3 Delicious And Healthy Meals For The Grill

Summer is almost here and we’re already grilling! Oh that wonderful taste!

Here are 3 meal ideas for you to cook healthy and good tasting food on the grill this season.

Be aware that if you cannot eat any of the following ingredients, they should be substituted with something else, or taken out of the list.

1. Steak, Asparagus, and Potatoes – You’ll want to choose your favorite kind of steak. Some good choices are rib eye, T-bone, or top sirloin (Filet mignon). Fresh asparagus from the produce section is best. Be sure to wash it and cut about 2-3 inches off the ends first. You may need to pre-cook the asparagus in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. Red potatoes are delicious and softer than most other potatoes. Potatoes take a while to cook all the way. Be sure to either cook them on the grill for a long time, or get it started in the microwave or in a pot of boiling water first.

2. Chicken Breast sandwiches with Zucchini – Chicken breast is low fat and tastes so good on the grill! Make sure it is thawed, fresh, and seasoned. Grill them to 165 degrees or hotter. Grill with fresh, washed zucchini spears or sliced the long way. After cutting, put olive oil on them first, season them, and make sure they are on the grill for a longer time. Under cooked zucchini is hard and doesn’t taste as good. Toast up some of your favorite bread or buns, and enjoy!

3. Pork Chops, Sweet Potatoes, and Green Beans – Season the pork chops as you wish. Wash the sweet potatoes and cut into slices big enough that they won’t fall through the grill grates. Or, slice them small and put into an aluminum foil pouch with holes poked in it. Prepare the green beans by boiling them in water for 1-2 minutes, and then season and grill.

May your grilling season be long, delicious, and sunny! Using the grill is a fantastic way to eat healthier during the warm season!

5 Random Tips For Better Health

We know that many health and wellness articles can get kinda boring or stale.

Whether you’ve read a hundred articles on diet and exercise, or you’ve read 50 articles telling you to see your doctor, you may be tired of it all.

This article seeks to break up the monotony and surprise you with 5 completely random health tips, just for fun!

These 5 tips should provide some new information you may not have heard before:

1. Cold Brew Coffee – If you have acid reflux or heartburn of any kind, you may be wanting to avoid acidic foods and beverages. Coffee is on the no-no list for this type of issue, but there may be a way around it. Making your coffee cold brew can remove up to 70 percent of acid in the coffee. No, this doesn’t mean making coffee hot and then adding ice or making it cold. You brew the coffee using cold water. You can use a cold brew maker pitcher, which holds the grounds in a filter as it gets saturated with the water in the pitcher. The next day, you’ll have delicious, smooth coffee without all that bitter acid! For more information, google cold brew coffee.

2. Air purifiers – Do you or someone in your family suffer from allergies? No matter what you may have floating in the air at your home, air purifiers are great! Whether it be pet hair, smoke, dust, pollen, or other things, you may find them to make a big difference! Be sure to change the filter as often as it says on the box!

3. Ditch the razor – Do you shave with a razor? Do you get lots of cuts, irritation, pain, razor burn, ingrown hairs, cysts, or blisters? Have you done everything you can think of and it still happens? It may be time to stop using that razor and trade it in for an electric razor that doesn’t cut the hair so close to the skin. Skin doesn’t stay smooth for long anyway, so you might as well trim the hair and stop shaving down to the skin.

4. Fitness trackers – Even if you think you’re a healthy, active and fit person, you may be missing on some important elements. If you get a fitness tracking device such as a Fit Bit, Apple watch or something similar, your real fitness stats are tracked. You may find you aren’t spending enough time with your heart rate up, you aren’t moving around as much as you should, or you are sitting down too much. If you are interested in getting to the next level of fitness, get a tracker!

5. Nutrition and vitamins – Did you know that most Americans are deficient in at least a few vitamins and nutrients? 90 percent don’t have enough potassium in their bodies, 70 percent don’t get enough calcium, and 80 percent don’t get enough vitamin E. Half of Americans don’t have enough Vitamin A, C, D or magnesium, and 90 percent of people are deficient in vitamin D. That’s a scary set of numbers. Go grab some supplements, pay attention to what you are eating, get some fruits and vegetables into your diet, get out into the sun when you can, and you’ll probably be good!

There you have it, 5 completely random and hopefully useful tips for your health and wellness journey.

You never know what kind of things can make a big difference in your family’s lives.

Ways Alcohol Can Affect Your Sleep Quality

Are you convinced that drinking alcohol helps you sleep? That may be true if you are drinking just one glass of your favorite beer, wine, or similar beverages.

However, did you know that drinking too much alcohol can actually decrease the quality of your sleep?

You might think that drinking is helping you sleep, but there are a few reasons it actually keeps you from getting a good night’s rest.

There is a certain chemical process that the body goes through when you’ve had too many drinks before bed. The alcohol produces a sleep hormone called adenosine. Sure, it increases the hormone and helps you sleep like a rock at first. However, during the night, it wears off. When it increases and then drops, you are more likely to be awakened by your body before you are done sleeping. So although you are getting a few good hours in while under the influence of alcohol, the hours that follow that may have you struggling to fall back to sleep.

In addition to the above, too much alcohol can disrupt your normal, natural pattern of sleep (circadian rhythm). It blocks REM sleep, which is the most important kind of sleep. When that gets interrupted, you will feel groggy and unfocused the next day.

Your drinking can affect your partner’s sleep quality as well. When you drink, you are more likely to snore when you sleep. That is because the alcohol relaxes the muscles in your throat. The more you drink, the more you are likely to snore. So if you’ve had one too many, don’t be alarmed if you get some complaints the next day about snoring.

If you do have a few drinks, note how you feel the next day when you wake. Are you tired, irritable, or having trouble concentrating? Then, avoid drinking that evening and see how much better you feel the next day. Also try: cooling your bedroom down while sleeping, avoiding stimulants (like nicotine or caffeine) in the evening, exercising regularly, and setting a regular bed time and wake time.

If you feel you need more help with your sleeping or for your need to drink alcohol, call your doctor.

Why Quitting Soda Is Good For Your Health

Many people drink their favorite sugary carbonated beverages all day every day. This is not good, because soda should be ingested as a treat and only drank once in a while.

Almost 50 percent of adults and 63 percent of youngsters in the U.S. consume at least one sugar drink per day. These drinks are likely to be a leading cause of obesity. One sugary beverage occasionally isn’t bad, but one or more per day is bad.

The following list of things will get better once you quit drinking soda:

1. You will be better hydrated. It takes water from your body to process soda. Between the caffeine working as a diuretic and all of the sugar that must be washed away inside, you will be losing hydration when you drink sodas. In fact, soda is bad for the kidneys because of this. Water is always the best choice for hydration.

2. Your teeth will be healthier and nicer. Soda is not only sugary, but it is as acidic as lemon juice. This eats away at the enamel of your teeth, and can cause them to die in your mouth. You can’t get enamel back, so once it is gone, it is gone for good. Ask your dentist if you have soda related tooth decay.

3. Gain less weight or lose some. Each 12 ounce soda has 32 grams of sugar and 140 calories. That is 14 grams over the daily recommended amount of sugar suggested for a woman and 36 grams over a man’s diet suggestion by the American Heart Association.

4. Less soda means less problems. You’ll reduce your risk of high blood pressure, weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, and more. Drinking one or two sodas per day increases your risk of type 2 diabetes by 25 percent.

5. You’ll have less gas. Carbonated sugary beverages like soda in your stomach can mean too much swallowed air in your body. This extra gas can build up, move around, and cause you pain throughout your body. Give your body a chance to process the fizz and get it out!

If you are having trouble, try keeping water with you all the time. Try swapping out just one soda for water each day, then increase it to 2 or more until you’ve traded your sodas for water.

If you are craving sugars, try eating fruit or adding some fruit juice to your water. If you are having caffeine withdrawal, try unsweetened tea. It will be hard at first, but your body will thank you later.