People who are just starting diets might be overwhelmed with all the information on the web.  For me, I like simple easy to follow information that is just “laid out” for me.  When I’m dieting, I want someone to tell me what I can and cannot eat.  I found a low carbs book on Amazon that you guys might find interesting.  There is a book titled “Low Carb Foods Guide – A Beginner’s Guide to Wise Food Choices”.  I downloaded this book for a $1 on my Kindle and skimmed through the chapters.  Heck, I figured that I could find that amount of money under my coach cushions, so why not spend a dollar on this eBook.  Anyways, what I found out was a lot of useful information on low carb foods.  I don’t know about you guys, but I hate browsing the web and going to all sorts of spam websites in Google when searching for health related topics. This book was worth spending $1 so I didn’t have to waste my time scouring the web for a list of low carb foods.

In the book, you will a break down of foods, organized by basic food groups.  There is a description of how each food group reacts with your body and the types of foods that you should eat.  Also, the book lists the types of foods you shouldn’t eat on a low carb diet.

There are some handy recipes for you to try, and like I said before, I like someone to tell me what I should eat on a diet plan so this book is perfect because it gives you a sample meal plan for an entire week.  Since the book is easy to read, it gives you more time to plan you weight loss strategy.  All in all, the eBook was a good read and was worth the $1 that I spent on it.

Some excellent news for men concerned about their prostate health, and specifically about their “prostate specific antigen” (PSA) level is that certain foods can actually help lower the PSA levels of men. This is important, because a high PSA marker is considered an important risk factor for prostate cancer. This antigen is a protein found in the blood that has been strongly associated with the risk or presence of prostate cancer risk. As such is has been hailed as a powerful tool for lowering prostate cancer deaths by helping identify susceptible men sooner.

Men who can lower the PSA levels in their blood may also lower their risk of developing this cancer that kills around 32,000 men annually. The potential has not been established by research but is indicated by statistics. Men who want to do all they can to lower their own PSA levels and fight this aggressive cancer can possibly help themselves by consuming more foods that lower PSA levels in the blood. Examples of these foods are cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, and pomegranates. All these are high fiber foods with other health benefits such as the ability to help control cholesterol levels. Eating them is an excellent way to improve overall health which can aid in fighting off prostate and other cancers.

One particularly effective pair of foods to lower PSA levels is the combination of broccoli and tomatoes. When eaten together they seem to have a synergistic effect, each enhancing the other’s PSA lowering power. This result was seen in a clinical study of the effects of eating foods on prostate tumors and researchers noted that this food combination actually significantly helped with reduction of the growth of prostate cancer tumors. Despite this, the mechanism for such an effect has not been established and there is no way of guaranteeing that diet will preserve any individual man from ever developing prostate cancer.

All these foods are good foods that should be a part of everyone’s diet in order to maintain health, and eating them to fight PSA levels at least allows individuals to take some proactive steps to fight this killer. To truly ensure they do all they can to protect themselves, all men, especially as they enter middle age, need to see their doctor regularly for checkups of their overall health in addition to their PSA levels.

By choosing to purchase only organic meat you are supporting sustainable farming. Animals that are reared outdoors, are raised in far more humane conditions, neither are they  intensively fed and are free from being routinely given antibiotics.  Grazing animals are supposed to be free to roam, they help preserve the landscapes natural beauty, many national parks and nature reserves are maintained by grazing cattle and sheep. Grasslands store carbon in the soil which would be released into the atmosphere if they were ploughed up, these areas should be viewed as important as rainforests in terms of their value as carbon stores.

Pigs and poultry are the most intensively farmed species, often resulting in them being pumped full of antibiotics.  They are often kept in unnatural farming conditions and antibiotics are used to control the spread of disease, this over use of antibiotics is  counter-productive however, because widespread use of antibiotics leads to antibiotic resistance in food poisoning bacteria, like salmonella.  In the last few years scientific evidence has also implicated intensive farming in the rise of two new superbugs, a new strain of MRSA which spreads to humans, and a new and almost untreatable type of E coli.

Cows are naturally supposed to eat grass, but intensive farming of cows means they are fed predominantly grain, as most of the time cows are contained inside. The problems is cows can’t digest grain easily, feeding cows grain leads to a change in their ph levels, which may also encourage a strain of E coli, that can potentially be hazardous to humans. All this weakens the immune system leading to imbalances, allergies, ill health and disease.  If an animal does get sick and has to be treated with antibiotics it cannot be certified organic, in fact after any treatment involving drugs, it has to be diverted to a conventional farm.  Buying organic meat means not only are you assured meat is virtually residue-free, you are guaranteed that you are getting meat, from an animal that was healthy throughout its life.  A conventionally farmed animal that has been treated with all sorts of drugs will often be sick, because its natural state of health has been so worn down. Certified organic meat goes far beyond just avoiding artificial ingredients, It is a guarantee that the product went through strict health and safety control points before it got to you.  Organic meat may be more expensive, but at least you can be assured that the food you’re eating is safer than other meats and came from a health animal.

Although I am not a vegetarian, I must confess that I really don’t enjoy eating meat.   Because of this, I am always looking for healthy vegetarian sources of protein.

Recently I discovered just how healthy black beans are!  In the past, I had always associated black beans with unhealthy dishes served in Mexican restaurants.  To be honest, I had never really considered cooking black beans at home.  That is why I was so surprised to learn just how good for you black beans are!

A single cup of black beans provides you with 15 grams of both protein and fiber.  Fiber is especially important to those who have hypoglycemia or diabetics because it helps to maintain even blood sugar levels.  You are also getting a rich supply of folate, manganese, phosphorous, iron, magnesium and thiamin.  With little fat, black beans are a great part of any clean eating plan!

It is very easy to find black bean recipes and some might even surprise you.  I recently tried a black bean quinoa salad that was quite simply out of this world.  There are also many great black bean soup recipes!  Of course, you can always go with the traditional Mexican fare, just be sure to leave out the oil and go light on the cheese and sour cream.

One thing to remember if you are going to give black beans a try is that most canned foods are loaded with Bisphenol A (BPA) which is a toxic chemical.  In fact, earlier this year the FDA openly came out and said that they had concerns regarding the safety of BPA, which has been links to cancer and heart disease.  To avoid consuming BPA, you should either use dry beans that you cook yourself.  Another alternative is to purchase BPA free Eden Organics.