Breakfast Ideas for Strong Bones and Osteoporosis Prevention Osteoporosis is a major concern, the older you get. It causes your bones to become more brittle, increasing the likelihood of broken bones. You probably already know that vitamin D and calcium are the best nutrients for strengthening your bones. Getting more of these nutrients will help prevent osteoporosis and other bone related problems. While you could take a multi-vitamin, the healthier solution is to eat meals filled with nutrients. As it turns out, some of the foods containing the highest levels of calcium, vitamin D, and other vital nutrients are essential breakfast foods. Orange juice, cereal, milk, and yogurt are all great sources of healthy nutrients. If you prefer to keep your breakfast light, or already have a set morning meal, salmon and various cheese are also good options for getting vitamin D and calcium. Nutrient Rich Breakfast Ideas Take a look at each of these breakfast options and try to choose one for each day of the week. Also notice the included calcium content of each meal, when picking out your breakfast: • 1 cup of calcium-rich cereal (500 milligrams of calcium) • 8 ounces of soy milk (80 to 500 milligrams) • 1 cup of milk (300 milligrams) • 1 cup of yogurt (300 to 400 milligrams) • 8 ounces of orange juice (200 to 340 milligrams) Various cheeses, and even eggs, have vitamin D and calcium; though, in smaller amounts than the items listed above. Consider having a cheesy omelet or scrambled eggs served with a glass of milk or orange juice. That alone would likely add up to at least 500 milligrams of calcium. Searching for Your Own Calcium Rich Foods The foods listed may not include your preferred breakfast choices. When searching for your own calcium rich foods, pay attention to the food labels. Food labels often list calcium and other nutrients as a percentage of the daily recommended value. The standard recommended amount of calcium that an adult should consume each day is 1000 milligrams. So, if a food label states that the product as 25% of your daily recommended value of calcium per serving, it would have 250 mg of calcium. Add another decimal point to the end of the percentage, and you have your total per serving in milligrams. Additional Tips for Stronger Bones Along with a healthy breakfast, there are a few other tips you should follow for stronger bones. If you have already been diagnosed with osteoporosis, then you should consume 500 milligrams of calcium, three times a day. Make sure that each of your three meals is full of calcium to reverse the effects of osteoporosis. Strength training is another method that you can use for building bone strength. Regular exercise helps increase your flexibility, build muscle, and promotes stronger bone growth. The bottom line is that the key to strong bones is calcium and vitamin D. Get it any way you can, but preferably with your morning meal. Start basing your breakfasts around healthy foods that contain your essential nutrients, such as cereal, milk, and yogurt. Ward away osteoporosis and promote strong, healthy bones. References: http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/living-with-osteoporosis-7/diet-nutrition

10 Healthy Food Swaps That Actually Taste Great

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Everyone knows that eating healthier foods helps you lose weight and have better overall health. So why doesn’t knowing translate into doing for two-thirds of the people in America? Eating healthy can be hard, especially with the grocery shelves of today containing such a large offering of lab-concocted, delightful-tasting treats.

Science has proven that the best way to lose weight and to keep it off isn’t necessarily to go cold turkey to an all fruit and veggie eating lifestyle. Instead, the best way to achieve a healthy weight and maintain that healthy weight is to make small, consistent changes in how you eat. To help kick start those changes, we’ve made a list of 10 healthy foods swaps that are better for you but still taste great.

10 Healthy Food Swaps You’ll Love

Sorbet Instead of Ice Cream

Dairy-free sorbet contains far less calories and 30 percent less fat than ice cream does. A healthier choice than less-fat or fat-free ice creams (due to the unhealthiness of the artificial sweeteners and other chemicals in those “treats”), sorbet will satisfy your sweet cravings without adding to your waistline.

An Open-Faced Sandwich Instead of a Traditional One

Skipping that extra piece of bread on your sandwich may not save a ton of calories, but if you’ve ever read Wheat Belly, you know that skipping that extra slice of bread will have various other benefits to your health, including lessening the damage wheat can do to your gut.

A Smoothie Made With Oranges Instead of Orange Juice

It’s always better for the body to eat real fresh fruit instead of fruit juices. Even 100% fruit juices often contain preservatives and other hidden chemicals. Choosing real fruit instead of a fruit juice will not only help you take in less calories, it will increase your fiber intake as well.

Avocado Instead of Mayonnaise as a Sandwich Spread

The creamy goodness of fresh avocado is the perfect healthy substitute to the high-calorie, unhealthy fat of mayonnaise. The fat contained in avocado is a healthy omega-3 fat, shown to be great for heart health and weight maintenance.

Black Coffee Instead of Coffee With Cream and Sugar

A daily cup of back coffee has health benefits such as improving circulation and is high in antioxidants, but we often cancel out those benefits by loading up our coffee with sugary-flavored products and chemical-laden creamers. Switching to a basic black coffee will improve your health and it’ll take very little time for you to get used to the rich, flavorful taste of unsweetened coffee.

An English Muffin Instead of a Bagel

Having an English muffin for your morning breakfasts instead of a bagel will help you reduce your calorie intake as well as your daily carb intake. And truth be told, English muffins taste just as wonderful as bagels do when smeared with organic butter.

Balsamic Vinegar Instead of Ranch Dressing

Salads seem healthy until you load them down with gobs of ranch dressing, which is full of ingredients most of us can’t even pronounce. Trade in your ranch dressing for a tablespoon of high-quality balsamic vinegar and some extra virgin olive oil. Then you can have your flavorful salad without all of the chemical additives.

Grilled Prawns Instead of Grilled Steak

By grilling up prawns for dinner instead of steak, you’re cutting back on fat intake and calories, yet still gaining a healthy dose of protein with your meal.

A Burrito Bowl Instead of a Burrito

Skip the tortilla with your burrito and turn it into a salad instead. You’ll not only be cutting back on carb intake, you’ll help your body get used to wheat free meals and yet still keep the flavor in those meals.

Fresh Fruit on Greek Yoghurt Instead of Granola

Topping your Greek yoghurt with fresh fruit instead of granola will help you reduce carb intake and increase fresh fruit intake at the same time. There’s little that’s so refreshing for a morning meal or snack than a cup of fresh fruit.

Making small changes to your daily diet will hardly impact the way you feel about giving up processed foods, but over the long haul those small changes will add up to big results in terms of your overall health.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/pain-free-food-swaps-that-actually-taste-good/story-fneuzkvr-1227471303134

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