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Carrots To Spinach; 5 Vitamin A-Rich Foods To Include In Your Regular Diet Plan

VITAMIN A is a fat-soluble vitamin, which plays an integral role in maintaining normal vision, body growth, immune system, and reproductive health. Our body needs adequate amounts of essential vitamins to help in proper body functioning and maintaining good health. Adequate amounts of vitamin A in your diet can help prevent symptoms of deficiency, including hair loss, dry eyes, skin problems, night blindness and increased susceptibility to infections.

Benefits Of Vitamin A

Vitamin A is essential for many processes in your body, including maintaining healthy vision, ensuring the normal function of your organs and immune system, and aiding the proper development of babies in the womb, states Healthline. It protects your eyes from night blindness and age-related decline, lowers the risk of certain cancers, supports a healthy immune system, reduces the risk of acne, supports bone health and promotes healthy growth and reproduction.

How Much Vitamin A Is Adequate?

According to Healthline, the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) is 900 micrograms (mcg) for males, 700 mcg for females, and 300–600 mcg for children and adolescents.

Foods Rich In Vitamin A Nutrient

1. Sweet Potato

The WebMD reports that a single whole sweet potato contains an impressive 1400 mcg of vitamin A in its skin. That’s more than 150 per cent of your daily requirement in a single serving. For people following plant-based diets, sweet potato is an invaluable source of vitamin A.

2. Spinach

Spinach is known as the powerhouse of nutrients and offers numerous health benefits. A single half-cup serving of spinach contains more than 570 mcg of vitamin A. When consumed raw, in a smoothie or eaten by cooking it, the nutrient profile of spinach can be excellent for your overall health.

3. Carrots

Carrots are second after sweet potatoes in the amounts of beta-carotene (vitamin A). From

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Does your diet have enough healthy fat? Here’s how to make sure

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Fat and food: When we hear those words together, we typically think bad things.

However, Sentara Healthcare Registered Dietitian Ashley Moody says eating fat can be good for us.

“When we think about good fats, we often think about monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids,” said Ashley. “All you need to know is that these are fatty acids. When we ingest them, when we eat them, they’re so essential! We need them, that’s why they’re called ‘essential fatty acids.'”

To show our options and see how easy it is to add healthy fats into our routine, Ashley and I worked on making a good, fat-friendly salad. We started off with some spinach and included the basics: carrots, broccoli and tomatoes.

Then, we added the good fat ingredients. Ashley gave me kudos for selecting unsalted almonds.

“You’ve made the healthiest choice,” she said.

Ashley said another good source of healthy fat is avocado.

“Good, healthy unsaturated fatty acids are coming from that avocado,” Ashley explained.

After layering on some avocado, we also tossed in some chia seeds. Ashley said seeds, like chia seeds and flaxseed, are good places to find unsaturated fatty acids.

“So you can see, [from the chia seeds], you’re getting seven grams of those good healthy fats,” said Ashley.

This also brings up the discussion of whether you should eat these seeds whole or ground. For our salad, we went with the ground option.

Ashley suggested some more healthy seed options to include.

“[You can get] a little more healthy fat from your sunflower seeds. This is also going to give you a good texture change in your salad,” she said.

She said there are plenty of other ways to customize your salad, including adding a healthy source of protein.

“If

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Effective meal planning in the age of healthy eating

By IANSlife

New Delhi, May 19 (IANS): Healthy eating has evolved from being a compromise to a lifestyle that many people strive to achieve. With an abundance of food options available, it’s important to approach meal planning with a strategy that aligns with your health goals. Whether you’re looking to lose weight, manage a medical condition, or simply try out a new diet, effective meal planning is crucial. Mahek Mody, Co-founder and CEO of Up shares three steps to help you get started:

Find Your Health Goal

The first step to effective meal planning is to identify your health goal. This could be based on your weight, medical check-up reports, or a personal decision to try out a new diet. It’s important to consult a professional to help you set this up, as they can guide you towards a realistic and sustainable goal. Once you have identified your health goal, it’s important to create a system to track your progress. This could be as simple as a chart stuck to your fridge, or you could use apps, smartwatches, or health monitoring gadgets to make tracking more convenient.

Changing Diets Is Easier With The Internet

One of the biggest challenges to meeting a health goal is learning how to cook new things. You may not be able to rely on your mom or cook to cut your carbs, and you can’t expect the rest of your household to change their eating habits to accommodate your new diet. Thankfully, in 2023, learning to cook new things from the internet is easy. There are plenty of resources available to help you learn new recipes and techniques. You can find tutorials, blogs, and videos that will guide you through the process of cooking healthy meals. Additionally, ingredients are

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Try these tips for effective meal planning in the age of healthy eating

Healthy eating has evolved from being a compromise to a lifestyle that many people strive to achieve. With an abundance of food options available, it’s important to approach meal planning with a strategy that aligns with your health goals. Whether you’re looking to lose weight, manage a medical condition, or simply try out a new diet, effective meal planning is crucial. Mahek Mody, Co-founder and CEO of Up shares three steps to help you get started:

Also read: Here’s what you should keep in mind before consuming sodium-rich food

Find Your Health Goal

The first step to effective meal planning is to identify your health goal. This could be based on your weight, medical check-up reports, or a personal decision to try out a new diet. It’s important to consult a professional to help you set this up, as they can guide you towards a realistic and sustainable goal. Once you have identified your health goal, it’s important to create a system to track your progress. This could be as simple as a chart stuck to your fridge, or you could use apps, smartwatches, or health monitoring gadgets to make tracking more convenient.

Changing Diets Is Easier With The Internet

One of the biggest challenges to meeting a health goal is learning how to cook new things. You may not be able to rely on your mom or cook to cut your carbs, and you can’t expect the rest of your household to change their eating habits to accommodate your new diet. Thankfully, in 2023, learning to cook new things from the internet is easy. There are plenty of resources available to help you learn new recipes and techniques. You can find tutorials, blogs, and videos that will guide you through the process of cooking healthy meals. Additionally, ingredients

Read the rest