Guest post from Cole Millen Making the Right Food Choices During Your Getaway

 A big thanks to Mr. Cole Millen for sending in such an useful article for staying healthy and on the track with the diet during travel.   He has shared some useful links about restaurants that serve healthy foods options and also some other useful links.

Making the Right Food Choices During Your Getaway

For most people, vacations are a time to splurge and live it up. Unfortunately, it can be very easy to get carried away with your eating habits. If you want to maintain your figure during your time away from work, check out the following tips to prevent weight gain and other health problems.

Prepare meals ahead of time

If at all possible, you should pack your own food for the vacation. Bringing food allows you to consciously make healthy choices while leaving the bad stuff at home. Ideally, you would take along a cooler filled with nutritious foods like fruits, veggies, nuts, whole grains, lean proteins, and fresh produce smoothies. If you think about it, many healthy food choices are whole foods that do not require any prep at all. You just need pack some healthy snacks! If you dont mind cooking while on vacation, there are many quick and simple dishes that can be made with basic ingredients. Sandwiches, wraps, pastas, and dips are some common on-the-go favorites. You can even bring supplements such as multivitamins or fish oil if you fear it will be hard to eat nutritious food.

Spend your trip in a health-conscious locale 
The most important aspect of a vacation is to ensure that you are staying in a place that will allow you to maintain your healthyhttp://healthland.time.com/2012/10/01/guide-the-31-healthiest-foods-of-all-time-with-recipes/ lifestyle. Pick a destination where the people are nuts about nutrition and exercise, and "do as the locals do." The best way to locate a hotel in one of these areas is to do your research online. Many travel websites and blogs include plenty of information for those looking to eat healthy on vacation. On a recent trip to Sin City I found a great site that listed reviews for LasVegas hotels regarding their amenities and services as well as the restaurants in the surrounding area. This made it easier than ever to find the healthy places to go to eat nutritiously and deliciously on my vacation.

Dine out at restaurants that offer healthy dishes 
If packing is out of the question, consider dining out at restaurants that include healthy options on their menus. Look for keywords like "low-calorie" or "low-fat." Also strive to stick with foods that are fresh and vibrant in color. Anything comprised mainly of fruits and veggies should be a good choice unless it is covered in a rich sauce. You can eat meat as well, but go for lean cuts like chicken breast, duck breast, or sirloin steak. Fish is an excellent lean protein. Instead of ordering sandwiches with the bread or an extra side of rice or pasta, cut the carbs and go for lettuce as a vessel or a side of steamed yams. Some restaurants specialize in vegetarian cuisine, organic foods, or raw foods, so look out for these in the vicinity of your vacation spot. Try to avoid processed foods, sugary drinks, and rich desserts at all costs.

Eat less

In rare cases, you wont get much of a say about what to eat. Examples of this include going to a romantic bed and breakfast where a fixed menu is served or staying at a luxury resort where the included meals are served at an on-site restaurant. When you dont have the option to eat as healthy as youd like, the best alternative is to eat less of the less healthy stuff. Overeating is the number one cause of weight gain, and it is due to consuming an excess of calories. Since many restaurant foods are high in fat and calories, eating less would prevent you from gaining weight--even if the food isnt very good for you. Think about eating half of a plate and getting a doggy bag for the rest each time you dine out.

Stay away from alcohol 
Many people enjoy red wines, champagnes, cocktails, and beers on vacation, but these beverages are full of empty calories that do nothing but pack on body fat and weight. Avoid alcohol completely if you can. If you must drink, choose shots of straight liquor since they contain the fewest calories per serving.

GUEST POST BY TARA SPENSER Sprouting Grains for a Whole Grain Diet

I am thankful to Tara Spenser for sending me this great article as a guest post. We know sprouting is healthy and increases the protein content in a grain but her article takes it to a next new level. Thanks for providing us with such useful information Tara. I am also grateful for meeting such wonderful people like you through my blog.


Sprouting Grains for a Whole Grain Diet





Think sprouting grains is for hippies? Think again.
We’re advised to eat lots of fiber-rich whole grains today, but eating whole grains without soaking or sprouting them can hurt our health by blocking necessary mineral absorption. Our ancestors sprouted their grains by soaking them overnight, leavening them, or leaving harvested grains in tied sheaves until it was time to thresh them (which allowed many of the grains to sprout). In our fast-paced society built on convenience, we’ve fallen out of practice.
The Whole Grains Council (a nonprofit consumer advocacy group) reports on the many the health benefits of sprouted whole grains.

• Soaking and sprouting neutralizes phytic acid, which is responsible for blocking absorption of many necessary minerals (like iron, calcium, zinc, and more) by combining with them in the intestinal tract.
• The sprouting process increases the amount and bio-availability of vitamins (especially vitamin C) and minerals.
• Sprouted brown rice helps fight diabetes and promotes cardiovascular health.
• Sprouted buckwheat protects against fatty liver disease.
• Sprouted brown rice helps decrease depression and fatigue, especially in nursing mothers.
• Sprouted barley is associated with decreased blood pressure.
Sprouting is relatively easy and low-maintenance way of ensuring that your body is getting the most of the other foods you eat. Here’s how to do it.

Materials
• Sprouting kit (or)
• Mason jars and sprouting lids (or)
• Steel strainer
• Glass or steel bowl
• Apple cider vinegar
• Grains like brown rice, wheat berries, quinoa, barley, millet, rye, or spelt.

Instructions
1. Before going to bed, fill your sprouting container a third of the way full and fill the rest with water; leave out overnight. If buying a kit is too much investment at this time, just soak a few cups of grains in a bowl of water overnight. Add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to ensure the phytic acid is neutralized.
2. Use soaked grains the next morning as desired. To sprout them, however, and thereby increase their nutrition density, continue.
3. Drain the jar or bowl the next morning and rinse gently so all the grains have been cleaned with fresh water.
4. If using a mason jar, drain and place a bowl that will hold your sprouting jar upside down at a slant. The water will drain but air will circulate. If using the strainer method, drain the grains into the strainer. With both methods, rinse at least twice a day.
5. Repeat until little sprouts protrude from the grains. Quinoa is the quickest and will sprout overnight. Wheat berries, millet, and brown rice can take 2 – 4 days.
6. You can scoop soaked or sprouted rice directly into a rice cooker without dehydrating.
7. To turn your grain into flour, dehydrate sprouted grains using a food dehydrator or spreading evenly over a baking sheet and bake on 150 F for several hours. (Wheat berries take about 7 hours.)
8. Use a grain mill or even an electric coffee grinder for the smoothest flour.
9. Sprouted but not dehydrated grain will keep covered in the refrigerator, but beware of mold after the first few days.

Tara Spenser is currently the resident writer for workingcapital.org, where she researches the most affordable cash advances for business and business capital. In her spare time, she enjoys blogging, swimming and being a mom.

GUEST POST Healthy Eating Tips for Type 2 Diabetes

Dear friends,
Here is a wonderful and informative post by Mr. William Richards on managing type 2 diabetes through healthy eating. Thank you very much sir for such an useful article and giving us some useful tips on dealing with this chronic disease.

I am also thankful for meeting people like Mr. John LaGrace, who is the National Awareness Director for DrugWatch.com, who makes a difference by creating awareness to help educate the public about the dangers of type 2 diabetes medications and enhance the knowledge of the alternatives to manage type 2 diabetes. Additionally, they also work 1-on-1 with individuals and their families and provide them with free informational literature as well as financial assistance.

Healthy Eating Tips for Type 2 Diabetes



By William Richards

Eating when you have type 2 diabetes demands a careful strategy. You have to plan ahead to take proper care of your insulin deficiency.

The foundation for a sound plan to keep your blood sugar from spiking when you eat is to eat is to pick foods that give you a lot of nutrition without a lot of saturated fat and carbohydrates.

Food Basics
Try to pick out foods that are high in fiber and low in starch and sugar. Its important to have a blood-sugar meter with you so you can measure exactly what your blood-sugar levels are after you eat.

The sweet spot for your blood sugar is between 70 and 130 mg/dL before a meal and below 180 mg/dL two hours after you eat.

You should find out exactly how many carbs are in every portion of food you want to eat. Keep track of the carbs per portion and stick to consuming only 40 to 60 grams of carbs each meal. That should keep your blood sugar just right.

If you eat too much junk food, you can set yourself up for a dangerous bout with high blood sugar (hyperglycemia).

Seek out Whole Grain Alternatives
Now that youve learned to walk the eating walk, its time to jog a little. You already know that fiber is good and starches and sugar are bad. Did you know whole grain starches also contain fiber?

By seeking out whole grain versions of sugary and starchy foods you can get more nutrition out of junk food like pasta. People with type 2 diabetes should have three to four servings of carbs with each meal. You can have some junk food, but it’s good to find healthier versions of junk food and stick to smaller portions.

Pick a Safe Back-up Drug
When you have diabetes, your blood sugar can do crazy things. Even if you do everything right – eat the proper foods, have them in moderation and stay near your target weight – you can find yourself in hot water when food or a change in your body makes your blood sugar rise.

Its good to have medication handy in case your blood sugar unexpectedly rises too high or dips too low. There are many medications available, and your doctor can fill you in on which one may work best for you.

However, just make sure that you run a background check on your meds for any safety changes mandated by the U.S. the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), because many of these medications bring along life threatening side effects. For instance, Actos is a best-selling type 2 diabetes drug but a quick search on FDA.gov shows that it will doubles your risk of bladder cancer with prolonged use (more than one year).

William Richards researches and writes about prescription drugs and medical devices for Drugwatch.com.