The Health Benefits of Smoothies

Smoothies are thick drinks made with blended fruit, vegetables and other ingredients, like milk, sweeteners, water or ice. They are the best option to retain all the fiber content of raw fruits and vegetables. Consuming fiber on a regular basis is one of the easiest ways to prevent disease, as it helps the body to remove all the impurities and deadly toxins. Also, smoothies make great options for a snack or a drink when made with natural food items.

Smoothies are a wonderful and a simple way to get the additional nutrients your body requires. Including a healthy smoothie, containing coconut oil, egg yolks, cream, fruit or other nutrient-rich foods every day in your diet provide most of the required nutrition in just one proven and delicious dose. Furthermore, it helps you keep hydrated the entire day, which a tea, coffee or soda won’t do. The reason behind is our body absorb water from the foods we consume in order to stay hydrated.

Drinking a smoothie is the best way if you want to lose your weight. Many weight loss programs promote replacing a meal with smoothie as it provides the vitamins, minerals, fiber, carbohydrates, and low fat entire food that you need to lose weight quickly and effectively. The fiber and other slow-digesting constituents, such as seeds, nuts, dairy products make you feel full for a longer time as compared to other drinks.

Smoothies are an excellent option to increase the intake of fruits, vegetables and dairy products. Plus, they give high-nutrient choices. You can easily make a satisfying meal replacement by adding small amounts of protein and grain to a vegetable smoothie. Especially, berries are the best choice for a smoothie, because it regulates the sugar uptake into the blood and prevent hypoglycemic dips. Mixing ground flax seeds with smoothies helps suppress hunger and low cholesterol level. This list is not complete. There are end numbers of reasons for you to consume smoothies routinely. In addition to these health benefits, they are easy to make, taste good, and are fun to make.

You can learn more about making tasty smoothies by joining Shaw Academy’s online Cocktail program. To know more about Shaw Academy Reviews online, you can browse on their Wikipedia page.

Sports Nutrition

Injuries are obvious, if you participate in any physical activity. Nutrition can play a major role in how an athlete recovers from it. On the contrary, poor nutrition can lead to situations that increase the injury risk. Exercise related tiredness, which is related to the inability to continue to workout at the desired speed or intensity, is just one simple example. Nutritional reason of tiredness in sportspersons includes insufficient energy intake, low-level of glycogen, dehydration and iron deficiency.

To recover from injuries, the body must meet its daily total energy requirements. Inadequate calories will restrict carbohydrate storage. This can result in serious health conditions, like low bone mineral density. Therefore, it’s a must for athletes to take adequate calories, carbohydrates, protein, fluids, vitamins and minerals. There are some practices about what to eat and how to eat for complete recovery and healing. Always focus on energy balance as calories are essential for the recovery process and consuming less can also slow the curing process.

Almost all athletes are habituated to eat extra calories through various foods and drinks, like bars, sports drinks, gel or shakes. Instead, focus on a variety of whole foods that contain fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, low-fat dairy, fiber-rich whole grains and healthy fats such as nuts. These natural resources fasten the healing process as well. Furthermore, avoid food items containing high amounts of dietary fats or sugar as they tend to be less nutrient-rich as compared to whole food options.

The daily eating habits of athletes is very important for their progression and performance level. New scientific studies or researches show how different food influences our body, simply help athletes alter their diets to excel in sport and guarantee continuous improvement. However, there is no magic food which can provide the body with all required vitamins and minerals. The simple way is to maintain a balanced diet, which includes a variety of nutrients and food groups. An athlete can also consult a sport nutritionist to get a diet programme which can help maximise the sporting performance as well as improve the overall well-being.

To know more about increasing sporting performance, join Shaw Academy’s online Sports Nutrition program by browsing their site. You can also read Shaw Academy Reviews online on their Facebook page.

Best Cooking Oils

Cooking is an art. It maybe complicated for you to cook tasty and wonderful dishes, especially when you are cooking with oil. Different oils and fats gives different results. Many people are not aware of the fact that certain dishes need specific oils and butter to get the right taste. Everyone cares about the foods that is good for health; however, how we cook the food is equally important. There are so many oils and butter available in the market that claim to be the best and it is very difficult to understand which ones to use and which ones to avoid. Below is the list of few popular and healthy oils that you can use without any fear of health risk:

Canola oil: It is the most popular oil and recommend by many doctors claiming that it helps in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. The oil is high in monounsaturated fat, low in saturated fat, and provides the best fatty acid composition.

Olive oil: It gives a very different flavour with sufficient heart healthy ingredients. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat that helps to lower the risk of heart disease, cholesterol level and breast cancer. It's also a good source of antioxidants, has a very long storage life and is the healthiest option to cook food.

Coconut oil: This is filled with saturated fat. According to physicians, food cooked in coconut oil increases LDL cholesterol and total blood cholesterol. It also raises HDL cholesterol and it has the benefit that it offers a nice flavour at high temperatures.

Rice Bran oil: This oil contains a chemical known as oryzanol that is good for regulating the cholesterol level. It is rich in monounsaturated fats and holds a good amount of polyunsaturated fats as well, both are the good type of fats. In addition, it has a high burning point that works well for deep frying purpose.

Sunflower oil: This oil is extracted from the sunflower seeds and is a rich source of vitamin E. It is a mixture of polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids and monounsaturated (MUFA) and is widely used for deep frying. It is also excellent for being used in cosmetic products. People with sugar need to be careful about this oil as it may increase the sugar levels.

There is much more than what is mentioned here, though the ones stated above are the most popular. Eating healthy includes cooking healthy, where the cooking oil really takes the main place. Oils are very important when cooking. It is essential to use the best one for your food and health.

You can learn more about simple cooking techniques by joining Shaw Academy’s online Cookery program. To know more about Shaw Academy Reviews, subscribe to their YouTube channel.

The Flexitarian Diet

You wish to turn vegetarian and want to get the health benefits of a vegetarian diet, but don’t want to give up on the tasty meat all together? If yes, then you should adopt the Flexitarian diet. The Flexitarian or a semi-vegetarian diet is a plant-based food with the rare addition of meat products. The aim of this type of diet is to add more plant-based food and reduce intake of meat.

The Flexitarian diet inclines you to eat more vegetables, without eliminating the meat altogether. People following this diet are believed to weigh 15% - 20% less and have a low risk of diabetes, cancer and heart disease. It is also said that people on this diet live approximately 4 years longer than those on the regular diet. Furthermore, this diet does not recommend to follow a strict diet plan about what to eat and what to avoid. The Flexitarian diet recommends to add five food items in the daily diet. Those are - meat, whole grains, dairy products, fruits & vegetables and sugar & spice.

The Flexitarian diet provides a number of health benefits. People who have followed this diet weigh less, have a lower body mass index and feel full for a longer time. In addition, following a vegetarian diet plan twice a week helps in reducing the consumption of saturated fat by 15 - 20%. It also keeps the blood pressure and cholesterol level in check and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The biggest benefit of Flexitarian diet is its flexibility. The flex food groups are much compatible and offer many options. According to Dawn Jackson Blatner, an American registered dietitian & nutritionist, more than eight million recipes can be created by the combination of flex food items.

In conclusion, today, Flexitarianism is the most popular term for healthy dieting and losing weight that reduces intake of meat as well. This is an inclusive new food plan which does not eliminate any foods instead adds new foods to your diet. Plus, it’s the best way to promote vegetarianism into your eating lifestyle.

You can learn more about your good health by joining Shaw Academy’s Nutrition program. You can also read Shaw Academy Reviews online on their Facebook page.

Eat Pasta In A Healthy Manner

We have always heard, if you want to lose weight avoid junk food or eliminate a specific food from your diet. However, it’s always not the case. According to a study, conducted by the Department of Epidemiology, in Pozzilli, Italy says that, including pasta in your diet can help you lose weight. The study further found that, pasta is connected to low BMI and good body shape.

The study collected the data based on body height, weight and measurements of over 23,000 individuals and showed that people who eat pasta are much slimmer as compared to people who do not. As per Dr. Licia Iacoviello, study co-author, “We found that pasta is associated with a lower BMI when eaten according to the individual caloric requirements”.

This study maybe shocking for many, but people are happy since low-carb pasta are a way of life for many. The pasta is a prime food consumed in Mediterranean regions and considered as a highly healthy food. The food is usually balanced by a high intake of nuts, vegetables, fruits, olive oil, fish, poultry and low consumption of dairy. Furthermore, pasta tends to be effective and healthy if eaten in moderate quantities with vegetables, legumes, virgin olive oil and, but not with animal fat, such as cream, butter and meat.

In addition, the dieticians suggest that combining pasta with exercise can really help in controlling the calorie intake and reducing weight. The purpose of this study is to create awareness among people that the calories in the Mediterranean diet are not bad at all, if eaten moderately. On the other hand, people should give up the logic of high protein and low carbohydrate diet to be slimmer, instead try the Mediterranean diet.

Who do not want to reduce weight and look slimmer. The weight loss is about high physical exercise, resistance workout, eating low and eating a lot of mindful food.  But, if you like pasta and can eat it almost daily in the right amount, you can easily reach your goal of losing weight.

You can learn more about good nutritional value by joining Shaw Academy’s online Nutrition program. To know more about Shaw Academy Reviews, subscribe to their YouTube channel.