Healthy Dinner Recipes For a Healthier You

By Deborah Prosser

We know we should eat healthy. We want what is best for our family. So why don't we eat the way we are supposed to eat? Let's take a look at some of the reasons why we tend to make unhealthy choices along with some helpful suggestions for healthy dinner recipes.

No Time to Make and Eat a Healthy Dinner

In today's society, we are always on the go - working, running errands, driving our children to and from school and extracurricular activities; the list is endless. Grocery stores are turning into food malls. With all the aisles and selections to navigate, we may feel we don't have time to go grocery shopping.

Because most people only have a few minutes to get dinner, they usually choose fast food, which is a convenient, albeit unhealthy choice. As a nation, the U.S. is getting fatter and unhealthier. What we need to combat this dilemma are healthy dinner recipe choices that can be prepared fast.

Quick and Healthy Dinner Choices

There are literally thousands of cookbooks on the market and many of them have exactly what we need: quick and healthy dinner recipes. But if you absolutely can't find the time to make a healthy dinner at home; go to the grocery store. Most supermarkets have an area where they sell roasted chicken and deli meats such as sliced turkey. Both these options can be part of a healthy dinner. Grab a loaf of healthy whole grain bread, a bag of apples, and a gallon of milk and you have something much better for you than a quarter pound hamburger with greasy fries.

Healthy Dinners Save You Money

So you've decided that fast food isn't the way to go. What about a sit-down restaurant? The food looks mouth-watering good! At only $12 a meal, you can have enough to satisfy you for hours. They serve steak, potatoes, pastas... and the desserts are to die for! When you look at their fantastic dinner menu you may want to think about what all the sugar, cholesterol and fat will do to your body.

As far as cost goes: It doesn't cost $12 a person to eat at home. In fact, it doesn't have to cost $12 for an entire meal for 5! What is more, you don't save time this way. How long does it take to drive to the restaurant, wait for a table, wait for the food to be prepared, eat and drive home? In that amount of time you could have made an inexpensive, healthy dinner and eaten it at home.

How to Pick a Healthy Dinner Recipe

- Use recipes that contain low-fat ingredients like fresh vegetables, fruits, lean meat, whole grains and skim milk.

- Choose the freshest ingredients possible.

- Organic foods are grown without the use of pesticides and hormones and are the best food for your body.

It is all about having the best ingredients on hand at home to select and prepare a healthy dinner recipe for your loved ones.

Preparing dinner at home benefits you in more than time, money and health. It allows you priceless, quality time with your family. Sharing a nutritious meal around the family table is one of the many ways of enjoying healthy dinner choices.

Deborah is a fitness enthusiast and runner. She publishes the website Get In Shape, which focuses on health and fitness for women. You can find out more about healthy dinners on her web page Healthy Dinner Recipes.
Download a copy of the the free ebook 'Everyday Tips To Lose Weight' from her website.

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Pack Your Diet With Antioxidants To Fight Wrinkles And Signs Of Skin Aging

By Marcus Ryan

Are you interested in looking years younger? Then you've got to know about something called free radicals. See, one of the best ways to help your skin age gracefully is to get enough antioxidants in your diet. What do they do? They control the effect of free radicals!

But what are free radicals? And how do we combat them? Glad you asked. Free radicals, oxidative damage and antioxidants are all terms we hear bandied about often, but really, the understanding the effect of antioxidants and free radicals is very important - if you want to stay healthier and look younger that is! And who wouldn't?

As with anything, educating yourself is key and will help you make the right choices for your health and your skin. Free radicals are negative forces on your skin, quite simply. It's believed that they form from a combination of forces including smoking, air pollution, poor diet, stress and sun exposure. They're, in essence, activated by the body when it uses oxygen and they start a chain reaction in all your cells of your body, including your skin cells.

As the free radicals attack your skin cells, they actually damage the cellular structure of the skin, making you age at a faster rate, and causing more wrinkles. The best way to combat the effect of free radicals is to provide your body with plenty of antioxidants. What do they do? They protect the skin from these damaging forces and help to repair the skin. When you have enough antioxidants, stresses that cause free radicals are not as damaging and are not as aging.

In other words, you age more slowly and more gracefully. Antioxidants are not produced naturally by the body so the only way to get them is to either take them in pill form or eat foods full of them, or you could do both. Which method is best?

A recent study conducted by the American Institute for Cancer Research suggests that people who received their antioxidant dose in the form of fruits and vegetables actually showed less oxidation in their bodies than those who received only supplements containing antioxidants. So fresh veggies and fruits are the best. And if you want to, you can add in some supplements as well. Knowing, then, that fresh sources are the best, let's look at how to get more of these powerhouse antioxidants in your diet.

Vegetables

Virtually all vegetables have antioxidants and this is why diets rich in vegetables are the healthiest.
When you pick fruits and vegetables think about color. Color is an important consideration because they to help you make your fresh choices. When in season and are well grown, their rich greens, yellows and reds really stand out. If you can get organic, this is even better!

The only vegetable to limit is potatoes as it's high GI, but the rest, expecially the green leafy ones, are fine. Just go for it and have 5-10 types of vegetables a day.

Fruits

If you're more of a fruit person, all berries such as blueberries, cranberries, blackberries, strawberries are packed with antioxidants as nearly every other fruit. So again, pick what's fresh and in season. Keep in mind though that fruits are higher in sugar, so keep fruits to about 2 types a day.

Oils

Extra virgin olive oils are also packed with anti oxidants, and that's why the Mediterranean diet is considered so healthy. Make sure that the oil is extra virgin, cold pressed preferably. If it's organic, then this will be even more beneficial.

So there you have it. You now know what free radicals do, what antioxidants are, and how to get them. If you plan your diet carefully, you should have no trouble finding heaps of antioxidant rich foods to have in your diet. This will help you fight any number of other health challenges, and a diet full of antioxidants will help your skin look years younger too!

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