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Low carb diets, such as the Atkins diets, can be a real killer on someone with a sweet tooth. Fortunately, there are low carb foods out there that are still available during the first two weeks of dieting; check out these twelve sweet low carb treats and see for yourself!

1. Sugar free jello [0 carbs]. You can buy premade sugar free jello cups to take to work or on a trip for sweet low carb snacks, or you can make the jello yourself and add club soda. Add a little whipped cream for extra flavor! Whipped cream is typically 1 carb or less per tablespoon.
2. Cheese [0 carbs]. Most cheeses are 0 carbs per serving. Ralphs had garlic cheese last week for 0 carbs that came with a fantastic kick, and sweeter cheeses are definitely available too. Make sure to check the packaging before purchasing though, because some cheeses may have a smidgen of carbs in them depending on what they’re made of.
3. Sugar free popsicles [4 carbs]. While a popsicle’s 4 carbs might seem a bit extraneous for it’s size, the perks of popsicles as sweet low carb treats are how slowly you can eat them (if you’re not biting!) and the freezing feeling in your mouth after you’re done. You’ll find that you won’t want to get up for seconds.
4. Dill pickles [1 carb per 3 large slices]. Pickles can be eaten alone or added to a lettuce-wrapped burger with cheese for extra flavor!
5. Grapes [7.4 net carbs per 1/2 cup]. Half a cup of grapes might not sound like a lot, but they’re wonderful cool and sweet low carb snacks if you eat them marginally on a hot day. Try freezing them for an hour to make miniature grape popsicles. There’s also added health benefits to eating grapes.
6. Lemons [3.8 net carbs per lemon]. If you’re not interested in biting straight into a lemon, consider taking wedges and squeezing them into your water throughout the day. The more water you drink, the fuller you’ll feel!
7. Strawberries [1.7 net carbs per 1/4 cup]. You’re normally looking at around 1 carb per strawberry. If you cut the strawberry up into smaller pieces, you can enjoy it longer. Like grapes, you have to eat it marginally, but it they’re excellent sweet low carb treats in moderation!
8. Eggs [1/2 carb per egg]. You can cook eggs and add a touch of salsa or low carb ketchup for an amazing snack.
9. Sesame seed crackers [1 net carb per cracker]. This recipe makes cheese sesame crackers that can be eaten by themselves or with a spread. Delicious!
10. Oven-baked cheese crisps [less than 1 carb]. If you’re looking for a substitute for croutons, or want to make a tiny cup to fill with other low carb goodies, try this recipe out!
11. Sugar free dried cranberries [6 carbs per 3 oz]. Another recipe that’s sure to delight, with lots of fiber. Try it with agave instead of sugar to further lower the carb count.
12. Sweet alcohol [0 carbs]. Whiskey, rum, and other 80% proof hard liquors have 0 carbs, though they’re higher in calories. Add a shot to a diet coke when you feel like having a desert cheat. If you go out with friends to a bar, consider a long island ice tea, at roughly one carb per ounce. This is sort of a cheat, since you’re supposed to avoid alcohol, but it’s a good last resort for your sweet low carb snacks.

If you’re unsure of the advantages and disadvantages of a low carb diet, or you’ve heard mixed opinions, check out this article.

How many grapes do you eat every week? Grapes are a wonderful addition to a healthy diet. Responsive Health takes a look at the ten health benefits of eating grapes along with some recipes for incorporating grapes into breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

1. Prevent heart disease. A study from the Journal of Nutrition showed that eating fresh grapes could prevent the accumulation of harmful oxidized cholesterol and atherosclerotic lesions. This means less coronary heart disease from plaque build up on the walls of your arteries. The polyphenol called “resveratrol” in the grape skin breaks down bad cholesterol. It can also be found in grape juice, grape jelly, and wine.
2. Fight illness. Grapes are high in another polyphenol called “tannin.” Canadian scientists discovered that tannin eliminated disease-forming viruses in test tubes; tannins move into the intestinal tract and protect from viruses and tumors alike.
3. Fight  cancer. Grapes have a high level of caffeic acid. Caffeic acid helps fight cancer. Read more about this in Johanna Brandt’s book, The Grape Cure.
4. Prevent brain damage from strokes. Studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia show that grapes prevent brain damage in the event of a stroke.
5. Boost brain activity. Grapes have a significant amount of potassium and increase brain activity.
6. Boost metabolism. Grapes have a light laxative effect that boosts metabolism. A handful of grapes can do wonders for dieting.
7. Increase calorie burning. As grapes clean out your cholesterol and intestines and strengthen your heart, they increase your blood flow and help with calorie burning. They compliment workouts very well.
8. Enhance endurance. Grapes flush the system out and make it more active for longer; don’t worry about exhausting yourself as quickly with your workout when you have grapes on your side!
9. Helps stave off tuberculosis. Patients in the first stage of tuberculosis are told to include a higher amount of grapes in their diet.
10. Grapes are mostly water. Grapes are anywhere from 65-85% water, which means low calories and high hydration.

Of course, it’s fair to mention one cautionary factor about grapes: they’re no good for a mouth with cavities. Make sure to rinse your mouth out with mouth wash after consumption, especially if you have cavities for the grape juice to eat away at.

Try one of these three exciting recipes to add grapes to breakfast, lunch, and dinner:

Breakfast: Lemon Yogurt

Whip 1/2 pound of low fat yogurt with a tablespoon of lemon juice and 1/3 pound of grapes. Enjoy!

Lunch: Grape Pancakes

• Mix 2-3 tablespoons of flour, 1/2 glass of water of water and one egg. Make a few pancakes.
• Wrap the pancakes around 1/4 pound of low fat cottage cheese, 1 tablespoon of mineral water, and 2 oz of grapes.
• Sprinkle cinnamon on top.

Dinner: Rice with Shrimps and Grapes

• Boil 5 tablespoons of rice. Add 1/4 pound of grapes.
• Fry 5-6 shrimps with olive oil and put them on top of rice mixed with grapes.

Light sensitivity, or an intolerance to light, is called photophobia. This usually means that a person is bothered by bright light–sunlight, fluorescent lights, and incandescent lights all qualify–but extreme cases have been documented as well. Photophobics typically squint or close their eyes to light to block out the discomfort and experience headaches from too much exposure to bright lighting.

Photophobia is not a disease. It typically arises as a symptom to other conditions, such as infection or inflammation of the eyes. Virus-caused illnesses or migraines can also cause photophobia, even though they may have nothing to do with the eyes at all. It’s more common in those with lighter eye color due to the fact  that darker-colored eyes contain more pigment to protect against harsh lighting.

Here’s a list of some of the causes of photophobia:

• Migraines
• Corneal Abrasion
• Uveitis
• Detached Retina
• Contact Lens Irritations
• Sunburn
• Refractive Surgery
• Rabies
• Mercury Poisoning
• Conjunctivitis
• Keratitis
• Iritis
• Botulism
• Central nervous system disorders, such as Meningitis
• Genetic disorders, such as Keratosis Follicularis Spinulosa Decalvans (KFSD)
• Medications, such as Belladonna, Furosemide, Quinine, Tetracycline, and Doxycycline

Glare-control sunglasses help protect against light sensitivity, both in the c ase of sunlight and indoor lightning sensitivities. The ultimate way to handle photophobia though is to identify and eliminate the underlying cause. For example, if you are taking one of the above medications, consider consulting your doctor and discontinuing the drug. There are also prosthetic contact lenses that can be specially colored to look like your own eyes and reduce the amount of light that enters the eye.

Trying to think of what to eat and drink for this Halloween? (Besides candy, of course.) Make sure to add water to your list!

Water makes your metabolism burn calories 3% faster so that you can survive through the candy binge without too much extra weight gain. (Check out other ways to help fight fat through intake besides water drinking.) It’s also easy for you to mistake your body’s thirst for water and eat candy when your body is really just crying out for some good ol’ H20! If you’re one of those people that thinks that water doesn’t have a flavor, try pumpkin spiced tea with your water to give it an extra Halloween spook.

And make sure your children are hydrated this Halloween as well. When you are out trick or treating, as fun as it is for the kids, it is still considered physical movement (often with screaming and laughing children running at full speed down the sidewalks) that exerts energy and needs rehydration to sustain. Water is a crucial element in our everyday lives that we easily slip up when the holiday-of-sugar is involved.

That doesn’t mean to hand water bottles out in the empty pillow sacks and pumpkin heads this Halloween, though; children only get to be children once, so make sure to have plenty of candies available for your neighborhood ghosts, witches, princesses and super heroes on Halloween evening.

Here’s some other fun reads about water to get you excited about your H20 during your trick or treats:

• Five Easy Ways to Eat Less
• Water Retention

One of the benefits of an economy’s downturn–the only benefit, really–is the price tags going down. Basic living expenses become marginally more affordable as people struggle to make ends meet.

But food isn’t looking like it plans on sticking to that trend. With only a glimmer of economic hope peeking out from the clouds, there are already discussions abound about how meat, eggs, and seafood could be climbing in 2010 by as much as 5%. Daily Finance is referring to this as “sticker shock,” where the consumer will be suddenly floored by the visible growth in prices on the labels of their foodstuffs and at the checkout line of their local grocer.

This is not a phenomena that is just affecting the United States, either. The UN is also reporting anticipated record growth for food prices in 2010. The economy is globally brushing upon the basic living needs that sustain us. And the news isn’t new; back in 2008, CNN predicted this would be happening for 2 years or more, meaning that we’re already around-about halfway up this hill, with no turning back.

In the education industry, rising food prices have had a visible impact on the nutrition of our K-12 students. The health of our future generations relies on the school lunches we provide for them, and yet we struggle to keep the standards high when it comes to the collision of K-12 student meals and the rising costs from the grocer.

What are your thoughts on the costs of food as the economy rolls into the next year?