Carbs

You're so hungry by dinner time you're ready to pretty much eat anything. After school you went to your after school sports till about 5 and went straight home. Once you get home your stomach starts to growl soooo loud you decide to eat a small snack of raisins, low in carbs and gives you energy. Some diets limit the amount of overall carbohydrate, while others focus on certain types of foods, generally ones high in starch and sugars. You, being such a good student finish all your homework by 8:00 pm. You're stomach is dying for food by now so you look at your meal choices where the protein is fairly plainly cooked, such as grilled or pan-fried meats, broiled fish, etc. Include more vegetables instead of potatoes or rice, including substitutes such as Wild rice. If the plate seems puny, add a green salad with an olive oil-based dressing, or a soup. Also, don't be afraid of including more healthy fat than you are used to, it will help satisfy you until the next meal. Skillet meals consisting of meat and veggies are often naturally low-carb, or you can just leave out a starchy or sugary ingredient or two. You finally decide to make your favorite quiche without the crust to make sure you follow your low carb diet. You're still not satisfied, so you decide on eating a small dessert. You think of all the possible delicious desserts, (creme brulee, hot fudge sundae, pie, cake, chocolate pudding, etc.) You realize that by eating all those foods you're only hurting yourself so you choose to eat a fruit cup consisting of oranges, grapes, peaches, and strawberries.

3 DAY DIET PLAN;

Understanding the average, and modern day teenager, our 3 day dieting plan focuses on a give and take factor, if you eat celery now, you can r

eward yourself with a cookie later. Also, trying to ac

commodate a hectic and busy schedule by trying to m

ake lunches and breakfast grab and go, while still remaining s

omewhat healthy in the meantime. 

DAY ONE

Breakfast:

One glass of skim milk

Two pieces of whole wheat bread and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter

One apple banana

Lunch:

Tuna Sandwich on wheat bread

Carrot and Celery sticks

One bag of Original Bakes Lays

One cup of Orange Juice

Dinner:

"Pita Pizzas" [recipe included]

One glass of Grape Juice

A small tossed salad

One Chocolate Chip Cookie (sugar free)

DAY TWO

Breakfast:

One Granola Bar

One glass of skim milk

One orange

Lunch:

Turkey Sloppy Joes [recipe included]

Apple Slices

Vegetable Medley (corn, lima beans, dices carrots)

Pita Chips and Hummus

Water

Dinner:

Fettucini Chicken and Mushro

om Alfredo

Seasoned Asparagus - Lemon Vinaigrette

One scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream (Double Churned, Low Fat)

One glass of skim milk

DAY THREE

Morning Star Veggie Breakfast - Veggie Bacon

One Hard-boiled egg

Strawberry Yogurt

One glass of Orange Juice

Lunch:

Tomato and Cucumber Salad w/ Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing

topped with sliced Grilled Chicken Breast

Trail Mix and Craisins 

One Sugar Free Soda

Dinner: 

Minestrone Soup

Slices of Zucchini Bread

Grilled Pineapples topped with Cinnamon

One glass of skim milk

LUNCH;

BY AUBREY T.

So now after your nutritious and satisfying breakfast of turkey bacon, brown rice, and scambled eggs, you decide to run around for a couple of hours. After those couple of hours runing around with your friends, you decide that you're hungry and head to the kitchen. Hmm, you look in the pantry and a package of instant ramen is the first thing your eager and hungry eyes spot. You rip open the bag, place it in the pot, and sprinkle the seasoning (it's contents are unknown to you) all over the softening noodles. According to kidshealth.org, you should be eating around a gram for every 2 pounds you are, which means that protein intake should vary from person to person. That one ramen packet you call your lunch contains 5 grams of proteins. This means that for a ten-pound boy, this would be a sufficient amount of protein, however it is most likely uncommon you will find a 10 pound teenager. Most people would think, "Well...it's okay that there isn't enough protein in this meal because it's only lunch, i can always make up the lack at dinner." NO matter how trye this is, the high amounts of sodium almost negate the small of protein. INstead of reaching for that ramen package, try and consider some foods that are not only healthy is other areas, but are rich in protein and nutrition. An example of this would be lean meats (chicken and fish), milk, beans, and even yogurt which are all excellent sources of protein.

The whole reason why proteins are so essential to our bodies is because proteins provide amino acids, which in turn gets turned into a code that your DNA reads and instructs to perform a task within your body. Basically, there are all types of different amino acids that carry out different things in your body in different ways. Proteins are important for your muscles, because protein produces hemoglobin, or blood cells in your body that carry oxygen places it needs to be. Proteins are also extremely important for building cardiac muscle, or the muscles for your heart. The only way to get as many good amino acids is to consume as much of the recommended amount of proteins from a variety of excellent protein sources. There are also complete proteins vs. incomplete proteins. You can get complete proteins from foods such as milk and certain meats. Complete proteins contain all of the nine essential amino acids, which are all the amino acids you need for your body to function. The incomplete proteins, however, contain only some amino acids rather than all. You can get incomplete proteins from foods like red beans, but when paired with other incomplete proteins, like rice, they complete each other and provide you with all essential amino acids. If you want to be sure that you are getting a sufficient amount of proteins, you can always monitor your percentage of protein intake by reading nutrition labels, but if you eat right and have balanced meals, you'll find its not too difficult to get enough proteins.

BREAKFAST;

Your stomach rumbles and growls loudly at you when you wake up on a Sunday morning. Scratching your head and wiping the crusty drool mark off your face, you manage to stumble your way into the kitchen with one eye open, only by following the scent of sizzling bacon. Before you grab a plate and begin to inhale 10 pieces of bacon in your mouth all at once, consider this: One strip of bacon contains about 40 calories, and very high levels of trans and saturated fats and sodium. In addition to bacon, there are lots of other breakfast foods that we scarf down way before we even confider what's in them, especially foods that are high in sugars, salts, and last but not least, dreaded fats. Fats have gained the reputation of being horribly sinful and eating them should be unthinkable. It's true, fats can be bad for you, but there are some types of fats that your body needs in order to function. In this section of our blog, you can find out more about when you can do without certain fats, and when you just need to suck up your fat-phobia and say, "I NEED FAT!" Like stated earlier, eating fats might seem repulsive to some dieting for that model thin body, but the truth of the matter is that there could not be a worse time in our life to diet than now. During these years of dramatic growth within our bodies, our body needs all of the nutrients we can supply it, if not more. During adolescence is when we grow more so tan any other time in our lives (other than when we were babies) and depriving ourselves of necessary nutrients we need to grow can be detrimental to our health. Fats also supply us a tremendous amount of energy and are there as a reserve just in case we begin to run on a calorie deficit. Most diets target fat in particular and try to reduce, and even eliminate them from your eating altogether. A lot of foods that you see in the supermarket might have a bright label that says, "FAT FREE." Although getting rid of fats might seem like a good idea, keep in mind that before you start cutting them out completely you should know the difference between certain fats, and that you need fats to survive.

Sure, there are certain fats that you can afford to get rid of, but others such as polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats are a necessity. These "good" fats, or essential fatty acids, can be found in goods such as fish, nuts, and certain oils like olive oil. These fats are proven to lower cholesterol, rather than their not so healthy friends saturated and trans, which tend to raise them. According to the American Heart Association, essential fatty acids support healthy cardiovascular, immune, and nervous systems of the body and aid in the repair of cell membranes. Deficiencies of these good fats are linked to many healthy conditions like different types of heart disease. 

On another note, you shouldn't go home and head for the pantry to stuff your face full of fattening Twinkies because you read in a PE blog that fats are 100% okay. Just because your body needs some fats doesn't mean that it needs ALL fats. Fats that are found in processed foods are often synthesized and added into products to enhance flavor or increase shelf life. Trans and saturated fats are the fats that should be avoided. Although they are sometimes thought to be equally bad, saturated fats are slightly better than trans fats. Saturated fats are the fats that come from animals and animal products like their meats, milks, and cheeses. Trans fats on the other hand, are also extremely harmful but are believed to raise cholesterol levels more so than saturated fats. The total amount of at should be limited to 25-35% of total daily calorie intake. This may seem like a lot of fat, but also keep in mind that the percentage of saturated fats should be less than 7%, and trans fat should account for less than 1%. The percentage left should be the "good" fats, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats that cannot be synthesized by chemicals. 

In any case, the rule of thumb and a good key to healthiness is moderation. Eating a few delicious Oreos once in a while is fine, just so long as "once in a while" doesn't happen to be 5 times a day, everyday. On the other side of the spectrum, you should never completely eliminate something from your diet either, because everything has a function in your body. You need fats just as much as you need any other nutrient, but they key is the right amount. SO before you fill your plate with the congealed goodness that is bacon, remember that there are other options for a health breakfast that tastes just as good without all the heart clogging Have you ever tried turkey bacon, or maybe even veggie bacon? Both provide that same crunch and same familiar breakfast without the coagulation! The importance of fat is often underestimated, but did you know that 2/3 of your brain is composed of (you guess it,) FATS!

An Average Day...for the Average Joe

"Hmmm, I'm hungry" This is the thought in everyone's head as they go through the day. Most people would just take the simplest quickest thing to eat, like a hot pocket or an orange. For today's times having a quick meal is champion to nutrition. In this blog we will teach people, average people, how to eat healthy and eat more efficently. Along with facts about nutrition and good and bad fats teaching about why it is important and such.

Our next post will be about Fat Intake and food with good and bad fats...