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Category: nutrition

Chicken Does the Body and the Wallet Good

  • By - DiyGarden
  • Posted on

To me there is nothing easier and more economical to cook with then a whole chicken. Unfortunately, a lot of us have gotten away from cooking with whole chicken because of time and lack of knowledge of what to do with it.  I hope to prove to you that it’s easy to cook a whole chicken, it tastes better, it’s cheaper than buying the different chicken parts individually and did I mention it will taste better?

Google tells me that on average a whole chicken costs $1.28 a pound nationwide. That is high for my area; I can normally find it around .95 cents a pound. Either way, a whole chicken is a great deal because of the amount of different meals you can make with one chicken.

By buying whole chickens the cuts of meats stay more moist and juicy on the bone which makes for better meals. And it couldn’t be easier to make meals with your whole chickens. I usually buy two whole chickens at one time. However, I treat them totally different, one I boil and the other I roast.

To boil the chicken get your dutch oven out and place the whole chicken in it. Cover with water adding a little salt to the water. Place on the stove and turn to high. Cover pot and bring to a boil; reduce heat to a gentle boil and cook for about 90 minutes, or until chicken meat is falling off of the bone. With the boiled chicken I like to make chicken salad with the while breast meat. With the dark meat I make chicken soup. Then I boil all the bones and make a bone broth. I like to use that broth to make potato soup. Find the recipes by clicking this link.

To roast a chicken preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken in a roasting pan, and season generously inside and out with salt and pepper. Bake uncovered 1 hour and 15 minutes. Serve the roasted chicken  with a side of mashed potatoes. Add some of the chicken to a nice green salad, and the dark meat goes into a chicken and rice dish. Then boil the bones with veggies and make a broth. I will either put it in a gallon zip lock baggie or have it in the fridge if I plan on using it soon. If I have a lot stored in the fridge I like to can it for long term storage. Find the recipes by clicking this link.

So, if we buy two whole chickens that weigh 8 to 10 pounds using our $1.28 per pound figure we would have spent $25.60 for the protein for six meals and some gorgeous bone broth to use for future meals!

That is sweet for news for the food budget!

Water Not Only Good for the Garden but Good for the Body

  • By - DiyGarden
  • Posted on

We all know how important it is to drink water but if you are anything like me it is so easy to forget to get enough of it to drink throughout the day. But there can be some dangerous consequences if one isn’t mindful of keeping hydrated especially with water. Below let’s look at some of the good things that water can do for your body.

Drinking water helps maintain the balance of body fluids. Your body is composed of about 60% water. The functions of these bodily fluids include:

  • digestion,
  • absorption,
  • circulation,
  • creation of saliva,
  • transportation of nutrients,
  • and maintenance of body temperature.

And here are some of the surprising side effects of forgetting to drink water.

  • you are feeling tired,
  • you are having digestive problems,
  • your eyes are sore,
  • you have an increased risk of kidney stones,
  • you have bad breath,
  • you have aching joints,
  • you have a headache,
  • your cholesterol levels are higher than normal.

Let’s look at some of these more closely

Bad Breath Issues: Drinking water helps with not getting bad breath because of dry mouth. The water washes away food particles and bacteria with will help with keeping your teeth healthier and the bad breath away.

Eye Help: Having enough water in your system helps with reducing eye strain. It also creates the issue of having insufficient tears which can result with problems of clearing particles out of your eyes which raises the risk of vision problems.

Digestive System: Having enough water in your system helps transport nutrients where they belong in your body. This helps with regulating body temperature and digesting food.

Joint Help: Water helps keep your joints lubricated and working well and also maintains healthy tissue. The Synovial fluid which lubricates the joints is made up primarily of water so it depends on the water in the body.  

Kidney Protection: Drinking enough water helps your body flush out waste through your sweat and urine. It also helps to prevent kidney stones and protects from urinary tract infections. Drinking enough water also helps your body to naturally detoxify through the use of your lungs, liver, and kidneys.

Skin Help: Water helps keep your skin healthy and beautiful. Your skin cells need water and that water will make your skin healthy so it glows and looks younger looking. Without the water your skin will appear duller and make wrinkles appear and pores become more prominent.

Fatigue and Headache Issues: Water helps fight both fatigue in your body and headaches. This is usually brought on because of dehydration. Keeping up with your water assumption will lessen the chances of fatigue and headaches from occurring.

Mood Enhancer: Water will work to fight fatigue, anger and confusion along with your mood problems. Drinking water and fighting dehydration changes the bad to glad.

And my favorite is…

Fat Burning Help: Drinking water is one of the easiest ways to turn up your fat-burning capacity. This is not saying that drinking water alone will cause weight loss; however, if you are eating a good diet and are not dehydrated, you can lose weight.

There are at least three ways in which water may help you achieve a flat stomach.

  1. drinking water helps boost your metabolism,
  2. it cleanses your body of waste,
  3. and acts as an appetite suppressant. 

Amount of Water Needed to Make These Differences: There are many different opinions on how much water you should be drinking every day. Health authorities commonly recommend eight 8-ounce glasses, which equals about 2 liters, or half a gallon. This is called the 8×8 rule and is very easy to remember.