This is a test article about food and nutrition.

Eat well.. feel good

About a year ago I read a very interesting fact that I had jogged back into memory yesterday. It is interesting because taken by itself its only just a neat little fact, but if we take this knowledge and use it to our advantage, we can make a slight change in our daily routine and end up losing weight and feeling better because of it. So what is this fact?

During a brief conversation with a co-worker the other day, he had mentioned an interesting way to lose weight. I’m sure you can guess what it was by the title of this post, but what it comes down to is the size of your plate.

Let me explain! Generally here in North America our plate sizes are big; actually they aren’t just big; they are huge. So when we go to fill our plate with food, what do we do? Well, we FILL it up and end up with too much food on our plates, but because we have been conditioned since childhood to finish all the food on your plate (especially our vegetables!) we tend to eat everything. And even if we don’t eat everything, we still subconsciously try to finish off as much of that plate as possible because that is what we’ve been programmed to do.

Studies show that anti-inflammatory Omega-3 fats help to protect your brain from degeneration, and your bones from osteoporosis. How to choose the right fats is an important part of your anti-aging education. There is good evidence that if you eat these 'good' fats that are a ruling factor in influencing the rate of bone breakdown, you will be contributing to preserving your bone density. And the health of that precious brain.

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in high concentrations in some of the wild-caught cold-water fish, like salmon, for instance, and can significantly decrease bone breakdown.

Recently Treehugger.com has had a couple of posts on something called Aquaponics which triggered my interest. Like everything else that catches my attention, I began to research it to learn more and see if its something I might want to pursue further. In this case, it has thoroughly captured my attention and I am looking to start an experiment in my basement based on the concept of aquaponics. I am sure by now you are wondering what exactly aquaponics is, well, quite simply it is the combination of Aquaculture and Hydroponics. Aquaculture being the process of growing your own supply of fish to eat, and hydroponics being a soil-less form of growing vegetables.

There are many ways we can eat healthier and what I've done here is explain 5 easy steps that you can use to start eating healthier today.

1. Prepare a meal plan every week

Soft Drinks which are also known as Pop, Soda Pop, Soda when drank too often or two much, is one of the reasons our western society is becoming more and more overweight. You might be thinking that this is an odd group to be signaling out, but don't worry, this is just the first of many unhealthy foods I plan on discussing. If you take the time to look at the "Nutrition Facts" on the side of the pop you are drinking, you will notice that your pop probably has a fairly high calorie count, I find that on average a soft drink will contain roughly 180 to 200 calories per can. This is a lot of calories, especially if you are someone who drinks more then one can a day, then this will add up very quickly.

While I was writing the article Lose weight by reducing portion sizes today, I started thinking about how important the speed you eat your food is. I know some of you who are reading this might be thinking that I've lost my mind, but hear me out. I am someone who can be described as 'inhaling' my food. I love to cook, and I love to eat, but there is something fundamentally wrong with how I used to eat. I say used to, but sometimes I still catch myself slipping back into the old habit.