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Who knew that so many delicious foods were actually good for you and could lead to a svelte silhouette?

Check out this video for fun, tummy tightening treats to make now!

Can you get healthy food from a can?

When you calculate cost, waste, availability and nutrition there is a scale on which to measure the value of canned versus fresh foods.

The conclusion: when price, waste and preparation time were factored in, canned foods won out as the most convenient and affordable source of nutrients. For instance, canned pinto beans cost $1 less per serving as a source of protein and fiber than dried beans. That’s because it takes about six minutes to prepare a can of pinto beans, compared to 2½ hours for dried beans, after soaking and cooking. (The researchers calculated meal prep and cooking time at $7.25 an hour, the minimum wage in New Jersey where the research was conducted.)

“While all forms of the foods — canned, frozen, fresh and dried — were nutritious, when you added the cost of the inedible portions and the cost of the time to prepare to the price, in most cases the canned versions delivered nutrients at a lower total cost.”

There are a few simple rules which will help you to eat safely.

Quite simply put; avoid food in packages and if packaged allow for only 5 ingredients.

And READ labels.

This is probably the best advice anyone can give.

Avoid ingredients with added sugars, oils, and anything you can not pronounce.

When you make these simple choices you will not only improve your health, and your family’s health, but you will create a “wellness spring” that will shift the demand in the marketplace. You will not only take back your health, but also help America take back its health. You vote three times a day with your fork and it impacts our health, how we grow food, energy consumption, climate change and environmental degradation. You have more power than you think. Use it!

It might not make your mouth water to look at it but kale is a major “super food.”

One of the worlds healthiest foods, kale is both delicious and nutritious.

Why has kale gotten an edge on all the other dark leafy greens? Tamara Duker Freuman, a dietician and nutritionist with a fantastic blog called What I’m Eating Now, says kale scores a perfect 1,000 on the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index, a food-rating system that measures nutrients per calorie. “While I view the term ‘superfood’ with more than a healthy dose of skepticism (it’s more of a marketing term than a nutrition term), I would be hard-pressed to come up with a food more deserving of the title,” Duker Freuman says of kale.

Nutritionally, kale has Vitamins K, A and C, and calcium and iron going for it. The distinctive crunch of baked or fried kale is also likely to appeal to people of all ages, says Duker Freuman.

Here is a delicious recipe for Kale and potato soup; Perfect for cold weather.

Pears are the wonder fruit.

Who knew that pears had so much to offer?

The world’s oldest oldest cultivated plant offers a variety of health benefits and is delicious and beautiful to boot!

Calms Digestion

The pectin and fiber in pears can help stop diarrhea and the cooling tannins can calm an irritated digestive tract.

Keeps You Hydrated

Pears are a watery food and when you add in the A and C vitamins and rich mineral content, they can help rehydrate you and keep you hydrated.

Improves ADHD

Because of there high fiber content, pears can slow down the sugar excitability that often accompanies ADHD. However they should be eaten in moderation because they do contain natural sugars themselves.

Helps Lower Cholesterol

Pears are high in pectin (higher than apples) which reduces cholesterol levels by bonding with dietary fat and cholesterol and removing them from the body through the intestine before they are absorbed through the bloodstream.

Boosts Immune System

Pears contain a good amount of vitamins A, K, C, B2, B3, B6 and minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium, copper so eating them is great for your immune system.

Hypoallergenic Fruit

Pears are a hypoallergenic fruit. So if you have issues with food sensitivities, you usually can eat pears with no adverse side effects. This also makes them a great fruit to introduce to infants.

Prevents Cancer

The hydroxycinnamic acid found in pears has been associated with preventing stomach and lung cancer.

Fights Alzheimer’s

The antioxidant quercetin found in the skin has been shown by a recent study at Cornell University to protect against Alzheimer’s disease. So don’t’ peel your pears!

Prevents Osteoporosis

Pears contain boron which our bodies need so we can retain calcium so they have been linked to osteoporosis prevention.

Reading labels, and eating whole not processed foods are just 2 ways to avoid making the top ten food mistakes.

Smart people are fooled by packaging and clever marketing everyday.

“Made with real fruit”, “low fat”, “natural”, “made with whole grains”, are phrases which are designed to fool consumers.

They usually are not an indication of a healthy food product.

Eating healthy is more tricky than you might imagine, especially when you consider that consumers are targeted by an aggressive laser sharp multi-billion dollar food industry that is competing for your taste buds and your cash.

Feeding your family a healthy diet can be daunting but sometimes all you need to do is to make a few substitutions.

Switching out high calorie less nutritious food for more nutrient dense choices can simply be a matter of habit.

Check this list of easy switches to maximize your family’s nutrition.

It even looks like a brain!

Help protect your brain health with antioxidant rich pecans.

Eating a handful of pecans will also provide you with more than 19 vitamins and minerals, including vitamin A, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and several B vitamins, Hubrich said. Pecans are naturally cholesterol-free and sodium-free.

Researchers suggest vitamin E – a natural antioxidant found in pecans – may provide a key element to neurological protection shown in the study.

Antioxidants are nutrients found in foods that help protect against cell damage, and studies have shown, can help fight diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer and heart disease.

Pecans are the most antioxidant-rich tree nut and are among the top 15 foods to contain the highest antioxidant capacity, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Pound for pound and dollar for dollar nuts are your best nutritional value at the market. Try to avoid cooking nuts because that will diminish their nutritional value but do be sure and add them at any opportunity; salads, cereal, oat meal, ice cream, and whatever else you enjoy.

The researchers from University of Scranton, in Pennsylvania, US say these antioxidants are also up to 15 times more potent than vitamin E. Antioxidants are known to help protect the body against disease. Study leader Dr Joe Vinson said, “A handful of walnuts contains almost twice the antioxidants as any other commonly consumed nut…But unfortunately, people don’t eat a lot of them.” Some people avoid nuts as they are thought to be high in fat but Dr Vinson said they had no link to weight gain.
Nuts are healthy and nutritious, containing high-quality protein, lots of vitamins and minerals as well as dietary fibre. They are also dairy and gluten-free. Earlier studies have shown that regular consumption of small amounts of nuts can reduce the risk of heart disease, some types of cancer, type two diabetes and other health problems.

Dr Vinson also said “The heat from roasting nuts generally reduces the quality of the antioxidants…People usually eat walnuts raw or unroasted, and get the full effectiveness of those antioxidants.”