Healthy Digestive System Update

The important functions of your digestive system are managed mostly by bacteria and not by your own body. The bacteria in your gut comprise what is called your normal flora. Foods and supplements that replenish them are called probiotics.  Probiotics have formed a vital part of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern diets for thousands of years, in the form of fermented milk and vegetable products such as yogurt and pickles. They are credited, in part, for the remarkably low rates of chronic, age-related diseases that prevail in those regions.  I love yogurt and try to eat it as often as I can but sometimes my best intentions get waylaid by a busy lifestyle.  Research is catching up with this traditional wisdom in the form of a new science called pharmabiotics — the use of broad spectrum probiotic products to improve intestinal and immune health.  The science of pharmabiotics is based on an explosion of research highlighting the amazing health benefits of the trillions of bacteria living in our bodies. These bacteria are so intimately involved with our lives and health that they are considered an actual part of the human organism.

Probiotics are not alone in promoting a healthy digestive system.  Enzymes are important for the body’s proper absorption and utilization of food. Over time, the body’s ability to make certain enzymes reduces as part of the natural aging process. Many scientists now believe that maintaining normal levels of key enzymes is important to maintaining overall health. Enzymes are responsible for every activity of life. Digestive and metabolic are the two primary classifications of enzymes within the body. Proteases (aids in digesting protein), amylases (aids in digesting carbohydrates), and lipases (aids in digesting fats) are the three primary digestive enzymes, which function as the biological catalyst to breaking down food. In today’s world of processed and fast foods, the body must work harder to break down food and absorb the nutrients. Poor eating habits, such as improper or inadequate chewing and eating on the run contribute to reduced levels of digestive enzymes. In addition to a reduction in essential enzymes, poor eating habits, some medications and illness deplete the body’s probiotics, which are necessary for maintaining a healthy digestive tract and promoting a healthy immune system.

Isotonix Digestive Enzyme Formula with Probiotics is an isotonic-capable food supplement that is made from a combination of DigeZyme®, a blend of amylase, protease, cellulase, lactase, and lipase, and Lactospore®, the probiotic Lactobacillus sporogenes, and potassium, magnesium, maltase and sucrase, designed to replenish essential digestive enzymes and probiotics, contributing to good digestive health. Isotonix Digestive Enzyme Formula helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels, promotes digestion and absorption of nutrients, supports a healthy digestive tract, supports a healthy immune system and may help ease occasional stomach upset. DigeZyme is a multi-enzyme complex consisting mainly of amylase (starch hydrolyzing enzyme), protease (protein hydrolyzing enzyme) and lipase (fat hydrolyzing enzymes). In addition to these, it also contains cellulase (that hydrolyzes cellulose) and lactase (that hydrolyzes lactose). The enzymes in this complex are of microbial origin (fungal amylase, lipase, lactase, cellulase; and a bacterial neutral protease). The product is, therefore, entirely of non-animal origin. Lactospore, a preparation containing viable spores of L. sporogenes, has been used in successful clinical trials in the management of gastrointestinal issues, mild lactose intolerance and supporting healthy immune functions.

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More Tips for a Healthy Diet Plan

Replenish. Fill your newly cleaned freezer with frozen vegetables and fruits with no sauces or sugars added.                http://bit.ly/Jd9jUQ

Tips for a Healthy Diet Plan

The big first step toward developing new, better habits is making room for them. Start by going through you cupboards, refrigerator and freezer and get rid of anything that’s expired, unidentifiable, freezer-burned, or stale. Spices more than 2 years old have lost their potency by now. Consider tossing unhealthy snacks, soft drinks and sugary cereals or moving them to a hard-to-reach place. Once you eliminate what’s not helping, you open up your kitchen and life to new possibilities. http://bit.ly/Jd9jUQ

Vegetables Made Easy

Eating plenty of vegetables is not only a central part of low-GI eating, it’s a big part (or should be a big part) of healthy eating in general. This is the case for several reasons:

• Virtually all vegetables—with the exception of white potatoes—have a low GI (55 or less)
• Vegetables are “nutrient dense”, meaning they provide a respectable amount of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber relative to the amount of carbohydrates they contain
• Vegetables, because of their natural fiber content and bulk, are a Dieter’s Dream; they fill you up quickly, and keep you feeling fuller for longer

Despite all these major advantages for the diet, many of us still seem to avoid vegetables in the kitchen. Aside from any childhood drama associated with mounds of Brussels sprouts and memberships in the Clean Plate Club, the reason seems to be the belief that vegetables are too expensive, and that their preparation and cooking requires far more time, skill and precision than other foods.
This is not true. Like anything else, it’s a lot to do with organization, equipment and mindset. Here is a step-by-step guide for making vegetables easy.

Choose Wisely
When choosing vegetables, the best piece of nutritional advice is the same one that’s often used for selecting fruit: Eat a Rainbow. That is, fill your basket with as many colors as possible to ensure variety and prevent boredom. This is a very simple and fun way to achieve balanced nutrition.
When it comes to the classic “fresh versus frozen” debate, it’s true that fresh, locally grown vegetables might hold a slight advantage, but frozen vegetables are usually much cheaper, are pre-sliced or diced, and are nowhere near as poor an alternative as some purists maintain—depending on how far a fresh vegetable has had to travel, it’s frozen counterpart may actually have retained more nutrients.
Apart from that, use common sense: cabbage, zucchini, squash, peppers and asparagus all rinse quickly and chop easily, and the list doesn’t stop there. Find others for yourself.

Set Up for Success
Invest in a good-sized cutting board and one good chef’s knife; you can get both for well under $50, and they will last practically forever.

We’ve all seen a cooking show at one time or another; ever notice how everything is laid out and ready to go? Part of the reason they make it look easy is because they have, in fact, set it up to be easy—we should all do the same. Do your rinsing right as your stove heats up. If you can, set your cutting board right next to your stove, and your trashcan between you and the countertop: this makes cooking a matter of “chop and drop” (or again, skip this step by buying frozen, pre-cut vegetables). This article presumes most of us are cooking on the stovetop, which is more universal, but another non-chopping option is to roast or grill vegetables whole. Try it once in a while, just to change things up.

In the pan, the general order of placement should be: carrots, celery and onions first, then broccoli and/or cauliflower, then peppers, then zucchini, squash, and mushrooms, and finally greens like spinach or kale. The first ones take the longest to cook, the last ones just a couple of minutes.

Chop for Days
As opposed to chopping and cooking on a per-meal basis; this minimizes hassle, and when done in balance doesn’t compromise food quality. The thought is: if you’ve started chopping and are on a roll, why stop there? Chopped vegetables keep just as well as whole ones, and it doesn’t take double the time to chop double the vegetables once you get going. For most people, chopping vegetables every other day is also more appealing than every single day. As a final bonus, always having chopped vegetables on hand will make you that much more inclined to eat them by throwing them into omelets, heating them up quickly as a side dish, or even leaving them uncooked on top of a salad—yet another option, which makes vegetables about as easy as they can get!

From all of the above, it should be clear that vegetables, apart from being a nutritional powerhouse, can also be made very user-friendly. No more excuses: drop all your fears, and go after the vegetable rainbow—there’s nutritional gold at the end!

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Do’s and Don’ts of Dining Out and a Healthy Diet

Eating out when you are trying to lose weight can be stressful. Eating out shouldn’t stress you out. Some of us have to eat out, because of traveling for work, hectic schedules, or maybe you just hate to cook. Learn some simple dos and don’ts of eating out.  It’s more about eating certain foods in moderation, substituting one type of food for another, making smarter choices, or adding a good fat or protein to lower the glycemic impact.
Dos:

Order sauces on the side
Start your meal with a salad, soup or consommé
Split your plate in half and save one half for lunch the next day
Have a small snack before you go
Balance your plate with mainly vegetables, keeping meat and grains in their proper portion sizes
Order main courses based on vegetables, not with vegetables as an after thought
Order foods that are roasted, braised, steamed, grilled, broiled, or pan seared

Don’ts:

Order heavy cream sauces
Load up on the butter
Forget the veggies
Fill up on alcohol
Fill up on empty carbs like chips
Add extra sauce
Overdo the cheese
Double/Triple/Quadruple the meat portion
Order fried food
Brought to you by Transitions Lifestyle System
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