Health and Human Services Professional Development

Don’t Deprive…Eat for Your Body and THRIVE! by   Guest Author, Jennifer Ashley   on   July 22, 2014   We are constantly bombarded with messages about our weight.  We are told that thinness equals beauty and that being fat is a bad, shameful thing.  We receive conflicting information about the best ways to maintain a healthy body, and fad crash diets are regularly promoted in the media.  It’s no wonder that many of us are at a loss when it comes to figuring out the best way to eat for our bodies.  Most people who seek to lose weight view it as a task that requires depriving themselves and severely restricting calories. However, university researchers recently examined another way of eating called “intuitive eating.”  With this method, people are encouraged to eat based on principles such as: Eat whatever you want.  Don’t deny yourself a particular food. Eat based on physical hunger, rather than on emotions like sadness or bored...

Whole Fruits or Vegetables, or Juices: Which Packs the Most Punch? by   Guest Author, Jennifer Ashley   on   November 9, 2014   We all know that fruit and vegetables are the cornerstone of a healthy diet.  Government health recommendations state that most of us should be eating two cups of fruit and two and a half cups of vegetables each day.  But how many of you choose your servings of fruits and vegetables from juice drinks? While a cup of 100% juice counts as a serving the same as a cup of whole fruit or vegetables, research suggests that the juice isn’t as nutritious as its fresh counterparts. Scientists at the University of Alabama recently compared fresh fruit with 100% fruit juice to determine the amount of antioxidants each contained.  Antioxidants are a type of molecule that protect our cells from damage, and they are one of the reasons why fruit and vegetables are so healthy for our bodies.  The researchers found that a serving o...