Are You Eating The Right Carbohydrates?

This is the technical meaning of “healthy fat.” Your body needs these fats to function properly, yet it doesn't produce it on it's own. Flax seed oils is the form in which the oil was extracted from the seed. Omega-3 fatty acids which contain the majority of flax seed health benefits are very susceptible to heat.

Flax seeds may come in different colors, but the colors don’t anything to do with the value of their nutrition. They are all equally beneficial to you.

One way to influence brain health through diet is to consume the right fats and oils.

Lignans and other flax seed components may also have antioxidant properties, which means they may reduce the activity of cell-damaging free radicals.

Are You Eating the Right Carbohydrates?

Whether you're trying to lose weight or just want to eat healthier, you may be confused by the news you're hearing about carbohydrates. With so much attention focused on protein diets, there's been a consumer backlash against carbohydrates. As a result, many people misunderstand the role that carbohydrates play in a healthy diet.

Carbohydrates aren't all good or all bad. Some kinds promote health while others, when eaten often and in large quantities, may increase the risk for diabetes and coronary heart disease.

What are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates come from a wide array of foods - bread, fruit, vegetables, rice, beans, milk, popcorn, potatoes, cookies, spaghetti, corn, and cherry pie. They also come in a variety of forms. The most common and abundant ones are sugars, fibers, and starches. The basic building blocks of all carbohydrates are sugar molecules. The digestive system handles all carbohydrates in much the same way - it breaks them down (or tries to break them down) into single sugar molecules, since only these are small enough to absorb into the bloodstream. It also converts most digestible carbohydrates into glucose (also known as blood sugar), because cells are designed to use this as a universal energy source. This is why carbohydrates can make us feel energetic. Carbohydrates fuel our body. Your body stores glucose reserves in the muscles in the form of glycogen ready to be used when we exert ourselves.

Carbohydrates are the highest octane - the most desirable fuel source for your body's energy requirements. If you don't have an adequate source of carbohydrate your body may scavenge from dietary protein and fat to supply glucose. The problem is when you've depleted your stores of glycogen (stored glucose in muscle and lean tissue) your body turns to burning muscles or organs (lean muscle tissue) and dietary protein or fat to provide blood glucose to supply energy needs. When this happens, your basal metabolic rate drops because you have less lean muscle tissue burning calories and your body thinks its starving and cuts back on energy requirements.

So you should continue to eat carbohydrates discriminately selecting those which have the greatest health benefits.

Flaxseeds and their oil may also lower total blood cholesterol, as well as LDL ("bad") cholesterol Human studies have shown that flaxseed can modestly reduce serum total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations, reduce postprandial glucose absorption, decrease some markers of inflammation, and raise serum levels of the omega-3 fatty acids, ALA and eicosapentaenoic acid.

Omega-3 fatty acids are long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (18-22 carbon atoms in chain length) with the first of many double bonds beginning with the third carbon atom (when counting from the methyl end of the fatty acid molecule). Read on for more details on flax seed benefits. Like most vegetable oils, flaxseed oil contains linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid needed for survival. But unlike most oils, it also contains significant amounts of another essential fatty acid, alpha linolenic acid (ALA). There are many benefits to adding flax seeds to your diet. Well for instance they can get rid of your constipation problem.

The carbohydrates you consume should come from carbohydrate-rich foods that are close to the form that occurs in nature. The closer the carbohydrate food is as Mother Nature intended, the greater the density of other vital nutrients. If you are looking for health-enhancing sources of carbohydrates you should choose from: Fruit: rich in fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, potassium and often vitamin E.

Vegetables: fiber, protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, often vitamin E, potassium and a wider variety of minerals than fruit. Whole grains and grain foods: rich in fiber, protein, and some B vitamins and are very rich in minerals.

Legumes: an excellent source of protein, fiber folate, potassium, iron and several minerals.

Dairy foods: protein, vitamin D, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, riboflavin, and vitamin B12. You can also source carbohydrates from processed foods such as soda pop or soft drinks, snacks such as cookies and chips, and alcohol. These generally are considered to be a poor food choice and should be consumed rarely. The carbohydrate source (sugar and flour) in these food choices has been highly refined processed. A diet rich in refined carbohydrates and processed foods has been associated with heart disease and onset of type 2 diabetes.

Why are these sources of carbohydrates to be avoided?

1. They are calorie dense and contribute a large number of calories in a small amount of food. For example a 7oz bag of potato chips or corn chips have approximately 1000 calories. Most women on a weight management program will be aiming for 1200 daily calorific intake. So, this is what we mean by calorie dense and nutritionally scarce.

2. They offer little appetite-holding power because they have no fiber or protein. As a result you end up searching for food again soon after your first serve.

3. They contribute nothing to your nutritional profile except calories. This means you have fewer calories left for foods that your body requires for good health.

Whenever possible, replace highly processed grains, cereals, and sugars with minimally processed whole-grain products and ensure you have at least five serves of fruit and vegetables daily.

Rather than cut out carbs completely for a very short-term gain (usually weight loss), there are greater long-term health benefits in learning how to distinguish good carbs over bad carbs and incorporating healthy carbohydrates into your weight loss program. Heart disease is by far the #1 killer in the U. S., although 1/3 of those deaths could be prevented if people exercised more and followed better diets, the American Heart Association said in an annual report.

Also discussed will be the affects of our western diet on omega-3 levels and the latest research on the cardiovascular, heart, and the other health benefits of omega-3 compounds. Flax seed oil is extracted from the seeds of the flax plant. Flax seed oil and flax seed contain substances that promote good health.

Flax Seed muffins pregents Cancer? Find Flax Seed Recipe today! Omega-3 for health! Randomized clinical trials have shown that omega-3 fatty acid supplements can reduce cardiovascular events (death, non-fatal heart attacks, non-fatal strokes). They can also slow the progression of atherosclerosis in coronary patients. You can eat whole flax seeds but you need to chew them good to break them up. Your stomach will not dissolve whole flax seeds and many of them will come out in your stools.