Posts Tagged ‘Nutrition’

Eye Nutrition

Your eyes are an organ, and like all organs, they require proper nutrition to function. Paying close attention to your diet is essential to over all health, and focusing on a high intake of antioxidants has been linked not only to a reduced risks of cancer, but also to a reduction of eye disorders like macular degeneration and cataracts.

Vitamins and Minerals

Fresh fruits and vegetables offer more antioxidants than any other food. Consuming the FDA’s daily recommended servings of these foods will help ensure your eyes are receiving the nutrition they need. For sufficient vitamins, you should consume a variety of fresh fruits and vegetable every day. More specifically, for eye nutrition, you should make sure your intake of vitamins A, C, and E, along with minerals like selenium is sufficiently high.

Foods high in Vitamin A include:

Dark, leafy greens
Carrots
Eggs
Liver

Foods high in Vitamin C include:

Berries
Citrus fruits and juices
Broccoli
Peppers
Sweet potatoes

Foods high in Vitamin E include

Nuts and nut butters
Seeds
Soybeans
Tomatoes
Wheat germ

For minerals like zinc and selenium, you should consume:

Cashews
Cheese
Wheat bran
Mushrooms
Fresh water fish
Walnuts

Enriched bread and cereal products also often contain a high amount of vitamins and minerals.

Additionally, supplements are available both in multi-vitamin/mineral form and higher potency individual vitamin/mineral form.  It is always important to speak with your health care provider before you begin a regimen of vitamin supplements, however, since some of them contain more than your body needs and can lead to stomach problems or other health issues.
Foods to Avoid

Avoiding unhealthy food is a lifestyle choice that will positively impact every part of your body, not just your eyes.

It’s okay to indulge your sweet tooth, and to eat unhealthy foods that you enjoy, as long as you pay attention to the amount you consume. Avoiding processed foods, foods containing high fructose corn syrup, and foods high in processed sugars will go a long way in helping ensure your overall health, and also help you to avoid health complications like diabetes that can lead to severe vision disorders.

 

To find out more about proper nutrition and care of your eyes, please visit the website of Eyes.com.

A Healthy Type 2 Diabetes Diet Nutrition Chart

Type 2 diabetes is an illness in which the body becomes resilient to the insulin produced to digest glucose in the blood. As a result blood sugar levels increase.

Fighting type 2 diabetes requires serious lifestyle changes such as your diet. Instead of heavy meals twice a day try having lighter meals five times a day. If you or someone you know suffers from type 2 diabetes, here is a comprehensive type 2 diabetes diet nutrition chart to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle.

For Breakfast

If you are diabetic, according to type 2 diabetes diet nutrition chart, you should start your day with a balanced meal of complex carbohydrates and high proteins. You can find healthy complex carbohydrates in foods like wholegrain cereal, bread or oatmeal whereas a great source of high protein foods include eggs, yogurt and a slice of turkey.

To complete the breakfast have some fresh fruit. Also increase your water intake.

Pre-lunch snack

Being a diabetic means you are always drained of energy. Already the food you eat has to be carefully checked for excess sugar. Therefore whatever little energy your body does produce is quickly used up leaving you exhausted. So a type 2 diabetes diet nutrition chart tells you how important some light, in between snacks are to keep up your energy. The snack should contain high quantity of fiber. Foods rich in fiber make you feel as if your appetite is satisfied and are good for the body. Unpeeled pears and berries are a classic example.

For Lunch

As a diabetic, it is very important for you to have your meals on time.

Lunch should not be later than five hours after breakfast. It too should be rich in proteins like poultry and be a combination of plain and complicated carbohydrates. Vegetable soup with a turkey sandwich would be perfect. A small amount of dessert like fruit yogurt can also be added in the diet plan.

Post Lunch Snack

Have a light snack between lunch and dinner. It would satisfy your tiny cravings and also prevent you from eating more at dinner. Fruits like orange or some nuts will do the trick.

Dinner

Dinner must be at least four hours prior to your sleeping time so as to ensure the food is digested properly. In accordance with type2 diabetes diet nutrition chart, the meal should comprise of complex carbohydrates and a good amount of healthy fats. Broiled chicken with a bowl of brown rice and salad is ideal. For dessert a slice of angel cake is fine.

 

Food for Type 2 Diabetes – Nutrition Mythbusters

 Myth #1: Carbohydrates are bad for you.

All carbohydrates aren’t alike. Easily digested carbohydrates, such as those from white bread and white rice, if eaten often and in large quantities, may add to weight gain. But carbohydrates are also found in fruits, vegetables, beans, and dairy products; and these deliver essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Diabetes carbohydrates also give your body energy and help keep organs functioning properly.

A system called the glycemic index measures how fast and how far blood sugar rises after you eat a food with carbohydrates. White rice, for example, is almost immediately converted to blood sugar (glucose), causing it to rise rapidly, and so has a high glycemic index. Whole grain bread is digested more slowly, making blood sugar climb more slowly and not as high.

It has a low glycemic index. Whenever possible, select carbohydrates that is whole grain, such as whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta, and old fashioned oats.

Myth #2. Vegetables mainly add fiber to your diabetic diet foods.

Vegetables are excellent sources of fiber and they supply vitamins and minerals, with very few calories. Orange vegetables like carrots, and dark leafy greens, such as spinach and collards, are good sources of vitamin A, an important nutrient to keep your eyesight keen, your skin healthy, and your immune system strong. Broccoli, pepper, and tomatoes are full of vitamin C, which promotes healing and keeps keep ligaments, tendons, and gums healthy. And beans and lentils supply potassium, which enables the body to convert blood sugar into glycogen, a stored form of energy that’s held in reserve by the muscles and liver.

Myth #3: To get calcium in your diabetic diet, you have to consume dairy products.

Milk, yogurt, and cheese are rich in calcium, which is important for building and protecting bones, Calcium Sources but they’re not the only sources of this mineral. Today, many foods are fortified with calcium, including orange juice, soy milk, breads, and cereals. Other nondairy sources of calcium are canned salmon and sardines with bones, collard greens, broccoli, and almonds. If you find it difficult to get enough calcium from your diet, you can also take calcium and glucose supplements.

Myth #4: Meat, chicken, and fish are the best sources of protein.

Foods with protein help your body build muscle and tissue, and provide diabetes vitamins and minerals. Animal sources—meat, poultry, fish, and dairy products–have what’s called complete protein, that is, they contain all the amino acids needed to build new proteins. Proteins from fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts are called incomplete proteins—they’re missing one or more amino acids. But animal sources of protein have their drawbacks: red meat and poultry skin are high in fat, especially saturated fat (a healthy diabetic diet plan should have less than 10% of calories from saturated fat). If you eat meat, stick to lean cuts, chicken with the skin removed, and fish. If you want to try vegetable sources of protein, try beans, nuts, and whole grains.

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