Welcome to The Health Nut’s Blog

How can I help you accomplish your goals!?!

Howdy and welcome to my blog! You might have come upon my page, via Yahoo! Answers, Yahoo! 360 or a personal Invitation…

Hey it’s The Health Nut! Long time no chat and I’ll tell ya why! I have been working on developing a new site for “Ask a Health Chef,” where I, The Health Nut, will be your personal chef! Sounds fun, right! Well it’s a lot of work. Right now I’m still investigating some stuff before I launch it and make it available to all of ya’ll. You see I’m really trying to make it user free, accessible to all, and something I wont get bored doing.

Some of the features that will be present on the Ask a Health Chef page are:

· Recipes with Nutritional Facts

· Menus

· Meal Plans

· Pictures

· Food Diaries

· Hopefully an open forum

· Daily Tips and Nutritional Articles!

I hope that you will all find it helpful, but if you think it’s missing something—let me know, because you all are my viewers and you all read my blog and I want to make it as helpful to you as possible!

Now if you are a use of my yahoo group: The Health Nut 07

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/the_health_nut_07/

I feel I need to apologize for my lack of updating and publishing on that group. I find its harder to keep up with and my hands often get full with work. I like the group in the sense that if you ask a question, other members of the group can see that question as well as the answer.

I hope that I can better develop that group, but it’ll most likely be a short while.

The month of May should be an awesome, with goals being achieved and more helpful resources being revealed to you all! Take care and enjoy the helpful Table of Contents!

Dear Ask A Health Nut,

"What foods have the most protein in them and give you the energy through the day?"

Hey Dale! Thanks for your question!
For those readers out there who aren't familiar with proteins and
it's function and how it pertains to you, here's a few quick facts.

This exercpt is from http://www.highproteinfoods.net/

"Protein is an essential nutrient that is important to your health.
Protein consists of chains of amino acids that are used by our bodies
to grow muscles, hair, nails, skin and internal organs.

Diets rich in high protein foods are often recommended for athletes
and body builders. In addition, many weight loss diets such as the
Atkins diet prescribe a high protein, low carb diet.

Although protein is an essential nutrient, some research suggests
that too much protein can increase the risk of developing heart
disease, stroke, kidney stones and osteoporosis.

High Protein Foods is an online database with protein information on
more than 6000 foods. Whether you're pursuing a high protein diet or
trying to limit your protein intake, High Protein Foods will help you
identify how much protein is in the foods you eat."

Viewing they're link you will find as it says over 6000 foods with
protein and their amount of intake.

But here's a list of a few! It's a long list!
Remember when you think protein think, meats, dairy, nuts and beans!
Those will be your biggest sources of protein. Remember though to
check the label because alot of these items can be high in fat or
sodium, so check the label and go LEAN! Lean meat is a lot healthier
and obviously has less fat. And when getting nuts avoid ones that are
overly coated in sweets or salt! Here's a list! I hope it all helps
you out!

Lean:
Pork, beef, ham, veal
Game Meat
Lean Ground Meat
Lean Luncheon Meat
Poultry:
Chicken, Goose, Turkey
Ground Chicken

Eggs
Beans and Peas
Kidney, Black, Green
Pinto, Tofu

Bean Burgers

Fish:
Flounder, Cod, Halibut
Salmon, herring, sardines
tuna, trout, tilapia

Shellfish
Clams, oysters, squid
shrimp, crab, scallops

Canned Fish
Tuna, Salmon, Sardines


Now to answer your question about foods that will give you energy. When you say energy you should think carbohydrates, but not refined
carbs. Refined Carbs are the ones that cause weight gain, because of
the added sugar in them.
Here's a link to an article about healthy snacks that will keep you
energized and are healthy as well as not being high in calories:
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-bCJcpYYyc6M.rBmxoZejoDyf?tag=snacks
You will have to scroll down through the breakfast talk to get to the
snack talk and list of healthy snacks!
But here's a Top 10 list of snacks that don't add up the calories,
will carry you through the day when you get hungry and will give you
that extra boost of energy!

Tuna Salad Sandwich on Whole Wheat (made with fat-free/no mayo)
Any whole Grain snack or cereal
Granola or Granola Bars
Bagels
Carrots
Dried Fruits
Sweet Potatoes
Apples
Peanut Butter
Fruit Smoothies


Well I hope all this helped you out Dale! And I'm sorry if it was a
bit long. In a sense you asked two questions that required seperate
attention!

Well anytime you have another question don't be shy to ask! I'll
research your questions and give you the best answer I can!

See ya,
The Health Nut
Rayah

So I'm always getting request for meal plans and recipes, and well my first career was a chef so I thought I'd throw some focus on that! But I need some suggestions!

Right now I am working on a recipe database through Allrecipes.com where you will be able to check out my posted recipes, menues and shopping list! I will try and provide nutritional facts for each recipe as well as the ability to convert the recipes and more importantly healthy alternatives and additions!

I want to have it up and running before the end of the week, but I will give ya'll the link for that!

Now fill out the poll, because I have a couple of ideas and I want ya'lls opinons on what I should do because ya'll are the ones readin my page and should be the ones benefiting from it! I need to know if I should start up a second 360 page under the Alias of Ask a Health Chef or if I should just stick with the allrecipes.com deal. I want to be as helpful as I can!

Let me know peeps and please fill out the poll!!!!

Thanks everyone!

One of my favorite people sent me an email,

Hello,

I have a concern. I am having a lot of pain in my knees. Heating pads and ADVIL are not working very well. I am doing well in the exercise department, it's just the pain. Walking hurts. HELP!!

Knee Problems

This is not just a problem she was having but over 50 million Americans suffer from knee and joint pains! However knees are the most commonly injured pot of the body. You are bending, banging, crawling, knees, slamming them accidentally into walls or coroners of furniture. If you think about, knees are not just the most injured part of the body; we injure it the most next to our back because of neglect!

I have two bad knees as well. One of them the ligaments in the joints and the tissue around the knee is tearing and the other knee has a cyst between the joints. I had to stop my restaurant jobs because it was becoming harder and harder for me to work, due to the pain in my knees, that would shoot down to my ankles and sometimes rendered me unable to walk. I would be at work and hit the ground. Sometimes sitting too long would be a major problem!

Knee Joint Pain stretches just beyond the knees and hinders us from doing more than just lunges and squats. There are four main muscles being affected when you experience knee pain, your outer, inner, back and front portions of your thigh. Isn’t that a big problem for a lot of women?

As we get older we tend to run down the ligaments in our joints, depending upon how we take care of our body. I have since increased my intake of Glucosamine Chondritin. You can get these in cans of juice (which are too sweet for my liking) or in pills. Also I recommend cutting back on sweets, I'm not sure if you have a high sugar intake, but too much sugar can sometimes be a contributing factor to any arthritis and joint pains. And finally I recommend you consider getting into a water aerobics class. If that is too expensive or time consuming--consider just take up swimming! It also good to pamper you legs after any amount of workout on them. An Ice bath is a favorite method of mine and then I go and relax in the hot tub. I'll look up some more ideas and I'll try and find the knee workouts that my doctors gave me a while back. I haven't done anything medically about my knees like surgery wise...the doctors were too busy arguing over what was wrong with my knees--I said screw it, I'll handle this the natural way! I hope the ideas I have given you so far will prove helpful. Glucosamin Chondriton, Cutting back on sweets and water aerobics or swimming.

Now here are for some helpful exercises from sparkpeople.com. These exercises will help unstiffen and strengthen your knee joints and aid in a steady recovery with your joints.

If you need an image of these exercises you can find some of them at this link:

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-bCJcpYYyc6M.rBmxoZejoDyf?p=94

STRETCHES

1. Chair knee extension: Sitting in a chair, rest your foot on another chair so the knee is slightly raised. Gently push the raised knee toward the floor using only leg muscles. Hold for 5 - 10 seconds and release. Repeat 5 times on each leg.
2. Heel slide knee extension: Lie on your back, with left knee bent and left foot flat on floor. Slowly slide the left heel away from your body so both legs are parallel. Hold for 5-10 seconds, return to starting position. Repeat 5 times on each leg.
3. Knee flexion: Sitting in a chair, loop a long towel under your foot (resting on the floor). Gently pull on the towel with both hands to bend the knee, raising your foot 4 - 5 inches off the floor. Hold for 5 - 10 seconds, then release. Repeat 5 times on each leg.
4. Quadriceps stretch: Sitting in a chair (or on the floor), straighten your leg and hold. If seated on the floor, make sure the leg is a few inches off of the ground. Release and repeat 5 times on each leg.
5. Hamstring stretch: Standing, put one foot in front of you, toes up. With hands on the small of your back (or one hand holding a chair for balance), bend the opposite knee and hip (not your lower back), until you feel the hamstrings stretch. The upper body comes forward at the hip. Hold for 5 -10 seconds, then release. Repeat 5 times on each leg.

STRENGTH TRAINING

1. Wall slide: Leaning with your back against a wall, bend your knees 30°, sliding down the wall, then straighten up again. Move slowly and smoothly, using your hands on the wall for balance. Keep feet and legs parallel, and do not allow knees to go out over the toes. Repeat 5 -10 times.
2. Bent-Leg Raises: Sitting in a chair, straighten one leg in the air (without locking the knee). Hold for about one minute. Bend your knee to lower the leg about halfway to the floor. Hold for 30 seconds. Return to starting position. Work up to 4 reps on each leg.
3. Straight-Leg Raises: Sitting in a chair, rest your foot on another chair. Lift the foot a few inches off the chair while keeping your leg straight. Hold for 5 -10 seconds. Return to resting position. Repeat 5 -10 times. (Also work on increasing the time, up to 2-3 minutes if possible.)
4. Abductor Raise: Lie on your side, propped on one elbow. The leg on the floor bent, the other straight. Slowly lift the top leg, hold for 5 -10 seconds, then lower. (Ankle weights will increase the intensity). Do 1-3 sets with 12-15 repetitions each. Remember to rest in between sets.
5. Hamstring Curl: Stand with the front of your thighs against a surface (a table or wall). Flex one knee up as far as is comfortable. Hold for 5 - 10 seconds, then lower slowly. If possible, do not touch the floor between repetitions. (Ankle weights will increase the intensity.) Do 1-3 sets with 12-15 repetitions each. Remember to rest in between sets.
6. Step-Ups: Stand in front of a step, like a sturdy bench or stairs, about two feet high (or less if necessary). Step up onto the support, straighten your knees fully (without locking them) and step down. Maintain a steady pace. If you are comfortable with your balance, pump your arms while doing this exercise. Start with 1 minute, slowly building your time. Gets your heart pumping too!
7. Stationary Bike: Biking is a good way to increase strength and range of motion. Make sure you have the right positioning of the legs. At the bottom of the pedal stroke, the bend in the knee should be 15 degrees. Start with 10 minutes and slowly increase your time.

Depending on your current level of activity and mobility, a good start is 3 stretching and 3 strengthening exercises, 3-4 times a week. Stretching can be (and should be) done everyday if possible to prevent stiffness and achy joints. These stretches can be done a few times a day if needed.

Always check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program. These exercises are designed to help, not hurt. If you experience pain at any time during the exercise, stop. Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong.