What are you eating that for?

Good morning.
With most of us not having overactive metabolisms where we can eat just about anything and it never shows, we need to make every calorie count. So I decided to use that thinking and analyze what I had for breakfast.

I had an orange for its vitamin C (to act as an antioxidant and help my immune function) and fiber (to provide bulk for the intestines to keep their muscle tone), along with 1/2 a banana for its potassium (for fluid balance, heart muscle activity and the nervous system).

The hot oatmeal I had gave me a good supply of soluble fiber. (Soluble fiber turns into a gel with the water in your intestines. It then traps cholesterol, making less cholesterol available for absorption. That's great news for lowering one's risk for heart disease and high cholesterol).

I added about 1/2 cup of lowfat milk, giving me about 150 mg of calcium. (While I know 150 mg of calcium is far from my goal of 1200 mg, it was contributing to my overall total in my attempts to protect my bones against osteoporosis. But calcium isn't just for your bones. It also regulates heart beat, muscle action and nerve function, and a number of other chemical reactions that occur in your body. There is also some protein in the milk. For those of you familiar with "complementary proteins", the missing amino acids in oatmeal are complemented or made up for by the amino acids in the milk. By the way, there isn't a concern that they be eaten in the same meal. Your body will manage them even if they come in at different times of the day.)

I included about 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed to give me some healthy omega-3 fatty acids to help reduce any inflammation in my body. (Inflammation is the basis for many of the diseases in the United States, from heart disease to diabetes to arthritis and inflammatory bowel syndrome.)

Lastly, I topped it off with about 1/4 cup of lowfat Greek style yogurt for its probiotic content, calcium and protein. (Probiotics are healthy bacteria that we need in our intestines. Most people don't appreciate that there are many, many different types of bacteria in our intestines, some doing some very valuable jobs of breaking food down and giving us some healthy byproducts. What's even better about having the fiber in the oatmeal and the flaxseed, is that these foods will feed the healthy bateria so that if I ever get some bad bacteria down there, I'll always have a larger population of healthy bacteria to fight them.)

And what's best of all, I came away very satisfied and know that I won't be hungry in an hour. The fiber will slow down the absorption of my meal so it becomes more like a time-release energy capsule.

In many of the following blogs, I'll share with you foods that I think you should be eating and why. I hope that you'll start thinking about food in terms of "why am I eating this?" While you can justify dark chocolate now that we know it has valuable antioxidants, I'd love to hear how you would justify, say, jelly beans!

Visit www.advantagediets.com for more health and wellness information

Copyright 2008 - Advantage Diets