Peanut Butter

I have for many years told my diabetics that they could use a little peanut butter for breakfast to get some protein with their meal. While this is still sound advice, there is more to peanut butter and other nut butters for that matter.

Many people worry about the caloric content. The key word to be aware of here is moderation. I once recommended peanut butter to my brother and he ate half a jar the first time he had some. I had to say, no, no - just 2 tablespoons a day - that is equivalent to one serving.

Nut butters contain lots of good nutrients like unsaturated fats which can help actually lower cholesterol levels. If you're allergic to peanuts, try almond or cashew butter. These not only taste great but have valuable nutrients in them.

Little Things That Can Imporve Heart Health #6

Let's talk about snacking while we're talking about food. For better heart health, try snacking on nuts such as almonds or walnuts instead of chips or cookies when you need a snack. Nuts actually contain lots of healthy ingredients that can help your heart.

Nuts can also help curb your appetite when you eat them between meals. Now I'm talking about raw nuts not sugar roasted.

You can also add nuts to salads or other dishes. They are a great source of protein as well.

More Cheating on Your Diet

When you're cheating, you can always add in some healthy foods as well. For example, if you're going for the ice cream, top it with fruit or nuts.

If you're going for the chips or pretzels, add some peanut butter, avocado or hummus. These are all healthy choices that add some protein in the snack and help you burn the carbs in these snacks.

More Healthy Snacks

I mentioned pumpkin seeds yesterday as a healthy snack. There are other things that are great for a quick healthy snack. Nuts like almonds or walnuts make a great snack. They are nutrient rich and are a great source of protein. Now this doesn't mean to eat a whole can or jar as a snack. What I mean is for you to have a small handful 1-2 times per day.

A great way to eat nuts is with a piece of fruit. Have 8-10 nuts and the fruit and you've had a great snack.

Another Word About Sodium

Recently I wrote about how much salt you should intake in a day. One of my readers wrote and asked about what happens when you exercise very vigorously and you sweat, don't you lose more than just water? The answer is yes, you do lose sodium as well.

So here is the answer. If you are going to be doing vigorous exercise where you will be sweating, keep hydrated. You don't need any fancy vitamin water or gatorade. Just keep drinking plain old water. I recommend that you drink filtered water, but if you don't have filtered water then plain water from the tap will do.

To replenish the sodium, do it with organic foods like fruits and vegetables or nuts. If you go for the electrolyte drinks, you will likely over shoot and you will end up raising your blood pressure.

Best Diet

You all know that I really don't like the word diet. But I recently read an article on the best diet for life. It started out by saying that the Mediterranean diet was the best diet but soon digressed to say that really only part of that was true.

What the researchers found was that the healthiest part of the Mediterranean diet was eating lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes (like beans and peas). This is not exactly what I think of when I here Mediterranean diet. But it is what I have been saying for a long time.

Eating these things was associated with a longer lifespan. In a separate but similar study, the researchers found that by eating these components, there was a reduced risk of developing dementia.

Cheating on Your Diet with Drink

There are a couple of things about drink. First is the one that probably came to mind when you read the title. alcohol. If your treat is to have an alcoholic drink, then have it after you have eaten a good meal or while you are eating a good meal. Then just sip at it. If you drink it afterward, you can think of it as your dessert. It is better not to combine drinking with happy hour as you are likely to overindulge in alcohol and in junk snack foods.

The second kind of drinking I want to talk about is water. Sipping water between bites of your "cheating" food will help it last longer and let you savor it. In addition, you will be giving your body some much needed water.

Not related to drink, but often goes along with drink are munchies. Be smart about which munchies you choose. Pretzels and baked potato chips are 2 of the better munchies. I would recommend that you put a limit on how much you munch. In other words, only put out a small bowl. Better yet, use raw nuts as munchies!

Keep Your Brain Healthy

Want to know how to keep your brain functioning at it's highest and best level? I think we all want to go here. If you have had a relative or known someone who suffered from Alzheimer's Disease, then you have probably already wondered how you can keep your brain functioning at it's best.

I believe there are 5 things you can do to keep you brain functioning at it's very best. The first thing is to eat well. I have written a few things about brain foods. If you look in the key word list on this blog under Brain Food, you will find them. One of the things that I have found to be most helpful in clearing my thinking is to actually cleanse the body which in turn cleans out the bad chemicals from the brain as well. I just recently did a series on cleansing, but if you are interested in cleansing the mind, respond to this post and I will send you more information.

Just some simple basics that clog up your brain are things like sugar and flour. Better to look to foods with natural sugars and whole grains or nuts. Researchers describe brain food diets as those that include fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, fish and poultry.

There are some specific foods which help the brain. Berries, especially blueberries improve short term memory, help clear arteries and improve blood flow to the brain.

More on brain foods tomorrow.