food women

Learning how to eat healthy, again.

Foods we eat, low carb, low fat, vegan, macrobiotic, raw, whole foods, have a direct bearing on how we feel: our energy, mood, appearance, and body image are all influenced by our dietary choices.

In order to solve weight problem, we needed to stop focusing on what people should be eating and instead focus on why they eat unhealthily in the first place. Behavioral psychologists have studied and found reasons for unhealthy eating. For instance:
Convenience is a major factor in what people choose to eat. Having to cook is a drawback.
Access is key. If candy is within arm's reach, it is hard to resist. If it is out of sight in a cupboard, we eat less of it. If it isn't in the house at all, we are very unlikely to actually get in the car and seek it out.
The main causes of overeating bouts are not hunger or the deliciousness of the food, but emotional and psychological cravings.
Larger serving sizes make us consume more food (even if we don't finish the serving).
There is little relationship between meals; for example, eating a large lunch will not help us eat a small dinner.
We eat or drink more from large half-filled containers than from small full ones but believe we have consumed less.

In order to overcome these hurdles we need to develop a whole new relationship between food and body.
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Learn to differentiate between hunger and craving: To find out if you're feeling a craving or getting hungry, give the urge to eat a 10-minute waiting period. If you've moved on to doing something and you suddenly realized you're not hungry, it was a craving; if the urge to eat is still there, chances are you're getting peckish. By breaking yourself of eating when habit, the clock, or your best friend says it's time to eat again, you will reacquaint your body to eating in response to hunger rather than outside cues.
Try to overcome the guilt: We love food, but we struggle with the temptations and the guilt, the way it makes us feel bad about ourselves. Having to count calories takes away the enjoyment of eating and turns it into a math game fraught with worry. The need of the hour is to cultivate smart lifestyle habits that help you exercise naturally and eat right without thinking so hard about food.
Chew your food properly before swallowing: Chewing food certainly helps with digestion, it also slows down the meals. Try it and you'll be eating less food. Fast eater, tend to gobble down as much food as quickly as possible without letting their stomach say, "I'M FULL! STOP!". Slow and conscious eating, will help you realize getting full and it will feel good to stop eating.
Eat foods that make you feel good: Learn to identify and incorporate foods that leave you feel healthy rather than those that leave you stuffed or guilty. Eating fruits and vegetables, colorful salads etc. will make you feel good, so eat them. Sugar can make you feel depressed. Too much corn makes can make you bloated.


Learn to identify serving size: Use measuring cups and spoons to compare serving sizes that you would typically eat with the standard serving sizes listed on food labels. You may be surprised by the amount you’re overeating. Eating the right kind of food at the right time in healthy proportion will prevent undesired weight gain To exercise portion control try to change your eating habits so that your meals and snacks are balanced with a variety of healthy foods. Eat the foods you like to eat, but master portion control. It takes just a slight energy imbalance to cause a gradual increase in weight . Say you ate just 50 excess calories a day, that is, you ate 50 more calories than you burned during physical activity. That means five extra pounds in a year.
Distinguish Between Emotional and Physical Hunger. Physical hunger is a physiological process that occurs every three to four hours. When you don’t listen to hunger cues, your hunger subsides and your body begins to slow down to conserve energy. Emotional hunger involves eating when you’re sad, happy, anxious or bored. Understanding when you are trying to satisfy emotional needs with food can help you find more appropriate ways to meet those needs.

By eating healthy you can develop better looks, better health, better spirit and above all a better YOU. Eating is a spiritual act. Let's get started on rediscovering that spirit.

Top 10 Steps to Changing Your Eating Behavior

Do you alternate between following a meal plan and losing weight (being “good”) and falling off the plan and regaining weight (being “bad”)? It’s a frustrating but common cycle. Nutrition experts Ellie Zografakis, RD, and Dale Huff, RD, CSCS, co-owners of NutriFormance Personal Training and Sports Nutrition in St. Louis believe that behavior modification strategies--rather than diets--can help you break this self-defeating cycle and make lasting lifestyle changes.

Enlisting the aid of qualified professionals (e.g., a registered dietitian, a physician, a personal trainer and/or a psychologist) will make it easier to interrupt old behavior patterns. You can also begin to practice the following lifestyle change principles developed by Zografakis and Huff:

Stop Dieting. How can you lose weight if you don’t diet? Creating a deficit of about 500 calories a day for one week should result in a 1-pound weight loss. Most people can incur a large part of this 500-calorie-a-day deficit by exercising and making moderate changes in food intake. In choosing this approach you avoid the negative consequences of rigid dieting.

Become Physically, Not Externally, Connected to Eating. Internal hunger cues--such as a rumbling stomach, a slight headache, fatigue, irritability and decreased concentration--are meant to remind you to meet your energy requirements and maintain your natural set point weight. Reconnecting with your physical signals of hunger and satiety can help you acquire the internal power to regulate your food intake.


Use the Rating of Perceived Hunger (RPH) Scale. Using this scale can make you more aware of your internal hunger and satiety cues. Think of 0 as indicating extreme hunger and 10 as signaling extreme fullness. With the scale in mind, begin to read your body’s signals. Your target range should be between 3 and 8. If you go to 0, you may eat too much too fast, particularly since it takes your brain 15 to 20 minutes to sense that your body is full. You should begin to eat at 3 on the RPH scale and stop at 7 or 8, when you’re comfortably full and satisfied.


Distinguish Between Emotional and Physical Hunger. Physical hunger is a physiological process that occurs every three to four hours. When you don’t listen to hunger cues, your hunger subsides and your body begins to slow down to conserve energy. Emotional hunger involves eating when you’re sad, happy, anxious or bored. Understanding when you are trying to satisfy emotional needs with food can help you find more appropriate ways to meet those needs.


Neutralize Food. There are no good or bad foods--all foods are okay when eaten in moderation. Forbidding certain foods may simply make you want them all the more. If portion control is a problem with particular foods, try specific strategies with these items--for example, measure out one serving of potato chips and put the bag back in the pantry.



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Do Not Skip Meals. Eating frequently throughout the day (3 small meals and 2-3 snacks) will stimulate your metabolism. Skipping meals (including breakfast) can decrease your metabolism.



Dispel Myths; Do Not Create Them. A safe weight loss is 1 or 2 pounds a week, not 20. Be wary of supplements and meal replacement products. Product testimonials may or may not be true; spokespersons may or may not have any credentials. Remember, a healthy body comes from healthy eating.



Be Supportive, Not Critical. People lose weight at different rates. Weight may drop off quickly at first and then plateau, or vice versa. The important thing is that long-term healthy behavior gets results. Reassure yourself that you are working hard and remember that hard work pays off.



Watch Your Language. Do you find yourself thinking “I will never lose weight” or “I feel fat”? Watch for thoughts that are negative or irrational, rather than supportive of your goals. See if you can accurately describe your mood. Are you angry, sad, afraid?
Understand that “fat” is not a feeling.



Change the Reward System. You are probably used to rewarding yourself and being rewarded by others for losing pounds, rather than for altering your behavior. Create a system of rewards for the positive changes you make, rather than the numbers you see on the scale.


Top 10 Ways for Healthy Eating

VARIETY – BUT NOT TOO MUCH
As there are no food that contain an optimum combination of the required nutrients such as fat, protein, minerals, vitamins, water and fiber, the diet much include the required quantities of the various nutrient groups in order to guarantee optimal provision. Naturally each group contains some foodstuffs, which have a higher rating from the point of view of physiological nourishment, and others, which have a lower rating. So, in the group showing cereals and cereal products, we have a slice of whole meal wheat bread, which is rated higher than a slice of toasted bread made from milled white flour.






LESS FAT AND FATTY FOODS
Pay special attention to the so-called hidden fat. This includes for example fat in meat, delicatessen meats, cheese, eggs, nuts, cakes, chocolate, etc.
Make sure that this hidden fat amounts to no more than 30 to 40 grams a day. This way, you will have information not just on how high your daily energy intake is and how high our fat consumption is, you will also learn whether the combinations of the main nutrients meets the recommendations.




SPICY BUT NOT SALTY
Your sense of taste will very quickly got used to salty food. If you start eating very salty food for a few days you will then find food with a normal amount of salt very tasteless. At the moment many populations use of average twice as much salt as recommended, that is, ten grams of cooking salt instead of five grams per day. Most cheeses, preserves, prepared dishes, snacks, and delicatessen meats, cooking aids such as stock cubes, mustard and concentrates are particularly salty. On the other hand, there is very little salt in milk, yogurt, fresh vegetables, meat and herbs, Use fresh herbs for taste. Only add salt alter tasting. If there is an iodine deficiency, the use of iodine salt is recommended since this can help to prevent iodine deficiency.




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NOT MUCH SWEET FOOD
Just as we can form a certain threshold of acceptability for salty food, so too can we for sweet food. A certain dependency on sweet things can develop in this way. While they have a relatively high energy content, sweets have a relatively low nutritional value. Simple sugars and refined sugars are frequently combined with saturated fats. Especially stick sweets, such as candy, bonbons and pralines, etc, threaten dental health by forming canes. Anyone who eats sweets regularly is absorbing too much energy and is giving up nutritious foods ion exchange for sweets with little nutritional value. This, of course, means that the body will be provided with fewer of the nutrients it needs to survive. In addition, sweets offer absolutely no way out of this situation. Even if they contain no calories themselves, they are first of all contributing to raising the level of the sweetness threshold for the sense of taste, and secondly they cannot satisfy the hunger for carbohydrates, because they do not contain any. This is how, when people are hungry and when the blood sugar level is low, they often consume more sweet foods than they actually need for their energy requirements. So if you feel like eating something sweet, you should have some fresh or dried fruit.


MORE WHOLE MEAL PRODUCTS
The consumption of products manufactured from milled white flour mainly reduces the quantities of fiber, vitamins and minerals consumed. These elements, contained in the external layers of while wheat, are mostly lost when it is milled. As the fiber intake of many people is less than the recommended 30 grams, and as the provision of the B-vitamins and certain minerals is not always guaranteed, we should not do without the benefit of whole meal products in our diets.


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A WEALTH OF VEGETABLES, POTATOES AND FRUIT
Fruit and vegetables contain mainly carbohydrates, which are supposed to supply more than half of the energy we consume every day, in addition to this, fruit and vegetables provide the body with fiber, vitamins, minerals and water. The high water and fiber content mean they have a relatively low energy content. Pulses – like potatoes – have, in addition to their particularly high fiber content, a very high protein content, the value of which is enhanced when combined with cereal or milk products. Even deep-frozen fruit and vegetables can be recommended if, as is now common practice, they are quick-frozen immediately after harvesting. This process preserves vitamins, which are often lacking in fresh fruit and vegetables, which have generally spent a few days in storage, which causes volatile vitamins to be lost on their way to the store.


LESS ANIMAL PROTEIN
Even though animal protein generally has a higher biological rating than vegetable protein, that is, it is more easily utilized by the human organism, sources of animal protein do not only bring benefits. If, in addition to this, you combine your vegetable protein sources with other protein-rich foods such as milk, milk products or cereals in your diet, you need not fear deficiencies in your protein supply, especially if you are involved in strength training.


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ENLIGHTENED DRINKING
Drinking can provide the fastest energy replacement without any related feeling of satiation. As this energy has no parallel nutritional value, especially when it comes from lemonades and even alcoholic drinks, it is recommended to cut down on this type of drink as much as possible.




SMALLER MEALS MORE OFTEN
Five smallish meals will not only crank up your metabolism, this will also mean that energy dips during the course of the day have a lesser effect on you. So have a second breakfast and an afternoon snack. But as a result, make your main meals smaller than usual so that your total energy intake does not exceed the required level. If your body weight is normal, you could even allow yourself a little late snack after supper.






MAKE TASTY AND NUTRITIOUS FOOD
Cook for as short a time as possible and with little water or fat, to preserve the nutrients and flavor of the food. Vitamins are partially soluble in water and are sensitive to heat, oxygen and light. To preserve them, store your vegetables and fruit in a cool, dark place, use them as quickly as possible and never keep them wart for long. In addition, you should wash them before chopping and chop them coarsely so that the surfaces, which can lose nutrients, cover only a limited area. Minerals are also lost in water. Careful preparation not only attains positive results for the nutritional content; it also considerably improves the flavor.


Always keep these tips in mind while preparing and consuming meals to reap the benefit of good health.

Top 10 Triggers for Over-eating

For some women overeating means bingeing and for others it means consuming more or other than planned. Most of us are overeating for a hundred different reasons. We are eating due to stress, irritation and frustration. It may be worry or overwork. We eat because our stomach feels ‘blah’. We are eating out of habit and with no real direction or thoughts about what we are doing with our face in the fridge.


Identify, the ten "triggers" for overeating and then try to overcome them:


Boredom- You eat when you're bored or do not have anything interesting to do or look forward to. TV is a favorite pass time especially when you are alone at home and bored. When food commercials are running 200 images per hour into our cerebral cortex it is difficult not to be draw towards the refrigerator. If food commercials are a trigger, watch nature shows or commercial-free TV.




Beat it by: If you are just grabbing anything out of the refrigerator, make something healthy like cut veggies and leave them in the fridge.







Feeling Deprived- You feel deprived of the foods which you enjoy and this leaves you craving for them even more. Media's attitudes towards emphasizing thinness as ideal has lead to restrictive dieting and avoidance of whole groups of foods. Unfortunately, because the foods being avoided are abundantly available, and food visibility and availability are powerful eating stimuli, the restricter often breaks her "plan" and eats a forbidden food. Once this happens, overwhelming guilt followed by feelings of low self esteem motivate the individual to go on over consuming the avoided food in an attempt to numb these negative feelings.



Beat it by: Focusing on balancing the calorie input to calorie output. Model healthy eating and exercise habits. Do this as a genuine concern for your own well-being. Eating high fat foods in moderation will do no harm.



Feeling Disgust or Hatred with Your Body- Check if your focus is on the things which you feel are wrong with your body. One of the reason women are unable to over come eating triggers is the inability to accept the body in spite of the bombardment on our souls of absurd body ideals.

Beat it by: seeking professional advice from a dietician or psychologist who will help you overcome the feeling of disgust and hatred. Map out a recovery plan in close consultation and then try to stick with it to develop a positive self-image. Define your own personal values – those that are right for your individual authentic self. Each of you must discover who you are inside, what your innate talents and gifts are and then find the joy and strength to nurture those gifts to their fullest – regardless of anyone else’s opinions.

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Glucose intolerance- This is a physiological trigger. In a healthy body, carbohydrates are converted to glucose and a blood glucose level of ~60-120mg/dl is maintained without thought to the dietary consumption of carbohydrate. In the glucose intolerant population, carbohydrates are readily converted to glucose and the pancreas responds to this shift in blood sugar by secreting an excessive amount of the hormone, insulin. Insulin’s job is to remove the glucose from the blood stream and help it to enter the body cells. If done properly, the blood glucose level returns to the normal range regardless of the amount of carbohydrate consumed. If this system is not working correctly, a quick rise in blood glucose followed by an over production of insulin occurs. The excessive insulin is not recognized by the body cells so is unable to remove the glucose from the blood stream. The result is an increase in blood insulin levels, which has an appetite stimulating effect. The person is driven to eat and if simple carbohydrates are chosen, the cycle continues.

Beat it by: Spreading the calories out by eating a small amount frequently can help maintain a normal blood glucose level. This means every ~3 hours. A recommendation is to be slightly hungry before the next eating event. If famished, then the interval between eating events is probably too long or too little was eaten at the last eating event. If one approaches the next eating event full then too much was consumed at the last eating event. The macronutrients, protein and fat, in combination with carbohydrate have the potential to delay the rise in blood glucose. Protein is preferred as fat interferes with the effectiveness of insulin. Complex carbohydrates leave the stomach more slowly than simple carbohydrate and therefore can also help in blood glucose regulation. Complex carbohydrates contain fiber. Soluble fiber is especially beneficial for this condition. If blood glucose levels do not rise rapidly, there is less likelihood of excessive insulin secretion and less appetite stimulation. It’s important to increase water consumption along with an increase in protein or fiber. Water carries nutrients and oxygen to cells and removes waste. Eating a high fiber diet requires extra water to process the additional roughage and to prevent constipation.


Habits- Your daily habits are not as healthy as they may be and you may not even be aware of some of them. Often, excessive eating, lack of physical activity and stress tips the scales of our otherwise balanced lifestyles. Many women have found that overeating tends to occur in specific places and times, such as in the evening when you're at home and watching television.

Beat it by: Turning off the TV off and engaging in a hobby that keeps your mind and hands busy. Another solution to stress-related overeating is to address the sources of stress. Acknowledge and address feelings of depression, anger or anxiety. Do whatever you can to reduce feelings of stress, like writing a journal, talking with a friend, or exercise.

Lack of Energy and Feeling Tired- You are putting up with so much in your life that this is constantly draining your energy, leaving you feeling tired. "When your energy level is low, you may look for food to pick you up," says Robert E. Thayer, Ph.D., professor of psychology at California State University at Long Beach. Unfortunately, most women reach for calorie-laden treats instead of an apple or banana.

Beat it by: Identifying your low-energy times of day and substitute them with other activities for eating. Take a 10-minute walk or a water-cooler chat break. There are healthier ways of nurturing yourself, such as getting plenty of rest and relaxation, reading a good book, or taking a quiet walk.


Needing Love and Comfort- You turn to food when you're really needing love and comfort. With the pressure of work both at office as well, at home women tend to be burned out. All this is acceptable if supported with constant appreciation and love. Lack of appreciation, discouraging remarks leave women sad and lonely, who tend to turn towards food to find consolation.

Beat it by: Taking out some time for yourself and relaxing. Pamper yourself by going out for a facial, manicure or pedicure. Take out the children to a nearby park where you can walk and relax along with the kids.



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Feeling Overwhelmed- You have got so much that you feel you must do that you find it difficult to take the first step. Pressure of work and deadlines leaves many discouraged, who finally drop-out without giving a try. Take the first step, then the second and third and move on...




Beat it by: Do what can be done. Trust me, you will be amazed with your own capacity of performance. Reinforce the feeling of achievements in you instead of submitting to the pressure. Emotional eating is sometimes considered well within the range of normal behavior. However, problems arise when emotional eating becomes excessive and interferes with lifestyle quality and good health. If you feel emotional eating is a problem, it may be wise to work with a counselor trained in eating disorders



Feeling Upset and Hurt- You turn to food when someone says or does something that feels upsetting or hurtful to you. Anxieties and emotions can also trigger the desire to eat. Some women eat because they are sad or stressed out or even to celebrate when they are happy.

Beat it by: Going out in the open air and walk, The mini-blast of oxygen will vanquish tiredness and mental exhaustion. Leave your worries behind and be in the moment. Look at the birds. Be thankful. Let go, breathe deeply and relax. You may discover God has always been with you!

Lack of Willpower- Your attitude is shaped by your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It's really easy to feel good when the going is good. The key to vibrant energy and a powerful attitude is to MAKE yourself feel good, ESPECIALLY when the going's tough, and you don't feel good, or you don't want to feel good. Willpower is one of the tools you need to employ in order resist the powerful cravings associated with food. The cravings will attempt to control you. It is your willpower, determination and self-discipline that you will use to fight back.

Beat it by: developing a strong will-power. Every women has the capacity to build up or strengthen her willpower by exercising it in times of need. Lifting weights develops muscles, and exercising willpower makes it stronger. Add self-discipline in your life to become more aware of how you use your willpower in the course of all your daily activities.


Constructive identification and learning to cope with emotional and physiological triggers is an important key towards lifelong physical, mental, emotional and social health.

Food craving : understanding body signals

Food cravings mean that the body has its signals mixed up. When we are exhausted or blue, we have low blood sugar and/or low serotonin, and the body signals the brain that it needs a pick-me-up. This signal causes a sugar craving or carbohydrate craving. Why do we crave for food?

There are three basic factors responsible for food craving:
Hormonal Imbalance
Dieting
Adrenal fatigue

Serotonin is our basic feel-good hormone. Hormonal imbalance or weak digestion can lead to low serotonin. Unfortunately, sugars and simple carbohydrates release a short burst of serotonin — we feel good for a moment, but soon return to our low-serotonin state — then crave more sugar and simple carbohydrates.



Insulin is responsible for maintaining stable blood sugar levels by telling the body’s cells when to absorb glucose from the bloodstream. Being insulin resistant means your body stops responding to insulin, and instead grabs every calorie it can and deposits it as fat. So no matter how little you eat, you will gradually gain weight. Insulin resistance leads directly to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. And a low-fat diet makes it far more likely you will suffer from this condition. At the same time, your cells cannot absorb the glucose they need, so they signal your brain that you need more carbohydrates or sugars. The result is persistent food cravings.

If you eat a low-fat diet in the hope of losing weight, you unintentionally make the problem worse. If, like millions of women, you have eaten a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet for many years, or followed fad diets, the odds are good that you have become at least partially insulin resistant. Millions of women are trying the Atkins Diet or the South Beach Diet. While these diets are an improvement over the conventional low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, they can worsen your metabolic problems, because dieting itself is stressful to the body. So many women need to heal their metabolism first before even considering weight loss.

Another cause of food cravings is adrenal fatigue. If you are under a great deal of stress, or suffer from insomnia or sleep deprivation, you are probably exhausted much of the time. This leads to adrenal fatigue or outright adrenal exhaustion, which in turn signals the body it needs a pick-me-up. You may resort to sugar or carbohydrate snacks or coffee during the day and carbohydrates or alcohol at night, all of which exacerbate the problem.

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How to curb cravings
Learning how to listen to your body is a vital step to living an active and healthy lifestyle. Women who blame themselves for their food cravings only worsen their mood and increase their need for serotonin. That’s when a pattern of emotional eating can develop. Remember, there are biological causes of sugar cravings, and your carbohydrate craving is rarely just a behavioral problem. The root problem is more likely inadequate nutrition.

To reduce food cravings, the body needs real support — and lots of it. Eating healthy foods, eating breakfast every day (skipping breakfast can make cravings worse), taking nutritional supplements, moderate exercise and lots of emotional support can almost miraculously curb cravings. Your metabolism will heal itself when provided with the necessary nutritional support. If it has been damaged, the process can take some time, but it will happen.

Here are some tips to help when times get tough:

Eat every 3 hours. One of the biggest culprits for
psychological cravings is falling blood sugar levels. If you keep your levels steady, you simply won't crave the same things. The easiest way to combat cravings is to avoid them in the first place.


Drink water. Dehydration confuses the body and will often make it feel hungry. A small glass of water each hour will keep your stomach full and keep you hydrated.


Wait. Real cravings stay with you but psychological ones don't. If you've eaten enough and are hydrated, putting off a decision for 15 to 20 minutes will help the craving dissipate.


Distract yourself. If you've been working in front of a computer but feel the need to eat, do something else. Make a phone call or read the news. Changing your mindset might be all you need.


Exercise. If you start to exercise and your cravings aren't physiological, you'll feel better almost instantly. If they are physical, you'll never be able to really get into your workout, which is a sign that you need to eat.


Keep healthy snacks around. Keeping healthy snacks around will help. Have a piece of fruit or some raw veggies. If that doesn't help, you'll know your craving is psychological.





Change your routine. Habit can affect a craving, so shake up what you do, even if it's just slightly. Turn off the lights in your kitchen and try not to use that room. Forcing simple changes can make it easier to follow through with tougher ones.


And when absolutely nothing else works, give in—but RARELY! Have a square of chocolate instead of a whole bar, a serving of chips (around 20) instead of a bag, half a soda instead of the entire thing. And never let one bad evening turn into a three-day (or three-week) binge! This will work your habitual mind in the right direction and lead to the ability to cut that craving out for good.

A healthful diet should be one that meets your nutritional and your emotional needs, as well as your preferences

ran Muffins
Makes: 12 muffins.
Serving Size: 1 muffin

Ingredients
2 cups raisin bran cereal
1 cup skim milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare muffin tins with non-stick spray.
Mix cereal, milk, oil, and egg in large mixing bowl. Allow to stand for at least five minutes. Combine remaining dry ingredients and add to cereal mixture. Stir until all ingredients are moistened. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.



Nutrition Information per Serving:
135 calories
22 grams carbohydrate
3 grams protein
4 grams fat

Banana Malted Milk Shake
Makes: 4 shakes.
Serving Size: 6 ounces

Ingredients
2 cups nonfat chocolate or vanilla ice cream
1 sliced banana
½ cup skim milk
3 tablespoons malted milk powder

Directions
Put measured ingredients in blender and mix on high until smooth. Pour into chilled glass, garnish with banana slice, and serve.





Nutrition Information Per Serving:
150 calories
31 grams carbohydrate
grams protein
0.5 grams fat

Cantaloupe Slush with Mango
A refreshing dessert or snack, this provides each person with more than three servings of fruit.

Makes: 4 servings.

Ingredients
1 medium-sized cantaloupe
Juice of half a lemon
2 teaspoons honey
1 mango
Directions
Peel and seed cantaloupe. Cut into 1-inch pieces. (It should equal about 6 cups.) Place in blender or food processor with lemon juice and honey, and puree until very smooth. Pour mixture into a shallow 9x12 glass pan and set in the freezer for two hours.

With a fork, chip and stir the icy mixture and return it to the freezer for two to four hours.
Peel and cut mango into long, thin, attractive slices, avoiding the pit (which is shaped like a large almond). Again with a fork, chip the frozen cantaloupe mixture so it resembles a snow cone or shaved ice. Spoon it into clear bowls, and top with mango slices. Serve.
Nutrition information per serving
Calories 144,
Carbohydrate 37g,
Protein 3g,
Fat 0.5g
Saturated Fat 0g,
Cholesterol 0mg,
Sodium 63mg,
Fiber 5g,
Calories from Fat 3%,
Saturated Fat 0%,
3 "5 A Day" servings.