月: 2019年12月

What to do?

Luckily for me there’s always been that curiosity of what’s out there in the alternative world including the alternative therapies. I’ve tried many of them over the years and will continue to do so, all in the hope I can make things better for my body, mind and spirit. And it has.

I’m aware that what may work for me may not work for someone else, so the message is to keep trying until you find something that will suit your needs.

Many times I’ve been told they’ve tried everything. What is everything? What it actually boiled down to you could count on one hand. It’s worthwhile to keep searching, you may find that your world expands in a most amazing way by the making of new friendships (I have) and picking up useful skills for your ‘self-healing’ tool-kit.

So what do I do when I’ve reached a cross-road and need some direction or could do with some healing?

Below I’ve listed 5 basic points that have helped to lift my spirit and with practice will also help yours:

1. Meditation! Meditation is one of the greatest self healing tools available and costs nothing except a little of your time! There are many meditation techniques out there, find one that suits you and begin.

By putting some meditation music on and spending time in quiet contemplation it can soothe your soul and reconnect you with the highest aspect of yourself.

2. Aromatherapy and Essential Oils.

Rebalance and rejuvenate your spirit through blending a selection of essential oils together in an aromatherapy oil burner. I’ve found the following blend works extremely well when there’s a need for nurturing, support and healing:

Approximately an hour before retiring to bed place a few drops of the following in an aromatherapy oil burner with some water (for safety’s sake, extinguish the flame before lights are turned off for the night):

4 drops Jasmine

4 drops Rose

4 drops Neroli

3 drops Lavender

3 drops Bergamot

The smell divine! I use this one every now and again and not only sleep like a baby but anxiety and stress disappears, and feels like the weight of the world has lifted from my shoulders by the following morning! (If you have a small bedroom you might like to half the amount of drops)

3. Breathe! Stand with feet a shoulder-length apart. Take 3 slow and deep breaths using the diaphragm muscles. Breathe in through the nose, and breathe out through slightly parted lips. As you do these imagine you’re inhaling your personal power, filling every cell in your body, from your diaphragm up to the top of your head.

Be your personal power and notice how much taller, straighter and stronger you become. Repeat the steps above.

4. Be in the Present Moment. Take a few deep breaths and focus totally on this moment, right now.

If you’re reading a book or magazine, or even this article, totally focus on the words and take in their meaning. There is only you and this article now in the present moment.

If you’re in the workplace, focus totally on the task at hand, and only this task, and what you must do in order to complete it. Nothing else matters except you and the task at hand.

5. Set an intention. When I’m on the lookout for something new and useful for me, I set my intention on what it is I’m after.

For example, I may want to find a book that will give me answers in regards to directing me to another healing modality or skill. I then meditate on this intention, give it a timeframe then open my heart to it. Lo and behold I will have a book in my hand in no time at all! I love the power of intention – I also use intention for getting a parking space when I go shopping!

These days I rarely get sick and when I do and have a medical checkup, doctors tell me I’m actually very healthy (surely they can find something so I can get some sympathy around here!) which also includes blood test results.

I still do sadness and unhappiness well (I’m still human) though neither lasts long whereas in the past it would last many days sometimes weeks. What lasts much longer is a peaceful state.

When using the 5 points above, my spirit lifts and life once again becomes more peaceful and joyful.

Reason 1

The thyroid regulates the rate of energy production in the body’s cells. Thyroid disorder reduces the body’s metabolism and makes you feel sluggish.

Reason 2

Thyroid disorder also increases your risk of degenerative diseases such as heart disease, cancer and arthritis and your risk of widespread infection. In severe cases, the energy level in the body’s cells cannot even sustain a basic level of metabolism, creating a life-threatening situation.

Reason 3

One major problem with thyroid disorder is that it’s often missed in diagnostic tests. Even if tests show that you do not have a thyroid disorder, you might still be at risk. If your body is highly acidic, your risk of thyroid disorder increases.

Reason 4

Thus, even if you haven’t been diagnosed with thyroid disorder, it’s important to check your body’s overall pH level and take dietary and other steps to reduce the acid level in your body.

Reason 5

You will not only reduce your chances of developing thyroid disorder or making an existing thyroid disorder even worse. You will improve your health overall and reduce your vulnerability to degenerative disease.

THE RISK

Accumulation of acids in your body, due to insufficient digestion of food, food allergies and consumption of acid-forming substances, can cause thyroid disorder. Acid-related causes of thyroid disorder also include exposure to heavy metals and toxic chemicals in the water supply and in highly processed food. When your body’s acid level rises too high, your thyroid function will be depressed and your metabolism will slow.

Lack of digestive enzymes, also caused by over-consumption of processed foods, further causes your thyroid disorder. Your body’s ability to neutralize acids is further reduced. As you get older, the more toxins you’re exposed to, the more likely you will develop a thyroid disorder if you haven’t already.

THE DAMAGE

With a thyroid disorder, your body’s cells and organs will not metabolize as quickly as they should. The presence of excess acid only makes the problem worse. Your cells and organs will become overrun with acid that they need to eliminate, but your thyroid disorder will reduce their ability to deal with these acids. The acid, in turn, will perpetuate or worsen your thyroid disorder.

For example, a sluggish thyroid reinforces the digestive problems that cause acid to accumulate in your body. Because a thyroid disorder slows your cellular metabolism, it reduces your body’s ability to eliminate acid waste. The more acid-forming substances you consume, the more this cycle repeats.

Thyroid disorder also reduces your immune system function, leading to chronic infection. With the accumulation of acid in your body, infection will spread quickly, further reducing your body’s ability to neutralize acids.

As with other organs, the thyroid needs glucose and oxygen to function. When acid waste accumulates in the bloodstream, these vital substances cannot get through. Without adequate oxygen and glucose, thyroid function is reduced. The resulting thyroid disorder further reduces the body’s ability to clear the bloodstream of these acids that prevent the oxygen and glucose from getting through.

THE BENEFITS OF A BALANCED pH

Because thyroid discover causes so many other degenerative diseases, a thyroid that functions properly can restore health in so many other areas of your body. When you neutralize the acids in your body and eliminate acid-forming substances from your diet, you give your thyroid a chance to heal. Improved thyroid function will, in turn, help your other body organs function properly.

To neutralize acids and restore your body’s pH balance, you need to reduce or eliminate consumption of acidic foods and other acidic substances. Adding more alkaline foods and minerals to your diet can help restore thyroid disorder. As your acid level falls, you’ll find that your thyroid function will increase. Your body’s metabolism will increase as a result, and you’ll be able to neutralize acids even further. The end result will be restored health, higher energy, and a decreased risk of thyroid disorder.

Michael J. Homan is a Reiki Master and studies natural healthing methods such as Acupressure, Electro-Acupuncture, Reflexology, Crystal Therapy, Chinese Magnetic Cupping, has his own e-Book called 4 Steps To A Pain-FREE Back!, and has a health related web site devoted to health issues and natural healing techniques.

I have studied and taken courses in acupressure. Studied some on chiropractic. I also have looked into psychological issues to do with pain and medical problems. And I am also a Reiki Master.

So now that you have a little about my background, and what fuels my writing… let’s get to the real content.

I am going to condense this article for convenience since it is a combination of four major studies in themselves, but you can get my e-book or read my full articles at my web site, which is healthgrowhealthier.com.

I have found that 4 major things play an important part in your spines health.

First, there is posture. I know this is not the first time you have heard this, but it needs to be said again and again.
Posture should be noted in sitting, standing, and sleeping. Start taking note of your posture at all times. If it is not straight, then start working on fixing it.

If you sleep in a position like I have in the past, with both hands under your pillow while you lay on your side, you can pinch a nerve in your neck if your shoulder of the arm that’s up starts to relax and leans in toward your head or neck. It would be better to lay your arm of your upper hand down on your leg while one hand is under your pillow.
And if you can, buy a few different thickness pillows for throughout the night. I do not know about you, but I can not have a high, fluffy pillow when I lay on my back. But a thin pillow gives me neck ache when I lay on my side.

The second thing on our list is the flexibility of your back.

What you want to do when you notice your back goes out a lot and you experience pinched nerves, is in getting your spine back into alignment and having it flexible.

Of course if you feel a chiropractor is your best choice, by all means seek one. But think about your progress if you could align your own back when ever you needed to. It’s not all that hard!

If you are in pain at the present, put ice or heat on the spot until the pain seems to lessen.

Do NOT, under any circumstances exercise while any of your nerves are inflamed or swollen!

To get your back more flexible you might want to learn kundalini yoga. Not all yoga styles are like those you may have seen on television, where they twist themselves up. Kundalini yoga has very good and useful spinal exercises developed to help flexibility. Kundalini Yoga is also a spiritual tool to help before meditation as well.

It is very important to strengthen your back and the surrounding muscles. This is the third step to a healthy back.
Doing sit-ups is one such exercise, You do not have to do many sit-ups until you feel you can… step by step.
Take all of these things slow and at the pace of your body. Your body will let you know what it is feeling. Pain is a warning sign.
Just remember… taking pain pills is okay when you really need them. But also remember that they do not heal the problem, they only mask the warning sign, they simply stop the warning sign, but not the underlying problem.
Health is more than just eating right. One has to consider mental health, environmental, and many other factors. It is not all that easy for a doctor to diagnose the complete problem and cure it, especially if it has roots in psychological issues and has gone a long time unchecked, and became a physical problem.

The fourth and last step in back health is to start a daily stretching routine. You have
seen cats and dogs stretch when they get up, try it for yourself!

The key to back health is in keeping it actively flexible and strong, or well supported by the stomach and back muscles. You may have to find that happy medium in between like I have, being too much strength in one area will pull out another.
Each person is uniquely different in many areas. So never think what worked for someone else is going to work for you. You may have to build on someone else’s information and work it into your own, personal program.

I recommend you learn a little about acupressure as well to maintain your pain when it flares up.
I have found that I can manage pain by using acupressure, simply by putting pressure on certain areas of the body. But that is something I suggest you seek a professional for help, or look for someone who does acupuncture, or take a course in acupressure like I did.

At some time or another, we’ve all experienced the effects of sunburn – be it a light burn or a more heavy burn.

Although the sting of regret of inadequate protection (from UV exposure) can be an excellent incentive to plan more carefully on ‘future’ occasions, it’s of little help in soothing the immediate physical sting (i.e. pain) accompanying sunburn.

However if you ‘have’ found yourself having spent a little too much time in the sun, — here are 4 natural home remedies to help ease the pain of sunburn, and assist in the body’s healing process:

1. Cool Milk Compresses: – The fat and lactic acids in milk are known to have soothing qualities for sunburned skin. Soak a soft cloth or cotton gauze in cool whole milk, and dab carefully onto the burned skin. Do this for around 20 minutes, and follow by rinsing off with cool water. (Due to the importance of the milk’s fat content, it’s important that whole milk be used in this treatment).

2. Cool, sugarless tea: – The tannin in tea is the active ingredient here, which helps to soothe and relieve some of the discomfort of sunburned skin. After brewing a big pot of tea, and allowing it to cool completely, slosh the affected areas with a soft sponge or washcloth. As with the vinegar (4), you could also fill a spray bottle, and spray the tea directly on the skin. And don’t throw away the used (cool) teabags. These are especially good for sensitive areas around the eyes – simply place the teabags over your eyes if they feel hot and tired. (If you have ‘St. John’s Wort’, consider using this as it contains cooling properties, which can help tone down some of the heat in your skin, as well as soothing the nerve endings damaged by the sunburn).

3. Aloe Vera: – Aloe Vera is commonly used to treat sunburn. As well as providing soothing relief, it may also assist in the healing process. Apply to the affected areas as needed. Although the gel extracted directly from an aloe Vera plant works best, if you don’t have ready access to one, you may use an ‘over the counter’ Aloe Vera Cream that contains the gel. For this to be effective, just ensure that the cream contains a high concentration of Aloe Vera than it does water or other solutions.

4. Water: – When exposed to the sun, your body loses water and essential body salts. Dehydration occurs when your body loses too much fluid, and begins to reabsorb fluid from the blood and other body tissues. To prevent the consequences of dehydration, increase your fluid intake to ensure you adequately re-hydrate your body for optimum recovery and health.

Sunburn should of course be avoided where possible — particularly as it’s adverse affects not only include damage to the skin, but also the increased risk of skin cancer. Prevention and protection should always be considered the best treatment for sunburn, and will assist in ensuring your optimum long-term health!

DISCLAIMER: These are home remedy tips only, and should not replace your regular health care provider. If in doubt at any time in relation to your sunburn, please seek the appropriate health care assistance.

Having headache is annoying and sometimes it is difficult for us to avoid. Mostly when we are under pressure, headache appeared automatically. If it gets worse, we might faint due to the pain we felt.

A headache is a condition of mild to severe pain in the head. It can also attack at our upper back or neck. There are different types of headache, but most of the time headache brought on by stress, too long in front of computer, noise and others.

One of the main causes of headache is tension in the muscles of the neck, scalp and jaw. We usually deal with it by taking some sleep or consume over-the counter aspirin to release our pain. However, can we do this at any place?

Obviously, we cannot sleep at the office or at the mall. In addition, we might run of aspirin when headache strike us.

Do not worry! The easiest way to handle headache and we can do it everywhere is through massage. Massage is the practice of applying pressure or vibration to the soft tissues of the body, to heal injury, relieve psychological stress, manage pain, improve circulation and relieve tension.

When we suffer from headache, we can help ourselves with self-massage. Simple and everybody can do it, either at work or home.

Here are four easy ways in massage to heal our headache.

1. Eyes Area Massage — Close your eyes. Place your middle fingers to your eyes that are above cheekbones. Massage that area gently but firmly in circular motion for 1 minute,

2. Eyes to Nose Massage – Using thumb, go along the underside of eyebrows (along the bone on top of eye socket). Feel where this bone meets the bridge of your nose and eyes and find a point where there is a small indentation. Very gentle pressure, press your thumbs into the points. You can do it four times by holding and press that area for 10 seconds in each press.

3. Neck Massage — Massage a point where you can feel it by moving the middle fingers of your hands to the back of your head and feel the base of your skull. Specially, at the tops of your neck that meets the base of your skull. Massage for a minutes using finger tips gentle in circular movement.

4. Scalp Massage – Let your palms of your hands massage your scalp on the top of your skull for a minute gently.

Once you have done all those massages, start taking a deep breath. Lift your shoulders towards your ears for five to 10 seconds to relief remaining pain, and then let them drop back down into their natural position.

You are going to feel better when you can do that for a couple of times. Your massage will relief your headache and your head will feel less weighty.

In the fast paced world that we live in it can be easy to neglect our health and wellness. We’re so busy racing through our day to day lives – family, friends, work, social engagements – that we don’t take the time to look after ourselves. It’s really no wonder that so many of us are tired and run down. What are some simple things that we can do to improve our quality of life?

Drink Drink Drink…

You’ve heard it a million times and you’ll probably hear it a million more – drink more water!

Think about it: The human body is 72% water. A 5% drop in fluids creates a 25-30% loss in energy. A 15% drop in fluids causes death! At this point in time 66% of us aren’t drinking enough water, so over half the population isn’t running on all six cylinders to begin with – before things like bad air, bad food and stress take their toll.

It’s not really a difficult thing to remedy. Just drink one glass of water every half hour or so – or 10-12 glasses of water per day – and you’ll notice a huge jump in your energy levels.

Living Food – Loving Life!

A little known fact is that heating food above 116°F destroys much of the nutrient content. Considering that we already aren’t eating enough veggies, that’s a fairly substantial problem. Nutritionists recommend five serves of fresh vegetables per day. How many of us are actually taking that advice?

A great way to get the nutrients found in fresh veggies without spending all day at stove or eating raw celery sticks is to juice your veggies. Make sure that you own a good juicer (some juicers expose vegetables to heat created by friction during juicing, which breaks down important enzymes), grab some fresh vegetables and drink your way to good health. It takes a fraction of the time (there’s no cooking involved, for one thing) and it’s convenient. You can take your juice to work and even give some to the littlies for school lunches!

Wheatgrass in particular is an excellent source of nutrition. It’s high in chlorophyll (sometimes described as ‘plant blood’ because it closely resembles human red blood cell molecules) and has over 100 elements that the body needs. Fresh grains are another excellent source for vitamins and minerals.

Energy In – Energy Out

Exercise is another dirty word for most of us. The thing is, exercise doesn’t have to be horribly time consuming or mind-numbingly boring. There are plenty of options.

Years ago gyms usually offered weight rooms, aerobics classes and maybe a tydro-circuit. Now you can add water aerobics, yoga, pilates, dance-ercise, step classes and a whole range of new workout options.

If you don’t really have the time or money for the gym, or prefer to spend your mornings/nights at home, then try an exercise bike or walker. I’d be lost without my exercise bike – I set it up in front of the television and peddle away merrily during my favourite shows.

If, like me, you suffer from illness or injury or your level of fitness is quite low, you might like to consider some invaluable advice that I got from my doctor:

Once you’re physically unfit, and particularly if you’re also unwell, it can be a mammoth battle to just do the most minimal amount of exercise in a day. The danger is that inactivity leads to further loss of energy, which becomes a self-perpetuating cycle until you can barely get off the couch.

An excellent way to get back into a physical routine is to start slowly. Ridiculously slowly, it may seem. For the first couple of weeks, walk/ride for 5 minutes per day – exactly 5 minutes, no more, even if you think you could continue. When the 2 weeks are up, increase to 7 minutes, then 10 minutes, 12 minutes… continue to gradually increase your activity until you’re at a level that you’re comfortable with.

It may sound a little silly, but it works. In effect, you trick your body into producing more energy. You’re building your exercise time up so slowly that your body doesn’t really realise what’s happening. Follow this method and, before you know it, you’ll be comfortably exercising within your limits every day.

So, folks, that’s the basics. If you can rearrange your life a little to allow for better eating habits and a little exercise, and if you remember to just drink a glass of water every half hour or so, you’ll be well on the way to living a healthy life. On a final note, don’t forget to take some quiet time for yourself. Meditating is an excellent way to minimise stress. You don’t have to sit around for hours, just give yourself 5 minutes of quiet time every day – even in the shower, if that’s the only place where you can get time out – and have a little catch up with yourself.

And, last but by no means least, laugh! In fact, laugh like a loon – the louder the better! You’ll be amazed at how much such a simple thing can lift your spirits!

A terrible superstition holds people around the world in its grip. Ministers of religion, lawyers, architects, men renowned as brilliant scientists, physicians (particularly, physicians), University professors, middle class people, working class people, people of all nationalities, are its victims.

I was one for 43 years. I really and truly thought that what my doctor said was gospel and never questioned him.

What is this superstition? It is that health may be obtained and maintained and diseases “cured” by drugs, medicines and remedies. They have not taken the pains to investigate, in an unprejudiced manner, this absurd and dreadful belief.

So what we have is physician, nurses and drug stores (by the way we do not have “drug stores” any more. They call themselves “Pharmacies” I just checked the phone book.) Other medical specialists all engaging in these false hopes.

Frightful suffering and bereavement are the common lot of mankind, except for the few who have released themselves from this superstition.

I consider myself lined up with Natural Hygienists and Naturopathic doctors and we feel it is simply amazing that the simple facts of which we have can be ignored so generally. And that people offer themselves as sacrifices to this great superstition.

When a theory of health is presented of the ways and means to “Cure” something or they are going to “find a cure, so give us more money” these stories are heralded as a great triumph of “science”

Yet the first principles of science are violated right in the beginning and in the entirety of such a theory.

If an articles is written which lays down in simple words the rules of health, means by which diseases can be obviated and recovery from diseases can take place, very few orthodox journals of high circulation will print it.

An example is in 1980 when after suffering for 43 years with arthritis and in weeks I was free of the debilitating disease; I took my book to the Regional meeting of the Arthritis Foundation. I was so thrilled to think that with this book they could fulfill their promise that if we send them more money they will find a cure.

What a disaster. My husband dropped me off at the hotel entrance and went to park the car. When he got to the entrance he found two uniformed guards walking me out. Bodily.

We were stunned. They told me they did not want that sort of book at their meeting.

Since then I have over 310,000 copies around the world and get calls and emails daily thanking me for changing their lives.

So it is mainly to people, like myself, who believe as natural hygienists believe, to spread the word. In 1980 there were about 6500 hundred doctors who were telling their patients that what I am saying here is true. Two of them are named in my book “I Cured My Arthritis You Can Too”. Today in 2006 there are thousands more.

To us it is amazingly simple.

Eat the truly good food, breathe good air, drink pure water, exercise, maintain optimistic and pleasant thoughts, and therefore enjoy fantastic health. Give our cells the proper nutrition and our immune systems will become as God gave us in the first place. Our immune system will then rebuild our body and we will enjoy the freedom of no illnesses.

There are now millions who are beginning to rebel against what we might almost call the atrocities suffered as a consequence of this superstition.

Many who are ill and are being subjected to the remedies and poisons that are administered to them. Drugs in large containers have the skull and crossbones on them but when we get the little bottles as “prescriptions it is not there.

My mother was told in the 30’s to use an aluminum type product as a cheap deodorant. She did and I believe it was a contributing factor in the way she changed in later years. Aluminum is causing Alzheimer’s.

While drugs may get immediate temporary relief, you will feel and know that the disease is becoming more and more serious.

I do not have final figures but look around. In the early years of 1900 it was almost unknown to have heart troubles. They did not spend time on it in medical schools. All the major diseases of today, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, the list goes on and none were minor. In 1960 one in 20 had arthritis. Now it is 1 in 3

Same with cancer. Now children are commonly getting it. Heart troubles are killing us faster than ever. I will try to find these figures.

The Untied States is way down in the world as a healthy nation. Have you ever known of so many people with so many health issues? Baby boomers are filling our hospitals with more sickness.

I take my son to the VA hospital due to his Vietnam days and see people his age in terrible condition. Amputees from diabetes, overweight everywhere.

I have felt since 1980 that I have a duty to tell people the other side. I have done lectures and TV and radio. I now do this newsletter. I get people asking me to unsubscribe them due to my teachings.

My phone rings daily with people calling, crying, telling me of the 5, 6, 8 different drugs they are taking. Although they call them prescriptions. I ask each and every one of them to get the hand out from their “Pharmacy” of every drug they are taking and read them to the last page.

Then have a good talk with their doctors.

What do I preach in just one paragraph?

Give your body what it needs in minerals, vitamins and enzymes and exercise, drink pure water, let no negative thoughts or people into their lives and feed our cells to let our immune system take over the job that God meant it to do.

Which is to be in a state of health.

If our immune system is not getting the proper nutrition we are in trouble.

Will this happen overnight? No, You cannot stop taking the drugs you are on without the consent and help of your doctor. Too many side effects can occur.

You did not get in the condition you are in overnight. You will not get into a state of health over night. But start now and by summer or sooner you will not know yourself.

Start promoting healthy cellular replication, get strong muscles, have clear breathing, increased energy levels and have body fitness.

Get supplements that are advanced Nutraceutical supplements. Make an impact on your health today. Feel the results and get VIBRANT HEALTH.

Take heed of what the Bible teaches of food. Mainly moderation in all things.

Stop this insane habit of all cooked foods and foods pre-made. We have gotten into the habit of fast is better. Fast is not better. It costs more in dollars when you buy it and cost thousands in medical bills later on.

Print this in your sub consigns mind. “I am the one responsible for what I eat and drink and do. I am the one who can make changes so I may live, play and have a happy, illness free life”.

If you help yourself to this attitude you will be doing your doctor a big favor. He is overworked and struggling to help.

Stop looking for a magic bullet. There is NONE.

I getup every morning thankful for my health. And my state of mind and for the love of my family. I look forward to each day with joy.

I look at problems as they come up as just a problem that needs a solution.

I work on the solution. If I cannot fix it or change it I have a mental box that I put these things in and I lock it.

I allow nothing negative into my space. If a negative thought pops in I chase it our.

Can you do this? Of course. Let me know how this changes your life.

I am here to help You, help Yourself enjoy a Healthier and Happier Life Style.

Best of Health,
Margie “The Arthritis Lady”

Good Nutrition in School Can Help to Fight Childhood Obesity

Perhaps you are trying to help your child lose weight, or you feel he or she may be in danger of becoming overweight or unhealthy because of their eating and exercise habits.

If so, it is important that you consider the impact of your child’s time at school as you think about what you need to change.

As the U.S. government has studied obesity, many of their agencies have produced reports and established guidelines to help parents and school systems understand how to make important changes.

These guidelines are designed to encourage our children to eat healthy foods and get plenty of exercise.

Across the country, schools are beginning to offer more good food choices, and look at their physical education and extra curricular activities to ensure that they encourage good habits.

Of course your involvement and understanding is important if your child is going to get the right support while she or he is in school during the day.

And, you need to ensure that your child understands the importance of CHOOSING the healthy foods and participating in exercise programs, but the first step is to make sure these choices are AVAILABLE to your child.

Working with medical organizations, the USDA published a ‘Prescription for Change’, and ‘Healthy School Nutrition Environments’.

These reports were meant to be used by schools to improve their nutritional program.

Here are some of the recommendations included in those reports.

** The Serving and Dining Environment
** The Federal, State and local government must provide adequate funding for food and eating environs to support healthy eating.

** Dining space will be adequate, pleasant and socially accommodating, and will accommodate all students and staff scheduled to eat at a certain time of day.

** Serving areas will be sufficient to ensure that every student has access to meals with a minimum of waiting time, so that they have plenty of time to eat before their next class.

** The staff and administration of the school, AND the students and parents will analyze the current environment, working together to create a space that matches the needs of all parties.

Nutritional Concerns Regarding Meals and Foods

** Meals should comply with USDA nutritional standards and guidelines, and students should have plenty of food choices, with new foods introduced to keep the menu interesting and healthy.

** Food preparation and preferences should be varied enough to comply with various tastes and ethnic preferences or religious requirements.

** Additional food and drink offered, over and above meals served, e.g. vending machines and packaged ‘snacks’, will represent the 5 major food groups in the Food Guide Pyramid.

**Students must have designated lunch periods, long enough for them to get their food and eat at a healthy pace.

** Lunch periods should be as close to the middle of the day as possible and should allow time for socialization and a relaxed eating pace.

** All decisions made by the school system regarding the type, variety and quantity of food and drink to be sold in the school will be based on nutritional goals and sound guidelines, NOT on the profit the school can make.

Nutrition and Health Focused Curriculum

** Kindergarten through Grade 12 classes should include education and information on healthy eating habits and the types of foods a child should eat to stay healthy and help them grow.

Now that you understand the concerns and recommendations of the USDA and the national medical organizations, go to a school board meeting and talk to the board members about what they are doing to comply with these guidelines.

If you don’t know what your child’s eating environment and food choices are, visit the school and find out. Get involved with the PTA or PTO in your school system and get to work!

Many people suffer from the same eating problems, but among those eating issues, there is on that stands out. Emotional eating. For most people, it is the leading cause of abnormal weight gain, as you end up compensating for your emotional distress by sitting down for a large snack. Once and a while this is fine, but do it too often and you will find it hard to lose any weight.

Every time you eat anything, you need to write down your state of mind in your food journal. Were you feeling tired, upset, depressed, happy or energetic? Just writing a few words about how you felt at the time you decided to eat can make a world of difference when it comes time to analyze your eating behaviors.

While your emotions are a good starting point, if you want to get even more in depth in your journal, you should go ahead and make that extra effort. At the end of each day, make a note about what happened during that day. Were the events good or bad? Did they lead to you eating more than you normally would have?

Once you analyze your emotions in regard to your hunger levels and how often you eat your meals, you may be able to find a pattern which you can use to become a more proper eater. Maybe you’ll find that you eat more when you’re depressed, even if you do not feel that hungry. Or perhaps you will find that you bolster happy days with food to make you feel even better.

The ultimate goal of any food journal you create is to be able to track your dietary patterns to see what needs to be changed if you hope to lose weight. While the core of your food notebook should be based on what you eat and how much of it you ate, you should also take the time to write about your state of mind, how often you eat, and where you have your meals. While these facts may seem useless at first, they can provide you with a number of interesting observations about what you need to change if you hope to lose weight.

It has been said that variety is the spice of life, and that is certainly true when trying to eat a healthy diet. No one likes to eat the same thing day after day, and boredom is the enemy of a healthy diet.

Fortunately for those trying to follow a healthy diet, there is plenty of variety to be had in healthy foods. In addition to the hundreds of varieties of fruits and vegetables available at the average grocery store, there is a wide variety of beans, lentils, nuts, meat, dairy products, fish and poultry. There is no need for boredom to set in when pursuing a healthier lifestyle.’

The key to enjoying a variety of foods while eating healthy is to plan meals carefully and be sure to use the many varieties of foods that are available. Using a combination of fresh fruit, vegetables, meats and whole grains, it is possible to create a fresh, exciting and healthful meal every day of the week.

Nutritionists often stress the importance of a varied diet, both for nutritional and psychological reasons. A varied diet is essential for good health, since different types of foods contain different types of nutrients. And following a varied diet is important to your psychological well being as well, since feeling deprived of your favorite foods can lead you to give up your healthy lifestyle.

It is much better to continue eating the foods you like, but to eat them in moderation. Instead of giving up that juicy bacon, for instance, have it as an occasional treat, perhaps pairing it with an egg white omelet instead of a plateful of scrambled eggs. As with everything else in life, good nutrition is a trade off.

It is important for everyone to eat foods from the five major food groups each and every day. The five food groups identified by the USDA include grains, vegetables, fruits, milk and dairy and meat and beans. Each of these food groups contains specific nutrients, so it is important to eat a combination of these foods to ensure proper levels of nutrition.

Of course simply choosing foods from the five food groups is not enough. After all a meal from the five food groups could include cake, candied yams, avocados, ice cream and bacon. Although all five food groups are represented, no one would try to argue that this is a healthy day’s menu. Choosing the best foods from within each group, and eating the less healthy foods in moderation, is the best way to ensure a healthy and varied diet.

For instance, choosing healthy, lean meats is a great way to get the protein you need without consuming unnecessary fat and calories. And removing fat and skin from chicken is a great way to eliminate extra fat and calories.

When choosing breads and cereals, it is usually best to choose those that carry the whole grain designation. Whole grains, those that have not been overly refined, contain greater nutritional qualities and fewer sugars.

In addition, many grains and cereals are fortified with additional vitamins and minerals. While this vitamin fortification is important, it should be seen as a bonus, not as a substitute for a proper diet. Many foods are supplemented with important nutrients such as calcium (essential for strong bones and teeth) and folic acid (important in preventing birth defects).

Substituting healthier foods for less healthy ones is a cornerstone of a healthy diet. For instance, substituting lean cuts of meat for fattier ones, and substituting skinless chicken or turkey breast for less healthy drumsticks, is a great way to maximize nutrition without sacrificing good taste.

No matter what your reason for following a healthy diet, or what your ultimate fitness goals may be, you will find that a good understanding of nutrition will form the basis of your healthy diet. Understanding how the various food groups work together to form a healthy diet will go a long way toward helping you meet your ultimate fitness goals. Whether your goal is to run a marathon, lose ten pounds or just feel better, knowledge is power, and nutritional knowledge will power your diet for the rest of your life.

The tomato has been called many things throughout history: Peruvian apple, love apple, and even, by Americans at least, a vegetable. Today, however, this lovely fruit is fast becoming known as Superfood!

While not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, this super hero of the nutrition world is able to do some pretty amazing things. For example, some studies show the tomato may help decrease the risk of prostate cancer, as well as breast, lung and stomach cancers. And the Herald Sun reported in 2003 that the yellow jelly around the seeds have yet another benefit: They may stop blood cells from clumping together, which sometimes leads to strokes and heart attacks.

What is it about this little red fruit that makes it so amazing? Lycopene.

Okay, so the word lycopene doesn’t sound very appetizing, but this powerful antioxidant is the chemical in tomatoes that not only is responsible for it’s red color, but also responsible for its disease-fighting powers.

Just ask an Italian. Italian cooking relies very heavily on tomatoes and tomato products. And, some studies have suggested that this heavy intake of tomatoes by Italians has resulted in a lowering of cancer of the digestive tract.

Now, you’re probably thinking you have to consume tons and tons of fresh tomatoes to enjoy any health benefits. Not true. In one research study it was reported that people who ate tomatoes at least every other day had greater lung capacity. And, the tomatoes don’t even have to be fresh! Again, research shows that the lycopene in tomatoes is more easily absorbed by the body if processed into ketchup, sauce and paste. So, not only are tomatoes a superfood, they’re an easy superfood to include in your diet.

Of course, fresh tomatoes are still beneficial, and packed with wonderful nutrients (not to mention delicious). Just remember the one rule of fresh tomatoes: don’t put them in the refrigerator. The refrigerator destroys not only the flavor, it also destroys the nutrients.

So, go ahead, do something good for your health tonight. Have a tomato.

Yoghurt – The very word cools you down, especially in the warm summer months, when the heat is full on. Yoghurt is yummy, thick and creamy. It is a virtual treasury of zinc, calcium, Vitamins B1, B2, B6 and B12, protein and yeast. The wonderful nutrients and minerals in yoghurt protects your bones, fights off osteoporosis, battles cancer, cancer, diarrhoea, high blood pressure and yeast infection. It bolsters digestion, immune function and weight control. Besides, yoghurt adds enzymes and oils to the skin, working as a natural moisturiser. It can also reduce pore size, improve overall skin texture, and give you that healthy glow. Let’s discover Yoghurt’s role in skin and hair care.

Follow these tried-and-tested yoghurt usage tips, and you’ll glow!

– Got blemishes, acne? Slather yoghurt on your acne daily. The rich zinc content will help to clear your skin. Avoid the flavoured varieties and apply yoghurt only after you’ve removed all make-up.

– To stop pimples in their tracks, mix some brewer’s yeast with plain yoghurt and apply it on your face. Let it sit a few minutes, and then wipe clean.

– Itchy scalp? Apply some yoghurt on your head, wrap your hair in a towel and then rinse after 15 minutes. The yoghurt will chase away dandruff, too!

– Your hands and nails can also benefit from yoghurt. Simply combine half a cup of plain yoghurt with the juice of one lemon. Refrigerate it for a few hours and then use it to massage your hands and nails. Rinse and pat your hands dry. Do this for a fortnight and you will notice how soft and supple your hands feel.

More Yoghurt Packs

Just Yoghurt – Apart from zinc, plain yoghurt contains lactic acid, a natural skin smoother that makes it a simple, yet effective facial mask. Just spread it on your face and leave it on for 20 minutes before rinsing off with warm water.

Protein Power Pack – 1 egg white, 1 tbsp yoghurt, 1 tsp fuller’s earth and 1 tsp honey. Mix and apply on face and neck for cleansing, toning, moisturising and nourishing benefits all in one!

Nice and Zesty – 1 tsp yoghurt and ¼ orange or ½ lemon juices. Mix together and smooth onto face. Allow to remain on for five minutes, and then rinse off with warm water. Zesting up your yoghurt facial by adding a tablespoon of fresh citrus fruit gives the pack an extra refreshing punch. Besides, lemon and orange restore the skin’s normal pH balance, making it look fresh and young again.

Feel-Fab Fruit Pack – ¾ cup plain yoghurt, 1 carrot (for soothing, anti-inflammatory benefits), ½ peach (a natural emollient) and ½ cucumbers (to refresh and soften the skin). Blend together. Apply and let sit on the skin for 10 minutes, then rinse. Your skin will be left feeling renewed and moisturised.

Beat the Dry Daze – ½ cup plain yoghurt, 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 ½ tsp fresh lemon juice. Mix all ingredients together. Apply on the face for five to 10 minutes, and then rinse off with warm water. Heal dry skin.

The reader of this article should exercise all precautions while following instructions on the recipes from this article. Avoid using if you are allergic to something. The responsibility lies with the reader and not the site and the writer.

YESTERDAY YOU ATE SOMETHING THAT COULD BE KILLING YOU

CHRISTOPHER GUERRIERO

YES MY FRIENDS, YESTERDAY YOU ATE SOMETHING THAT COULD BE KILLING YOU. WORSE YET, YOU’RE FEEDING IT TO YOUR FAMILY. YOU SEE PEOPLE EVERY DAY EATING MORE AND MORE OF IT. IT’S KILLING OUR NATION AND MAKING YOU FAT IN THE PROCESS – STOP EATING IT TODAY, AND START LOOKING AND FEELING BETTER WITHIN 24 HOURS!

For the first time ever, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) dietary guidelines has identified sugar as a part of our diet we should limit, prompted by an overwhelmingly amount of evidence that proves high-sugar foods, such as cookies and soft drinks, not only lead to weight gain, but they often replace the foods that really need to be eaten each day to survive and thrive.
If you eat a healthy diet and meet your nutritional needs on most days, you can still enjoy guilty pleasures like a sweet dessert or an occasional sugary soda. But, keep in mind, that no matter what form of sugar you eat – from Gummi Bears to Wheaties – carbohydrates (sugars) contain 4 calories per gram, they break down to simple sugars during digestion (except for fiber which is indigestible) and are either used for immediate energy, or stored as fat!

While you need sugars in your body to keep it running, you should pick sugars that come in the form of nutrient-rich starches like whole grains. You should also eat plenty of vegetables – which do contain sugars, but do contain an abundance of valuable vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting chemicals.
The kind of sugar that you should stay away from is added sugar (the sweeteners that are dumped into foods by manufacturers). Added sugar is causing increasing concern because consumption of this diet-buster has risen more than 30 percent in the last two decades, with Americans now gobbling up a whopping 64 pounds of this fattening substance each year!

According to the USDA, 20 percent or more of the daily calories for nearly one-quarter of adult women come from sugar, making it the culprit of weight- gain and diet disasters nationwide, not to mention that fact that it’s part of the cause of diseases like breast cancer.
With this in mind, let’s look at some ways we can shave calories from sneaky sugar sources. These include:

• Eliminate all soft drinks and fruit-flavored beverages, which are considered one of the biggest sources of added sugar in the diet. Instead, regularly opt for water, seltzer flavored with lemon or lime, flavored waters, etc.
• Check food labels of packaged food with claims of “low fat” or “fat free,” as they have as much, and oftentimes even more sugar, than the full-fat version. Additional sugar is often used to replace the taste of fat, so when fat is decreased or eliminated, sugar is often substituted. Learn to spot this on food packages, and to avoid the contents!
• Avoid all white flours, substituting whole grains that pack nutritional value. This means staying away from white pastas, breads, biscuits, cakes, cookies, etc.
• Learn to spot sugar’s aliases. If dextrose, fructose, maltose, or malt syrup. If sucrose or corn syrup appears first or second in the ingredient list, the food is very high in sugar.
• When eating out, order fresh fruit for dessert rather than that cake your friends are eating.
• Pass up sweetened yogurts (they can contain as much as 7 teaspoons of added sugar). Instead, choose a no-sugar variety.
• Buy breakfast cereals with no more than 8 grams of sugar per serving.
Pair these practices with drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day, eating 3 small meals and 2 snacks each day, eating a diet high in vegetables, medium in protein and with the right fats added to that … then you’re on your way to a new you!

And, don’t forget to be active every day.

These are all key to enhancing your metabolism, changing your lifestyle, and your improving body. And, perhaps more importantly, a healthy, balanced
diet with daily exercise will help keep you feeling good, will help you live longer, and will turn back your body’s aging clock!

Christopher Guerriero, is the founder of the National Metabolic & Longevity Research Center and a best-selling author, speaker, and coach to millions. He is creator of the award-winning ‘Maximize Your Metabolism’ system. To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for FR*EE how-to articles and FREE teleseminars, visit:

One of the biggest weaknesses of the traditional commercial diet is the lack of iron that exists in its stringent and often excessively limited eating guidelines. In order to lose weight, many unsuspecting women get bamboozled into taking part in weight loss programs that cut out many of the nutrients that they need. Iron is one of the primary
casualties of such diets and weight loss plans.

The plot thickens for women in particular due to the fact that their bodies regularly lose iron during menstruation. Therefore, eating a low-calorie, low-iron diet in an effort to lose weight only makes the problem more severe.

It is generally suggested that women supplement their diets with an iron supplement such as the Vitality multivitamin offered by Melaleuca, the Wellness Company. This is particularly important during periods of heavy exercise and training that are typical aspects of any weight loss program or general effort to lose weight even when a special program is not in use.

One thing to be on guard for, however, is excessive iron supplementation by iron-deficient (non-anemic) women. There is a disorder known as hemosiderosis which results from large deposits of iron made in the liver that causes a glitch in the proper metabolism of the iron itself. Avoiding prolonged large doses will eliminate the risk of this particular disorder.

Below are a few recommendations from the American Council on Exercise (ACE) that will help you to make sure you get the adequate amount of iron intake in your daily diet, whether on a program to lose weight or not:

• Eat foods with a high vitamin C content with all meals. Vitamin C aids in the absorption of iron. (examples: salsa; chili peppers; oranges)
• Include dark meat chick and/or turkey in the training diet. Both of these are rich in iron
• Vegetable proteins such as split pea soup or chili beans with lean meat help the iron in those meats to properly absorb
• When eating starchy carbohydrates such as cereals, breads, and pastas, gravitate to those labeled “enriched” or “fortified” for their higher iron content.

To YourBestBody,

Lawrence Cole

Recently I published an article about the importance of exercise in fighting against the bone-brittling disease osteoporosis.

There are actually 3 primary factors that may put someone at risk for osteoporosis—women in particular:

• lack of calcium
• hormonal deficiency (estrogen in particular)
• lack of physical activity

So in addition to exercise and hormonal factors, a woman’s diet is extremely important in guarding off this very debilitating condition.

One of the reason’s why we do not recommend most traditional diet plans and programs is because the over-restrictive eating guidelines often eliminate or seriously limit the consumption of some very necessary vitamins and minerals that keep the body healthy and strong.

You never want to get to a point where you are sacrificing health merely to lose weight. In fact, any weight loss program
worth half its salt will make sure that the recommendations made for your daily diet intake are well balanced and full of all the nutrients that you need.

The most important time to get an appropriate amount of calcium is between the ages of 14 and 24, when peak bone mass is obtained. Then after that bone continues to develop until about age 35 to 40, at which time the bone mass that a woman has will strongly determine how much at risk she may be
for bone fractures in her later years.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommends that women intake 1,000 mg (1g) of calcium daily, and then increase their daily dosage to 1,500 mg (1.5g) post menopause.

Sadly, only an estimated 25% of women in any age group consume the recommended daily amount of calcium to guard against osteoporosis. And when they go on diets and weight loss programs, they tend to consume even less.

Lowfat dairy prodcuts such as milk (skim milk is a better option), yogurt, and cottage cheese are all excellent sources of dietary calcium. For those who are lactose intolerant or who wish to generally stay away from dairy products, non-dairy alternatives fortified with calcium will do as long as they contined the recommended daily allowance (RDA). The nondairy product Lactaid added to lowfat and nonfat milk may also work to help you meet your desired goal.

In your efforts to lose weight, make sure that the weight loss program that you use includes calcium-rich food choices. And if it does, you will need to add them yourself. No matter what weight loss program you are on or what other means you use to lose weight, here are some good ideas recommended by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) that you may add to your daily diet in order to get the amount of calcium you need while you lose the weight.

• Prepare canned soup with skim milk instead of water
• Add nonfat dry milk to soups, stews, and casseroles
• Add grated lowfat cheese to salads, tacos, and pasta dishes
• Eat yogurt as a snack, or use it to make low-calorie dressings
• Choose calcium-rich desserts, suhc as lowfat cheese and fruit, frozen nonfat or lowfat yogurt, and puddings made with skim milk
• Drink hot chocolate in the winter made with skim milk

To YourBestBody,

Lawrence Cole

The Shapeworks diet program, has been developed by Herbalife weight loss systems. Shapeworks is an all-natural, herbal weight loss aid that has assisted thousands of people achieve their weight loss goals. There are several different programs and diet aids to the shapeworks diet program which assures that there is a correct plan for everyone.

Shapeworks works in steps. It took a while to put the weight on; and you are going to need assistance taking and keeping it off. The Shapeworks supplements give your body nutrition at the cellular level and that helps to keep you healthy all year round.

The meal replacement shakes give you all the vitamins and minerals that your body needs when you are dieting. This is key to any dieting success and this is also the area in which many of the other diets out there lack. They are also rich in protein, an important factor in losing weight. Protein is what controls your hunger after all and when you are not starving you are not eating.

With the Shapeworks diet there are plenty of meals that are pleasing to the eye, as well as the palette. That is why this diet is taking off at such an amazing speed. More and more people, both men and women, are finding that they can lose weight while still taking enjoyment in the food that they eat when they are doing the Shapeworks weight loss program.

There are protein powders that when added to the shakes, give your body what it needs to get through the day, and at the same time, give you a feeling of being full. This is what keeps you from overeating as you may have been doing in the past.

Bad dietary habits and stress can cause fatigue and lower the immune system making you susceptible to illness. Shapeworks has a cell activator capsule that is made with nutrients that are essential in keeping your body strong and healthy.

When we need a drink, most people reach for a soda. It is thirst quenching and it is available everywhere. Shapeworks has a thermogenic beverage that is just as thirst quenching as soda, but it is made with green tea and herbs that not only taste great, but also give you the energy boost you need to get things done during the day. This great tasting Shapeworks beverage is so versatile; it can be served hot or cold!

Fluid retention is a risk that every dieter takes. Shapeworks has that covered also. Cell-U-Loss capsules were made to help get rid of excess fluid. This not only makes you feel less bloated, but also gives the skin a better look and smoother feel.

Another issue is the fact that everybody loves to snack. Since early childhood, we have always had snacks. It is a hard habit to break. For most dieters it can be almost impossible. Shapeworks has developed a snack defense. It is an incredible tablet that works all day to naturally stop the snack craving that creeps up between meals.

Shapeworks is an incredible diet plan. Herbalife researchers and developers have thought of everything when this diet plan was made. There is literally a Shapeworks dietary plan for everyone who chooses to use this weight loss program. Each plan is tailored to the specific needs of each dieter, and every question that they have is answered personally, and in detail.

When you visit the website for Herbalife, it is full of testimonials from satisfied customers who have met their weight loss goals and have kept he weight off. Herbalife Shapeworks has the reputation of being one of the leaders in the weight loss industry. They have maintained a standard of excellence that surpasses all the rest.

Childhood obesity is on the rise. According to a recent National Health and Nutrition Examination (NHANES) survey, almost one-third of American children can be described as overweight-an increase of nearly 20 percent from a study a decade ago. Fortunately, there’s a lot parents can do to keep their children from becoming overweight.

While many people associate sweetness with table sugar, called sucrose, this is just one type of sugar that provides this taste. There is also sugar in fruits, called fructose, and many foods contain added sugars such as corn syrup, honey and high fructose corn syrup. All sugars are carbohydrates containing four calories per gram and after digestion they travel through the bloodstream where they are used as fuel for the body.

Sugar substitutes, also called low-calorie sweeteners, supply flavor but add little or no calories.

Limiting the intake of sugary foods, which often contribute few nutrients to the diet, can be a positive step in decreasing the number of American children who are overweight. Many health experts suggest using a sugar substitute like aspartame to replace the sweetness in some of your child’s favorite foods. Before being approved by the FDA, sweeteners undergo extensive safety testing to be sure they are safe for consumption by children and pregnant women. According to the American Dietetic Association, children can safely consume aspartame as part of a diet consistent with the Food Guide Pyramid.

Snacks are an essential part of any child’s diet, providing energy and nutrients.

“The challenge is getting children to snack less on high-sugar foods and more on nutrient-dense snacks from the Food Guide Pyramid,” says Keith Ayoob, a registered dietitian from the American Dietetic Association and a pediatric nutrition expert at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. He recommends “sweet” snacking on low-fat, sugar-free yogurt, fresh fruit, raisins and other dried fruit, 100- percent fruit snacks, sugar-free flavored gelatin, fruit juice pops made with reduced sugar juice and sugar-free flavored water.

Nutrition experts agree sweet foods can be part of a healthful diet. The key is moderation-to ensure that sweet foods do not crowd out more nutrient-dense foods. Sugar substitutes have the potential to serve as effective weight management tools when used together with physical activity and healthy food choices.

• Althea Zanecosky is a registered dietician, national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and a mother of two daughters.

Foods sweetened with sugar substitutes provide healthy alternatives for children.

Jennifer is a middle-aged single mother with a young daughter. She has been avoiding sugary foods for a few weeks. And she has also been faithfully watching her portions. She has been exercising for an hour 4 times a week as well. However, she has not lost any weight, and doesn’t know why.

This is not uncommon. You might be doing everything you can to lose weight, but can’t seem to make any progress. Consequently, you are frustrated or depressed and are ready to give up.

One problem is that many diets are homogeneous. They don’t consider the individual’s physiology, metabolism, and lifestyle. They are a cookie-cutter approach to weight loss, which doesn’t work in most cases. Therefore, employing the services of a registered dietician may be the best solution. This can be done in person or via the Internet, where you can contact your dietician any time of the day or night via e-mail. Your dietician will be your personal coach and cheerleader, helping you through the inevitable setbacks.

Lack of support is a big reason that diets often fail. You might feel like you have no one to talk to about your weight problems. When this is the case, some individuals go to psychotherapists to help them with their food-related issues. This can be very helpful, especially if an individual suffers from an eating disorder, such as anorexia or bulimia. Bulimia and anorexia are serious diseases that need to be treated by a medical professional in order to ensure the recovery of the patient.

Hidden calories in the foods we eat is another pitfall of dieting. Often, we are consuming calories and don’t even know it. Sugary drinks like sodas and fruit juices are a common source of unneeded calories. By switching to diet drinks, or drinking water, and substituting skim milk for whole milk, you can eliminate the hidden calories that are keeping you from reaching your weight loss goals.

Being a yoyo dieter is another problem. You might start a diet, then quit before you’ve made any measurable progress because you are bored or feel deprived. Healthy weight loss is not often quick, and involves losing only a couple of pounds per week. Keeping a positive attitude and sticking with a healthy diet plan is key to losing weight.

Lifestyle change is part of successful eating and exercise. Avoid eating for comfort or emotional fulfillment. Changing the way you eat requires lifetime commitment; it means that you have to follow the plan for the long haul. Find an eating plan that is healthy, and that you can stick to. While your main goal might be to lose weight, you should also focus on being healthy. Fad diets cannot give you both of those things. For that reason, you must carefully choose your eating plan.

Besides the fact that organic food tastes better and it reduces the amount of cancer-causing chemicals that enter your body, there are plenty of other very good reasons why you should buy organic food. Here are just a few:

Organic Meat Comes From Healthier Animals

The animal from which you got your meat is guaranteed to have been healthy throughout its life. Why? Part of the criteria governing organic products is agreeing not to use antibodies to treat an illness. Animals that are raised with the ultimate goal of being organic are raised in more humane conditions (as outlined by the United States’ Humane Society). These better living conditions result in healthier animals and healthier animals simply are less prone to illness and disease. Of course, nothing can guarantee an animal will never become ill, and occasionally one will require antibiotics to cure an ailment. When this situation happens however, the animal that was treated with the antibiotics must be removed from the organic farm. The affected animal loses its organic status and is usually sold to a conventional farm where it lives out the remainder of its life.

Buying Organic Is A Form of Protest

When you buy organic food, you’re basically making a statement that you care about what you’re putting into your body. So much is happening to our food before it enters the supermarket. We hear about it, yet we do nothing to stop it. If you ever took a few moments to think about all that food is exposed to, from start to finish, the details likely would boggle your mind. Sure, all that perfectly-shaped produce and those rather full-sized chicken breasts look enticing, but those perfections are the end result of growth hormones, genetic engineering, and an abundance of pesticides and fertilizers. You’ve probably heard the saying, “Nature is not perfect” countless times, yet time and again you continue to reach for that perfect tomato. When you buy organic, you are in effect saying you don’t want to be part of that scene any longer. When enough people buy organic, and more are making the switch every day, food companies will be forced to listen to consumers.

It’s Something You Can Do to Protect the Environment

The chemicals that go onto the fields that produce the fruits and vegetables you eat and that feed the cows and pigs that turn into your hamburgers and pork chops contaminate the soil and the water. This affects the animals that live off the land and it also contaminates the environment. When you choose foods that are produced without these cancer-causing chemicals, you are not adding to this problem. Your purchases likely won’t put an end to environmental damage, but as with all things in life, change begins with one person. Get a few friends to change their buying and eating habits, and then have them get a few friends to change and soon enough, a sizeable impact will be in the works.

AMINO ACIDS are the building blocks of the body. Besides building cells and repairing tissue, they form antibodies to combat invading bacteria & viruses; they are part of the enzyme & hormonal system; they build nucleoproteins (RNA & DNA); they carry oxygen throughout the body and participate in muscle activity. When protein is broken down by digestion the result is 22 known amino acids.

As the building blocks of protein, amino acids are vital to health. Next to water, amino acids in the form of proteins make up the greatest portion of our body weight. They comprise tendons, muscles and ligaments; organs and glands; hair and nails; important bodily fluids, and are a necessary part of every cell in the body.

There are over 20 amino acids, separated into two categories – essential and non-essential. Essential amino acids are those that cannot be manufactured by your body, hence, it is essential that you obtain them from your diet. Non-essential amino acids can be manufactured by your body, however, your body must have the right combination of essential amino acids and supporting nutrients to optimize healthy protein maintenance, so supplementation may be desirable. Twenty amino acids are needed to build the various proteins used in the growth, repair, and maintenance of body tissues. Eleven of these amino acids can be made by the body itself, while the other nine (called essential amino acids) must come from the diet. The essential amino acids are isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Another amino acid, histidine, is considered semi-essential because the body does not always require dietary sources of it. The nonessential amino acids are arginine, alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamine, glutamic acid, glycine, proline, serine, and tyrosine. Other amino acids, such as carnitine, are used by the body in ways other than protein-building and are often used therapeutically.

Who is likely to be deficient?
Dieters, some strict vegetarian body builders, and anyone consuming an inadequate number of calories may not be consuming adequate amounts of amino acids. In these cases, the body will break down the protein in muscle tissue and use those amino acids to meet the needs of more important organs or will simply not build more muscle mass despite increasing exercise.

Amino acids are not only absolutely integral to life, but they can have a profound impact upon how clearly we think and how well we feel.

Benefits
• builds cells and repairs tissue
• assists with wound healing
• increases athletic performance

Some currently popular eating plans like The Perricone Prescription, A Week in the Zone and The Protein Power Lifeplan recommend low glycemic foods.

The theory is that sugar and high glycemic carbs that rapidly convert to sugar trigger a release of insulin to control the level of sugar in the bloodstream. Excess sugar in the bloodstream is inflammatory and causes a cascade of free radical damage.

To explain how dangerous this is, Dr, Perricone points out that diabetics with poorly controlled blood sugar age one third faster than nondiabetics and are prone to kidney failure, blindness, heart attack and stroke.

So insulin comes to the rescue to clear the excess sugar from the bloodstream. And what do you suppose the insulin does with all this sugar? It stores it as fat. And worse yet, until the insulin sweeps up the excess sugar, it runs rampant throughout the body causing glycation and cross-linking of the body’s collagen.

The effect is visible on the skin, which becomes leathery and inflexible as we age. Though it can’t be seen, the same damage is taking place inside the body where it affects other vital organs including the kidneys, lungs and brain.

So far, so good. Nutritionists have recommended that people cut their consumption of sugar for decades. The surprise when one ranks sugars and carbs by their glycemic index, is that some foods we normally think of as healthy show up as being bad for you.

The glycemic index is a ranking from 1 to 100, with 100 indicating the increase in blood sugar from eating table sugar (or white bread in one scale). Whichever scale is used, the important thing is a rank ordering of a food’s effect on blood sugar.

The low glycemic food diets mentioned above have different cut off points. For example, Dr. Perricone’s 28-day program prohibits any foods that score above 50 on the glycemic scale. That leaves out such things as bananas, bagels, carrots, corn, potatoes, rice and watermelon.

You can read more about the glycemic index (GI) and view the whole table http://www.mendosa.com/gi.htm here. This site is authored by David Mendoza, a freelance medical writer and consultant specializing in diabetes. The site is a gold mine of information.

Mr. Mendoza points out that a food’s glycemic index tells you how rapidly a particular carb turns into sugar, but not how much of that carbohydrate is in a serving. In other words, it’s not just the quality of the carb, but also the quantity, that counts.
The version of glycemic index on his site (courtesy of Professor Jennie-Brand Miller of the University of Sydney) includes a column called glycemic load (GL) as well as a column of serving size in grams. A glycemic load of 20 or more is considered high; 11 to 19 is medium; and 10 or less is low.

Looking at this bigger picture, some of the “bad” carbs in low-glycemic food diets turn out to be not so bad. A 120g serving of watermelon has a horrible GI of 74 but a very low GL of 4. A medium banana (129g) has a bad GI of 51 but a medium GL of 13. An 80g serving of carrots has a borderline GI of 47 but a low GL of only 3. The same amount of corn has a GI of 47 but a low GL of 7.

On the other hand, some carb foods look bad whether you go by the GI or the GL. A 70g bagel has a high GI (72) as well as a high GL (25). A 150g serving of boiled white rice has a GI of 56 and a GL of 24. A medium baked potato (159g) has a high GI (60) and a marginal GL (18).

If you decide to concentrate on low-glycemic foods, I recommend you focus on a food’s glycemic load. Just be careful to adhere to the indicated serving sizes (or adjust the calculation accordingly), GL is a better measure of how much sugar in total is being poured into the bloodstream and the amount of sugar that will be stored as fat.

This article is for informational purposes only. It does not purport to offer medical advice.

What Are Antioxidants?

Antioxidants are molecules which can safely interact with free radicals and terminate the chain reaction before vital molecules are damaged. Although there are several enzyme systems within the body that scavenge free radicals, the principle micronutrient antioxidants are vitamin E, beta-carotene, and vitamin C.

Selenium, a trace metal that is required for proper function of one of the body’s antioxidant enzyme systems, is sometimes included in this category. The body cannot manufacture these micronutrients so they must be supplied in the diet.

Why Eat Fish Weekly?

Best choices are oily fish rich in healthy omega-3 fatty acids, such as herring, sardines, salmon, lake trout, mackerel and albacore tuna. But forgo fish oil capsules unless you have been diagnosed with heart disease and can’t eat at least two meals of fish per week. People with high triglyceride levels who are under the care of a physician may benefit from omega-3 fatty acids in capsules. The U.S. guidelines also recommend two servings of fish per week, but they doesn’t address fish oil capsules in the same detail as AHA.

Can antioxidants prevent cancer?

That is a good question. Considerable laboratory evidence from chemical, cell culture, and animal studies indicates that antioxidants may slow or possibly prevent the development of cancer. However, information from recent clinical trials is less clear. In recent years, large-scale, randomized clinical trials reached inconsistent conclusions.

Various new researches show that a serving of almonds, for instance, contains the same amount of antioxidants called flavonoids as a serving of broccoli. And a one ounce serving of almonds provides as much of these antioxidants as found in a cup of brewed black or green tea, in addition to being an excellent source of vitamin E!

Furthermore, the researchers noted that the main antioxidant compounds found in almonds, catechin, epicatechin and kaempferol, are also the ones that provide the highest degree of protection against cell death from oxidants, a mechanism that appears to play an important role in reducing the risk of chronic diseases.

Antioxidants are abundant in fruits and vegetables, as well as in other foods including nuts, grains and some meats, poultry and fish. We urge you to find out more about Antioxidants today!

Do you eat tomatoes? Of course you have known that tomatoes are now eaten easily around the world. You can find tomatoes everywhere as part of fruits and vegetables.

Some experts said that tomato is known as a source of power of nutrition, as it contains a large number of vitamins and minerals that can support our body’s health.

Tomatoes have been first cultivated in Peru, and then brought to Mexico. Now, tomatoes are sold everywhere. In American grocery stores, tomatoes are often picked unripe, and ripened in storage with ethylene.

Which one is better, unripe or ripe?

Tomatoes that are ripened in storage with ethylene, plant hormone produced by many fruits and acts as the cue to begin the ripening process, tend to stay longer, but have poorer flavor than tomatoes ripened on the plant. They may be recognized by their color, which is more pink or orange than the ripe tomato’s deep red.

Based on the nutrition content, red tomatoes have more vitamin A than green tomatoes. But in this case, green tomatoes have more protein.

If you eat tomatoes everyday, it is beneficial in preventing cancer to 50%. Tomatoes will fight different kinds of cancer and protect your heart from heart attack.

Why tomatoes are beneficial for health?

Tomatoes contain various kinds of ingredients. Here are some of them:

*Lycopene, one of nature’s most powerful antioxidants. It is beneficial to fight different kind of diseases, most of all to fight cancer.

*Fiber in tomatoes prevents diabetes, asthma, colon cancer, and lowers the amount of cholesterol from the body.

*Vitamin C and A, antioxidants which fight free radical. They fight against aging, soothe skin and hair.

*Potassium, vitamin B6, folate, and niacin have proven effect in lowering cholesterol level, lowering blood pressure and works against heart disease.

*Vitamin K in tomatoes helps to build bone.

*Chromium and biotin make the body’s ability to process sugar and fat, which may improve fighting diabetes and help nerve function.

*Riboflavin helps with energy metabolism and fights against migraine headaches.

So, if you consume ripe, unripe or tomato-based food products (tomato sauce, tomato pasta etc.) all deliver many nutrients with multiple mechanisms of action to prevent you from different kinds of diseases.

When I was a kid, my mom used to make me different kinds of juices like orange, tomato, and carrot juices. I always like them until now as they do increase the appetite.

But, I wasn’t sure about the benefits until one day, when I got older; I saw my aunt consumed so many juices everyday.

I noticed that this was part of her cancer treatment. She got better after an intensive course of consuming 13 glasses of juices each day. An example of her juice combinations is orange, carrot, and dark leafy greens.

Thanks to the juice therapy she is still with us until now.

Today, there are more and more people consuming fruit and vegetable juices as part of their lifestyle to increase healthy life. They think it is the simplest form of prevention and cure.

Most sicknesses are the direct result of the lack or deficiency of vitamins, minerals and salts needed by the body to function properly. It’s important for us to make sure we have enough of those substances. Raw juice therapy can be the answer.

Raw juice therapy is a way of healing and preventing sickness through an exclusive diet of fruits and vegetables juices. It is also the most effective way to bring back health and restore the body.

Based on the http://healthlibrary.com, here are some juices needed to cure some ailments:

1. Sore Throat – apricot, grapes, lemon, pineapple, prune, tomato, carrot and parsley.
2. Headache – grapes, lemon, carrot, lettuce and spinach.
3. Colds – lemon, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, carrot, onion, celery and spinach.
4. Influenza – apricot, orange, lemon, grapefruit, pineapple, carrot, onion and spinach.
5. Allergies – apricot, grapes, carrot, beet and spinach.
6. Eye Disorders: apricot, tomato, carrot, celery, parsley and spinach.
7. Constipation – apple, pear, grapes, lemon, carrot, beet, spinach and watercress.
8. Diabetes – citrus fruits, carrot, celery, lettuce and spinach.
9. Acne – grapes, pear, plum, tomato, cucumber, carrot, potato and spinach.
10. Asthma – apricot, lemon, pineapple, peach, carrot, radish and celery.

You may drink the juice every three hours or take five to six times a day until you feel better. The quantity of juice on each occasion may be 250 ml on the first day and increased by 50 ml each succeeding day ‘till you can take 600 ml on each occasion.

If you want to do raw juice therapy, here are things you must consider to give the best juice for your body:

• Drink the juice immediately after you make it.
• Use only fresh ripe fruits and vegetables.
• Extract fruits and vegetables only as much as you need for immediate consumption.
• Oxidation happens rapidly in fruit and vegetables after you make them into juice. If you store them too long they might lose the medicinal value. For example, apples turn brown so quickly.
• Add water if the juice is too sweet, especially for diabetics.

Enjoy your favorite juice…

Many say today’s consumer is overwhelmed with information on whole and enriched grains. With all the conflicting information, it can be difficult to understand what to eat to maintain a healthful and balanced diet.

First, it is important to understand grains. Grains come from the seed-heads of grasses, which are then milled or processed into food such as bread, cereals, pasta and tortillas. Whole grains are composed of an entire kernel-the bran, germ and endosperm. The bran forms the outer layer of the seed and is a rich source of niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, zinc and most of the seed’s fiber. The germ is the part from which a new plant sprouts and is a concentrated source of niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin E, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, zinc and contains protein and some fat. The endosperm, which is about 80 percent of the kernel, makes up the rest of the seed and contains most of the grain’s protein and carbohydrates.

Whole grains are very nutritious-they are a good source of fiber and other important nutrients such as selenium, potassium and magnesium. A high-fiber diet has been shown to help lower your risk of type II diabetes, obesity, heart disease, some cancers and other disorders such as hemorrhoids, irritable bowel syndrome and the development of diverticular disease. Whole grain sources include barley, brown rice, bulgur, cracked wheat, millet, oatmeal, popcorn, whole corn, whole rye and whole wheat and flours from these components. Other pseudo-grains, such as buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa and wild rice, are often accepted as whole grains.

White flour is made from just the endosperm; however, 95 percent of all white flour in the U.S. is enriched, meaning the three major B vitamins, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and iron are added back in the same proportion as is found in the whole kernel. Folic acid is added in twice the amount of that found in whole grains.

Enriched grains are the primary source of folic acid in Americans’ diets and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have been wealthbuilding.co.za”>credited with lowering neural tube birth defects by 34 percent in Whites and non-Hispanics and 36 percent in Hispanics since folic acid fortification of enriched grains became mandatory in 1998. Enriched grains also account for a major source of iron in the diets of most Americans. Fortification of folic acid has also been shown to reduce the incidence of strokes in the U.S. and Canada.

All types of whole and enriched grain products are good for you-and are one of the healthiest and most convenient foods available. Mistakenly thought of as fattening, grain products should fit into a healthy-eating plan-especially as evidenced by the USDA’s new MyPyramid. The recently released Dietary Guidelines recommend at least half of all grain products consumed be whole grain products and the remaining from other grain sources, including enriched.

Trends such as low carbohydrate diets may come and go, but bread is here to stay. When choosing grain products, consider the many types available and vary them in your diet. Grains can increase your protein intake, add fiber to your diet and provide the appropriate carbohydrates for your muscles. Eating a variety of grains not only ensures you get more nutrients, it can make meals and snacks more delicious and delightful.

The hallmark of a modern developed society seems to be people with those ugly bulges. And lots of dieting ads! Okay, let’s face it. We will have to live with dieting. The question then is how to do it effectively and safely.

Dieting refers to regulated food intake to satisfy a short-term goal: losing weight or adding it. Diet refers to the food items that form the dieting process.

Human beings need essential nutrients such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. A well-balanced diet must meet these nutritional requirements or it could threaten general health and physical fitness. The diet must make the person healthy enough to be active and still provide only enough calories that can be burned away in the course of a day without it accumulating as fat.

The fact is not every diet works for everyone. That is because there are metabolic differences between individuals. The challenge is to choose a diet that works for you. This you can do only with the help of a physician.

Diet pills are quite popular among health-conscious individuals. Some diet pills are associated with comprehensive dietary programs. However, these diet pills, especially the ones containing vitamins and minerals are not effective weight-loss tools for everyone. Some medicines cause short-term weight loss, but the loss is normally accompanied by dangerous side-effects.

Diet drugs can be classified into diuretics and stimulants. Diuretics induce water-weight loss, while stimulants such as ephedrine increase the heart rate and reduce appetite. These drugs can also cause kidney and liver damage. The stimulants increase your risk of sudden heart attacks and also cause addiction. Always look for FDA approval for these diet drugs.

Exotic dieting patterns are not just ineffective, but dangerouus as well. Starvation diets are undertaken by many to gain that perfect figure – the lean and athletic Ally McBeal look. But these diets are normally counterproductive. Yo-yo dieting refers to alternating periods of feasting and famine. It too is quite ineffective. When you starve, the body responds by decreasing metabolism. When you begin consuming food agan, the food gets stored as fat. These adjustments leave the dieter feeling lethargic and fatigued.

Certain medical conditions require special diets. A diabetic person is put on a diet for managing the blood sugar level, while mild hypertension is partly cured by following a diet of fruits and vegetables and a diet low in fat and sodium. The hypertension diet could focus on weight loss, if controlling blood pressure is necessary. Celiac disease patients follow a gluten-free diet, while people with kidney disease are required to follow a low-sodium diet to lessen the load on the kidneys. Lactose-intolerant people leave out milk products from their diet.

Many diets include medicinal plants. These herbs include leaves, bark, berries, roots, gums, seeds, stems, and flowers. They come in the form of tablets, capsules, liquid beverages, bark pieces, powders, tinctures, fluid extracts, creams, lotions, salves, and oils. These medicines include herbal products which are avaiable over-the-counter or at health food stores. However, it’s always better to consume medications prescribed by doctors and provided by pharmacists.

Go on a diet if you need to. But play it safe, and do it in consultation with your doctor. And remember, if one diet does not work for you, it doesn’t mean you have failed. You could still find a diet regimen that will work wonders for you!

There are several reasons to juice wheatgrass, the chief of which is that wheatgrass is a wonderful source of living chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is a pigment in plants that contains magnesium. The juice that is the product of wheatgrass being juiced is extremely full of vitamins and nutrients and while the juice is fresh it is rated as one of the best juices to consume for anyone and everyone.

This grass is wheat in its early stages and once the grass reaches about seven or eight days it is at its optimal stage to be picked and juiced. The juice must be drunk as soon after juicing as possible to ensure that you receive the most nutritional rewards from your hard work. Chlorophyll contains high levels of oxygen and is responsible for keeping plants oxygenated.

For many people wheatgrass juice is viewed as having powers of rejuvenation, it has been called the plasma of youth as well as the life blood of plants and thereby being extremely beneficial to humans. If you look at all the elements that are absent in your body’s cells, there will be the realization that all of these, especially hormones, enzymes, nucleic acids and vitamins can all be regained by drinking the juice of this green health injection on a regular basis.

Over the years wheatgrass juice has displayed a very beneficial effect on many people who consume it on a regular basis. These beneficial effects have been shown to be both many and varied. Wheatgrass has been shown to cleanse the lymph system leaving the body in a far cleaner state than prior to the intake of wheatgrass juice. This juice has also demonstrated that it has the power to help build levels of oxygen and nutrients in the blood. Juicing wheatgrass also gives you access to a liquid that will help to restore balance to your body by removing the toxic metals that reside in your cells and your liver and kidneys will feel the wheatgrass’ nourishing and vitality restorative properties.

There are many juicers out there that will provide you with the means to juice your wheatgrass adequately and you will receive benefits from your juice, but in order to ensure that you receive the maximum beneficial effects from your wheatgrass juice, you need to use a juicer specifically engineered for juicing wheatgrass.

Since wheatgrass is very leafy it requires a different type of juicer to most fruit and vegetables. The best juicer to use is a masticating juicer that is built to handle wheatgrass because wheatgrass needs to be crushed to get the most nutrients out of your produce. I addition to juicing with the appropriate machine it is recommended that you grow your own wheatgrass so that you can be sure that you are drinking juice that has been made from wheatgrass that has been picked at the optimal time and juiced within a reasonable to ensure that you get a super drink from all the produce you juice.

A switch to a raw, vegan, natural foods lifestyle requires a little creativity and a lot of getting used to. It may feel at first as if we are giving up more than we are gaining.

When I became a ‘raw dude’ I expanded my tastes by experimenting and trying different foods that I previously paid little or no attention to. One of these newfound treasures was coconut.

I am blessed to live in a tropical climate where coconuts grow in abundance so that also had an influence on my desire to include more coconut in my daily diet. I’ve heard amazing things about the healing properties of coconut oil- some of which I will share in this article in hopes that you’ll be convinced to give coconut a try.

You can’t keep a good oil down!

The false and misleading information that has been widely distributed marking coconut oil, or saturated fats, as bad was pushed by the corn oil industry. As we know, whenever huge profits are at stake, the truth is hidden and replaced with lies to support the profit agenda.

However, coconut oil which is far more nutritious and beneficial than corn oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, and even olive oil- contains no dangerous trans-fatty acids. Trans-fats can raise LDLs, commonly known as ‘bad’ cholesterol, and lead to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and more.

Coconut oil increases metabolism and supports healthy weight loss.

Coconut oil’s saturated fat is a medium-chain fatty acid which means it is digested more easily than other fats. Whereas, other fats are stored in the body’s cells, the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil are rapidly broken down and converted into energy putting less strain on the liver, pancreas, and digestive system. By activating the metabolism, coconut oil is outstanding for those with thyroid issues.

Coconut oil is antiviral, antimicrobial, and anti-cancerous. It enhances the immune system by destroying lipid-coated viruses such as HIV, herpes, influenza, and various pathogenic bacteria.

There are many uses for pure, virgin coconut oil. If you are interested in getting a more in-depth view of healthy saturated fats that should be included in your diet, Dr. Mary Enig’s, Eat Fat, Lose Fat : The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats, is a clear, understandable read on ‘good’ fats. Dr. Enig provides a lot of information on coconut oil as well as other healthy, saturated fats.

Uses of Coconut Oil:

* As a stable cooking oil
* salad dressing
* shakes, smoothies, juices
* skin moisturizer
* massage oil

I feel the best and most complete benefits come from the whole, natural coconut eaten regularly as a part of a natural foods diet. But if you don’t happen to have a coconut tree in your backyard then you must make sure you are getting the highest quality virgin coconut oil.

Some requirements to look for would be:

* certified organic, USDA standards
* low-level heating to preserve natural nutrients
* made from fresh coconuts, not dried
* no chemical additives
* no refinement
* non-GMO
* no hydrogenation
* no hybridized coconuts

Superior quality makes a big difference, not only in regards to health and safety, but also in regards to taste and cooking quality if you use it in sautees and stir-frys. However you use your coconut oil, you can be assured that you are fortifying yourself with healthy, natural foods that taste good and are good for you!

We often wonder what we should eat for optimum health and even the government has recently flip flopped its food pyramid which you can see at MyPyramid.gov.

Here’s an overview of the 2005 dietary guidelines from the government.

First off, according to the new government guidelines a healthy diet is one that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk products and will include lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, and nuts.

The diet will also be low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt, and added sugars.

The main theme the government is proposing now is to eat a diet rich in grains and to make half of the grains you eat whole grains. Whole grains contain the entire grain kernel — the bran, germ, and endosperm, some examples would be:

• whole-wheat flour
• bulgur (cracked wheat)
• oatmeal
• whole cornmeal
• brown rice

Next you should “vary your veggies” and in general buy fresh vegetables in season, stock up on frozen vegetables and buy vegetables that are easy to prepare.

For the best nutritional value, choose vegetables with more potassium such as sweet potatoes and spinach and limit sauces which can add fats, sodium and additional calories.

Prepare more of your foods from fresh ingredients to lower sodium. Most sodium comes from packaged and processed foods.

One suggestion for a healthy diet is to try using a salad as the main dish for lunch and go light on the salad dressing.

Focus on fruits. To help you keep focus, have a bowl of fruit always available on the table, counter, or in the refrigerator. Keep cut fruit in the refrigerator and buy fresh fruits in season whenever possible. Buy frozen, dried, and canned fruits as well so you will always have some kind of fruit on hand.

Choose whole fruits or cut fruits over juices whenever possible for the fiber benefits. Choose fruits high in potassium such as bananas, apricots, and cantaloupe. Put cut fruit on your breakfast cereal. At lunch, take a tangerine, banana, or some grapes. For dinner, add crushed pineapple or mandarin oranges in a tossed salad.

Get calcium rich foods and include low fat or fat free milk as a beverage at meals. Have fat-free yogurt as a snack. Use low-fat cheeses on salads and casseroles.

For those who cannot consume milk products due to lactose intolerance choose lactose free alternatives to get your calcium such as cheese, yogurt, and lactose-free milk.

Go lean with protein. The suggestions for your protein intake are to use the leanest cuts of meats such as top sirloin and pork loin and whenever choosing ground beef go with extra lean that is identified as at least 90% lean.

Buy skinless chicken parts as the fat is in the skin. Choose lean turkey and all kinds of fish.

To keep your meat intake lean and as free of fat as possible, broil, grill, roast, or boil your meat choices instead of frying and drain off any fat that appears during cooking.

Choose dry beans such as kidney beans and use them as the main part of a meal often. Make use of nuts for snacks and use them to sometimes replace meat or poultry.

Living healthy requires maintaining a healthy diet. No diet may be healthier than meals dominated by fresh, all-natural vegetables and fruits.

Lately, more and more people have shifted to vegetarian meals because scientific research demonstrated the adverse effects of animal meat.

Nutritionists explain that the high amount of animal fat present in meat, dairy, and other animal products may be probable factors leading to the onset of diabetes mellitus, obesity, colorectal cancer, high blood pressure, and coronary artery disease.

To avoid these diseases, nutritionists have long expounded on the health benefits of high intake of fruits and vegetables.

However, people generally have many misconceptions about vegetarianism or the practice of eating foods from the plant kingdom.

This article attempts to clear these misconceptions and bring to light what the said lifestyle is about.

Vegetarians may be classified into four groups. Vegans eat no animal foods, while semi-vegetarians generally avoid meat but consume poultry and selected animal foods.

Meanwhile, lacto-ovo-vegetarians avoid meat, poultry and fish, but take in milk and eggs. Finally, lacto-vegetarians consume milk products but not other animal foods. Some vegetarians also go as far as avoiding clothing made from animal products like fleece, fur, and leather.

More so, others avoid processed foods, alcoholic beverages, and foods bred with pesticides.

Historically, vegetarianism can be traced from philosophical beliefs, specifically religious traditions and teachings of Buddhism and Hinduism.

The said religions shun away from animal flesh due to their doctrine upholding self-denial, reincarnation, and the blessedness of all forms of life.

However, during the 19th century, the practice has transcended religious boundaries when the Vegetarian Society, a British non-religious organization, became famous in 1847.

Modern vegetarians uphold the rejection of meat in their campaign for animal welfare, labeling the killing of animals for consumption as a violation of their rights. The practice has already gained worldwide acceptance.

Some people contend that the vegetarian diet is insufficient in meeting the daily nutritional requirements. However, dieticians have explained that plant-based meals are low in cholesterol, saturated fat, and salt.

Likewise, plant-based meals may be planned in order to obtain the essential nutrients normally obtained from meat, fish, and poultry.

Vegetarians may consume diets dominated by fruits, vegetables, cereals and grains. In place of meat products, lacto-ovo-vegetarians may use nuts, lentils, eggs, nuts, peanut butter, dry beans, and peas. Vegetarians avoiding milk may find other sources of calcium and Vitamin D-enriched foods.

Also, vegans may have to take vitamin and mineral supplements to ensure adequate intakes of nutrients that may only be obtained from animal-based meals.

Consciousness on healthy living involves awareness on the different options and forms of vegetarianism. Here’s to a healthy lifestyle and well-being to all of us!

Fish oil versus Flaxseed oil

What is the opinion on fish oil supplements, and why not just take flaxseed oil since it has omega 3s? How much is needed to take daily?

The answer is really very simple. There are several Omega 3 fatty acids. They are named ALA (alpha linolenic acid ), EPA (eicosapentanoic acid) and DHA (docosahexanoic acid). ALA is found in flaxseed oil whereas EPA and DHA are found in fish oils. ALA is able to convert into EPA and then into DHA, but this takes several enzymatic steps in the body, and not everyone efficiently converts ALA into EPA and DHA, particularly with aging.

Lignans are a type of fiber, and at the same time a type of phytoestrogen—a chemical similar to the human hormone estrogen. Flaxseeds are the richest source of lignans. When you eat lignans, bacteria in the digestive tract convert them into estrogen-like substances called enterodiol and enterolactone, which are thought to have anti-tumor effects. Lignans and other flaxseed components may also have antioxidant properties, that is, they may reduce the activity of cell-damaging free radicals.

Flaxseeds have a pleasant, nutty flavor and taste good sprinkled on salads, cooked vegetables, or cereals. The oil is quite tasty, too, though expensive.

In addition to the omega-3s, the remaining two components of flaxseed, which are lignans and fiber are being studied for their health benefits as well, says Diane Morris, PhD, RD, spokesperson for the Flax Council of Canada. Lignans, for example, act as both phytoestrogens and antioxidants, while the fiber contained in the flaxseed is of both the soluble and insoluble type. Flax is an interesting mixture of nutrients and other components.

So what are you waiting for? You have the chance to improve your health state today! We urge you to gather more information on the benefits of Flaxseed and Flaxseed oil today! Live a healthy life!

Being aware of the nutritional value of the foods we eat is obviously essential to a healthy body. Eating the right combination of carbohydrates, proteins and healthy fats works towards keeping muscles strong and organs functioning the way nature intended.

Our minds are no different and eating foods rich in certain nutrients can help alleviate brain fog and boost our memories back to the place they were when we were younger. It only seems natural that since most of our body is fueled by the healthiest of foods, feeding our minds the same way follows suit.

There has been extensive research done into studying the effects of certain minerals and vitamins in relation to brain function. It’s common sense that sugar although a temporary stimulant quickly loses it’s luster and although we might feel very vibrant and alive after eating a candy bar, within an hour or two our bodies have become sluggish and less responsive. Our minds and therefore our memories would feel the same high and crashing low if fed a diet of sweets.

Eating sensible is important for boosting your memory. Foods that are rich in antioxidants are said to work in helping memory function. The benefits of antioxidants are often associated with fighting cancer and playing a positive role in certain diseases of the heart. Now with the knowledge that they also work towards improved memory function, having them as a staple in the daily diet seems natural. Some examples of foods readily available that are high in antioxidants include carrots and certain kinds of nuts. Green tea is also an excellent source of antioxidants and its benefits reach well beyond boosting the memory.

Another product that helps with memory function is soy. Eating foods like tofu will provide benefits that help improve memory. Another great source of soy is the soy milks that are available in most food markets. Many are flavored and the taste although not exactly the same as cow’s milk is considered appealing to many people. Soy also offers many other benefits to the body and knowing that it can help with boosting your memory is good stimulation for trying it and possibly making it a regular part of your diet.

Most people use oil in some form for cooking and if choosing a specific type of oil can boost your memory it would seem sensible to incorporate it into your everyday cooking. Olive oil is a healthy choice for many reasons including its effects on memory function. Using it to cook or within salad dressing is a healthy way to work towards having less brain cloudiness and improved memory clarity. It’s another step towards feeling confident that you are doing everything you can to ensure that your memory stays sharp.

Adjusting one’s diet to balance the effects of memory loss seems a perfect solution. With just a small change in the consumption of certain foods anyone can feel as though they are not only eating healthier but also improving their memory.

In recent years, scientists have concluded without doubt that many human diseases such as heart disease, cancer and ill-effects of the aging process can be caused or stimulated by a ravenous group of chemicals called free radicals. They act to create oxidative inflammatory damage in tissues such as blood vessels(Clogged arteries) and in joints called Rheumatics or Arthritis and in localised cells called benign growths or Systemic fully-blown cancers .

In this scenario, there is however a knight-in-shining-armour that jumps to the rescue and purges these ever hungry little killers. The name of our crusader is Antioxidants.

Without getting too technical, the oxidation process in our bodies is crucial for health, without it, for instance, we would not be able to extract energy from our food. However if there are too many free radicals in our bodies, this can be very harmful.

Our body has its own defences against free radicals, in the form of enzymes that are able to turn the hungry little tissue-devouring sharks into harmless water but sometimes our body’s natural defence mechanisms can’t cope.

Other times, external events can cause huge increases of free radicals within our bodies, such as x-rays, cigarette smoke and exposure toother toxic substances. And so a surge of free radicals can swamp our defences and illnesses may take place.

So what does oxidation and free radicals have to do with heart disease?

Low density lipoprotein, commonly know as “bad” LDL, can penetrate and gather against the inner walls of our arteries which under certain conditions, form fatty streaks and plaque.

Taken alone, LDL particles aren’t so dangerous it seems, however, when attacked by free radicals they turn into dangerous and somewhat aggressive cells, capable of actually penetrating and harming the smooth inner walls of our arteries through localised inflammation thereof, So Oxidized LDL is known to be the culprit in stimulating atherosclerosis, heart disease and stroke.

Antioxidants, as the name suggests, help stop the oxidation process, which are the results of free radicals doing their stuff and Most antioxidant research has been carried out on vitamins (A, E, beta carotene) but quite a lot of work has also been done on the healthy benefits of red wine.

While most research on red wine has been done in relation to coronary heart disease, it seems that the benefits of wine don’t stop there.

Fo instance, Red wine contains a wide range of flavanoids; these are the chemicals that give the wine its particular taste, color and character, making one different from another. Many of these flavanoids act like antioxidants.

Perhaps the forerunner of wine research was carried out by a one Serge Renaud, who discovered the French Paradox, which suggested that wine was the decisive factor in protecting the people in southern France from their very high fat diets and ultimately coronary heart disease.

Even if these people do eat large quantities of high fat cheese, pâté, and salami they have some of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world.

Another study, statistical rather than practical, by a Professor Grey of the Swiss University of Bern focussed on the low, medium and high coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality figures of the World Health Organization.

He found from among the high mortality areas were Finland and Scotland, the middle areas included Ireland, and the low CHD areas included Spain, Italy and France. He then compared heart attack rates with antioxidant levels in blood samples taken from men living in those areas.

His results showed that high antioxidant levels, in particular vitamin E, coincided with low death rates of heart disease. Moreover that low vitamin E levels were 94% more accurate in predicting CHD rates than were cholesterol levels or blood pressure figures!

Apart from diet, the high CHD regions drink very little, if any wine, whereas the low regions traditionally accompany their meals most days with wine. But it certainly seems strange that two much studied cities; Glasgow in Scotland and Toulouse in France show many similarities and yet many differences. People of both cities eat tremendous amounts of high fat foods, traditionally take little exercise and drink alcohol.

The surprising difference is that while the people of Glasgow have one of the highest rates of CHD in the world, the fortunate people of Toulouse have one of the lowest.

Traditionally beer and spirits are the preferred drinks in Glasgow, while the folks in Toulouse drink red wine. (Of course the fact that the weather patterns in both areas are poles apart had nothing to do with mortality rates either… Ahemmm.)

So, it has been suggested that drinking in moderation together with meals is beneficial, while binge drinking at bars in the evening is harmful… duhh! It seems the southern Europeans don’t drink for the alcohol buzz, but just as a pleasant accompaniment to their meals.

At first the large heart institutions such as the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association ignored both antioxidants and frowned upon wine. While it is clear that it could be potentially dangerous for a physician to recommend his patients start drinking alcohol, it is also strange that they pretended for so many years to ignore the evidence.

Roll on a few years now and even if they don’t promote the taking of vitamin pills; antioxidants and free radicals they are now more recognized as factors in disease. Though, according to the AHA “There is no scientific proof that drinking wine or any other alcoholic beverage can replace conventional measures.”

No direct comparison trials have been done to determine the specific effect of wine or other alcohol on the risk of developing heart disease or stroke.

The costs of clinical trials is so high that only the pharmaceutical industry have the financial clout to invest in them — invest being the correct word.

Over the last 30 years, research into food and blood glucose response has completely changed our carbohydrate classification system.

It has been learned that it is impossible to predict the impact on blood glucose levels by certain foods, instead people are fed carbohydrate foods and the response measured.

This response is known as the Glycemic Index (GI), it is a measure of how quickly carbohydrate foods are digested and absorbed, and ranks carbohydrate foods according to their impact on blood sugar (glucose) levels: as indicted by elevated
blood glucose.

Foods with a high GI are absorbed quickly into the blood stream and cause a rapid rise in blood glucose levels. While foods with a low GI are broken down more slowly over time and keep blood glucose levels more stable (Remember that low is slow!).

Some carbohydrate foods will maintain your energy levels for hours, while some may cause your blood glucose to rise and fall. Different types of carbohydrate can also affect feelings of fullness in the stomach and this can influence hunger and
your ability to control your body weight.

Why is the GI important?

When our blood glucose levels are stable we have plenty of readily available fuel for the brain and muscles. If our blood glucose levels drop too low (hypoglycaemia) we feel tired, dizzy and generally unwell. If our blood glucose levels rise too quickly a rapid drop usually follows this.

Include low glycemic index foods in meals and snacks to slow the release of glucose into the bloodstream. A low glycemic index snack a few hours before exercise will help maintain your energy levels for more effective training.

After high intensity exercise (strength training) a high glycemic index snack should be consumed within 30 minutes. This will help to replace energy and start the recovery process.

Low-GI foods take longer to digest and help delay hunger pangs that little bit more and thus promote weight loss. So please choose your carbs carefully as this will lower your insulin levels and burn more fat. The secret is to swap high GI foods with low GI foods.

Simple steps to a low GI diet.

Step No 1

Start with a healthy, well balanced and varied diet based on a good nutrition program. The diet should be low in fats, moderate in carbohydrate and protein. The program should be high in fibre and contain a varied amount of foods to provide the required amount of vitamins and minerals.

Step No 2

Look at the type of carbohydrates that you consume during the day. Look at the carbs that you eat the most, as these will have the most dramatic impact on your diet.

Try to change the carbs you eat the most with at least one low GI one. (Replace potato with sweet potato, use noodles instead of rice) By substituting half of your daily carbohydrate from high GI to low GI will result in an overall reduction in the GI of your diet.

Reducing the GI in your diet reduces your insulin levels and increases the fat burning apparatus in your body. Try to reduce the high GI’s in your diet by substituting them with low GI’s.

Regular consumption of low GI foods increases the feelings of fullness and satisfaction and so prevents weight gain. Try taking in six small meals a day of healthy low fat low GI foods to prevent overeating at meal times and control appetite.

Remember, that it is also important to look at the calories in food to. Rice and bread might be low in fat but when your body is burning the carbohydrates in these foods it doesn’t burn as much fat. So if you are on a low fat diet, you wont lose as much weight if your calories are still high.

Have a look at the table below for the different GI food ratings.

Low GI (<50) Medium GI (50-70) High GI (70>)
Grapefruit (26) Pineapple (66) Cornflakes (80)
Baked Beans (15) Raisins (64) W/M Bread (72)
Lentils (29) Sweet corn (59) Brown Rice (80)
Peanuts (13) Potato Chips (51) Carrots (92)
Soy Beans (15) All bran (51) Baked Potato (98)

Compare these two menus and try to adjust your diet accordingly.

High GI Menu

Breakfast: 40 Grams of cornflakes with milk. Two slices of whole meal toast with margarine and jam.

Snack: Two sweet biscuits with a white coffee.

Lunch: Ham and salad whole meal Roll with an apple.

Snack: Four crackers with cottage cheese and chives

Main Meal: Serving of Roast chicken with a large baked potato and peas. Small piece of cake.

Low GI Menu

Breakfast: 40 Grams of bran with low fat milk. Two slices of low GI toast (Try Burgen) with margarine and jam.

Snack: Two oatmeal biscuits with a coffee (Low fat milk).

Lunch: Ham and salad Roll (Low GI bread). Soft-serve vanilla yoghurt with toasted muesli sprinkled on top.

Snack: Two bananas.

Main Meal: Serving of Roast chicken with a small baked potato and peas. Two scoops of low fat ice cream with half a cup of canned peaches.

Chicken, beef, fish, eggs, nuts, and avocados contain very little or no carbohydrates. These foods if eaten by themselves will not have much effect on your glucose levels and are very low GI. Alcoholic beverages especially wine are also low GI so can be included in your diet but remember to count them in your daily caloric intake.

Low GI foods are ideal for losing weight due to the slow absorption from the stomach. Low GI foods also help to keep blood sugar levels more stable and this has an effect on reducing sweet cravings.

Net carbs are the carbohydrates that can be digested and processed by the body as dietary carbohydrate. Therefore, they directly impact blood sugar. You can determine how many net carbs you are eating by subtracting the grams of fibre, glycerine, and sugar alcohols from the total grams of carbohydrate. Net carbs are the only carbs that you need to count when you are on low-carb diets, such as the Atkins diet.

It is important to understand why fibre does not count as a regular carbohydrate. Fibre substance does not break down into sugar, so it does not play a part in the overall sugar load of the carbohydrate. If a slice of bread has 27 total carbohydrate grams and 3 grams of fibre you have a net carbohydrate content of 24 grams (27 g – 3 grams = 24 grams). This explains why some high fibre foods will have a more favourable impact on the blood sugar and insulin levels.

Only plant foods contain dietary fibre. Fibre has a number of effects on digestion, some beneficial, and some more harmful. One positive effect is that fibre is likely to decelerate the rate of digestion of food. This leads to a more gradual emptying of the food from the stomach into the small intestine. This means that there is less possibility of large quantities of glucose being absorbed quickly from the small intestine into the blood, and therefore a lower chance of an insulin surge. Insulin is the hormone that is released when glucose is absorbed from the small intestine. It is possible that by slowing stomach emptying, fibre helps avoid the situation where the body has to produce large quantities of insulin, as a result of repeated rapid release of glucose into the intestine. In turn this may help protect against diabetes in susceptible people.

However, fibre does get in the way with the absorption of some nutrients. For example, up to 5% of the fat in a moderately high fibre diet is not absorbed because of this interference. This may even be a good thing in Australia, given that 63% of men and 47% of women were overweight in 1995, with no sign that these levels of overweight and obesity will decrease. High fibre foods also interfere to some extent with the absorption of some essential minerals and trace elements, but a high fibre diet is also probable to provide you with extra minerals and trace elements, so the effect is not believed to be very significant for normal Western diets.

Despite these minor detrimental effects, a high fibre intake is understood to be considerably advantageous on the whole. Low intake of fibre, particularly of the insoluble forms of fibre such as those in bread and other wheat products, is one of the major causes of constipation. Low fibre intakes are also strongly associated with an increased risk of diverticulitis. Although the evidence is less compelling, lack of fibre in the diet may also contribute to the incidence of rectal cancer, haemorrhoids, obesity, appendicitis and ulcerative colitis. High intake of soluble fibres such as the pectin and gums, found in fruits, vegetables, rolled oats, and saponins, found in legumes, is associated with reduced blood cholesterol. High intake of foods of plant origin, all of which contain some fibre, is linked with a reduced threat of heart disease, cancer, and an improved life expectancy.

Another benefit, and one that may help with weight control, is the sensation of satiety, that is, a feeling of fullness, which follows a meal plentiful in fibre. It is also true that high fibre foods are almost always low in fat, so a high-fibre diet will usually be a low-fat diet.

You may have heard that essential fats are an important aspect to maintaining the health of your body. But what exactly are they?

Basically, there are two truly essential fatty acids, Linoleic and Linolenic. You may have heard of these referred to as Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids.

So, why are they called essential? The term essential in the life sciences refers to the fact that a nutrient cannot be synthesized by the body. Thus, you must have a dietary or supplemental source to supply your need for these acids.

You probably heard of the 8 essential amino acids. It’s the same idea here but in this case we are referring to fatty acids rather than an amino acid.

These fatty acids exist in and are used in every cell of your body. So they are crucial to a cell’s health and therefore to our health as people. The good news is that in North America, you generally get enough Omega -6 in your diet. Omega-3 has presented a question mark to researchers. Are we getting enough or not?

Fortunately, you can get Omega-3 from fish and certain nut oils. If you have any doubt at all, you can get Omega three from flax oil,which is in abundant supply at your local health food store.

Don’t let the phrase essential fat or essential fatty acid fool you. These are not going to make you gain unwanted weight.

As those of us who truly understand weight loss and gain can tell you, the key to losing or gaining fat storage from your body centers around the bodies short term energy storage supply.

This article is for information purposes only. It is not meant to diagnose, treat or prevent any disease or condition. Consult your primary health care provider if you have or suspect you have any physical ailments.

What is a healthy diet? It’s not about counting calories, measuring portions or cutting carbs. You won’t really find a healthy diet on the lite menu at your favorite restaurant and you certainly won’t find it at the local fast food joint. A healthy diet is all about what you eat rather than how much you eat.

If you think the latest fad diet is your panacea to health, you are in for a big surprise. Losing weight, staying healthy and getting back into shape after many years of diet neglect is not about fads or eating in some radical new way for six to twelve weeks and then going back to the way you used to eat.

The best thing you can do to keep yourself healthy is to eat a healthy diet…all the time, not just when you want to lose weight. Eating healthy is a long-term lifestyle choice, something you need to do for your entire lifetime.

But what is a healthy diet? Is it what we have been lead to believe – milk for strong bones and teeth, protein in the form of lean beef or chicken and maybe a “healthy” microwave dinner if we are “on the go.” Unfortunately this diet is what is identified as the Standard American Diet or the SAD.

And what’s so wrong with the SAD?

Well, has it made us a healthier people? Are we better off as a nation because of it?

With all of the health studies, advanced health care, the war on cancer dating back to the 70’s, and the most advanced technology available on the planet we have to ask ourselves why do we still need to spend $1.3 trillion a year on health care in the United States. Why aren’t we getting any healthier?

Other pertinent questions about your health beg for answers such as, why after more than 30 years since the “War On Cancer” was declared, do we still have an increasing cancer rate. Yes, we have many more people surviving cancer but the rate at which people are getting cancer is increasing. We have come a long way in taking care of sick people, but we haven’t made any progress as a nation in preventing those people from getting sick.

Why do more than 15 million people in the United States have diabetes? Why do we still have more heart problems today than we did 30 years ago? Why is more than 50% of our population on some kind of prescription drug?

We spend more per person on medical care than any other nation in the world. Why is this happening in a country that seems to be able to solve nearly any technological problem? Why can’t we solve our medical problems? How would life be different for us if we were to be a nation of healthy individuals?

The secret to a healthy diet and a healthy life is living food – fresh vegetables, fruit, juices and green leafy salads. The answer to a healthier you is summed up in three words, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Living a healthy life and having a healthy family is all about eating a healthy diet, every day of our lives!

Looking for healthy, inexpensive and versatile ways to add more protein into your diet?

Why not consider dried beans?

Dried beans, also known as legumes and pulses, are not only a great source of protein, but are low in fat, packed with vitamins, minerals and both soluble and insoluble fiber.

Ask any vegetarian how they get enough protein in their diet and they probably will say “I eat a lot of beans”.

I decided to become a vegetarian as a small child and my parents (who were not vegetarians by the way) worried that I would be lacking in the protein necessary for growth. So, after consulting with my pediatrician and many books on raising vegetarian children, they added beans and lentils to the family table. Not only did I grow, but I am the tallest woman in my family, an enormous 5 feet 5 inches tall. Yea, well, my family is not famous for its tall women ?

Protein, Fiber, Vitamins and Minerals
Ok, ok, back to the beans. Beans are an excellent, non-fat source of protein. Just one cup of beans has about 16 grams, about the same as 3 ounces (audio cassette size) piece of chicken, fish or beef.

Because they are a plant, they contain fiber, vitamins and minerals like vegetables. Nutritionists refer to them as “crossover foods” which means they can be used in a meal as a protein or vegetable item. Take a look at the cuisines of different countries and cultures. You will notice that most cultures include beans, prepared in many different ways. Such a versatile food!

Another unique quality of beans is the fiber. Beans contain both soluble and insoluble fiber. Huh? What does this mean?

Insoluble fiber is the technical term for what my Mom always referred to as “roughage”. You know.. the stuff that makes food move through your body more easily. Insoluble fiber has received a lot of publicity in recent years because of the link to a high fiber diet and lowered risk of several types of cancer.

Soluble fiber forms a “gooey” substance in the digestive process that helps with processing of fats, cholesterol and slows the release of carbohydrates into the bloodstream. The American Diabetic Association loves beans!

Beans are rich in antioxidants, folic acid, vitamin B-6 and magnesium. Folic Acid and B-6 are known for their ability to lower homocysteine levels in the blood.

Elevated blood levels of homocysteine in the blood are associated with risk for heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular disease. 20-40 percent of patients with heart disease have elevated homocysteine levels.

So, what’s the downside of this wonderful food? If you are not used to a high fiber diet….flatulence. As with the introduction of any high fiber food, go easy with the amounts the first few days until your body adjusts. Then any uncomfortable feeling will probably pass.

How to Cook
You can use canned beans which are nutritionally similar to dried ones. It’s a good idea to rinse the beans before eating them to remove the salt and preservatives used in canning.

I tend to try and avoid processed foods where possible so I buy dried beans and cook them following the instructions on the package. Generally, beans are not complicated to cook, but require time. Most beans, except lentils, require an overnight soak in water to soften them up. Then they can be simmered until soft on the stove or in a slow cooker. Generally, the bigger the bean, the longer they take to cook. One thing to note: after soaking, rinse the beans and cook them in new water. This will help prevent flatulence!

Beans can be frozen after cooking and used in sauces, soups, salads or anywhere your imagination takes you. Where I live, red bean ice cream is popular. Delicious!

THE FAT TYPES AND THEIR EFFECTS

High consumption of fat or of the combination fat and carbohydrates causes obesity, heart disease and other health problems. However the different types of fat have very different effects on the health. Here is a survey of the different fat categories and their effects:

Mono-unsaturated fat – This type of fat prevents heart disease and circulatory disease in moderate amounts.

Omega-6-poly-unsaturated fat – This fat type prevents heart disease if you do not consume too much of it. However it causes inflammatory reactions. This type of reactions are benign when they are moderate and when they are provoked to fight disease. But a constant high inflammatory response is dangerous, and can cause rheumatism, heart trouble and cancer. A very high consumption of this type of fat is therefore dangerous.

Omega-3-poly-unsaturated fat – This type of fat prevents heart disease and reduces inflammatory reactions in moderate amounts. Therefore it also reduces the risk of cancer, intestinal inflammations and rheumatism.

Omega-9-poly-unsaturated fat – This type of fat also prevents heart disease and reduces inflammatory reactions in moderate amounts. Therefore it reduces the risk of cancer, intestinal inflammations and rheumatism.

Saturated fat – This type of fat is probably not dangerous in small amounts. In higher amounts, saturated fat gives high cholesterol levels, causes clogging of the blood vessels, causes coronary heart disease and increases the risk of infarct of the heart and other organs.

Cholesterol – Cholesterol is a fat-like compound found in the food, but also synthesized from saturated fat by the body. High intake of saturated fat or of cholesterol itself therefore elevates the cholesterol level in the body. Cholesterol is a necessary compound, but in higher amounts it causes clogging of the blood vessels, causes coronary heart disease and increases the risk of infarct of the heart and other organs.

Trans-fat – This type of fat is produced by chemical processing to yield specific mechanical properties. Margarine often contains this type of fat. This type of fat is dangerous, and is a probably a causal component for heart disease and cancer. There is however one exception: Some amount of fat containing the trans acid conjugated linoleic acid seem to be benevolent for the skin health and may help reduce weight. Conjugated linoleic acid is found in milk and butter.

COMMON PROBLEMS OF THE AVERAGE DIET

The average American and European diet generally contains too much fat and carbohydrates combined. The fat consumed is generally a mixture of trans fat, saturated fat and omega-6-poly-usaturated fat. This bad fat consume causes overweight and is probably a major contributing component for the incidence of heart disease, cancer, intestinal inflammatory diseases, rheumatism and other inflammatory conditions.

RECOMMENDED AMOUNT OF FAT IN THE DIET:

A common advice is to let 25-30 % of the energy needed be covered by fat and the rest by carbohydrates. However, experts do not agree at his point. Some recommend a low carbohydrate diet with more fat, and others recommend a high carbohydrate diet with a low fat amount.
In either case, the combined intake of fat and carbohydrates should not be much higher than your daily energy consumption if you have a normal or wanted weight. If you want to loose weight, this combined amount must be lower. If you want to gain weight, it should be higher.

THE RIGHT MIXTURE OF FAT TYPES

The right mixture of different fat types is as important as the amount of fat in the diet to keep good health. However, you must not take the percent ratios given here too literally, since there is little agreement about the exact ratios that should be recommended. Furthermore, if you have an active lifestyle that demands much energy, this is best achieved by increasing the amount of carbohydrates and mono-unsaturated fat.

Mono-unsaturated fat – Ideally as much as 35% of the fat consumption should be from this type of fat. You can find this fat in olive oil, raps oil and walnut oil.

Omega-6-poly-unsaturated fat – 30 % of the fat consumption should be from this fat type. You find it in soy oil and corn oil.

Omega-3-poly-unsaturated fat and omega-9-poly-usatureted fat – 20 % of the fat consumption should be this type. You find it in fish oil and in fat fish. If you suffer from inflammatory conditions like rheumatism and intestinal inflammation, you will probably benefit from increasing the amount of this fat type, and reduce the amount of other fat types.

Saturated fat – Not more than 15 % of the fat consumption should be saturated fat. Saturated fat is found in fat from mammals, coconut fat and in milk.

Cholesterol – The cholesterol level in the body depends upon the combined amount of consumed cholesterol itself and saturated fat. To keep the cholesterol level right, you should not consume too much saturated fat, and not very much of food containing cholesterol, like eggs and spawn.

Trans-fat – This type of fat should ideally not be a part of the diet at all. Margarine, cookies, snacks and often also bread contain this type of fat. It is therefore important to reduce consume of margarine, cookies, snacks, and to check the composition of the bread you consume.

Conjugated linoleic acid – This is perhaps the only trans fat acid that is benevolent in some amount. It is found in natural milk fat, and you can buy dietary supplements of this substance. A small amount of this substance may help keep your skin healthy and may help you to reduce weight.

Science has made stunning discoveries in this area of human interest, it’s something we all want to know – can we slow down the process of ageing, can we live longer, if so, how? It’s a highly technical subject, too detailed to look at in-depth within this article. But, we can give you some powerful pointers to help slow down the ageing process and increase your chances of a healthier old age.

What determines your biological ‘age’?

Our parents precondition us from a young age to believe that we’ll live to a certain age. We walk around with a particular notion in our subconscious that we have a pre-defined lifespan of between 60-90 years. But there is no definitive speed at which a person should gracefully age because we are all so different. Some people seem to look and act eternally young – ageless, wrinkleless! Others, less fortunate, look old beyond their years. Our body’s biological age is a reflection of our physical, mental and spiritual journey through life. In perfect conditions, our bodies can survive to an age of 125 years! Look at the two very different lists below, the potential for ageing becomes quite obvious when you compare such a stark difference in lifestyle.

The first person has all the attributes to significantly slow down the ageing process and live to a ripe old age with good health.

Lifestyle characteristics that promote longevity:

. Regularly partakes in enjoyable exercise

. Enjoyable career and tolerates ‘healthy’ stress

. Generally happy relationships with spouse and children

. Active member of the community, enjoying many friendships

. Seeks to learn new things and enjoys personal development

. Eats a balanced, healthy diet

. Supplements diet with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants

. Has a sense of worth and purpose in life

If your life reflects these characteristics then you have adopted the attributes which significantly slow down the ageing process and increase your chances of living to a ripe old age with good health.

Lifestyle characteristics that do not promote longevity:

. A sedentary lifestyle

. Overweight or obese

. Inability to cope with pressure

. Isolation – working and living alone, few friendships

. Poor or limited career opportunities

. Constant diet of nutritionally deficient food (junk food)

. Eating too much food (comfort eating)

. Drinks excess alcohol

. Smokes cigarettes

. Regularly visits the doctor for various illnesses

. Harbors resentment, anger, fear

. Lack of purpose and self worth

. Lack of stability and routine

If this list is more like you then you may be ageing fast! Time to take action and make some changes if you want to improve the quality of your latter years. It may be a daunting task to make lifestyle changes, however, by taking things one step at a time and being consistent in developing new lifestyle habits – you will notice the difference in time, and your body, friends and family will thank you.