Nutrition

The Lean, Not so Mean, Green Juice

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Green juices are the new trend in the eat healthy, detox your body frenzy.

Raw juices made mostly from kale are in high demand to the point where in cities like Hong Kong, imported kale is at a shortage.

Organic shops have been forced into keeping waiting lists, for when the product hits the store.

One of the most influential advocates of the green juice diet is Gwyneth Paltrow, who describes her strict diet consisting in lots of raw juices in her book “Its All Good, published early last year.

Gwyneth follows a vegetarian diet that excludes anything from animal origin, except for fish. She claims tomatoes and strawberries produce allergies and all caffeine, chocolate based foods are poison! I personally cant imagine giving up my morning coffee, cupcakes with friends, pizza as a treat! Er yeap, not happening for me.

That doesnt mean I wont be drinking some green juices every now and then, which apparently have the same energizing effect as a cup of coffee, without all its nocive effects.

Curious about this new trend and excited about all the potential benefits, I decided to go ahead and make myself Gwyneth Paltrows Best Green Juice. Its actually nicer than it looks.
The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:
5 large leaves of kale, ribs discarded, leaves roughly chopped
1 lemon, zest and pith removed
1 large apple or pineapple,
A 2.5cm piece of fresh ginger
1 sprig of fresh mint

Directions:
1.) Wash all ingredients well.
2.) Cut all produce to fit through juicer, juice and enjoy!

Substitutions:

Spinach watercress, dandelion leaves, kale, lettuce
Apple Pineapple , pear, cantaloupe (rockmelon), honeydew
Lemon lime, grapefruit
If youre wanting to ease into the dark leafy green juices, this is a lovely place to start. This sweet green juice has heaps of benefits:

– Its high in vitamin C
– The lemon helps to improve the absorption of the non-heme iron in spinach
– There are 7.1mg of iron
– The bromelain from the pineapple may ease arthritis, atherosclerosis and it may also help to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases due to its ability to inhibit Fibrinogen, the chemical that can cause the abnormal blood clotting that underlies most cardiovascular diseases.

Rice Nutrition

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One of the most widely eaten food crop in the world, rice provides nourishment to more than half the world’s population. Being a staple food, it is cultivated during winters and summers, both. Being grown in 4000 varieties every year, it supplied more than one fifth of the calories that are consumed by humans.

Rice is one of the most grown cash crops in developing countries and is also the oldest of the cereal crops that humans cultivated. The first form of rice was grown in China about 5000 years ago and since it was a major food supplement, it got commercially cultivated as a cash crop in half the world.

Rice contains nutrients that are vital to the body and give it energy. Nutrients such as carbohydrates are found in rice which is also an important source for storing energy inside the body so that it grows properly. Because rice nutrition is low on salt, cholesterol and fat, it keeps the heart healthy.

Rice being of two types; brown and white rice, has a high quantity of carbohydrates in it and mixing these 2 rice can be beneficial. The only major difference between the two types is that white rice goes through a milling process whereas, the brown rice does not. However, it is believed that the milling process is not favorable for white rice nutrition as it removes nutrients such as B3, B1, B6, dietary fiber, the essential fatty acids, and half quantity of iron, phosphorus and manganese. It is known that brown rice has more nutrition and fiber as the white rice has its outer coating removed.

White Rice Nutrition contains carbohydrate (89%), some protein (8%) and little fat (1%). It also consists of some dietary fiber, calcium, and potassium.

On the other hand, brown rice nutrition is rich in quantity of 83% carbohydrate, 9% of protein and 7% of fat. It also has dietary fiber (6x more than white rice), calcium and potassium (about double amount as in white rice)

Rice nutrition also has a low content of sodium and contains favorable amounts of potassium, thiamin, B vitamins and niacin. Usually, people who are trying to reduce cholesterol and fat intake seek rice as the solution since it only has a slight trace of salt and absolutely no cholesterol. It is also gluten free so is easily digested. It is suitable for vegans and brown rice is particularly popularly used in vegetarian dishes.

It is known that an average portion of rice nutrition is capable of providing about 11% of the expected average daily necessity of protein and on share it only has 245 kcal.”

Quinoa Nutrition

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A key part of Quinoa nutrition is that of Quinoa protein.

With a large part of Quinoa nutrition being that of Quinoa protein, Quinoa nutritional properties show high levels of proteins, including virtually all the essential amino acids, as noted at Wikipedia and NutritionData and others. For example, a one cup serving of cooked Quinoa normally yields about 8.1g of protein or about 12%18% the DV of proteins/amino acids.

This protein level surpasses many other foods, leading food authorities to consider Quinoa food a highly beneficial food that can be used at the core of a healthy diet. In fact, Greg Schlick and David L. Bubenheim in a NASA paper referenced at Wikipedia noted that unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), Quinoa protein is a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source. But, Quinoa nutritional value doesnt stop there. Quinoa food has much more to offer.

Other Quinoa Nutritional Data and Benefits

Quinoa food, depending how and what it is prepared with, is very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. Quinoa food is also a good source of dietary fiber and in addition, is a good source of Iron, Magnesium, and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Manganese.

At around 222 calories, a one cup serving of Quinoa by itself yields around 11% of the DV in a 2000 calorie diet. Most (nearly 160) of those calories are from carbohydrates, with Quinoa food being low in fats content, at less than 5% to 6% of the DV.

Vitamins are another important item in Quinoa nutrition, offering around 10% to 19% of the DV of Thiamin, Riboflavin, Folate, and Vitamin B6, as well as some Vitamin E and Niacine using data from NutritionData. The Wikipedia numbers are higher, but reflect a larger portion of uncooked Quinoa. Bottom line is that at smaller serving sizes, Quinoa nutrition values are high. With larger servings, you can eat till youre full with much less worry about fat gluten, and sugars, and be assured of lots of burnable carbs and Quinoa protein.

Quinoa food is also gluten-free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, Quinoa food is being considered a possible crop in NASAs Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration manned spaceflights, according to Greg Schlick and David L. Bubenheim cited above. A great breakdown is also available at NutritionData at the link following this article. The page there is a quite complete Quinoa nutrition breakdown.

Quinoa Food Use

Quinoa nutrition has a history dating back to the Inca Civilization, and during that time its production and consumption was exceeded only by the potato. Quinoa food use has cycled slightly through the years since, anf is currently seeing renewed interest. This especially when we as a culture are seeking more complete fitness, and will likely be fueled further by our move away from sugar in our diets during the years 2010 through 2015. One need only look at the news to validate this position.

Quinoa food is surging in the West, with Quinoa nutrition as the momentum. Quinoa nutritional values, and especially Quinoa protein are a developing trend to watch as we rediscover this powerful food.

Hiking Up The Mountain With Nutrition

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Mountaineering is a strenuous activity; and the last thing you want to happen to you while in the mountains is to faint due to malnutrition. Thus, it is important to take the kinds of food that would help you survive in the mountains. Nutritionists say that mountaineers should take in as much carbohydrates as possible to quickly replenish the energy lost in hiking or climbing.

Carbohydrates provide one’s body with glucose which functions as your body’s fuel. Glucose can be extracted once carbohydrates have been broken down. Glucose joins the bloodstream and provides your body with energy it needs. Glucose can also be stored in your muscle tissues and in your liver.

Glucose maintains the body’s endurance. If the body runs out of glucose in the bloodstream or in the muscle tissues, you will start feeling fatigue. Your muscles could not continue to perform at its optimal level. Since mountaineering consumes a lot of energy, it is advised to load your body with more carbohydrates.

It is highly recommended to start preparing your body’s nutrition for your mountaineering expedition at least three days prior to the event. Your diet should compose of at least 70 percent carbohydrates. It doesn’t necessarily mean you also have to increase your calorie content. Doing so would just make you gain weight.

The best thing to do is to reduce your protein and fat intake, instead. However, higher carbohydrate content in your diet runs you the risk of a decrease intake in other essential nutrients in the long run. That’s why, carb loading would only do you good in the first few days. After which, you should get back to your regular diet.

Since mountaineering involves traveling at higher elevations, your food intake may change at higher altitudes. In fact, studies have shown that mountaineers tend to be more finicky when above 10 000 feet. In your choice of food to carry on your mountaineering trip, don’t just consider the nutritional values. What good would nutritious food do if you don’t feel like eating it?

Higher altitudes actually trigger anorexia and loss of appetite. Not only that, the body will go through an overall change in metabolism. Your body may not be able to digest some of the food you eat when you’re at home. These are the reasons why mountaineering contributes to weight loss, on top of the fact that a climber should expect to burn more calories at elevated locations.

Because of this, you tend to consumer more food so pack more food than what you normally eat at home. Still, you will have to consider your nutrition intake. The recommended ratio is about 70% carbohydrate, and the rest for fat and protein. Fatty foods require much more oxygen to digest, thus, if you packed high-fat foods, it could slow down your acclimatization.

There are actually a lot of power bars which are specifically formulated for mountaineers available in the supermarkets. You could also check out their dehydrated foods and other packaged camping foods which are usually freeze dried. They won’t weigh that much but they’re packed with the nutrients you’ll need to last for your trip.

However, as mentioned earlier, since you tend to become picky when it comes to food, plan your menu wisely. Pack foods that aren’t only nutritious, but also palatable. Don’t compromise your trip by packing food you’re not willing to eat. You won’t be able to enjoy the scenery when you’re energy level’s down.

Different people also have different dietary needs. Not all healthy camping foods work well with everyone. So that means you may have to experiment on what food works best for you. When you don’t find a food appealing at a certain height, most likely, it won’t taste any better higher up. Try to take with you the tastiest and healthiest foods you can find.

Mountaineering is one of the sports that you really need to prepare for. Aside from the physical training that you should get, you should always check that you’re also getting enough nutrients to get through the activity. Even if you have the leanest body and the strongest lungs, but you weren’t able to get proper nutrition, you may not thoroughly enjoy the trip as you’ll probably get tired easily.

Health Juice Making Nutrition Easy

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Tired of worrying about how to get the proper nutrition? It is a long and tedious process of planning out exactly what foods to eat and not eat. It would be much easier if there was a health juice you could drink and get all the nutrition of eating several different fruits and vegetables.

I am not going to lie, I have an extremely hard time planning my diet, even though I know it is something that has to be done in order to give me body the nutrition it needs. For a long time now I have been suffering day in and day out figuring out what exactly I should it as well as what not to eat. It got exhausting after a while, and frankly I figured it just was not worth all the hassle.

About this time I began searching for a way I could give my body the nutrition it needs in a quick and easy way. I started looking into health juices. Many contain vital fruits which provide nutrients my body knows and loves. Though I began to realize that very few of the juices offered all the nutrition I would hope for. They would give vitamin C or B, or some other variety but hardly enough to be what I wanted. So I refined my search even more to looking for a health juice that would give me the ultimate variety of nutrients. After awhile of searching I ran across MonaVie juice. MonaVie juice is a health drink that has a combination of 19 different fruits. Each fruit offers its own health benefits and when put together it really was exactly what I was looking for.

MonaVie juice is a little pricy but I have yet to find another product like it. It seems to be the perfect blend of fruits, and I will tell you, my body agrees. The best part about MonaVie juice is that it makes my life 10 times easier. I simply wake up drink 2 ounces and then go about my day, and that it.