Healthy Tip - 10 Foods That Are Healthier Than You Think

This is taken from the article that you can find at Healthy Eats. I wanted to add my personal touch to it and here is what I got:
1. Avocado
So it may seem weird for a fruit (yes, avocados are fruits) to contain fat, but avocados are one of the few produce items that do. Their heart-protecting monounsaturated fats are actually one of the things that make them so healthy. Eating these green guys can help lower your risk of heart disease and stroke — so have some of that guacamole!
In my house we like to make super easy sandwiches of fresh Italian bread, few slices of ripe avocados, kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and slice of our favorite cheese. Yum!
2. Spaghetti and Meatballs
Thanks to the iron and protein from the beef, lycopene from the tomato sauce and energy-producing carbs from the pasta, this dish a healthy trifecta. If you stick to modest portions and lean beef, you can enjoy its benefits without overdoing it. Limit yourself to three ounces of meat and a cup of cooked pasta per serving.
My extremely easy version of this dish is pasta with meat sauce! It is a crowd pleaser, my daughter would eat this any day and my one year old LOVES to smudge it all over his tray and his face... and sometimes hair. What you'll need: 1 box of spaghetti, 1 lb organic ground sirloin, 1 jar of RAOS Homemade Southern Italian Pasta Sauce with Italian peppers and mushrooms (it is absolutely my favorite brand, you can find it in health food market and sometimes in a regular grocery store for $8 or so for regular size jar). Boil your spaghetti, brown your ground beef on non-stick pan (no oil or spices required), add pasta sauce to the pan with browned ground beef, cover and simmer for 15 minutes on medium heat. BAM! Serve meat sauce over pasta.
3. Bananas
Often bashed for their high sugar and carb content, bananas are a ridiculously healthy fruit that everyone can enjoy. A small banana has the same calories, carbs and fiber as an apple. They also come packed with vitamins C and B6 and good-for-your-heart potassium.
My family is BANANAS over these happy yellow guys. Easy, not messy (big plus for mommies) and super healthy snack! Bananas are perfect over your favorite ice-cream or mixed in a plain yogurt.
4. Peanut Butter
I always hear “peanut butter is fattening!” Sure, it contains fat, but 30% of your daily calories should come from healthy fats, so why not add peanut butter in as an option? The nutty spread is also a great way to get protein, fiber and vitamin E. The same goes for whole peanuts or nuts such as almonds and walnuts — they’re a great way to get your daily dose of healthy fats.
YES! Love this stuff. When I first came to United States (11 years ago) I couldn't stand peanut butter, I just didn't get it. Now I can eat it with a spoon or (another one of my favorites) celery dipped in peanut butter! Try it, you'll love it! For extra fun try adding raisins on top and you get "ants on a log" for kids!
5. Eggs
Eggs do contain some cholesterol, but that doesn’t mean they’re a total no-no. According to the American Egg Board, healthy individuals can eat up to two eggs per day without significantly affecting blood cholesterol levels. Eggs are also full of vitamins A, D and the antioxidant lutein. Don’t skip the yolks; there’s just as much protein there as in the whites.
You can eat eggs in so many was but my new favorite is this one, I have stumbled upon it some time ago and would love to give it a try. It looks delicious! I can almost taste it!

Do you have any favorite snacks or dishes made with these yummy foods that you could share with me?

P.S. if you have missed our previous healthy tips you can find them here:
Clean Truth about Antibacterial Soap
10 Foods that are healthier than you think
Healthy Nails Tips
Healthy Hair Tips
When to buy Organic and when it's ok not to
Benefits of Green Tea
Beauty Sleep
Fish Oil or Omega 3 & 6
How to add years to your life

Thrifty yet healthy tip

There are quite a few solid reasons to buy organic food. One of the fundamental reasons is that organic food doesn’t contain toxins like pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, or ionizing radiation (see to www.organic.org). Do you want that stuff to be inside of the "precious" you? No way! But of course it can get a bit pricey to consume only organic food. As a caring parent and CFO of my family I do try to get the best deals around for good and healthy things. So I would like to share this simple guide that I have always been carrying around in my purse. It tells you which produce to buy organic and which conventionally-grown fruits and veggies are ok to buy when you shop on a budget or organic variations is not available. It is very easy to follow and after a few months you will have it imprinted in your brain. I have printed copies for all of the adults in my family and laminated them. If you don't feel like running to Kinkos to use their laminating services, just try using packaging clear tape and run few strips on top and on the bottom of the cut out guide. Feel safe to download this guide from here: http://www.foodnews.org/

P.S. if you have missed our previous healthy tips you can find them here:
Clean Truth about Antibacterial Soap
10 Foods that are healthier than you think
Healthy Nails Tips
Healthy Hair Tips
When to buy Organic and when it's ok not to
Benefits of Green Tea
Beauty Sleep
Fish Oil or Omega 3 & 6
How to add years to your life

Healthy Tip - Green Tea

Our Healthy Tip Fridays have moved from notes area of our fan page to our blog. For our blog followers, who are not fans of Marmalade Hills' on Facebook, I have posted a few Healthy Tip Fridays already. You can find them here.
Tea is the agricaltural product of the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the Camellia Sinensis plant, prepared and cured by various methods. After water, tea is the most widely-consumed beverage in the world, according to The Empire Of Tea by Alan Macfarlane.
I myself love to drink tea. In winter it is especially popular in our house, we can go through a box of tea in 4 or 5 days. I am sure everybody heard about many benefits of tea and especially green tea and probably I will not tell you anything new today, but I would like to bring to your attention the benefits of green tea once again. I think today's tip can be classified as "lazy healthy tip", right next to the fish oil :)

"More than a decade's worth of research about green tea's health benefits - particularly its potential to fight cancer and heart disease - has been more than intriguing, as have limited studies about green tea's role in lowering cholesterol, burning fat, preventing diabetes and stroke, and staving off dementia.

*Green tea's antioxidants, called catechins, scavenge for free radicals that can damage DNA and contribute to cancer, blood clots, and atherosclerosis. Grapes and berries, red wine, and dark chocolate also have potent antioxidants. Because of green tea's minimal processing - its leaves are withered and steamed, not fermented like black and oolong teas - green tea's unique catechins, especially epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), are more concentrated.

*Green Tea vs. Cancer. The American Cancer Society's strategic director of nutritional epidemiology, says human studies haven't yet proven what researchers like Chan have discovered in the lab: green tea's EGCG regulates and inhibits cancer growth and kills cells that are growing inappropriately. Still, it's difficult not to be intrigued by a few human studies that have shown that drinking at least two cups of green tea daily inhibits cancer growth. One of them, a study conducted in Japan that involved nearly 500 Japanese women with Stage I and Stage II breast cancer, found that increased green tea consumption before and after surgery was associated with lower recurrence of the cancers.

*Green Tea good for your heart? It seems to be, but there are conflicting results of a few epidemiological studies conducted in the East and West.
In a study that involved 500 Japanese men and women, researchers found that drinking at least four cups of green tea every day may be related to the reduced severity of coronary heart disease among the male participants. A Dutch study of more than 3,000 men and women found that the more tea consumed, the less severe the clogging of the heart's blood vessels, especially in women. As Goldberg suggests, lifestyle and overall diet are critical to the outcomes of these studies. But green tea's antioxidants are dilators, she says, because they improve the flexibility of blood vessels and make them less vulnerable to clogging - and antioxidant-rich blueberries and pomegranates do the same.

*Green Tea and Weight. Green tea and its extract have been shown to fight obesity and lower "bad" cholesterol - two risk factors for heart disease and diabetes - but in very limited studies.

*Green tea Straight Up. Taking weight loss supplements that contain green tea extract probably won't hurt, unless you have liver problems. But the best way to get the most out of green tea - even if your main goal is losing weight - is to drink it."

For complete article please follow this link: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/health-benefits-of-green-tea

If you can not get enough of green tea in your cup try these products from Marmalade Hills' that are made with miracle green tea extract:
All Natural Facial Toners; Moisturizing Bath Bombs; Omega 3 Body Lotions.

P.S. if you have missed our previous healthy tips you can find them here:
Clean Truth about Antibacterial Soap
10 Foods that are healthier than you think
Healthy Nails Tips
Healthy Hair Tips
When to buy Organic and when it's ok not to
Benefits of Green Tea
Beauty Sleep
Fish Oil or Omega 3 & 6
How to add years to your life