Not Getting Enough Fruit & Veggies In Your Family's Diet? Try These 10 Tips

We all know by now that we should be eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. But knowing and doing are two different things, aren’t they? Sometimes it is just not easy to get them all in there. We are constantly tempted to fill up on convenience and junk food. If your family is anything like mine, they’d much rather fill up on a bag of chips or a bowl of rice or pasta instead of trying an apple or a plate of steamed broccoli. So we’ll have to get creative. Here are a few ideas to “sneak” some extra vegetables and fruits in your family’s diet.

1. Start the day with a breakfast smoothie. All you have to do is throw some fruits, low-fat yogurt and ice in a blender. You may also want to add a scoop of protein powder in there for good measure. Just blend for a few seconds and you have the perfect breakfast ready to go. I like to sip mine in a thermal cup on the way to work. To make it even more appealing for your kids, use some frozen yogurt or a scoop of ice cream in the smoothie. They won’t believe that you are letting them have ice cream for breakfast.

2. Dried fruit makes an excellent snack any time of the day. Add some small cartons of raisins to your child’s lunch box, pack some yogurt-covered raisins in your husband’s briefcase and keep some trail mix sitting around for snacking. You can also add dried fruit to oatmeal and cereal in the morning. My family loves banana chips in their breakfast cereal.

3. Add some fruits and vegetables to your family’s sandwiches. You can add some banana, sliced apples or strawberry slices to a peanut butter sandwich. Top a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and anything else they will eat. You can even make a sub shop style vegetable sandwich by combining several different vegetables with some mayonnaise and cheese on bread.

4. Have a salad bar at dinner. Set out a variety of chopped vegetables, some cheese and croutons as well as several choices of salad dressing along with the lettuce and let everybody create their own perfect salad.

5. Let them drink their fruits and vegetables. Keep an assortment of fruit and vegetable juices in the fridge and encourage everyone to drink them as a snack. Get creative. You could start “family cocktail hour” by pouring everybody a glass of his or her favorite juice over ice. Add some straws, cocktail umbrellas and sit together to talk about how everybody’s day went.

6. Try this for dessert. Put a small scoop of ice cream or frozen yogurt in a bowl and top it with lots of fresh or frozen fruit.

7. Offer fruits and vegetables as snacks. You can cut apples into slices and top them with peanut butter or cheese. Cube cheese and serve with grapes. Cut up some fresh veggies and serve them with ranch dip. And of course there’s ants on a log. Spread some cream cheese or peanut butter on the inside of a stick of celery and sprinkle raisins on it (wow, fruit and vegetable in one snack).

8. Try some new fruits and vegetables. Pick something exotic to get your family’s curiosity. With a little luck their curiosity will outweigh their initial apprehension to trying something new. You could try artichokes, plantains, papaya, mango, star fruit, or anything else you can find in the produce department of your local store.

9. Make a pot of vegetable soup or a stew that’s heavy on veggies and easy on the meat. Both of these make some great comfort food when the weather gets cold.

10. Start “My Veggie Day”. Each family member gets to pick a vegetable one day of the week. They qualify to pick a vegetable as long as they tried each vegetable the week before, otherwise they loose a turn and Mom gets to pick.

Incorporate a few of these ideas and you will have everyone in your family eating more fruits and vegetables in no time.

Here is another tip:

Now that everyone in the family has gotten a taste for it, make sure you always have plenty of fresh fruits and veggies available and ready to snack on.

Want A Simple Step By Step System For Shopping, Cooking & Eating The World's Healthiest Foods? Nutrition, Cooking & Lifestyle For Vibrant Health & Fat Loss

CPR - To Breathe Or Not To Breathe?

By Samantha H Kiva

For many years, the old method of CPR deep breathing along
with chest compressions has been trained in all CPR classes
for the amateur and expert medical professional.

However, times are changing and so is the practice. To make
CPR more effective in emergency situations, there is a push
to eliminate the rescue breathing steps, just as checking
for pulse was removed awhile back for non-professional
rescuers.

The shift is not without controversy, but backed by two new
studies: one by the American Journal of Medicine (April
2006) and the other by The Lancet. The American Heart
Association also changed its guidelines in 2008, based on
these findings.

The reports looked at deep breathing and non-breathing into
the victim and found an increase or nearly 100% in chance of
survival.

However, CPR with rescue breathing as a major component has
been around since the 1960s. Any change is sure to be met
with resistance, especially if the change is a matter of
life and death.

Hands only CPR does simplify the often complex method of
mouth to mouth breathing along with the proper timing of
chest compressions. Most non-trained persons will make
mistakes during an emergency. Hands only CPR makes a
mistake much less likely.

So now without any rescue breathing, the CPR method has been
streamlined to just include chest compressions until help
arrives.

You can not argue with facts and proper studies. However,
also you can not over look the personal factor. A recent
study shows many more people would be apt to get involved
and help if they do not face danger themselves. Most people
are concerned with the close personal contact with mouth to
mouth.

However, it should be noted that this change in technique
does not apply to drowning victims. The new hands-only CPR
is intended for untrained rescuers and only when there has
been a witnessed cardiac arrest.

If you want to read more about Online CPR Certification
visit the (http://www.nationalcprcertification.com) National
CPR Certification Organization.

Ab Machines - Do They Actually Work?

By Tom Leverson

One of the frequent questions I often get asked is, do the
ab cruncher exercise machines you often see on television
actually work? Yes and no is the answer to that question. I
know this is not particularly useful but let me explain.

These machines exercise the different layers of ab muscles.
The idea is that these machines will stimulate the abs muscles
to enlarge. However, they will not necessarily give you a set
of rippling, muscular, lean abs. The reason being is that to
get a set of ripped abs you will need to get rid of that layer
of fat tissue that overlays the abs.

Ab crunchers will not normally remove the fat focally over
the abs. Performing hundreds or thousands of sit ups will
not get rid of this layer of fat tissue for the exact same
reason. The only way to do this is by lowering calorie
intake and burning excess calories, therefore reducing fat
content all over the body.

Adding an aerobic exercise regime to your exercise program
is the most effective way to burn off these calories. Also,
exercises that use the big muscles of the body such as the
quadriceps are great at burning calories.

The quadriceps are the big thigh muscles located at the
upper part of the legs. A good exercise to stimulate the
quads is squats. Due to the fact that they produce so much
heat and burn a large amount of calories means they are
great to help weight loss. They also stimulate the body's
natural growth hormone production therefore encouraging
muscle growth which is good for building those abdominal
muscles.

The most common aerobic exercises are rowing, running,
swimming and cycling. For burning fat it is best to do these
exercises over a long period of time.

Used on their own these machines won't get you a set of
visible rippling abs. You have to do fat busting exercises
as well. Great ab development can be had in as soon as
twelve weeks if you apply this advice consistently.

Tom writes articles about the
(http://vincedelmontereview.com) Vince Delmonte fitness
program which you can read about in his
(http://vincedelmontereview.com/vince-delmonte-review) Vince
Delmonte review.

5 Essential Bodybuilding Nutrition Rules

By Chad J. Beck

Every successful bodybuilder understands that nutrition is a
key component of any training program. Following correct
nutritional practices will provide you with a stable amount
of energy needed for daily activities and for each training
session. Having an excellent nutrition base and enough rest
are vital for ongoing bodybuilding success. Not following a
sound nutritional plan will just limit your potential muscle
gains and may put to waste all your effort and time invested
on training.

According to Catherine Ratzin Jackson, author of the book
"Nutrition for the Recreational Athlete", the eating habits
of bodybuilders aren't always based on sound nutritional
advice. She explains that many bodybuilders base their diet
strategies on tips they've read in bodybuilding magazines or
from -experts' at nutrition stores. Unfortunately, much of
this advice is usually one-sided and does not provide the
complete picture of the essentials of calorie intake,
protein requirements and specific types of food to eat for
weight loss. If you're just getting started with
bodybuilding, here are some essential rules of nutrition
used by professional bodybuilders:

1. Avoid rapid weight loss. Rapid weight loss can result in
the loss of lean body tissue and make it very difficult to
increase muscle size and strength. Extreme weight loss often
results from starvation or low-calorie diets, and may result
in electrolyte imbalances, water and important lean body
mass. High protein, low-fat diets can be harmful to your
health and may prevent you from achieving your ideal body
weight.

2. Always calculate your protein requirements. Muscles need
protein to build up strength and mass. Just make sure that
you are getting the right amount of it. Too much or too
little of this nutrient will not produce your desired
results. Different people need to take different amounts of
protein as measured by their Recommended Dietary Allowance
(RDA). The RDA of protein for sedentary individuals is
0.8g/kg per day. While for athletes, the RDA is set at
1.0-1.5 g/kg. Make it a habit now to check the nutritional
labels of each food you eat to keep track of your protein
consumption.

3. Eat Fresh Foods. Eating fresh foods is an important
component of any bodybuilding program. Stay away from
artificial and processed food as much as possible. Natural
foods from animal and plant sources give out the most
nutrients to our bodies. Our bodies assimilate more
nutrients from natural foods as compared with artificial
foods.

4. Exercise caution in taking supplements. It is now widely
acceptable to use supplements for performance enhancement.
Supplements are a great help to any athlete but they do
cause some negative side effects, especially if abused.
Supplements are designed to be added, or supplement, our
nutrition program. Supplements are by no means created to
replace proper diet and exercise.

5. Watch what you eat before and after a workout. Muscle
builds up significantly before and after you exercise. What
you eat at this time will surely influence this process
either positively or negatively. Always monitor what you eat
at this time by keeping a written record.

Natural Supplementation is a Beneficial Way To Support Your
Well Being and Improve Your Performance.
(http://www.truehealthyproducts.com) Stemulite is an
Excellent, All-Natural Supplement, Used by Many
Body-Builders and Athletes. People Also Frequently Report
Having a Deeper, More Restful Sleep when Taking
(http://www.truehealthyproducts.com/index.php/Products.html)
Stemulite Before Going to Bed.

Use These 5 Criteria When Choosing A Muscle Building Program To Fit You

By Mark Dale

Why is it that so many people who have followed various
muscle building programs have failed to make the muscle mass
gains they desire? Well put simply, it's usually because
they've followed a muscle program that is completely
unsuitable for building muscle. If this sounds like you and
you're not seeing regular muscle growth and improvements in
the mirror then you are doing something wrong.

However, many muscle building programs can be completely
inappropriate to an individual's needs. The result of this
can be anything from little or no muscle gains or even
injury through over training.

If you are looking for a muscle building program that can be
customized for your goals, body type, and size then I
suggest you think about the following 5 main points when
choosing your next program:

1. Workout Time

Muscle building programs aimed at gaining lean muscle mass
will not have you training for hours in the gym. Your
workout routines should last no more than 45 mins, but
should be intense and push your strength to the limit.

2. Varying Your Workout Program

Keep your workout program varied and this will help to keep
your muscles growing by stimulating them in different ways.
Therefore re-structure your gym workouts every 8 - 12 weeks.
If you don't change routines your body will become used to
the same exercises and muscle growth will slow or even stop.

3. Rest is Part of Your Muscle Program

You need plenty of rest to help your muscles grow and to
help your body recover from your workouts. Every good muscle
building program must include rest days and you should
always take a week off at the end of your 8-12 weeks
program.

4. Perform Exercise with Correct Form

When doing any sort of physical activity you must make sure
that you do them safely, using the correct form and speed.
Look out for muscle building programs that provide you with
exercise databases that are either video or illustration
based. If you are unsure of how to do an exercise correctly
then don't do it -watch the video or study the illustrations
and practice with a light weight.

5. Diet - The Most Essential Part!

Diet is the key to every bodybuilder's success. However any
muscle building diet must be personalized to your body type
and goals. The best muscle building programs will provide
diet plans for every individual. This means diet plans will
cover all calorie levels and include meals from 2000 - 6000
calories a day. The best meal plans I've come across even
cater for vegetarians or those who need to avoid specific
foods.

So that's 5 very simple but very important tips to get you
on the right track to muscle building success. Make sure you
find answer to all these points when you are looking at
muscle building programs.

Don't fall into the trap of buying the wrong muscle building
program, read these muscle building reviews first. Learn
more about how to Increase Muscle Mass =>
http://addingmusclemass.blogspot.com