite fruits into a nice fruit salad. A popular choice for beginners is to blend fruits into a smoothie. This is an easy way to get enough calories from fruit.

Here is a delicious smoothie you can make in just a few minutes...

*Two Pears in a Peel*

* 5 bananas
* 2 pears
* 1 cup of water

Blend ingredients together and enjoy!

There are many different combinations you can make. You can also add greens, which will add some nice variety and counterbalance some of the sweetness.

Problems with Fruit

Many raw foodists believe that fruits should be severely limited, or even eliminated, because they contain simple sugars like fructose and glucose. These simple sugars are believed to lead to such ailments as diabetes and Candida.

First, I want to clarify that the sugar in fruit does not cause sugar metabolic disorders. It is an excess of fat in the body that coats the insulin, blocking it from reaching the sugar molecules. The excess sugar in the blood leads to a high blood-sugar level.

Without the excess fat, the insulin will reach the sugar molecules and transport them out of the blood and into the cells.

Second, there is a huge difference between the simple sugars found in fruit and the simple sugars found in processed foods. These refined sugars have been removed from whole foods (i.e. fruit, sugar cane) and further processed. They no longer contain any nutritional value whatsoever.

On the contrary, the sugars in whole fruit have not been processed and are accompanied by necessary water, fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, phytonutrients, etc.

How Much Fruit?

I recommend that the majority of your calories come from fruit. The best way to determine how much is to simply eat sweet fruit until you are full. As a general guideline, our closest relatives the bonobos consume 95% of their calories from sweet fruit. The other great apes consume between 70-90% of their calories from fruit.

Dr. Douglas Graham, a well-known leader in the raw food movement, recommends in The 80/10/10 Diet that 80% of our calories come from simple carbohydrates in the form of fruit. You can check out this excellent book and the rest of Dr. Graham's top-quality catalog at FoodnSport.

On average, I consume between 85-90% of my calories from sweet fruit.

Take Action

You can get started today by simply eating all fruit for your next meal. Many people prefer to wait until breakfast, as it is the easiest meal to transition.

You could also begin your next meal with as much fruit as you can eat, and then finish the meal with your regular fare. Just be sure to wait at least 30 minutes between your two meals so that your body has time to fully digest the fruit.