It's all about balance - Dieting

When dieting, one of the most important things to always keep in mind is balance. Try to keep things reasonable, in the middle, and don't push yourself to the extreme. Quite a few of these fad diets that we see coming and going these days really go all out in one direction, and as a result leave so many important things behind in the dust. People say we need to have "a well balanced diet", and though this is usually said to refer to our regular day to day eating habits, it still holds true when we are dieting and trying to lose weight.

If you are eating well to begin with, you shouldn't radically change your eating habits when dieting. Focus instead on eating slightly less at each meal, such as smaller portions, or trying to cut out unnecessary calories like desserts and some of those sugary, iced-cappuccinos that we all love so much in the summertime. But don't cut back on the portions too much! Going hungry all the time isn't a productive way to diet. Not only will you risk having some unpleasant mood swings, but it might lead to binge eating or cause harm to your body. It's especially dangerous to cut back too heavily if you are hypoglycemic or have other blood sugar problems, because it can lead you to being drowsy all the time and lacking focus or worse.

It is recommended that if you are trying to lose weight, that you shouldn't cut your daily caloric intake below 1200. At that level you can still feel full after every meal, and afford to burn off some extra calories through exercise.

Another thing to definitely avoid doing is to hop onto one of those fad diets where "all you have to do" is to eat one thing and LOTS of it to lose weight. Bad idea. Our bodies need a wide variety of vitamins and nutrients to function properly. Say, for instance, you hop onto the "Atkins Diet" where you all eat for a few weeks is meat, with some small portion of salad greens just to "keep things balanced". Well... I hate to break it to you, but 2000 calories of meat a day and a bowl of salad isn't exactly a well balanced diet. Or worse yet, some of these "cookie" diets have you eat, well, cookies all day that somehow manage to fill you up so that you won't want to eat anymore. Again, not great.

Too much of one thing can be a bad thing.

Meal Delivery Services - A History

Here's a fun topic: how did home meal delivery services first begin and when? It's something that been on my mind lately, so I decided to a little bit of research.

Modern meal delivery services rely primarily on delivery cards to make sure that customers receive their meals on time. A driver picks up the orders, loads them into his vehicle and drives them to their destinations. However, the modern meal delivery service is largely reliant on cars. What were things like before cars became common? Does that mean that there were no meal delivery services? Not quite.

Meal delivery services were originally reliant on bicycles, which had become a widely accessible form of transportation well before the modern automobile. Though bicycles had been around since the turn of the 20th century, they only really grew in popularity, as well as availability, by the 1920s. However, during that decade, the only real deliveries made with bicycles were the mail and small parcels.

By the 1940s, however, the importance of the bicycle as a method of delivery grew. Despite the rise of the automobile, bicycles were far more affordable, and in many ways more versatile. The first widescale meal delivery services began in London during the second world war, and relied heavily on bicycles, being that the city itself was often in ruins, with roads inaccessible to larger vehicles.

The first meal delivery were not exactly the same as the ones we know and love today. London, during the early years of the second world war, was under constant threat of danger. People felt safer in their basements and in local bomb shelters, and venturing outside was at times a very risky affair. To help ensure the well being of London's citizens, the British government, along with local volunteer groups, began organizing ways to keep the city's inhabitants fed.

Groups got together, composed of volunteer chefs, kitchen staff and delivery personal, who would prepare meals and have them delivered. Meal delivery services became an essential service for the duration of the wat.

After the war ended, many of the meal delivery programs which had started up, decided to continue on. They began serving those who had lost their homes during the bombings, as well as helping feed veterans who had just come home from the war and needed help settling back into the swing of things.

 

Meal delivery services began as a service designed to help those in need, and this is something that we might often forget about the current generation of meal services. While people no longer have to live under constant threat, not everyone is able to provide for themselves at all times. The modern meal delivery service, in this vein, continues to offer a viable choice for those in need, for people who might have difficulty in providing for themselves. The original spark is still there, only today it is accessible to everyone who enjoys a good meal at home.

Running vs Walking - Helping your bones

A recent study on fitness and health for children, raised the interesting point that kids "should run and not walk" in order to get proper amounts of exercise.

I mean I suppose that it's hardly news that kids should go outside and run around (they have the energy for it, after all), but what is interesting about this study is that kids who just go for a nice slow walk with their parents in the evening, no matter how much walking they do, do not really see any serious health and fitness benefits.

Compare this with children who add in a few bursts of running in their walk or who regularly run. These children are reported to have considerably greater bone density than the children who practically never run.

Having a thick bone density, for those of who haven't been reading too many medical articles these days, is a key factor for the prevention of osteoperosis. Eating calcium rich diets, as well as partaking in exercises that strengthen your bone density helps prevent gradual degradation of your bone structure. As well, healthy and tougher bones help prevent bone fractures from simple injuries.

Wait! What about all those things we hear about the dangers of jogging and the strain that it can put on our knees?

Well, I hate to break it to you, but we're not exactly children anymore are we? Jogging and running in an of themselves are not essentially bad, however they can lead to injuries and other complications just like any other form of exercise if we are not careful. For instance running through a field of grass and running down the sidewalk are two different things. On the sidewalk, and other hard surfaces we risk putting too much pressure on our knees because the floor beneath us doesn't give away to our weight. On grass, however, there is more fo a soft cushion which helps remove some of the strain from our joints.

In fact, jogging and running for adults can be can lead to a weakening of our bones, especially if we suffer from thinner and weaker bones than normal to begin with. Perhaps one of the best ways to prevent this would probably to have gotten in a little more exercise when we were young. So with that in mind, let your kids run a little more.

Sleep Deprivation Makes Us Grumpy - A Scientific Fact

I recently read an article about sleep deprivation. According to recent studies, lack of sleep can (surprise!) cause us to have unpleasant mood shifts, and impairs decision making.

Though hardly startling, as I'm sure most of us know how we feel when we fail to get our beauty sleep, the study nevertheless helps reinforce the importance of sleep in our daily cycles. Just like how the human body requires food on a regular basis to keep us healthy and energized, sleeping plays a similar role. Our bodies need to rest on a regular basis to recharge, unwind and rest. Some people require a solid 8 hours of sleep every night to be able to concentrate and function properly the next day. For others, like me for example, we can get by with slightly less.

Resting is something that we shouldn't overlook, no matter how bust our lives are. Sure, sometimes things can get a little crazy, and we end up working late into the night, hitting the pillows for a few hours, and then getting up and starting the whole process over. It's not so bad if that's something we only do on occasion, and then make sure to rest up afterwards, but when it starts to become a habit we need to start watching out.

Apart from making us grumpy (a scientific fact!) a continued lack of sleep, or having an insufficient amount of sleep several days running, can lead to several health problems. For one, when our body is over exerting itself, we open ourselves up to the potential of getting catching a cold more easily and then being tired AND sick. Worse yet, sleep deprivation can start to affect our appetites too.

How often do you find yourself waking up in the morning, dead tired, with breakfast the last thing on your mind? It happens to me every now and then, and sometimes I just grab a coffee instead and hold off until lunch. Not providing our body with the food it needs is bad enough, but it only gets worse if we have go an entire week without the proper amount of sleep. We might stary by skipping breakfast, but then lunch comes next, and so forth. Our appetites can change faster than we know it.

So where does that leave us then when we just don't feel like we have the time to get enough sleep? Well, there are a few tricks to getting the most out of a small amount of sleep.

Studies have shown that our bodies go through cycles when we sleep. Each cycle normally lasts around 90 minutes, whereupon it is not uncommon for us to wake up briefly, and then fall right back to sleep without even noticing. Waking up in the middle of a cycle often causes us to feel incredibly sleepy, regardless of how much we actually slept before. So sometimes, if you wake up after 6 hours of sleep (4 cycles) you will actually feel better and function more efficiently than if you awoke after 6 1/2 hours of sleep, midway through a cycle.

One way to avoid feeling so tired when you wake up is to try to plan your sleeping to fit along the pattern of your sleep cycles. For instance, try to set your alarm to go off 6 hours and fifteen minutes after you set it. This way you will be giving yourself 15 minutes to fall asleep, and then a full four sleep cycles. 6 hours sure doesn't sound as nice as 8 hours, but you might be surprised to find out that you don't feel all that bad in the morning.

Of course, another way to make sure you're going to have a meal in the morning, is to order it ahead of time to arrive at your place. 21st Century Food delivers light, easy to eat breakfasts (even coffee!) such as yogurts and pancakes, so that even if you're not in the mood for frying up some bacon in the morning, your stomach might cause you to change your mind when you get your hands on one of our meals.

Catered to your Taste - Montreal Caterers

Did you know that 21st Century Food also offers a catering service? That's right! The same healthy and great tasting meals we provide for our home and work place deliveries can also be prepared to serve your guests at your next corporate and private event.

We offer only the finest dishes, served with the utmost attitude of professionalism. With 21st Century Food as your number one Montreal area caterer, we provide buffet and banquest style meals using the same cooking techniques and prepared with the same fresh ingredients as our regular meal delivery service. Only this time they come with multiple servings. Enjoy a rich variety of cheese, sandwhich and salad platters to accompany your meal and keep all of your guests happy and full.

To sweeten the deal we also offer 21st Century Dollars, as part of our special reward plan for choosing us as your catering service. Every $20 dollars that you spend through our catering service, you receive one century dollar, which you can be redeemed in the future so that you can enjoy your next event at a fraction of the cost.

That's just one of the many ways in which we show you, our valued customers, that we appreciate your clientele.

Nutrition Trivia Week One

So, after a slight hiccup on Tuesday, the first week of Nutrition Trivia went well. Two contestants were quick to answer and walk away with a $5 Off Coupon Code each! They should be getting their coupon codes sent to them later today!

Meal Delivery Service - Why? Part 3 - Maternity Leave and New Mothers

Continuing our series on the benefits of Meal Delivery Services, today we will be looking at our third group that could really take advantage of the service.

 Enjoy your time as a new mother

When someone special enters your life you deserve to be able to take all the time in the world to look after them. Most companies offer generous maternity leaves that help ensure you make the most out of being a new mother and caring for your child, because being a mother can be a full time job on its own.

So, what steps are have you been taking to make the most of your time? 

The last thing you need to have on your mind is stress. Finding the proper balance of having enough time to care for your child and for yourself can be a bit trickey. Why not take one load off of your shoulders and worry less about where your own meals are going to come from?

With a meal delivery service like 21st Century Food, we offer new mothers the ease of being able to have all of their own meals delivered right to their door. Our lifestyle menu can keep you fit and energized, and without having to worry about cooking for yourself, or having to resort to fast food deliveries, we can give you all the more time to attend to more pressing matters.

Know any expecting mothers?

Even if you yourself are not an expecting mother, you might know a few. Thinking of a way to congratulate them when the big day comes around? Our online gift store offers plenty of great gift possibilities perfectly suited to new and expecting mothers. How about a gift card for a week of meal delivery gourmet dining? Or maybe they would like to quickly get back into shape after the baby's arrived. Offer them our 17 Day Diet so that they can get back on their feet quicker than ever.