Soy foods have been heavily marketed as being good for you. But are they really? Despite heavy industry promotional efforts, the facts shed some doubt.

In North America, we use it as a meat or flour substitute, tofu, as a protein powder, soymilk, cheese, snacks or protein bars, even as a cheap filler in many fast food hamburgers. [Read more →]

Learn 13 reasons why protein is so important in our normal daily diet & why it is especially important when losing weight!

People use protein for many different reasons, in fact most people automatically associate increasing their protein with ending up looking like a ‘body builder or muscle man’ which isn’t what most people want to achieve. Yes body builders do use protein to the extreme to totally change the look of their bodies and to repair and rebuild their muscles.

However there is a huge proportion of the UK population that don’t take in enough protein each day and it’s simply because they are totally unaware of how much protein they should be having. For example a 5 ft 7″ female (reasonably tall) weighing approximately 9 stone (underweight for height if anything) would require a staggering 85g of protein approximately each day!!

Now that doesn’t sound a lot I know, but in fact that’s the equivalent of eating around 3 average size chicken fillets each day! So break it down again, think along the lines of what most people have for their breakfast:- toast with cereals, yes the milk contains some dairy protein, lunch:- perhaps a sandwich, crisps, piece of fruit and a bar of chocolate seems a pretty average working day lunch. But depending upon what the sandwich contains, maybe Tuna, ham, beef, egg or just salad then this too contains a small amount of protein and for this example lets say the person eats a chicken fillet for their evening meal giving them an extra 25g of animal protein. [Read more →]

Author: News Canada

Whether you are an adult getting ready to take on the world at work, or a student who needs to be fuelled for a day full of learning at school, breakfast is essential to making sure the day starts off right. For many though, the morning rush prevents them from having a healthy breakfast – but skipping this important meal doesn’t only impact your day, but also your health.

"Research shows that adults who skip breakfast are more likely to be overweight or have a higher body mass index than adults who eat breakfast daily," says registered dietitian, Sue Mah. "A healthy, balanced breakfast not only kick-starts your morning but also helps control your appetite throughout the day."

Starting each day with a healthy breakfast doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming. Mah, in partnership with the Peanut Bureau of Canada, offers the following tips to get your day started right:

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Many bodybuilders believes that taking whey protein is an essential part of building muscles. In this article, we will take a look at the facts relating to whey as a supplement & help you decide how you should pursue this strategy.

Whey protein is process where milk turns into cheese. You can also find it in dairy products, eggs, soy protein & vegetables, but these doesn’t compare to the whey powder.

It’s been suggested that whey has a role as an antioxidant & immune method builder. The best way to take it is by powder form mixed with juice or milk, spread out during the day to keep a positive nitrogen balance.

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It has been widely known for many years that there is a strong correlation between sport and health care. This is why many research facilities stress qualitative sport research, health and performance psychology, biomechanics and exercise physiology, but if you are solely an individual without access to all of those, what are you to do to increase your health care if you play in sports?

Many sport enthusiasts as well as sport athletes rely on sport or athlete supplements in order to improve their particular sports performance. This type of action has led to some medications being banned, but this does not apply to just supplements, and there are athletes who take them just to remain healthy. Thus the question now is what is in common health supplements and how do they correlate to sport and health care?

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Nutrition for building muscle is a bit of a science, but it’s not a hard one to master. Basically the concepts are simple. A good amount of carbs consumed every day, alongside of a fare intake of protein and some other stuff.

There is a science though to how much to consume and when to consume, so hopefully this will all put it into perspective for you. If you are exercising routinely then this little guide is for you.

Carbohydrates

In terms of carbohydrates, you can calculate how much you should be consuming based off of your weight. There’s a simple recommended formula for this, that even a lot of athletes use, but this is for people with big muscle building dreams.

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It’s amazing just how perfectly we have been provided for, with food which is naturally healthy, taking care of all of our needs for heart, blood sugar, weight maintenance and other health situations. The strength of ancient armies and their people was often dependent on the type of grain they had available to them. Egyptian wheat (what is known today as Kamut) was often cultivated on the flooded plains of the Nile River. It is said that ancient Roman and Egyptian gladiators were eaters of barley, just as many Greeks before them.

But what better role model do we have than The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his very own teachings and reactions in relation to the foods he ate. The Prophet (PBUH) never turned down any food he was offered, even if the taste was less to be desired. He was thankful for any food presented to him, no matter how little there was, or how plain.

I found the following information on "The Arab News" website and thought it was a perfect example of how our Prophet (PBUH) teaches us the value of whole grains (particularly barley), as well as how important it is to not waste any food fit for eating.

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Amino acids are the building blocks of the body. Besides building cells and repairing tissue, they form antibodies to combat invading bacteria & viruses; they are part of the enzyme & hormonal system; they build nucleoproteins (RNA & DNA); they carry oxygen throughout the body and participate in muscle activity. When protein is broken down by digestion the result is 22 known amino acids.

As the building blocks of protein, amino acids are vital to health. Next to water, amino acids in the form of proteins make up the greatest portion of our body weight. They comprise tendons, muscles and ligaments; organs and glands; hair and nails; important bodily fluids, and are a necessary part of every cell in the body.

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According to the new government guidelines a healthy diet is one that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk products and will include lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, and nuts.

The diet will also be low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt, and added sugars.

The main theme the government is proposing now is to eat a diet rich in grains and to make half of the grains you eat whole grains. Whole grains contain the entire grain kernel — the bran, germ, and endosperm, some examples would be:

•    whole-wheat flour
•    bulgur (cracked wheat)
•    oatmeal
•    whole cornmeal
•    brown rice

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Many inexperienced (sometimes even experienced!) gym regulars believe that muscles grow while lifting weights. However lifting weights forms only a small fraction of the muscle building process. Muscle development takes place at night during deep sleep when the body synthesizes new cells with nutrients from our diet. Therefore nutrition forms a very important part of a bodybuilding program.

The body utilizes nutrients in food to perform daily metabolic and what’s commonly referred to as the “wear and tear processes”. With bodybuilding, additional strain is put on the body to make new muscle tissues. Therefore the nutrient requirements also shoots up to stay with the demand.

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