Bloggy Health!

The size zero debate – where we have seen celebrities starve themselves down to what they consider is an attractive weight – is a hot topic at the moment. Appalling images of stick-thin celebrities and other figures in the public eye has sparked off a huge debate as to whether you can be a size zero and still follow a healthy diet.

Many of these famous actresses and models etc insist that they eat “just like anyone else” and reel off a list of their daily diet that includes chicken, pasta, potatoes, salad and even the odd ‘naughty’ treat such as bar of chocolate, pizza or a glass of wine

And while undoubtedly there really are a small – a very small – minority of women who are naturally stick thin no matter what they eat, for the ‘lollipop’ (ie big head on a tiny body) ladies we see in the media, they really aren’t following a healthy diet.

Starving themselves in order to ‘look good’ down to the size of a seven year old boy can have dramatic health consequences. Fasting or not eating enough food can cause periods to stop, bad skin and hair and whole list of horrifying symptoms – including death.

In September 2006, the 22 year old model Luisel Ramos died days after appearing on the catwalk. Newspapers reported how she was told that if she lost a “significant amount” of weight (she was 5ft 9in tall and weighed 7 stone when she died according to the Daily Mail newspaper) she would succeed as a model.

You don’t have to be stick thin in order to be fashionable. A grown woman with a body that has been starved in order to resemble that of a young boy is not attractive and is not healthy.

In fact, it’s more important to put the right food inside your body by following a wholesome, healthy diet and nature will do the rest and you’ll find your ideal size.

And if you are overweight or your clothes are starting to feel a bit tighter, then there are sensible diets that you can follow in order to get to your ideal weight. Missing meals or fasting are not an option.

Similarly, for the naturally thin ladies among us, by following a nutritious, healthy diet, you can ensure that you keep yourself in the optimum of health.

If you wish to get into shape or retain your shape you need to have a healthy diet. At the onset you should schedule an appointment with your doctor. Talk to him about your fitness levels. Go for a check up. Seek his guidance in drawing a suitable exercise routine. He will also tell you about the kind of diet you need to have.

A diet can be called healthy if it includes raw foods such as vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, and legumes. All these food contain easily digestible enzymes. This facilitates digestion and helps in maintaining good health.

Enzymes present in food get inactive when they are cooked over 118 degrees Fahrenheit. So after you eat cooked meal, your body has to produce more enzymes to aid in the digestion process. This explains why one feels tied after eating a cooked meal. So the bulk of your food has to be raw or less boiled.

However, at the onset, you may find it difficult to adjust to healthy diet. But once you change your eating habits and feel the health benefits it provides, you will feel encouraged to eat healthy food. You will even begin to grow a dislike for junk food. You have to put up with the change in taste till your new habits set in.

One good way to start is to break your goals into achievable portions. Changing your diet overnight can be bit hard. Instead you should begin by eating just one healthy meal a week. After a couple of weeks increase it to 2 meals, then 3. Slowly the new habit will fit into your system.

Once you get used to raw foods, you can soon feel the benefits. Your energy levels will pick up considerably. You won’t get fatigued soon. Moreover you will feel buoyant and active all day long. And with these basic things taken care of, you can rest assured of a disease free living.

Other healthy diet tips provided by doctors include:

• Drink plenty of water.
• Eat smaller meals throughout the day. Avoid large meals.
• Eat slowly.
• Eat vegetable soups.
• If you break your diet, get back to it soon.
• Always cook healthy recipes

In order to achieve your goals, you need to have good health. For maintaining good health, healthy diet is absolutely necessary. Changing to raw food diet will be a turning point in your life.

Healthy Diet: 3 Easy Steps to a healthy diet. Learn easily what health nutrition can do for you

Are you currently living a healthy lifestyle? Do you follow a strict healthy diet? If not then starting such a healthy eating plan can be very difficult. But it is important to remember that such a plan is exactly what you need to maintain vital bodily functions. It might be difficult to break your bad habits, but it is necessary to do so if you want to lead a healthy life, and reduce your risk of disease. Below are three easy steps you can follow to healthy eating.

Three Steps to healthy eating

Step1

A good place to start your healthy diet would be in your own kitchen! Start by getting rid of all the unhealthy beverages, sweets, snacks and other foods which fall into the “unhealthy” category. This is done to curb your temptation to snack unhealthily as it will be a lot more difficult to get your hands on such snacks when it is not readily available. Replace these unhealthy foods with more healthy snacks such as carrot sticks, fresh or dried fruit, yogurt or whole wheat crackers.

Step2

Simply put, knowledge is power! Take your first week of eating healthily and take notes of all the foods you have been eating. Then go and learn about their nutrients, and how they affect your body. This is one of the most important steps, because if you know the actual function of the different nutrients in your body, you are much more likely to make healthy eating choices. We all know that fresh fruits etc are healthy, now go learn why! It might also be worth noting the nutrients and their effect of your old, unhealthy diet!

Step3

The next step is to take a conscious decision on your eating times. Do not eat randomly as you will be much more likely to eat fast, junk food. Plan ahead! Grabbing something quick for lunch is out of the question! Consider taking a healthy packed lunch to work which includes a fresh fruit. When you get home at night, do not eat within3 hours of going to sleep. Give your body at least 3 hours to burn off dinner before going to sleep; else this will just get turned into fat!

Eat breakfast, then a light snack at about 10am or 11am then have Lunch, then again a light snack at about 3pm or 4pm then dinner at about 6.30pm. It’s important to note that your snacks could simply be an apple, or banana or even some dry fruits or nuts. The idea with this way of eating is to keep your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) as high as possible. This is the rate at which your body burns calories while not being active. When you wait too long between meals, your body instinctively goes into “Starvation” mode and lowers its BMR to store energy for future use and survival. Think of it as stoking a fire.

If this all seems too much to jump right into, start with baby steps and slowly ease yourself into the above mentioned situations. Replace just half of the soda you drink with water. Or instead of eating fast food every day for lunch, eat it just half the week; this alone will drastically reduce your calorie intake. This method will not take such a knock on your body and you will not feel like you are replacing all the foods your love. It might take some time for you to get used to the new foods, and to learn about their nutrients and its effect on your body (Remember, knowledge is power!) It is VERY important to remember though; that you must slowly better you’re eating habits and move towards the above mentioned steps.

It might also be worth checking out a professional’s eating plan, like the 10 day master cleanser diet from Raylen Sterling. His plan was mentioned on Oprah Winfrey’s show, and Beyonce Knowles used his method to loose 20 pounds.