Cereals for breakfast? Yes, but…

We’ve all heard or read it by now: having breakfast is part of a healthy lifestylen whether we’re looking to lose weight or not, and will contribute to jumpstarting your metabolism after 8 or 9 long hours of fasting–certainly not the contrary! And for lots of people, myself included, cereals are an easy, convenient, yummy way of having a proper breakfast: good, whole grains will fill you up until late in the morning, provide you with much needed fiber, and prevent you from experiencing the nasty insuline-crash that makes so many people tired and cranky come 10 or 11 am.

But there is cereal and cereal, and what looks, sounds and tastes healthy may not always be so, no matter how many times the words “Whole Grain”, “Improved mix” or “Reduced Sugar” are stamped on the packaging. Let’s take what we often call ‘cereals for kids’. It’s for kids, right, so it must be full of nutrients and of positive little things? Well, not so much. In fact, both from studies and from personal experience, I now know that this kind of cereals is probably the worst we can feed ourselves (and our poor kids, come to think of it). Even the so-called ‘reduced sugar’ variety brings just as many calories as its high-sugar equivalent. Simply enough, sugars in it are replaced with… other refined carbs, nothing else. One just has to check the nutrition labels more closely to see that oh so small, but also so annoying change. Sugar or other refined carbs, isn’t that refined anyway in the end?

No need to say that it’s not worth it. Fortunately, there are truly healthier alternatives out there. Oatmeal, for instance–in spite of its reputation of bland food, a few blueberries or other fruits will already liven it up a lot. Or simple All Bran’s (290 kcal for 100g and plenty of fiber, according to what my box says, and in any case better than some cereal made of more sugar and chocolate than real wheat). And although I haven’t found this brand where I live, which means I couldn’t test it by myself, Kashi cereals are a good pick too. Basically, anything that is whole will be ten times better than what isn’t, even if you may feel that the difference in caloric intake is not that much perceptible to start with.

Also, make sure that your cereals contain enough fiber (5 grams or more per serving) and protein, and not too much sugar. Be on the look-out for whole wheat or wheat bran, to make sure it is as unprocessed as possible. Again, if you have the slightest doubt, read the label to make sure. And avoid hydrogenated oils like the plague (trans fats ahoy!).

No matter what your choices will be, I hope you’ll enjoy your really improved breakfasts as much as I enjoy mine.

All the benefits of vitamin K

Vitamin K: a matter of slight argument at times when I eat at my parents’, because I happen to love quite an amount of vegetables that contain it, while most of my family just isn’t too keen about veggies as a whole. Their loss, I say! Because the vitamin K in them is something that is really worth getting.

• It allows your blood to clot normally (both by making it happen and by regulating its whole process–we want clotting to stop at some point, too).
• It helps protect against osteoporosis (vitamin K1 helps maintain bone mass, and shouldn’t we women especially love this?).
• It prevent oxidative cell damage (let’s give one more kick to those free radicals: we need antioxydants!).

You might want to check whether your vitamin K intake is high enough if you notice you happen to bruise or bleed easily, experience malabsorption, or suffer from liver/gallbladder problems.

Vitamin K isn’t that hard to get. Actually, it is present in vegetables that could probably be considered as very common, such as green beans and spinach, or broccoli and green peas. The benefits listed above also aren’t all there is to it: it seems that research about vitamin K is progressing regularly, and is currently bent on analyzing, among other things, the way it can help our bodies to bind calcium. Besides, there’s another good thing with that vitamin: contrary to others, it is more resilient when cooked, which contributes to a lower loss of it than could be expected at first.

WHfoods.org has a very good, recent article about the benefits and effects of vitamin K, and I will encourage you to read it. (But beware if you need to take anticoagulant medications, though.)

The Raw Food Kitchen

I stumbled recently upon these videos, and not only do the recipes look interesting and delicious, they also feature whole foods, which are something I tend to advocate a lot when it comes to healthy eating and cooking. The show I’m talking about here is called Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Kitchen, and its installments can be watched online here (or on YouTube directly).

Ani Phyo is a vegan raw and living foods chef, which has to be mentioned, because it also conditions the kind of recipes you will be able to find in her videos. But for anyone wishing to try such a lifestyle, or simply in search of new, interesting recipes involving whole, raw foods (I’m not a vegan, but that doesn’t prevent me from liking to try new tastes and dishes to help my own cooking become livelier), I think these can be a fairly interesting source of ideas.

Finally, if you wish to know more about Ani Phyo and are generally interested about her website (and the recipes listed there as well!), you will find it here at http://www.aniphyo.com. Really, who wouldn’t want to give a shoot at some donut holes naturally sweetened with whole dates? Let’s admit it looks both yummy and devoid of any kind of processed foods constraints (and odd components).

Healthy lifestyle: Finding a gym easily

I’ve been thinking about mentioning this here for some time, but was a little hesitant because I was afraid it would seem like raw advertisement. However, the more I think of it, the more I realize it can be useful nonetheless, and shouldn’t fall victim to the fear of seeing it being lumped in the same basket as unwanted advertisement.

A few weeks ago, I was put in contact with this website called GymTicket. While it is geared at people living in the USA ‘only’, there is no doubt that there are way enough US people hanging around here for them to be indeed concerned and interested with such a webpage. Simply put, GymTicket helps you easily find a gym near where you live, thanks to its database of over 15,000 gym clubs all over the USA. The only thing you need to input is your address, city and state. Virtual tours of the available gyms are even proposed, so that you can check them more closely from home before actually deciding to give them a visit ‘in the flesh’.

Why is this interesting in and of itself? Well, I bet we all know that starting out an activity program isn’t always the easiest thing in the world, and that not being aware of what the nearby gyms are can also be a deterrent–or a good, convenient excuse, depending on how one wants to consider it (aren’t we human beings sometimes quick to rule out a solution just because it hasn’t been put directly under our nose?). So, if getting a nearby address plus a short tour to start with can help a person take his/her decision, to me it is a good thing.

I hope this may be useful to you. Personally, I sure wish I knew a similar website for gyms in my own country.

My Fitness Pal

My Fitness pal is a website that you can easily count calories. You can also keep track of your fitness goals as well as calorie intake. The clean interface makes it a very simple program to use.

There is nothing to download with My Fitness Pal since everything is web-based. This means that you can have access to your information from any computer. You want to update your calories while at work. You can do that and then update again after supper at home. My Fitness Pal is 100% free to use and sign up is a simple process.

I’ve tried other online calorie counting programs and found them cumbersome and way too hard to really get into. I guess the simplicity of the pages really makes My Fitness Pal makes a good choice for me. If a food is not listed in their database, you can add it. There are some foods that might be regional and not available elsewhere. Simply grab the nutrition label and plug in the right numbers. The add a food screen is set up just like a label, so it’s easy to identify which value goes in which slot.

My Fitness Pal is really simple to use. It can be a great tool to help you keep track of fitness and eating goals as well as track progress.