There is an old saying that you are what you eat. If you eat foods that are good for you, you are naturally going to be healthier as an individual. That is why many people are now turning to superfoods and making sure that they get plenty of these in their diet regularly. Here are 10 superfoods that you not only need to know about, you need to eat.

Blueberries - These small berries are really a gem, and not only can they provide you with a lot of antioxidants, they are also essential for prostate health. Make sure that you include these in your daily diet, either eating them with breakfast or mixing them into a smoothie.

Green Leafy Vegetables - Although not typically included in the list of 10 superfoods, you really can’t beat the health benefits of including plenty of greens in your diet. Although it is possible for you to get your greens through eating salad, I prefer to make a green smoothie everyday which helps the body to assimilate it very quickly.

Cocoa Nibs - Everybody knows about the benefits of dark chocolate but I’m going to take it a step further than that. Cocoa nibs are the essence of dark chocolate, without anything bad included. They are one of the highest foods in antioxidants and you should make sure that you are eating a couple of tablespoons every day of this natural wonder.

Chia Seeds - Most people know about these from the cheesy late-night infomercials but they don’t realize exactly what they are missing if they are not including them in their diet. These are so good for you that they were once worshipped by the ancient Aztecs. They contain healthy fats and enough fiber to keep you going throughout the day.

Kiwi - You should make sure that you are eating this fruit every single day. It is an excellent source of vitamin A. and E, along with giving you a lot of antioxidants. Not only that, it’s delicious and it has a place on the list of 10 superfoods.

Quinoa - If there is something that could be considered a perfect food, this is it. It has much of the proteins that you’re going to need to keep your body healthy and it is considered by the World Health Organization to be the perfect food for developing countries.

Salmon - Make sure that you include a little bit of fish in your diet on a weekly basis, but don’t get the farm raised fish. If you are able to afford natural salmon, you will provide your body with much of what it needs in the form of essential fatty acids.

Legumes - As it turns out, beans really are good for your heart. They contain a lot of fiber and are low glycemic, helping you to keep the weight off while giving you enough calories to maintain a healthy diet.

Other Berries - If you are able to afford it, include plenty of berries in your daily diet. I like to have a berry smoothie in the morning, getting my day started with an antioxidant punch that really keeps me going.

Green Powers - One more thing that you can include in your diet are green powders. These help to round out your diet with super foods and can make it easy for you to get a healthy dose every day.

It might be taking things a bit too casually as far as the health of your child is concerned, but sooner or later you may regret it. It is a fact that more and more kids are getting addicted to junk food. They hate home made food and are more at ease with hot dogs and other junk foods. As a responsible parent, it is time that you realized that these junk foods are slowly taking their toll on your child and that sooner or later they will end up being obese. When did you last take the weight of your child?

Have you ever observed that they hardly exercise and are slowly becoming couch potatoes? It is high time that you took some steps to identify the harmful effects of obesity in your kids since the same leads to a number of health problems like: Asthma, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and high cholesterol levels. A part of the blame lies in the current generation models too. Our kids identify themselves with these models that they watch on the TV and try to ape them.

If the model proclaims that he or she is eating a particular brand of food and that that particular brand of food is healthy, the kids will immediately start taking that food without bothering to study if those foods are suitable for their health or not. Do not blame the kids for they are too young to identify between what is good and bad. If they had that level of maturity, they would have never consumed the latest brand of fast food. It is your duty as caring parents to see what your kids consume and try to feed them foods that are healthy for them.

Apart from health issues, there are some psychological factors that are associated with obesity. You kid will suffer from psychological effects when he or she is bullied at school and being called names because of their obesity. They will form the fear of being disliked and eventually will avoid attending school. There is one more thing that you should not forget. Just providing your kids with healthy food is not sufficient. You need to ensure that they follow this up with regular exercise. These exercises can be in the form of physical activities like swimming, jumping, running, climbing up trees etc.

Also, these physical activities will help burn up the extra calories present in your kid thereby not permitting it to turn over into fat. You need to keep an especially when your kids are 3-4 years old. It is during this age that they form good or bad habits. If you imbibe the habits of eating good food and doing exercise during this period, then they shall get habituated to the same and retain it for the rest of their lives. Whatever else you do, never force a child to eat something that he or she dislikes initially. Give them sufficient time to get accustomed to the taste of the new food.

When going on a diet we have to be more selective about the things we put in our mouth. And if we want to lose weight we should be extra mindful on the amount of calories that we consume. That’s why I want to talk about tuna. Canned tuna fish has been around for over a century and quickly became very popular. Nowadays, you can find tuna in other forms, like in sushi, but that is a different type of tuna fish. The kind that I’ll review here is Albacore tuna which is regular white tuna you will find canned in the local grocery store. Like other fish, tuna contains a high level of protein, which makes it a good substitute for fatty meats in your diet.

The major distinction you have to make is that there is a big difference between tuna canned in water and tuna canned in oil. As you will see, tuna calories count is much higher when canned in oil. Let’s review some nutrition data: A serving of canned tuna in water has approximately 90 calories per can (which is 165g, making it about 55 calories per 100g). Out of these 90 calories, only 10% come from fat and none of it is saturated (Saturated fat is the kind of fat that you want to avoid in order to prevent heart problem and artery blockage). All the rest of the 90% come from proteins, About 20g of proteins in a can, which is important to keep your body healthy and functioning (especially if your working out).

Tuna canned in water has almost no carbs what so ever. On the other hand, a serving of canned tuna in oil has approximately 330 calories per can (about 200 calories per 100g) even after removing the oil. This includes 14.4g of fat (about 20% percent of it saturated). If this sounds not as good that is because that it really is not. When canned in oil the tuna calories are much higher. That is why tuna canned in water is much preferable for diet meal (even though it usually is a little more expensive). Tuna calories count is also lower then other sorts of meat. For example: Fried beef steak fillet has 316 calories per serving (170g).

Grilled bacon (not even fried) has 260 calories per 100g. Tuna, as well as other fish, have a relatively high mercury count. But that shouldn’t concern you, It’s much too low for it to be harmful (you need to eat more then 10 cans for it to be potentially harmful). Also some tuna products are rich with omega 3 which is also good for you. I won’t detail it here because it’s not our main issue, But Omega 3 is used for many purposes and is considered to be very healthy. Tuna can be eaten as a side dish alone, in a salad, and even made into a burger. There are plenty of great recipes online that include tuna. Calories should be a concern of course. Don’t use recipes that include fatty or calorie rich ingredients such as regular mayonnaise or white bread.

Some people argue about how good some protein shakes are compared to others and vise versa. Well, let me explain something to awaken your thought process…protein shakes will not make you big. Surprised? Well, what really helps your muscles grow and expand is to tear your muscle fibers apart by doing muscle gain workouts. All the protein does is rebuild the damaged muscle fibers from your strenuous workout. It’s not the central cause of getting bigger, but the workouts that you perform and the intensity. Protein contains something called amino acids; these are the essential building blocks for any matter (your muscles). But not only do amino acids rebuild your muscles, they also rebuild your organs, your skin (organ), and even your hair.

Even if you do not exercise, it is still demanded of the body to take in proteins for its various jobs of the body. When you workout, your body will require more protein to rebuild these torn fibers than if you did not; and any injury for example, a cut on your leg, your body would repair that gash before it starts to rebuild your muscle tissue. Don’t stress about protein shakes, in general, your body can only withstand around 50 grams of protein in a sitting. And the rest gets removed out of your system. Basically the protein shake is used if you cannot eat enough protein in your day to fulfill your bodies needs; or if you don’t want to eat the extra fat and drink a whey protein shake so your only receiving the protein. Be aware not to replace protein drinks with food all the time, as your body takes longer to digest food and only a short amount for protein; which will just make you more vulnerable to hunger. And you burn more calories with meals as it is harder for your body to break down food.

Now some people might ask “how much protein should I be intaking if i want to maintain my body and get toned?” Basically you have to figure out your body fat percentage.

- First figure out your body fat %

- Second multiply your weight by your body fat %

Third subtract that number from your weight.

The number you are then left with is your lean body mass weight. The ideal amount of protein you should be intaking is 1 gram per amount of lean body mass. You do the same thing if your trying to gain muscle, but add 30-50g of protein with that.

It is disguised in everything from hamburgers, hot dogs, baby formula, flour, and much more. It is often marketed as low-fat, dairy free, or as a high protein meat substitute for vegetarians. The soy derivatives you need to look for are textured vegetable protein (TVP), partially hydrogenated soybean, soy protein isolate (SPI) hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP).

One of the dangerous substances in the soybean is phytic acid, also called phytates. These acids block the body of essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and especially zinc. But, you never hear about that.

Read the labels very carefully - and you will be amazed at the soy contents in snack foods, fast foods, and pre-packaged frozen meals.

For those of you who are vegetarians, a diet varied in vegetables and fruits, can supply your body with all the protein and nutrients it needs that is rich in vitamins and enzymes, without soy derivative products.

Manufacturers can switch ingredients used in their food products without warning. All the items I buy, I must double-check the label. I had an experience one time when I bought tomato paste. Right next to it was a paste with garlic & herbs. I did not think anything of it because I relied on that manufacturer. When I was ready to use it, I looked at the ingredients and good thing I did because it had soybean oil in it! I could not believe that because of additional seasonings, they added soybean oil. So, from now on regardless of the item, I check and re-check the ingredients label. Another reason to read the labels is because of cross contamination - you may be purchasing a product that may not have soy, but with the new FDA law instituted in 2004, manufacturers have to list the ingredients of other products that are processed in the same machines used to process soy processed foods, wheat, eggs, and peanuts.

The FDA inspectors found that just over half of the manufacturers checked their products to ensure that the labels accurately reflected all of the ingredients. They also found that companies unintentionally introduced food allergens into other foods through poor cleaning and cooking schedules or improper cleaning of utensils. I say they need to get their act together, FAST!

The bakery section has soy dust flying around and employees are at risk of developing an allergy (asthma) because they are breathing the soy dust every day. The same goes for health food stores that have bulk bins. It is interesting for me because I use to like the smell of the bakery and bread section of the supermarkets - but not anymore. This is also the case in the section where they have the rotisserie chickens (they are prepared with soybean oil).

Some time ago my doctor prescribed an inhaler, but before I purchased it, I asked the pharmacist to look and see if there was any soy or lecithin in it. Would you believe that five out of seven inhalers contain soy or lecithin? Now, why would you need it in that?

The following uses I found in my research on the soybean organization site:

In the Oil Products category it listed Refined Soy Oil Edible uses such as coffee creamers, cooking oil, milk extenders, margarine, mayonnaise, sandwich spreads, pharmaceuticals, and salad dressings (just to name a few). Also listed under Refined Oil - and this blew me away - Technical Uses such as anti-corrosion agents, caulking compounds, dust control agents, electric insulation, epoxys, fungicides, disinfectants, linoleum backing, paints, pesticides, protective coatings, waterproof cement, vinyl plastics and wallboard (just to name a few). Would you really want to ingest a product that is used for these compounds? How safe can they be? I know corn is used for ethanol, and the soybean industry is getting on board with fuel going forward, but when I see a product with all these uses, it is questionable to me.

There is also Soybean Lecithin listed under Edible Uses for bakery products, candy/chocolate coatings (lecithin emulsifies into droplets so as to keep the water and oil from separating). Pharmaceuticals, Nutritional uses, Technical uses also listed in this category are anti-foam agents, anti-spattering agent, Dispersing Agents such as insecticides and rubber, Stabilizing Agent is shortening, and Wetting Agents such as cow’s milk, cosmetics, and paint pigments.

A few Whole Soybean Products for Edible Uses include stock feeds, soy sprouts, bread, doughnut mix, frozen deserts instant milk drinks, pancake flour and pie crusts. The Roasted Soybeans category lists cookie ingredients/toppings, crackers, dietary items and soda fountain toppings. Then of course there is Traditional soy foods such as soymilk, soy sauce, and tofu.

The first category is Soy Flour Concentrates & Isolates. Edible uses are beer and ale, baby food, cereals, food drinks, hypo-allergenic milk, meat products, noodles, prepared mixes, sausage casing, and yeast.