Tag Archives: nutritious america

Eat More Seaweed! We’ve Got 5 Good Reasons

Seaweed is the ocean’s mineral and vitamin bank surpassing any and every food on the planet for diversity of nutrients. So guess what? That thin dark sheet that holds together your sushi roll has more nutrients than any item inside the roll. If you eat sushi you are consuming some seaweed, but what if seaweed was as much a staple in your diet as salad? (I am assuming of course that salad is a staple in EVERYONE’S diet!) In Japan, seaweed is an everyday food and there is research that suggests that the frequent occurrence of seaweed in the Japanese diet is linked to the low occurrence of cancer and other illness. Let’s break it down:

Nutritious America’s top 5 reasons to make seaweed a staple in your diet are:

1. Seaweed has wonderful natural detoxifying properties. It contains aljinic acid, which binds out toxins in our body and allows for their natural elimination. We are regularly exposed to so many toxins, both environmental and biological, that it is becoming more and more important to increase the body’s natural ability to detoxify. Seaweed is a fantastic detox tool. (more…)

Posted on November 10, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Flex Your Habit Muscle in 5 Simple Steps

By Abra Pappa for NutritiousAmerica.com

For great abs you do sit-ups and for stronger legs you do lunges, but when you are looking to adapt a habit like consistent healthy eating you snap your fingers and hope everything will change over night. Sure change can temporarily occur when you are on a short term “diet”, but what about when the diet is over? Are you sticking to those healthy eating habits? Or do you go right back to your “old, unhealthy” habits?

One of the biggest obstacles in weight loss is creating life-long, sustainable healthy eating practices. So let’s exercise those habit muscles, medically called habitious muscularous healthivious (just kidding), so you can get in the healthy groove without having to execute brute force or willpower. It’s as simple as 1-2-3-4-5. In the same way you squat to get the best butt in town you can follow these five simple steps to exercise the habit muscle and create sustainable healthy habits. (more…)

Posted on November 2, 2023 by GuestBlogger

3 Grab-and-Go Snacks That are No Good for You

By Karen Sherwood for NutritiousAmerica.com

In these last few days of October we rush around in search of the perfect costume, the most awesome carving pumpkin, and candy for the trick-or-treaters. And even before we have opened that first piece of Halloween loot we are bombarded with Christmas commercials, displays, and reminders that the rest of the holiday season is literally around the corner. Tis’ the season to have less and less time and a greater need for quick grab-and-go treats, sustenance to get you through.

There are so many options when it comes to grab-and-go snacks the grocery store isles are literally overflowing with them. Snacks claiming to be healthy, claiming to have a host of health supportive properties, but do they? Our Nutritious America detectives recently skimmed the grocery isles in search of questionable on-the-go healthy snacks.  Here are a few of the most popular culprits complete with our always unbiased opinions! (more…)

Posted on October 27, 2023 by GuestBlogger

A Mushroom a Day Helps Keep Breast Cancer Away

By Karen Sherwood for NutritiousAmerica.com

Mushrooms have long been considered a medicinal food in eastern cultures, touted for their anti-inflammatory properties and range of micronutrients.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s new book, “Super Immunity, The Essential Guide for Boosting Your Body’s Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free,” presents new research on multiple foods including mushrooms. Specifically mushrooms in relation to their immunity boosting and cancer preventative properties.

WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT MUSHROOMS?

Mushrooms contain three important compounds that make them cancer fighting soldiers — Anitgen Binding Lectins, Aromatase Inhibitors, and Anti-Angiogenic Properties. Big words with really big fighting power.

Mushrooms contain ABL, Antigen Binding Lectins, proteins which bind to abnormal cancer cells and activate the bodies defense system against them. ABL also works to be sure that the body does not replicate abnormal cells hence preventing the spread of cancerous cells and tumors.

In relation to breast cancer, mushrooms help the body reduce the level of estrogen and prevent estrogen from stimulating breast tissue through compounds called aromatase inhibitors. Estrogen plays an important role in the development of breast cancer, so mushrooms certainly have a protective effect. (more…)

Posted on October 19, 2023 by GuestBlogger

5 Foods to Reduce the Appearance of Cellulite

By Abra Pappa for NutritiousAmerica.com

I am asked more frequently about cellulite in my practice than any other health concern. It is the plea from women everywhere, the curse of generations. “Why me?” I have spent hours in session hearing the cellulite lament.

Thanks to the media’s use of airbrushing we are bombarded with unrealistic images of women with perfectly smooth legs and not an ounce of cellulite. One can feel like they are all alone on cellulite island, like the only woman in the world that has “orange peel” skin (I refuse to liken cellulite to cottage cheese, I refuse!) In this era of “false” perfectionism it is difficult to embrace our imperfect selves, and really, really difficult to embrace our cellulite. I always encourage my clients to release the negative focus on those dimply thighs. It’s amazing how cellulite begins to disappear when you magically stop drawing attention to it. That is a great first step toward feeling better about your and your body, we are all imperfect in the most perfectly beautiful way. (more…)

Posted on October 17, 2023 by GuestBlogger

New Research Finds Coffee May Help Women Fight Depression. How Depressing.

By Abra Pappa for NutritiousAmerica.com

Before you refill that coffee mug read this.

Last week a new research study from Harvard was released that stated drinking caffeinated coffee may help women fight depression. Women who drank four or more cups of caffeinated coffee a day had a 20% decreased risk of developing depression over the 10 year period compared with those that consumed one cup or less a week, according to a study released in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

A holistic nutritionist weighs in:

I am concerned that this research is giving the green light to an extreme coffee habit, which in my opinion, can be ultimately detrimental to your health. When this study was released last week Twitter was filled with “tweets” of joy like, “coffee brews to beat the blues,” and this tweet from Arianna Huffington, “Caffeine can cure depression in women. One more reason for coffee addicts like me to celebrate our addiction.”  Don’t get me wrong, I also enjoy a cup of Joe from time to time, but it’s how people tend to misread research to reinforce an unhealthy habit that’s got me down. Researchers cautioned that more study is needed before they’d recommend adding several cups of coffee a day as therapy, but how many people skipped over that caution?

And what about the negative effects of 4-5 cups of coffee per day? (more…)

Posted on October 7, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Coconut Sugar is a Nutritionally Superior Natural Sweetener

By Abra Pappa for NutritiousAmerica.com

Seems like there is a hot, new “healthy sweetener” on the market every 10 minutes and as soon as you are convinced that this is the ONE, new reports come out saying, “NO, stay away!” Frustrating, I know.

Let’s look at the star “healthy sweetener” of the moment, Coconut Palm Sugar. Is it all it’s cracked up to be?

What exactly is Coconut Sugar?

Coconut sugar is an unrefined sweetener derived from the nectar of the blossom or bud of the coconut palm tree; not the coconut itself but the bud that would form a coconut. This is important because this bud is the source of all nutrients that are being fed to the maturing coconut, kind of like the umbilical cord from mom to baby. Skilled farmers, called “tappers,” tap the bud and release the sap. The sap is then heated and crystallized. (more…)

Posted on September 30, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Does Your Breakfast Wear a Health Halo? Try These Healthy Breakfast Alternatives

By Karen Sherwood for NutritiousAmerica.com

These early fall mornings all we want to do is crawl back under our warm covers and sleep for an hour longer. Late, we usually run out the door forgetting the most important meal of the day: breakfast.

We’ve all been told the statistics about how breakfast ignites the metabolism (literally breaking the fast) and how skipping breakfast is associated with obesity; but when we are late for work and still half-asleep statistics are easily ignored. As are nutrition labels. So when we don’t skip, we grab something unhealthy but convenient that puts us at a nutritional disadvantage all day.

But don’t stress. You can still hit the snooze button. You can still run out of the door at the last second possible. We at Nutritious America will keep it simple. We will review three convenience-type breakfast products and give you some healthy, also convenient, alternatives. (more…)

Posted on September 22, 2023 by GuestBlogger