The Best Selection of Juicers!

Feeling hungry? Yeah, me too. But often times, that gurgle in your belly isn’t really your body saying it wants food – you’re probably just thirsty. Not consuming enough water in your diet can throw your body way more out of whack then I ever imagined.

Dr. Howard Flaks, a bariatric (obesity) specialist says, “By not drinking enough water, many people incur excess body fat, poor muscle tone and size, decreased digestive efficiency and organ function, increased toxicity in the body, joint and muscle soreness and water retention.”

Who knew, right!?

How much water should you drink, and why?

Most people know the old standard of 8 – 8 ounces of water a day. But this old math has fallen by the way side. To figure out how much water you should be drinking now, you should divide your weight by half, and that will be the amount of ounces you should consume.

For example, someone who is 180 pounds should be drinking 90 ounces a day. That’s 11.25 glasses of water! This new way of looking at water has proven especially helpful for making sure my little loves are consuming as much fluids as their smaller bodies require.

In addition to getting more water, we should get more exercise to make the “hunger” pains go away

It’s important to also be aware of your activity level and your environment when it comes to your water consumption. Obviously, the more active you are, or the hotter it is – so bump yourself up by a glass or two. A good gauge to see if your input is meeting your body’s requirement: check your output. Your urine should be clear, or a really pale yellow. If your urine is dark, it’s time to grab a glass of H2O.

Not consuming enough water can lead to dehydration, which is serious business. Dehydration can cause nausea, dizziness, fatigue, headaches, heat illnesses and lead to heat strokes. But more importantly, every biological system in our body is dependent upon water.

It’s what keeps our ears, nose and throat moist. It even keeps our lungs moist! It carries the nutrients to our cells and it flushes toxins out of our organs. The next time you see someone with radiant skin, ask them how much water they drink. I bet they probably have some water within arm’s reach.

Think “free”

Freeing your body of toxins isn’t where the genuineness behind this liquid ends. You know what else is brilliant about water? It’s practically free. Go turn on your kitchen faucet. Now, I know you have to pay your monthly water bill, but how does that stack up to your monthly beverage bill of soda, sports drinks, and juice?

Most places, like your work, office or doctor’s offices, will have a water cooler available to you, so carry your cup and fill up at no cost! While eating out, my entire family orders water and it saves us nearly $10 on our bill.

And with thinking free, the thing that I love most about water….it’s CALORIE FREE! I can drink as much as I want all day long, and not only do I not blow my diet – but I’m also doing my body good! Bottoms up!

Do you have any tips for how to keep yourself reminded throughout the day to drink more water?

People have long considered February to be the height of cold and flu season. If you fall ill, you know to rest, get plenty of fluids and nutrient-rich foods, and staying off your feet are essential for a speedy recovery. But for those of us who have managed to evade the dreaded cold, being on the defense, nutritionally, will help us sail through this season with our immunity intact.

Antioxidants are essential for a properly functioning immune system, due in large part to immune cells producing free-radicals for our body’s natural defense functions. If the level of free-radicals in our immune cells goes beyond the normal level, they wreak havoc on our immune systems.

Antioxidants scavenge free-radicals cell production and serve to promote our immunity. An imbalance between free-radical and antioxidants in cells results in reduced immune function.

The goal: load up on antioxidant-rich foods right now!

The only way to get antioxidants is to eat them, and lucky for us, they are found in abundance in the foods we consume. Chocolate and raspberries boast some of the highest antioxidant content of any food, even more than red wine and green tea, which have long considered antioxidant dynamos.

I’ve got a smoothie recipe for you that not only boasts cacao powder and raspberries, but also bee pollen, which aids our bodies in creating antibiotics, essential for warding off sickness. It’s a one-sip sickness slayer – say that three times fast!

This month, the old adage an apple a day keeps the doctor away should be revised to a choco-raspberry smoothie a day keeps cold and flu away!

Choco-Raspberry Smoothie

• ¾ cup almond milk
• ½ cup coconut water
• 1 tbsp bee pollen
• 1tbsp cacao powder
• ¾ cup frozen raspberries

Combine all ingredients and blend until completely smooth, about 1 minute or so.

Do you have any cold and flu-fighting smoothie or nutritional recipes you can share with us?

Please do so in the comments!

The sweet teenage girl that babysits my kiddos once asked me to help her lose some weight and learn healthy eating habits. To get an idea of what her diet currently looks like, I asked her for a breakdown of what she typically eats. When she told me she has a couple sodas and glasses of juice every day, I looked at her sweetly and said to myself, Oh honey, no, no and no! 

The USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) warns that many of the foods and beverages that Americans consume contain empty calories. Empty calories are solid fats and sugars that offer us few to no nutrients, but jack up the calorie content of the product that they are in.

What is the difference between empty calorie foods and foods that contain empty calories?

I explained to my babysitter that fruit drinks and sodas are considered an empty calorie food. These beverages, along with other products like sports drinks, energy drinks, baked goods and candy, offer nearly no nutritional benefits at all. They aren’t doing your body one bit of good. An average soda can contain 300 calories in its small 12 fluid ounces. My entire LUNCH is usually 300 calories. Would you rather drink a soda, or eat a whole satisfying meal?

Some foods naturally contain sugar and solid fats, but shouldn’t be totally eliminated from your diet. For example, whole milk contains solid fats. For young tots (2 and under) this solid fat is vital to their growth and brain development, but as an adult you are better off switching to the low-fat or fat-free version.

Going along with dairy theme, cheese is another food that contains empty calories with the solid fat. By simply switching to their lighter versions, you can save tons of calories and fat, all while reaping the health benefits of protein and nutrients.

Look for solid fat and high calorie alternatives

I know that sometimes on the run (or at the movies!) nothing satisfies like a chocolate bar and a cold soda. So read labels and find your way around the empty calories. There are some great protein bars available that are low carb, low sugar, nutritionally packed and delish!

The chocolate yumminess satisfies my sweet tooth, and I 100% feel like I’m cheating and indulging. For your beverage, there so many different varieties of sugar-free sodas that you don’t even have to do the “diet” version (Pepsi products Max or Zero, for example).

If you enjoy apple juice, don’t purchase the sugar-infused, store-bottled version. Instead, grab some apples and juice it up yourself at home.

By simply switching to “no sugar added” packaged food, you can save yourself tons of bogus calories. Many companies have perfected their no sugar added products, like syrup and spreadable jam, so you can’t hardly tell the difference between them and their empty calorie counterparts!

Craving something crunchy? Want to get more greens in your diet, but bored with salads? You won’t believe how easy it is to whip up a batch of kale chips. Kale is a leafy-green, cruciferous veggie that’s packed full of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, manganese, and dietary fiber. Research has shown that kale contains anti-inflammatory nutrients, antioxidants, and anti-cancer nutrients, so this is one guilt-free snack.

No measurements are needed in this simple chip recipe. In fact, you can do it in six lightening-fast steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
2. Wash and dry one bunch of kale.
3. Chop or rip the kale into bite-size pieces, removing the tough stems as you go.
4. In a large bowl, toss the kale pieces with a few drizzles of olive oil and a few shakes of your favorite sea salt.
5. Spread the kale pieces in a single layer on a baking sheet.
6. Bake for 10-20 minutes until kale is crisp but not browned. (Keep an eye on your chips—they taste best when they’re still dark green. Burnt kale has a pretty unpleasant flavor, believe it or not!)

Olive oil and sea salt not doing it for you? You can flavor these chips any way you want, just like regular potato chips. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Salt-n-pepper chips: toss a half-teaspoon of pepper in with the raw kale pieces.
2. Spicy chips: throw a few shakes of red pepper flakes into the bowl before baking.
3. Garlic Parmesan chips: toss a half-teaspoon of garlic in with the raw kale pieces, then sprinkle a generous helping of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese over the chips after they’ve baked.
4. Asian-inspired chips: replace the olive oil with a splash of soy sauce and a drizzle of sesame oil.
5. Bright lemon chips: Squeeze half a lemon over the raw kale pieces after you’ve mixed in the olive oil and sea salt.

How did your kale chips turn out?

Tell us about it in the comments below!

Eating healthy is not something that comes easy or naturally to me. In fact, it wasn’t even something that I was truly taught growing up. And if we’re getting really honest, most of us aren’t forced to look in the mirror and understand it until the “Freshman 15” hit us after high school (boy, do I miss my old metabolism!)
I know we had covered the food pyramid in school, but I couldn’t really tell you what fits where, and what the serving amounts were. Once I was responsible for my own nutrition, I had to learn tricks of the trade that worked best for me.

In order to keep myself on my healthiest dietary track, I simply filled half my plate with fruits and vegetables. Imagine my surprise and delight when the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) got rid of the ol’ pyramid, and replaced it with an easy to understand food plate that followed my same tried and true guideline!

The point of the USDA plate diagram is to give us a better visualization of what meal portion sizes are to look like in healthy living. The plate is broken up into 4 sections, with a cup of dairy off to the side. Each half of the plate has a split of about 60/40. On one side, the 60/40 split is between your protein (40%) and your grains (60%). The other side is your fruit (40%) and your veggies (60%).

Why are fruits and veggies so important?

There are many brilliant aspects to fruits and vegetables. Our bodies require a daily supply of vitamins and minerals, and these plants are the perfect source. Plus, fruits and veggies contain disease-fighting phytochemicals, which is something that you typically can’t replace by simply popping a daily multi-vitamin pill.

Thanks to all these special ingredients, a diet of fruits and veggies can reduce your risk of heart disease, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and certain cancers.

Keeping all this in mind though, I have to admit that my own personal favorite thing about vegetables and fruit is that they are low in calories, but high in fiber. So you can eat a ton without blowing your diet, and the fiber keeps you feeling fuller, longer (plus, fiber is necessary to clean your insides out).

What does my half a plate look like?

Don’t deprive yourself, and keep it simple. My family still indulges in pizza night! But we juice up our daughters favorite strawberry smoothie, and we start our meal with a salad. By the time we get to the pizza, we only want a slice or two, and my family of four can easily share a large pizza.

At breakfast time, you can mix all kinds of fabulous veggies, like tomatoes, spinach, bell peppers, green onions, into egg whites for a fabulous omelet. You can also try stirring sliced fruit, like banana, berries or peaches into your yogurt.

Sliced fruit is also a favorite dessert of mine, topped with a dollop of lite or fat free whipped topping. Make lunch fun by mixing a fruit, veggie and protein all together, like ants on a log (celery, smeared with peanut butter, topped with raisins). Or for a fun and allergy free alternative, try Nutella!

How do you incorporate fruits and veggies into your everyday meals?

Tell us in the comments below!