What are healthy diet foods? It's a little more complicated than you might think ...

During the summer, we tend to be more active. The sun's out and it's nice and warm! We want to look good in our abbreviated versions of winter wear. Bathing suits, sleeveless dresses, shorts and sandals do absolutely nothing to hide fat, cellulite and just plain flab! So, to get or maintain that trim figure throughout the summer, you need healthy diet foods on the menu every day. However, there is some confusion on exactly what healthy diet foods are. Let's see if we can nail down this terminology.

Not all diet foods are up to snuff when it comes to labeling them healthy as well. Processed and refined foods, such as you find in the freezer aisle, may be low in calories, but full of additives with names you can't even pronounce, much less know what they are. My policy is if I can't pronounce it, it's probably not good for me. If you doubt this, take a look at one of those little pocket books which list all possible food additives, for a real eye opener. So, diet foods do not necessarily equal healthy diet foods. The same goes for diet sodas – check the labels to see what we mean. Try herbal teas and flavored waters as an alternative beverage.

Healthy means it's good for you, nutrient rich and hopefully loaded with vitamins and minerals, antioxidants and all of those good things. 'Diet food' implies that it's low in calories. So, when you're looking for healthy diet foods, you want to become a label-reading expert. Healthy means no trans-fats, low in sodium and sugar, those favorite 'taste enhancers' so beloved of the commercial food processors, as well as rich in nutrients and fiber, as applicable. Once you start reading the labels, you'll find that the most direct path to healthy diet foods lies in the 'fresh' or 'fresh frozen' columns.

When you shop, buy only what you'll use within the next several days when it comes to fresh produce. Produce loses some of its nutritive value as it oxidizes and when cooked, so minimize this loss with more frequent purchases, storing the fruits and veggies in paper bags in the frig and eating raw, as possible.

When it comes to healthy diet foods in meat, we all know about choosing lean cuts and adding lots of fish for those Omega-3s. However, there is a caveat here as well. Animals raised for meat are often fed a variety of antibiotics and hormones, which find their way into your system – unless the meat is labeled 'organically raised with no antibiotics and hormones'. You've got to get a little nit-picky when defining what is truly healthy diet food.

While you may not be in to a lot of bread or pasta while dieting, when you do indulge, choose whole grains, which are far healthier than those made with refined flours.

Olive oil is pricey, but it takes so little to cook with, it's really a bargain in the end, with health benefits for your heart not provided in most other oils. It also adds a delicious flavor.

You've now completed 'Healthy Diet Foods 101'!

Shop and Save at an Online Health Food Store

I pretty much live out in the middle of nowhere. My nearest neighbors are several minutes away (by car), and it takes me nearly an hour and a half to drive to the closest town for supplies such as groceries and gasoline. The solitude suits my temperament, so I have no complaints on that front. But this isolation does have a downside: it's never easy to buy the kinds of products I want. For instance, there's no health food store anywhere in the vicinity, so I've had to look for an alternative means of purchasing the items I need to keep my body in tip-top shape.

Fortunately, I'm able to grow many of my own fruits and vegetables on my land. The produce is completely organic and pesticide free, which are things that I know a lot of city folks have to pay good money for. But I still need some stuff from the health food store, such as herbal teas, organic pastas and sauces, mercury-free fish, and various vitamin and mineral supplements. I've been eating these healthy foods since I was in college, and there's no way I can give up now just because I live in the boonies.

All I have to say is thank goodness for the Internet! Many health food stores are now online, which gives me plenty of shopping options. I've been ordering from different websites for the past year or so in an effort to identify the online health food stores that offer the best combination of product selection, prices, and customer service. The experiment has been working very well thus far, and I've now got a list of four or five sites that I go to again and again for everything I need.

Not only is shopping at an online health food store convenient, but it's also cost-effective. I can sit right here at home and fill my virtual cart with all the products I need, then click a few buttons and have everything shipped to my doorstep within a few days. How could the process be any more convenient than that? Moreover, I know that I'm saving money by shopping this way. Online health food stores have a built-in pricing advantage because of lower overhead costs. Plus, a lot of these types of websites offer additional coupon codes and special discounts, along with the usual seasonal sales and so forth. As a result, I'm able to maintain my healthy lifestyle for a lot less than I used to pay when I lived in the city.

Sure, it would be fun to have a physical health food store in the vicinity so I could take my time browsing through all the wonderful products as I make my choices. But since that's not possible, I'll gladly continue to order online for all my grocery needs!

Simple Overview of 10 Healthiest Foods

While the old adage "you are what you eat" perhaps isn't quite strictly true, what you eat definitely affects how you feel. Your overall health and fitness is to a large degree determined by the food you put in your body. After all, putting chemicals and additives in your body is hardly making things easy for it. To help you out, here are arguably the 10 healthiest foods you can put into your body to get the most out of it.

Broccoli. Yes, the vegetables have it. Broccoli is one of the best things you can feed yourself and your family to put you well on the way to health. It's definitely at the top of the list of the 10 healthiest foods. This tree-like vegetable is extremely high in a variety of vitamins, including iron, vitamin C, vitamin A, B vitamins, and minerals such as zinc. It's also great as an antioxidant.

Berries are another great one. They're high in antioxidants, and are full of vitamins such as vitamin C. They're also much lower in sugar than many other fruits, making them a good choice for those on low sugar diets. Half a cup a day will make a huge difference to your health.

Garlic. Grandma was right when she tried to force feed it to you. Garlic is great for keeping germs and viruses at bay, so try it fresh and raw, or chopped up in your cooking.

Citrus fruits such as grapefruit, oranges, and mandarins. Not only do these taste wonderful, but they're excellent for you, too. They're very high in vitamin C, fiber, and folic acid. Try squeezing a lemon on your salad instead of a thick dressing.

Nuts are also great for your health, although they are high in calories, so use portion control. Nuts are very high in protein and good fatty acids, so it's a good idea to add these to your diet.

Seeds. Like nuts, seeds are high in protein and healthy fats. Sprinkle some on your breakfast or your salads.

Fatty fish. Fatty fish such as salmon is very high in Omega 3 fatty acids, which are great for keeping your brain on track. They're also good for your hair and nails. Salmon is also high in protein.

Tomatoes. That old salad favorite, tomatoes are very high in vitamin C, and are a great addition to any meal.

Eggs. Eggs have come out on top after being debated in the media for their health benefits. Eggs are an excellent source of protein, iron, and B12, as well as essential fatty acids. Don't skip the yolk, as that's where almost all of the vitamins are.

White meat. Try low fat meats such as turkey. These are high in protein without the fat content of some other meats. You'll also be able to ensure that you meet a number of daily vitamin and mineral intake requirements by eating turkey. Put some on toast, roast it, or add it to a salad, and you'll have a well balanced meal that will keep you feeling full, and fit.

Make an effort to fit these 10 healthiest foods into your diet, and you'll feel much healthier.

"Organic", "All-Natural" - Do these Labels acctually mean Healthy Food to You?

All you want is simple healthy food; you don't know what goes into the stuff they serve at restaurants, and so, you feel that nothing can quite compare to the honest and simple fare you can rustle up right in your kitchen. So you head down to the portals of your trusted local supermarket, and you look for the cuts that you trust - hopefully, you'll find chicken that's free range, naturally raised beef and hygienically butchered healthy meat in general. You do see plenty of reassuring labels on all the packages all around the butcher's brightly-lit glass case, but there is a little voice at the back of your mind that wonders if these labels really do mean what they seem to mean. Well, you would do well to trust that healthy skepticism your mind is capable of; for as we are about to see, most of the time, those labels usually mean nothing wholesome at all.

Let's start with an old favorite - free range chicken. What exactly is it that you believe free range chicken is when you see those neat packages at the supermarket? Plump healthy birds roaming the plains, pecking at a delicious worm here and a little grain there? Well, yes and no. The Department of Agriculture is the authority that looks at each manufacturer's practices, and decides on whether or not to award a free range cerificate. According to their standards, a free range chicken has to be allowed to be outdoors more than 50% of their lives. But the department is quite flexible on what "the outdoors" can actually end up meaning. It could mean the wonderful open bucolic setting you imagine, or it could mean a cage that's 3 feet wide as opposed to the normal 15 inches of the battery farm. Just going down and getting a few ingredients for a home-cooked healthy food can turn out to be quite a study in hairsplitting.

Now the term free range is important not just for the amount of personal space you imagine each chicken gets; free range in your mind, is important also for the way it seems to suggest a certain dignity that goes into the process of bringing food to the table. You imagine that the bird is brought up "organically", that it is brought up in the country in a way that is not "artificial". These are some of the most misused terms in the food industry though, and so much could go wrong in any attempt you make to interpret what they might mean just by the sound of them. People are typically so concerned about bringing home healthy food that they will gladly pay twice for "organic" chicken. And the poultry industry sees no problem with exploiting this market with trickily-labeled meat. The first step there would be to get the USDA's approval for the use of the term organic on their packaging. If your chicken package doesn't bear the certification stamps - the USDAs Organic seal, and the seal of the Secretary of Agriculture, you can be pretty sure that your chicken never saw any greenery, any open sky or any organic feed.

Okay, how about the other certifications we tend to look for and make our purchase decisions by - "No growth stimulants or added hormones", and "All natural- minimally processed/no artificial ingredients"? Surely there is no way that any farmer could find a way around these declarations is there? Now two out of three beef cattle in the US are pumped full of growth hormones to make them grow bigger, faster. The USDA does approve of the hormones used; it says that when you eat beef raised on hormones, those hormones are not passed on to you. If that is so, how come the European Union has banned it? Europe believes that the hormones used in meat farming gets into our food, and harms our reproductive systems - people who are affected by these hormones typically have lower sperm counts and really early menarche. If you don't see the specific declaration that no growth hormones were used, you are in trouble. The "All-natural" claim for instance doesn't include a no-hormone assurance. The problem is, the USDA has no real rules for any of this; so the manufacturer can use this to mean whatever he wants it to mean. When it comes right down to it, there really are no guarantees for how healthy you food source is when everything comes from a massive industrial effort. Profits almost always trump any interest the manufacturer might have in really doing a meaningful job.

Health Nutrition Food that Isn't

It can be hard enough keeping to a healthy diet; what happens these days though is that the major restaurant chains come and try to mix up our personal definitions of what we can safely call "healthy". A restaurant staple at McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's or Ruby Tuesday's can easily get called "healthy" even when it is saturated with calories, fat and salt. Let's take a look at the worst offenders on the restaurant menus around the country that promote their products for their health, nutrition, food value all at once.

The Ruby Tuesday Avocado Turkey Burger should actually have been a really healthy meal. Turkey is great for your heart's health - nutrition food that actually heals. But not here. The burger has nearly 100 g of fat (that's nearly a fifth of a pound of fat), and heaps of salt held together with more than 1000 calories.

Okay, is there any way that you can not be making the right choice with a salad? Well, at the California Pizza kitchen, the Waldorf chicken salad actually comes with even more calories than the burger above. How did they even manage to do this in a salad? It's all in the dressing, of course. But you will need to be on the lookout across their entire menu.

You couldn't possibly do the right thing for your health, nutrition food being the way it is in this country. Consider Applebee's Grilled Shrimp and Spinach Salad - a name that's filled with health and nutrition. They've managed to bring the salad up to more than 1000 calories - as they have with lots of other salads on the menu. If you have to go to Applebee's, choose from the Weight Watchers list.

Compared to this next salad, you could do better for your health with a slice of pizza. And fittingly, this chicken chopped salad lives on the menu of California Pizza Kitchen, dangerous ground for any dieter if you need a warning. This little gem has nearly 1200 calories, and 15 g of unhealthy fat.

There's no way you would want to see this next winner left off this list. It's the Mex Tostada salad with chicken at Chevy's Fresh. You could eat a dozen cupcakes and not get as much fat and calories as with this artery clogger. It actually has nearly a fifth of a pound of fat and more than 1500 calories.

Seafood is supposed to be healthy isn't it? Well then, consider the Cod Filet dinner at Culver's. It has the most fat of any of the health nutrition food examples we've covered so far - a third more. But that's because this little heart attack machine is fried, and there's butter and french fries on the side too.

Food corporations will always try to hitch a ride on a health fad that's doing the rounds at the time. How about the way Nestlé calls its sugar-hopped Juicy Juice line actually healthy for children? This was so egregious to the authorities, the federal government actually called their bluff.

Healthy Foods That Your Kids Will Love

Is getting your kids to eat healthy foods is a battle in your home? If so, you’ll love these tips that will make your kids happy and give you the satisfaction of knowing you are feeding them foods that are good for them.

Start the Day Right

You can give your kids a delicious, healthy breakfast by getting rid of the ready to eat cereals and pastries and replacing them with bran pancakes and low-sugar syrup and/or fruit. Whole-wheat tortillas filled with fruit, scrambled eggs, or cheese and turkey bacon are delicious and your kids will have fun eating them, paying no attention to the fact that it is actually good for them.

Naturally Sweet

Most kids will ask for sweets such as candy and snack cakes. Instead of giving in to the pressure, give your kids applesauce and homemade oatmeal cookies prepared with a sugar substitute or honey rather than white sugar. Fruit snacks and dried fruit roll ups made from 100 percent fruit are great ideas for kids.
Replace fruit drinks and sodas with flavored tonic water and fresh fruit juice. Drink boxes containing pure fruit juice are relatively inexpensive and kids love the individual boxes, complete with straws.

Make it Fun

The secret is in the presentation. Arrange an assortment of healthy foods in a fun way on your child's plate. You can include smiley faces made from raisins or nuts and choose foods that are colorful. Kids will eat most things if they are presented in a unique design that makes eating fun.

Healthy Dinner

Dinnertime can include homemade pizza topped with cheese and vegetables, or soft tacos made with shredded chicken and cheese. Chicken strips prepared in the oven are always a hit and you could include an assortment of fresh vegetables and whole-grain breads. Fish sticks are relatively healthy if you prepare them in the oven rather than fried. Cheese and legumes are healthy choices.

It's not difficult to get kids to eat healthy foods. It just takes a little extra thought and planning. Start by using our tips and you may be surprised to see what your child will eat.

The Top 10 Healthiest Foods to Heal your Body With

Foods were always meant to be consumed in their original natural state - not refined and certainly not stripped of their peel and their freshness. Whole foods somehow have this reputation for being kind of highbrow today - they are more expensive, they sell them at certain specialty markets, and they can be rare. The thing is, whole foods are not a luxury - our bodies actually need them - to thrive, and often, to even heal. Let's look at the 10 healthiest foods that not only pack a nutritional punch, but also have all kinds of healing effects right from helping your cholesterol to keeping cancer at bay.

The last major breakthrough scientists ever made towards discovering the secret to eternal youth was an understanding of the contribution of antioxidants. Kale is a vegetable that you will recognize for its similarity to its other cruciferous family members, the cabbage and broccoli. Kale contains high concentrations of an antioxidant nutrient called sulforaphane - a powerful material that helps you fight all kinds of cancer - of the prostate, the skin, the intestines and the breast. Another compound in Kale, Indole, helps in the fight against colon and cervical cancer too. As for antioxidants, Kale has boatloads more than spinach, or broccoli. A little bit of Kale in your diet every day would be a great idea. A serving of this in your salad will give you about 13 times the amount of Vitamin K you need, and nearly twice the amount of vitamin A.

There is something about the whole cruciferous family; not only is Kale a hidden treasure, so is cabbage and broccoli. In ancient Chinese medicine, cabbage and broccoli were used to help with depression, ulcers, all manner of digestive problems. It has very high levels of the same antioxidants that make Kale so precious, though in slightly lower levels. The more of these vegetables you have in your diet, the less chance you have of cancer any kind. And make sure that you never throw away the outer leaves of the cabbage -they have the most nutrients.

Next on the list of the top 10 healthiest foods to heal the body with, comes kiwi. This cute little fuzzy fruit doesn't get enough press - it has twice as much Vitamin C as any orange, and oodles of other vitamins and phytonutrients; it can help you protect yourself from heart disease, cancer, stroke and lung disease. If you have a hypertension situation, kiwi is a natural blood thinner. You don't have to worry about despoiling your body with chemical blood thinners.

It's just astounding the kind of contribution that fruits can make to your health. In ancient Chinese medicine, cherry juice is a great way to battle anemia, gout and arthritis. The great thing about cherries is that the anthocyanins in them help you fight colon cancer, and they're a natural anti-inflammatory - they heal the body wherever there is inflammation.

The guava is a fruit that is pretty exotic to these parts; it's a tropical fruit that has more of the antioxidant lycopene than almost any other source - tomato is a distant second. The problem is, our bodies find it difficult to digest the antioxidants that tomato contains. Guava though, is naturally accessible to our intestines. To people with a slight case of liver damage, guava juice can be great for liver healing.

Beans get a bad rep for their relation to a certain embarrassing bodily function. It's kind of unfair, seeing as how beans are known to help heal the digestive tract, protect against diabetes, and to have more antioxidants than meat, fruit or grain. And to people who have a family history of cancer, this is one vegetable that actually stops cancerous cells from spreading.

If you ever wanted to hear about food that contributed no calories at all to your diet, did you ever consider watercress? Ounce for ounce, it has more vitamins and calcium than anything else on the face of the earth - more than milk, spinach, or any fruit. Watercress in your daily salad will actually help heal cancer - it will kill cancerous cells, and it will keep the carcinogens in your food from infecting the good cells.

Does this list of the top 10 healthiest foods seem to include a disproportionate number of salad ingredients? Well, that just happens to be true. Consider Popeye fuel, ahem, spinach. Sure you know from watching those cartoons that spinach is good for you; but it doesn't do you as much good when you don't really know how. Of course, it has high levels of every kind of vitamin you need; but spinach is able to actually kill cancerous cells when you have colon cancer. And dementia and Alzheimer's that just seem to run rife these days, is kept away or healed with spinach.

And finally, let's hear it for the reason you have to always carry breath freshener in your pocket - onions. These flavorful (if intense) bulbs pack quite a punch when it comes to fighting cancer of the prostate and the esophagus. The sulfides in onions (the materials that bring the breath problem about) actually help with your cholesterol and blood pressure. And in women, onions are great as a way to prevent osteoporosis.