Independent Articles and Videos About:

1. Components of a Balanced Diet
2. Benefits of a Well Balanced Diet
3. Balanced Diet for Losing Weight

What is a balanced diet for losing weight and good health?

If you want to lose weight then knowing how many calories you eat and burn will be important. Here are some guidelines you can use.

The total calories that you should be consuming depend on whether you are a women or a man. It depends on your body structure and your activity level. So you need to make some adjustment on the numbers I present.

If you have been eating around 1800 calories per day you can slowly move your intake down to 1600. Work down from this level over a month's period to 1400 calories. Don't go below 1200 calories per day. Otherwise you can over stress your body.

If you have just started out and are eating 2400 calories, decrease your calories to 2000 or 2100. If you don't lose weight in 2-3 weeks reduce your calories lower. Over a month's time you can move down to 1600 calories and see if you start to lose weight. If you do, stay at this level.

It's not a good idea to make a drastic shift in your consumption of food since your body can react and get into a "starving mode." In this mode your body will store more fat making it difficult for you to lose weight.

Remember not to eat junk food. When you eat quality food, it takes less food for you to become satisfied as compared to eating junk food.

Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat

There are many ideas about what combination or percentages you should eat of the various nutrients - protein, carbohydrates, and fat. I don't believe that exact percentages exist, which will provide weight loss and good health for all individuals. Each one of you will require different percentages depending on your weight, health, body structure, emotional make-up and a variety of other conditions. For this reason some diet programs work with some people and not with others.

One of best eating habit programs that will help you to lose weight is to eat:

* quality protein

* low glycemic carbohydrates

* quality fats

* high fiber

* high water consumption

Quality Protein - is essential for the body to survive. There 8 essential amino acids and 14 non-essential. Protein is used to regulate certain body processes by contributing to various chemical reactions and by creating a number of body chemicals.

Eating excess protein results in an acid body, which favors disease. Protein eaten alone causes a 25% increase in your metabolism. When combined with fat and carbohydrates there is only a 10% increase. What this means is that eating more protein and less fat and carbohydrates gives you a boost in metabolism.

It is recommended that around 30% - 35% of your eating habits consist of protein.

Carbohydrates - consist of simple and complex sugars. When carbohydrates are eaten they are broken down into sucrose, which is readily accepted by your cells. Sucrose is converted into energy in your cells. If you eat a lot of high glycemic carbohydrates, your bloodstream becomes overwhelm with sucrose. The excess sucrose in your cells will be converted to fat and stored.

Because most people have been adding weight eating high glycemic carbohydrates, it best to change your eating habits and decrease your intake of these carbohydrates. In general people have been eating 80% high glycemic foods (HighGF) and 20% low glycemic foods (LowGF.) You need to change that to 80% LowGF and 20% HighGF.

This means that you should limit eating foods like potatoes, bread, corn, pasta, muffins, and any flour products. HighGF encourages the storage of fat since the more sucrose you have in your blood, the more sucrose is escorted into your cells by insulin.

You need to concentrate on foods, which are LowGF. Many of these foods are vegetables with small amounts of carbohydrates and high fiber content.

LowGF discourages the storage of fat since less sucrose is in the blood and less is escorted into your cells.

Quality Fats - which are eaten with your meals, prevent sugars from moving quickly into your blood stream.

You need to eat more of the good fats. It's these fats that will help you lose weight. The good fats are omega 3, omega 6, and medium chain fatty acids, MCFA.

Here is the breakdown on the quantity of each type of fat that you should be eating. These percentages are what you should be working towards so that fats provide you with good health and help you keep your weight down.

* saturated fats 10%

* polyunsaturated fats 20%

* monounsaturated fats 60%

There you have it, the numbers and percentages of protein, carbohydrates, and fats that give you a balanced diet so that you can lose weight.

Rudy Silva has a degree in Physics and is a Natural Nutritionist.

Tips for a Healthy and Balanced Life

Taking good care of yourself is mandatory!

The following tips are all required to maintain a healthy, happy, and prosperous life.

~ Eat a healthy diet

We all know we need to provide our physical bodies with high quality fuel if we want it to run properly. We should concentrate on eating a regular healthy diet high in nutrients and keep junk food to a minimum. Also include herbal and vitamin supplements. ~ Get plenty of physical exercise

Physical exercise is known for a load of benefits. Not just physical benefits, but for mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits as well. To live a longer and healthier life, move it, or lose it!

~ Get plenty of mental exercise

Keep challenging your mind to expand, grow, learn, and explore. Television has its place, but turn it off sometimes, in favor of a great book and increase your mental sharpness. Use it, or lose it!

~ Play hard

Some people are workaholics and feel guilty for having fun, but recreation is vital to maintaining balance in our lives. All work and no play is a recipe for burnout and contributes to lower productivity in every other area in your life.

~ Get adequate rest

Try to get as much uninterrupted sleep as you need to stay mentally sharp, emotionally sound, and physically rested. Sleep is your nervous system's way of healing and refueling your entire being.

~ Stay focused in the present moment

"Be anxious for nothing." (Phil 4:6) Regretting the past or worrying about the future is a complete waste of time. It stresses your emotions, which makes you more susceptible to disease. Besides, power is only found in the present moment.

~ Surround yourself with positive people

You can't fly like an eagle if you are running around with chickens. I believe a person tends to gravitate toward the style of thinking of their associates. Keep yourself surrounded with positive-minded people who are on the increase.

~ Laugh

Laughter will keep you healthy. "A merry heart does good like medicine." (Prov 17:22) There is humor in almost every situation. Sometimes, we just have to look for it.

~ Think positive

Examine how you feel emotionally at any given time. And then ask yourself, "What am I thinking about that's causing this feeling?" Thinking and feeling go hand in hand, and many times we don't even realize what we're thinking about.

~ Deal with your emotions

Have you been avoiding dealing with a negative emotion? If left unattended, it will eventually manifest itself in some form of physical illness. Sooner or later, you will express it, so express it sooner than later and stay healthy.

Daniel N. Brown is the publisher of the "Living the Abundant and Prosperous Christian Life" Newsletter. A free weekly publication that teaches how to live the abundant and prosperous Christian life. Receieve a free copy of Dan's 14 page report entitled, "5 Biblical Keys to Outrageous Prosperity," when you sign up. www.secretplaceonline.com

10 Tips to Maintain Health and Beauty

Beauty, health, and nutrition are all integrated. If you eat a balanced diet you will be able to maintain your physique and glowing beauty externally and good health internally. A balanced diet is one that provides all the nutrients you need, the right amount of proteins, carbohydrates, and fat.

To achieve goals you need to ensure a good balance in your diet, introduce variety into your meals, and practice moderation. The basis of nutrition lies in your height, weight, dimensions, and your daily energy needs. Once you know this you can compute what your daily calorific needs are and set goals for weight maintenance, gain, or loss. By regulating your diet you can be active as well as happy.

You must:

1. Eat sensibly. Include a variety of foods in your diet such that the 40 nutrients that are required by your body are present. Make use of a food pyramid and calorie chart to prepare tasty and nutritious meals. Follow the "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" issued each year.

2. Eat plenty of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. They will supply you with essential vitamins, minerals, and protection from several diseases.

3. Maintain your weight at a healthy level. Successful weight management is one of the golden keys to good health. By doing is you will lower considerably the risk of many diseases like hypertension, diabetes, heart diseases, cancer, and osteoporosis.

4. Learn self control, eat moderate portions. The secret lies in eating everything but in small portions. Don't give way to gluttony or greed.

5. Make a time-table for your meals and how many calories will be in each meal. Never fast, starve yourself, or skip a meal. Eat when your body demands sustenance but not huge quantities.

6. Practice moderation. Good health does not lie in eliminating carbohydrates or fats. Include all your favorite foods but balance them with the rest of your diet. If you indulge your taste buds by eating pizza one day, then try and do so at lunch time, never eat pizza late at night. Ask for low fat cheese and healthy toppings. Eat just enough to satisfy your craving not all 12 slices. Get a few friends to share you sin. The days you indulge, eat sensibly the rest of the day--salads and fruits will help you make up for the binge.

7. Be sure your meals each day include all the food groups.

8. Plan to exercise every day. Either walk or take up aerobics, dancercise, or join a gym. Exercise will not just burn calories but put a glow into your skin, tone your muscles, and strengthen your bones. Exercise also removes accumulated toxins from your body.

9. Maintain a dairy in which you record your goals, and what you eat each day. Review your week objectively and create a table that shows at a glance what you did right and what you did wrong. This will help keep you on the right track.

10. Celebrate each victory. Give yourself a present or take yourself out every time you achieve a goal.

By eating healthy, one can live a complete and rounded life without diseases, reduce stress greatly, look and feel great, be happy from within and without, age well, produce healthy progeny, and live life to the fullest.

Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for http://www.1888Discuss.com/health/, the premier REVENUE SHARING discussion forum for Health Forum, including topics on health care, Children's Health Issues, addiction, Cancer, fitness equipment, Burns & Injuries and more. He also freelances for submit free press release http://www.1888PressRelease.com/Medical-0-27.html

Living a Balanced Life - The Real Juggling Act

Why are so many wealthy people so miserable?

I just read an installment from another self-improvement course that states that celebrities are unhappy because they don't have gratitude for what they have. I disagree.

Have you ever had a time when you were making a good living, lived in a nice place, drove a nice car, took trips, had everything you needed and more - and yet you were still unhappy?

It wasn't that you were ungrateful for what you had, just something seemed wrong. You weren't fulfilled, or some- thing, but you couldn't quite figure out what the problem was? Maybe you're in a situation like that now. You feel like you should be happy, who wouldn't given all that you have, but you're not.

It simply means that your life is out of balance. Something has been shoved under the rug and forgotten about. It might be spending quality time with family or friends, or even just by yourself. It might be that you're not eating well enough to keep your body balanced. It might be that even though you make a good living, you don't love what you do.

If you look at the life of a celebrity, you can understand why they would be so unhappy. Their lives are totally out of balance. They spend years on the road. They don't have the time for important relationships and recreational time. They're always under pressure to be the "star".

Think about how you feel when you've put in a lot of hours at work and then have no energy left to give to your family. You don't have the energy to eat a good meal or get the exercise you need in order to have more energy.

People are on the never-ending treadmill trying to get money. But money itself will not make you happy. Life is a delicate balance of relationships, emotions, desires, and responsibilities to others as well as to yourself.

What do you really need to live a balanced life?

A clean, safe, calm home to retreat to - your escape from the rest of the world where you can let your hair down, relax, and be yourself.

A healthy diet and exercise to stay fit, healthy, trim and full of energy.

Self-Care, whether it be reading, meditation, prayer, soaking in a hot tub, a new hairstyle, new clothes, you need to take care of your personal needs. It's not selfish. It's necessary. Remember the old saying "If Momma's not happy, then no one's happy"? There's a lot of truth in that.

Loving relationships. As much as some people swear they are happy being alone, we need human companionship to feel alive and part of the world.

Quality time with family and friends. Everyone thrives when you take the time to enjoy the important people in your life. Even if you're a workaholic like me, make sure to set aside time everyday for important relationships. You think that if you do all the work now, you can make it up to them later when you've made it. Most of the time, by the time you've made it, the important people in your life have left. It happens all the time.

A way to support all of the above. Yep, that's where the money comes in. But it's more than that. It has to be some- thing you like doing, or every workday will seem like a prison sentence.

Dreams and goals. Without something to strive for, something to live for, we end up in a tedious existence. We need something that keeps the fire going - no matter how old you are. How many people have you known who reached retirement only to spend the rest of their days in front of the television?

Faith. It takes many forms throughout your life. Faith in your God, faith in yourself, faith in your kids. You'll find many times in your life when you just need to have faith that things will come out ok. Faith is what get us through the tough times. It has been proven in numerous studies that those who practice their religion live longer, healthier, and happier lives.

Whenever you feel discontent coming on, do some soul searching and find out what you've been ignoring. It may seem like a lot of work to tend to all this stuff. It's just like the juggler. When you drop one of the balls, the rest come dropping down too. You need to pay attention to all of the balls. Instead of a balancing act, let's call it a Juggling Act!

Carole helps you find easy common sense solutions to life's most perplexing everyday problems. Her weekly ezine is filled with tips to help you live better. Have more easy solutions for managing your life delivered right to you every Friday night - Get Your Free Ezine and Gifts Here >>>