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Archive for the ‘Nutrition’ Category

Green iguanas are wonderful pets for those who love reptiles and lizards. I won’t deceive you by saying they are extremely easy to take care of, because iguanas require more commitment and dedication than most other pets. However, they are wonderful pets if you commit to take care of them properly. They are fascinating to observe. Here are just a few iguana facts you might be interested in.

Iguanas are herbivores. They eat plants, greens, vegetables, and fruits.

Iguanas have two eyes on each side of their head, and a “parietal” eye on the very top of their head.

Many think that iguanas need Iceberg lettuce as part of their diet. Iceberg lettuce does not provide sufficient nutrients for your iguana. Iguanas need dark leafy greens such as romaine, collard and mustard greens, and watercress.

An iguana will reach about 2 feet long nose to end of tail by the end of its first year.

An iguana will typically reach about 3 feet long nose to end of tail by the end of its second year.

Over the years, an iguana will grow to a length of about 5 to 6 feet. This sounds big for a pet. Take a look at some iguana pictures; much of this length is accounted for by their tail. It is not quite like having an alligator or crocodile as a pet.

It is generally assumed that iguanas are stupid. They are, actually, smart animals. Not rocket scientists, but they are smart and capable of being trained.

Iguanas shed their skin periodically throughout their adult life.

Iguanas are arboreal lizards in the wild and live in the tropical trees.

Iguanas are raised on farms, then released to “grow.” They are then later consumed as food in native Spanish areas. They are reported to “taste like chicken.” I would not know; as an iguana lover, I could not personally bring myself to taste one. I’ll take their word for it.

As iguanas grow and mature, they lose the vibrant intense color they have as hatchlings.

Attempting to control or stunt an iguana’s growth by restricting its enclosure size is cruel and is an old wives’ tale. It won’t work, and you will make the iguana sick and maybe even injured or worse. They need to be able to move around, exercise, bask, hide, etc.

Not all UV lighting is safe to use in your iguana enclosure.

An iguana does not necessarily know what foods are best for him. Train him early with proper diet and nutrition. Remember, they are herbivores. While he might take meat from you, it is not good for him.

You can mix fresh veggies, fruits, and leafy greens with a commercial iguana food when preparing your iguana’s meals.

Spinach, along with other foods that contain oxalic acid and calcium, are not good for your iguana. The oxalic acid and calcium combine, creating a compound called calcium oxalate. This compound not only prevents proper calcium metabolism, but can cause kidney damage or even uremia.

Iguanas are fascinating creatures to study and observe. There are many facts and characteristics that set them apart from most other pets. Be sure, however, before you possess one, to educate yourself fully on proper care so that you can enjoy your pet iguana adventure to its fullest.

Are you wondering about how to optimize your protein intake? There are many factors that come into play when choosing sources for protein. Certain proteins are not absorbed well by the body, while other types of protein bring a high fat content with them into the body.

Here’s a list of a few of the protein sources in healthy nutrition that can help your body big-time:

Meats:

Poultry: Containing, on average, 26 grams of protein per serving while only having 12 grams of fat, poultry is one of the best foods you can eat for protein.

Weighing in at around 140 calories per serving, chicken is a wonderful food to help keep your health up.

Beef: Slightly less healthy for you then chicken, lean beef contains about 25 grams of protein with 20 grams of fat. At 275 calories, beef comes in as a close second for high protein levels.

These levels are merely estimates at protein sources in healthy nutrition plans. Meat levels can vary between the cuts of the meat and the quality.
Also, protein sources in healthy nutrition can come in supplemental forms. Here is some information about them:

Whey Protein: One of the best sources of protein available, whey protein comes from milk. It is very digestible, but may cause diarrhea due to the high lactose content.

You can also obtain Soy Protein, another great source.

Why do you need protein? Protein is one of the building blocks of your body. Amino acids found in protein are crucial for growth, tissue repair, and tissue replacement. Without enough protein, your body will not be able to create the new things it needs!

It is recommended that on a daily basis, you eat about 0.75 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. It can be the key to kick-starting your health.

Fast food seems to be the main provider of nutrition for our body these days. The amounts of fast food consumed by children below 14 have increased at tremendous rate from 1980 to 2000. The estimation is that children now consume 10% of their bodies with fast food, and that 10% of fast food contribute to their total energy intake on daily basis.

Compare this to the 2% number of fast food consumption in children in 1980. And for your information, relying on fast food alone won’t meet your body daily requirement of nutrition. The numbers of fast food restaurants have doubled in 20 years and it’s predicted to growth at more alarming rate in the coming years. The reason of this alarming growth rate is due to the bad infestation of fast food restaurants, not only in America, but also in the world.

The fast food giants now also specifically target children in their advertisement campaign too. And now we can see fast food restaurants opening up their branches at public school too. This fast food infestation is believed to be responsible in triggering the obesity and diabetes epidemic in societies. And since a lot of people rely on fast food for their daily nutrition intake its worth knowing the nutritions information that are contained in the fast food.

So let’s get to know well the fast food nutrition information that is currently becoming a part of our daily life. First of all most of the fast food use partially hydrogenated vegetable oil which contribute trans fat to our body. Trans fats are hand-made fats which are made through the injection of hydrogen on unsaturated fat, making it a trans fat. So naturally all fast food products which are made through frying contain a lot of Trans fat.

Research done by feeding monkeys on fast food which contain Trans fat resulted in an increase of the size of bellies of the monkeys. And monkeys fed on unsaturated fat foods which contain the same calories did not show the same increase of size. And the most alarming occurrences are that monkeys fed on fast food show an early sign of diabetes. These Trans fats that are found in fast food have higher probability of causing heart disease than other fats.

Let’s take a look at some of the popular fast food products.

McDonald’s Big Mac and fries

Fat: 12g (per 100g)

Salt:; 0.9g

Sugar: 3.7g

Protein: 9.3

Fibre: 3.2g

KFC two chicken pieces and fries

Fat: 12g

Salt: 0.7g

Sugar: n/a

Protein: 12.2g

Fibre: n/a

Considering the amount of fat available there, obviously the best choices for food in fast foods restaurant are the salad and the grilled meat. Be careful with the dressing; make sure you order it in separate cups so that you can control the amount of additional fat that you are going to eat.

Mc Donald Chicken Caesar Salad

Fat: 6 g (per 100g)

Salt: 0.39 g

Protein: 7g

Sugar: 1g

Fibre: 3g

Subway Veggie Delight sandwich

Fat: 3g

Salt: 0.5 g

Protein: 7g

Sugar: 3.5g

Fibre: 3g

Subway Chicken Savory Sandwich

Fat: 3g

Salt: 0.6 g

Protein: 8g

Sugar: 6g

Fibre: 4g

With such a bad infestation of fast food, now you know what to order when your friends or your colleagues or even your families insist on taking you to the nearest fast food chain. New York City have 23 McDonald’s in Manhattan alone and everywhere in hospitals, airports, train stations and eve high schools, so with this fast food nutrition information you are armed with knowledge to order the least poisonous foods for you.

Are you one of those people blocking the aisles in your supermarket while you read the nutrition label and ingredient list of every box of cereal or loaf of bread, trying to decide which one is best for you and your family? If you’re reading this article, you are probably like me – well-intentioned, diligent, exhausted, cross-eyed and unfortunately, still confused.

Recently, the Institute of Medicine issued a report concluding that simplified front-of-package food labeling could help improve Americans’ diets and health. The report emphasizes the importance of listing calories and three problem nutrients: saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium.

However, the Institute of Medicine report fails to address the very critical problem of added sugars which are a big contributor to the epidemic of chronic diseases in this country. Many foods are now “low fat” but loaded with sugar, and a system that ignores added sugars might rank sodas as healthy since they are low in fat and sodium.

Other countries have experimented with a system that ranks foods with a red, yellow or green light on the package indicating whether the food is healthy or not. Food manufacturers had tried introducing their own front-of-package labeling system which had to be revoked when it was apparent that they were not doing a good job of policing themselves. Recently they have said that they will try again.

But who can trust either the government or business to really disclose the truth about what’s in your food? Ideally what is needed is a system developed by experts unaffiliated with the food industry, the FDA or the USDA. And it must be able to analyze the more than 50,000 food items found in a typical grocery store and assign a recommendation or ranking to each item.

According to Dr. David Katz, an Associate Professor at the Yale University School of Public Health, and the Director and founder of Yale’s Prevention Research Center, the health problem we face today is a related to the nutrition disinformation in the marketplace. An expert in nutrition and preventative medicine, he points out that “real food is shockingly elusive.” What we get in supermarkets is a lot of processed and fake foods.

The health crisis in the U.S. today, resulting from an epidemic of obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, is not the fault of an ignorant or lazy population lacking in willpower, but a combination of “obesegenic factors” that conspire against our efforts to eat well. There is no one answer to the problem of obesity but better food labeling can remove one of the obstacles to good health and that obstacle is a lack of reliable nutrition information.

There is an enormous amount of nutrition information in the marketplace especially on packaged food. However, the food industry is allowed to make nutrition claims that are completely confusing if not misleading. For example, a consumer worried about sodium might assume that, given a choice among potato chips, Fritos, Wheat Chex and YooHoo, the wise choice would be the Wheat Chex. Wrong. It has over twice the amount of sodium per 100 calories as the Fritos and three times the amount as the chips. Even the YooHoo is higher in sodium than the Fritos or the chips.

Another example is reduced fat peanut butter which is marketed as a healthy alternative to regular peanut butter. Consumers think they are doing a good thing in buying the reduced fat version. Wrong. Although the reduced fat version has a half gram less of saturated fat, it also has 66% more sodium, over twice as many carbohydrates, 33% more added sugars and less fiber.

Ideally any food labeling system should allow consumers to make a better, healthier choice by taking into consideration all of the factors that go into a “healthy food,” including vitamins, minerals, fiber, Omega-3 fatty acids, bioflavanoids and carotenoids, as well as saturated fats, trans fats, sugar, cholesterol and sodium. In addition, any scoring system should take into account the quality of proteins and fats, glycemic load and energy density. Foods with a significant amount of vitamins and minerals but a relatively low amount of calories should be ranked more favorably. Those containing nutrients that have proven in studies to have a higher correlation with major chronic diseases and serious health conditions, such as trans fats, should receive a less favorable ranking.

So long as manufacturers are able to make health claims for unhealthy foods, the obesity epidemic will continue to be fed by misinformation.

Here is a list of the most commonly used fruits in juicer recipes and their nutritional content. Fruits have a substantial amount of vitamins and minerals which are specified below. I’ve also included the different phytochemicals found in these fruits. Phytochemicals are natural bio-active compounds found in plant foods that have potent properties to protect against disease.

Apples

If you are looking to prevent dog disease with proper nutrition, then you will find a lot of great information in this article. And who doesn’t what to protect their beloved K-9? You are about to learn why commercial dog food is very unhealthy and even deadly, what foods are actually good for dogs, which foods to avoid, and what to look for in a healthy dog food recipe. After you have absorbed this information, you will have learned everything you need to know to prevent dog disease.

A few years ago the pet food recall hit the news, and hit it hard! Many people lost their dogs to disease from contaminated food. This is when the truth about the commercial brands came to light and shocked the world. Here is what we learned. Store bought brands contain meat, which can actually be from dead dogs, road kill, and by-products that are unfit for human consumption and are of almost no nutritional value whatsoever. They can also contain deadly chemicals and poisons from euthanized dogs. Furthermore, they often use fillers like corn, which dog’s cannot digest, and artificial sweeteners, artificial fats, additives, and preservatives. Even without the recall, your dog is at risk for disease from the commercial brands; diseases like kidney failure, liver disease, and infections. The pet food industry is not very heavily regulated, so you never really know what’s in the food you are feeding your dog. But a good dog owner’s thorough research can lead him or her to information about good, healthy dog diets.

Protein is a vital component to a dog’s nutritional needs, so make sure he is getting enough. Good, safe sources of protein include beef, chicken, turkey, and fish. There are also many vegetables that dogs can have, including carrots, cabbage, celery, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, and spinach. Another important part of a dog’s diet is starch. The most healthy choices are cooked potatoes and brown rice. You will know you’ve found a good, healthy dog food recipe or store product if it contains these whole food ingredients.

There are many foods that are considered healthy for people that are actually bad for dogs. Those foods include dairy products, corn, chocolate, grapes, raisins, onions, and garlic. These ingredients can cause stomach upset and some can even be toxic if given in large quantities. Furthermore, a dog’s digestive system can’t handle processed foods very well, so avoid white bread, white rice, and anything artificial like sweeteners and fats.

Indeed the best way to control what you feed your dog is to make it yourself! Yes, it’s true and don’t let it scare you. There are many simple and quick recipes on the internet, in magazines, and books, so they aren’t hard to find. You already know what ingredients should be in your dog’s food, so you can research and choose the best healthy dog food recipes. Just be sure you pick many different kinds because variety is important to a dog’s diet to ensure he is getting all the nutrition he needs in order to prevent dog disease.

Now that you learned these facts, you can more confidently prevent dog disease by giving your dog the healthiest meals you can find and ensure his proper nutrition. The road you take is up to you. There are healthy store brands on the market, but it may be better to take more control of your dog’s diet by using healthy dog food recipes. You already know what foods are healthy for your dog and which ones are not so it won’t be very difficult at all. Whatever you choose, you will have the peace of mind knowing that you are doing everything you can to prevent dog disease.