Try Superfoods for super health

For Super Health, Try Superfoods by Robert Maguire

You may have heard about a new way to eat your way to good health. It's not a fad diet, either; what has happened is that all of these seemingly perfect diets that are out there actually have a few things in common. Some doctors refer to these commonalities as "superfoods" because they are mentioned and promoted in all of the diets that are out there. Not just that, though—these are the food that are actually low in bad fats, and high in good nutrients like vitamins and minerals. These superfoods are supposed to help combat early aging and keep you generally healthy.



According to most doctors and health professionals who have studied this phenomenon, there are basically fourteen superfoods. Not surprisingly, they are all naturally occurring, and also fairly easy to get in the produce section or local health food store. Adding any of these superfoods to the daily diet is a great way to ensure that your body is treated to beneficial antioxidants, those things that help rid your cells of excess waste and keep you feeling and looking young and vibrant, as well as keeping many diseases at bay.



Some of these superfoods are things like beans, or legumes, as well as berries and broccoli. Most people are aware of the health benefits of these foods, because they contain significant amounts of the recommended daily dose of vitamins. Eating fresh vegetables that are high in water content, like the other superfoods oranges and tomatoes, help flush the system more quickly and also deposit high doses on Vitamin C, which is essential to good health.



Beyond those superfoods, others include pumpkin, nuts, like walnuts that are high in "good" fats, and spinach. For those of you who are fond of teas, green tea has long been known to act as a health booster, and it has a prominent place on the superfoods list. Now, you may be thinking that all of these additions to your diet will turn you into a complete vegan, but do not despair! Salmon, turkey, and yogurt all make the list, too. Salmon, for the obvious reason of the high content of Omega-3 fatty acids, is a logical choice. White meat from turkey is also quite healthy when consumed in moderation, and without the addition of preservatives and salt. Speaking of additives, yogurt is best consumed in its plain state, not the kind with loads of sugar and concentrated "fruits".



Round out this diet with some whole grains and oats, and you will be well on your way to good nutrition, wellbeing, and disease prevention. Superfoods are no secret—these are the foods that almost always appear on the recommended lists of all of the diets out there. This is with good reason—superfoods are the foods that will work for any body, all of the time. So make out your grocery list and get on your way to super health with your new diet of superfoods!



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Robert Maguire lives in Dracut, Massachusetts with his wonderful wife Donna. Learn more about superfood products at teamacaiplus.com



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Why do I need Fiber again?

Fiber Can Boost Your Healthy And Eliminate Constipation by Darrell Miller-1603

While most of us know that eating plenty of fiber each day is good for our health, 90% of Americans eat less than 15 grams of fiber each day. Nutritionists recommend 30 grams of fiber each day and this can be difficult to get with out supplementation. Today we will look at how one can get the recommended 30 grams a day. (1) Fiber can benefit your health in several ways for example: help prevent cancer, lower bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol, strengthen the heart, reduce the risk of diabetes, help with weight loss, boost the immune system, and encourage regular bowel movements with individuals experiencing constipation.



First let’s look at where dietary fiber comes from. Fiber is found in fruits and vegetables and is the part that can not be digested or absorbed. Fiber has zero calories and isn’t considered an essential nutrient even though it’s recognized as having health benefits. Fiber comes in two classes, insoluble fiber and soluble fiber. Insoluble fiber such as cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin’s can not dissolve in water. Soluble fiber does dissolve in water. Each of these fibers exhibit different health benefits in the body.



Foods high in soluble fiber are oats, bran, beans, peas, rice bran, barley, citrus fruits, strawberries, and apples. Oat bran has the highest soluble fiber content of any grain, if you eat the whole oat grain it contains insoluble fiber as well. Foods high in insoluble fiber are whole wheat breads, cereals, and bran, rye, rice, barley, cabbage, beets, carrots, Brussels sprouts, turnips, and apple skins. (2)



You might be wondering how fiber can help fight cancer. Fiber when eaten expands in the stomach leaving little room for more food to be ingested. As your stomach fills up with fiber you will be less likely to ingest fatty foods, high fat diets have been linked to development of cancer in the body. Fiber also speeds up digestion through the stomach and small/large intestines. By limiting the amount of time foods lay in the digestive tract, the chemicals in foods that tend to cause cancer are less likely to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Fiber also absorbs hormones in the intestinal tract which is good news to woman fighting estrogenic cancers. As we age estrogen balance changes in the body, eating lots of fiber can balance out this estrogen imbalance. Fiber can bind with or soak up excess estrogen which can then be excreted from the body helping the body balance its self out. (3,4)



Fiber such as oatmeal can bind with cholesterol as it moves through the intestinal tract, once the cholesterol is bound up it can not be reabsorbed into the bloodstream and is eliminated from the body. The FDA has reported that cholesterol levels can drop from 1 percent to 2 percent with every gram of soluble fiber a person eats per day. (5) High fiber diets can also help the heart. One study suggested that men who had a diet high in fiber (35 grams per day) suffered 1/3 less heart attaches then the men who had 15 grams of fiber or less. The risk of dying from a heart attach decreased by 17 percent. (6)



Fiber is also good for diabetes. There are two types of diabetes, type I and type II. Fiber can benefit both types. Diabetes is characterized by glucose or sugar building up in the blood with nowhere to go. Every cell in the body uses sugar for energy, but with diabetes, once the sugar hits the bloodstream, there is no insulin to shuttle the sugar into the cells and the cells starve. High sugar levels can damage the eyes, kidneys, nerves and the cardiovascular system.



Type I diabetes also known as juvenile diabetes is where the body does not produce any insulin. When people with Type I diabetes eats soluble fiber, this fiber coats the lining of the stomach and slows the foods absorption reducing the need for large amounts of insulin. Fiber can actually help prevent Type II diabetes which is most common in over weight people. Fiber when taken with a meal can help reduce the consumption of foods high in fried fats. Fresh fruits and vegetables are high in soluble fiber and lower in calories than fried foods, these foods usually have more complex carbohydrates which release slower into the bloodstream. (7,8,9)



The number one growing problem in America is obesity. More than 50% of American children are over weight compared to just 30 years ago, less and less are active in sports and more children would rather play a video game or watch television. Fiber can help fight the battle of the bulge. When consuming soluble and insoluble fiber before each meal, the fiber can swell in the stomach and limit the amount of foods laced with calories like ice cream and potato chips.



Our immune system helps protect us from diseases and viruses. White blood cells are the first line of attack against foreign invaders and cancer cells. Studies have shown that high fiber diets can actually stimulate our white blood cells to work better and more effectively fight off disease. (10,11,4)



Fiber is very important for proper digestive tract health. When we eat foods with little or no fiber our intestinal tract becomes lazy and looses its normal shape forming pockets that can collect food and becomes stagnant. If these pockets form bacteria can grow and serious infections can arise which are detrimental to our health. Constipation can be cured with adequate fiber in the diet. Fiber helps keep stool soft and can also help with hemorrhoids. (12,13)



As you can see fiber can dramatically improve our health in many areas, but getting enough fiber can be a problem. Many people have found liquid fibers as nasty and unpleasant to take. Look for a chewable tablet or capsule supplementing this way is the easiest way for one to obtain their needed 25 to 30 grams of fiber each day. Look for tablets or capsules supplying 2 grams per serving and start out with one serving each day for 5 days then increase to two servings per day increasing every 5 days until you reach your desired level of fiber intake per day. Increasing your daily fiber can help prevent constipation, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. All these and other great fiber supplements can be found at your favorite internet vitamin store.



References:

1. American Heart Association. Fiber, Available at: www. americanheart. org/presenter.jhtml?identifier-4574.



2. Grodner M, Anderson SL, DeYoung S. Fiber. In: Foundations and Clinical Applications of Nutrition: A Nursing Approach. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby; 2000: 102-108.



3. Rose DP, Lubin M, Connally JM. Effects of diet supplementation with wheat bran on serum estrogen levels in the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. Nutrition. 1997;13:535-539.



4. Haggans CJ, Travelli EJ, Thomas W, Martini MC, Slavin JL. The effect of flaxseed and wheat bran consumption on urinary estrogen metabolites in premenopausal women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2000;9:719-725.



5. Food and Drug Administration. Importance of Dietary Fiber. Available at: www. cfsan. fda. gov/˜dms/qa-nut12.html. Accessed January 22, 2002.



6. Pietinen P, RimmEB, Korhonen P, et al. Intake of dietary fiber and risk of coronary heart disease in a cohort of Finnish men. Circulation. 1996; 94:2720-7.



7. Toeller M, Buyken AE, Heitkamp G, de Pergola G, Giorgio F, Fuller JH. Fiber intake, serum cholesterol levels, and cardiovascular disease in European individuals with type 1 diabetes. EURODIAB IDDM Complications Study Group. Diabetes Care. 1999:22:B21-B28.



8. Giacco R, Parillo M, Rivellese AA, Lasorella G, Giacco A, D’Episcopo L, Riccardi G. Long-term dietary treatment with increased amounts of fiber-rich low-glycemic index natural foods improves blood glucose control and reduces the number of hypoglycemic events in type 1 diabetic patients. Diabetes Care. 2000;23:1461-1466.



9. Kalkwarf HJ, Bell RC, Khoury JC, Gouge AL, Miodovnik M. Dietary fiber intakes and insulin requirements in pregnant women with type 1 diabetes. J Am Diet Assoc. 2001;101:305-310.



10. Felippe CR, Calder PC, Vecchia MG, et al. Fatty acid composition of lymphocytes and macrophages from rats fed fiber-rich diets: a comparison between oat bran and wheat bran enriched diets. Lipids. 1997;32:587-591



11. Miller WC, Eggert KE, Wallace JP, Lindeman AK, Jastremski C. Successful weight loss in a self-taught, self-administered program. Int J Sports Med. 1993;14:401-405.



12. Schaefer DC, Cheskin LJ. Constipation in the elderly. Am J Fam Physician. 1998;58:907-914.



13. Benton JM, O’Hara PA, Chen H, Harper DW, Johnston SF. Changing bowel hygiene practice successfully: a program to reduce laxative use in a chronic care hospital. Geriatr Nurs. 1997;18:12-17.


Visit VitaNet Health Foods at http://vitanetonline.com/ VitaNet sells high quality supplements like Oat Bran Fiber from Now Vitamins. Please link to this site when using this article.


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Forgotten Health And Nutrition Secrets

Now days so many people live in a fast paced existence that leaves them reaching for a fast meal from convenience stores and fast food restaurants. Unhappily, these kind of foods, many of which incorporate chemicals and food coloring, are harmful to health.

To cut out the chemicals and preservatives for continued good health, means going back to food in their natural state. Skip the pre-packaged and pre-prepared foods as often as possible.

These fast foods are not whole food giving the vitamins, minerals and enzymes needed by your body. Sometimes what is eaten is not even real foods and provide little nutrition to build or restore health.

You need to take a look at what you eat and whether you are getting your health and nutrition needs met. One health and nutrition secret is to use the first-rate foods, grown organically if possible.

Eating a balanced diet is genuinely the best way to ensure that you have good health and good nutrition. Nutrition experts suggest that the daily diet include so many servings from the five food groups of breads and cereals, vegetables, fruits, milk, meat/protein such as poultry, fish, beans, eggs and nuts. Fats would be included, but used sparingly.

People living 50 to 100 years ago usually ate that way all the time, gaining nutrition from whole grain foods, vegetables and fruits grown and eaten fresh from the garden, or sold locally. They generally ate smaller amounts of meat or chose meals with beans, peas and other legumes.

Are you one of the people that consider that if you don t eat well, you can just pop a vitamin pill and make up for it? Here is an additional health and nutrition secret: your body absorbs vitamins and minerals found in foods more readily than those found in vitamin pills.

Make vegetables, specially leafy green vegetables very dominant in your diet for a natural source of the vitamins and minerals that you must have for good health. Without this good source of nutrition, it is very hard to have good health. Choose genuine food over vitamins, then fill in if you think you are lacking with a super food powder.

Put this health and nutrition secret to work in your daily life and you will find over time that you are taking your health to a new level, rather than sacrificing your health because of poor or empty nutrition.

By: Jeannie Crabtree -

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Article written by Jeannie Crabtree C.Ac. Learn more about how to improve your health naurally. Be sure to grab your free ”Health Tips Newsletter” by visiting the health and nutrition website www.healthrepaircenter.com

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Vitamin B3 - Benefits, Deficiency Symptoms And Food Sources

Vitamin B3 is a water-soluble vitamin vital for energy release in tissues and cells. Vitamin B3 is also called niacin. Like all the B-complex vitamins, it is important for converting calories from protein, fat and carbohydrates into energy. But it also helps the digestive system function and promotes a normal appetite and healthy skin and nerves.

Niacin plays an important role in ridding the body of toxic and harmful chemicals. It also helps the body make various sex and stress-related hormones in the adrenal glands and other parts of the body. Niacin is effective in improving circulation and reducing cholesterol levels in the blood. Niacin needs can be partially met by eating foods containing protein because the human body is able to convert tryptophan, an amino acid, into niacin.

Functions and benefits of Vitamin B3

Like its fellow B-complex vitamins, niacin is important in energy production. Two unique forms of vitamin B3 are essential for conversion of the body's proteins, fats, and carbohydrates into usable energy. Niacin is also used to synthesize starch that can be stored in the body's muscles and liver for eventual use as an energy source.

Since the ingestion of large therapeutic amounts of nicotinic acid usually produces a flushing reaction, niacin prescribed for nutritional deficiency is frequently taken as nicotinamide, though the benefits and reactions are not identical to the nicotinic acid form of niacin. Niacin and niacinamide also have different applications. It its niacinamide form, it is useful in arthritis and early-onset type I diabetes; niacin is an effective reducer of high cholesterol levels.

Recommended Dosage for Vitamin B3

* 0-6 months: 2 milligrams
* 6-12 months: 4 milligrams
* 1-3 years: 6 milligrams
* 4-8 years: 8 milligrams
* 13mg for adult women up to 50 years; 12mg for adult women over 50 years
* 17mg for adult men up to 50 years; 16mg for adult men over 50 years

One should not take more than 150 mg of niacin, because this leads to facial flushing. Very large intakes (>3000 mg) may cause liver damage.

Food sources of Vitamin B3

The best dietary sources of vitamin B3 are found in beets, brewer's yeast, beef liver, beef kidney, pork, turkey, chicken, veal, fish, salmon, swordfish, tuna, sunflower seeds, and peanuts.

Deficiency Symptoms of Vitamin B3

Its unique relationship with energy production, vitamin B3 deficiency is often associated with general weakness, muscular weakness, and lack of appetite. Skin infections and digestive problems can also be associated with niacin deficiency.

Severe lack of niacin causes the deficiency disease pellagra, whereas a mild deficiency slows down the metabolism decreasing cold tolerance. Extemely high doses of niacin can cause niacin maculopathy, a thickening of the macula and retina which leads to blurred vision and blindness. The recommended daily allowance of niacin is 2-12 mg a day for children, 14 mg a day for women, 16 mg a day for men, and 18 mg a day for pregnant or breast-feeding women. Over 20 mg per day may produce hot flushes lasting 15-30 minutes in duration.

By: ashu

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Alien writes for Vitamins and Minerals . He also writes for vitamins world and you can get more information on Vitamin B3 .

 

A Healthy Heart Is Not Just About A Healthy Diet

For anyone who has been diagnosed with heart disease or is simply concerned with ways to prevent it, you’ll be interested to know that a strict, heart healthy diet is not the only key to maintaining a healthy heart. In fact, the main component is actually an overall healthy lifestyle. Because even if you’re on the best diet in the universe, if you’re not active and especially if you smoke, the effort you’re making is basically futile. But the goods news is that 80 percent of heart disease can be prevented with a proper balance of good eating habits and exercise.

Here are some ways you can bring balance into your life and incorporate a combination of fitness with a healthy diet routine that will greatly reduce your risk for heart disease, as well improve the condition of your health if you have already been diagnosed.

• Decrease the amount of your usual salt intake, particularly if you have high blood pressure

• Cut back on cholesterol by choosing to eat low-fat or fat-free products in addition to more lean meats

• Lessen your consumption of foods and drinks that have a high sugar content

• Avoid foods that are high in saturated and trans fats whenever possible, e.g. snacks and salad dressings

• Eat more fish, specifically the varieties that contain higher levels of Omego 3 like Wild Salmon and Lake Trout

• Incorporate more high fiber and whole grain foods into your diet

• Eat as much freshly prepared fruits and vegetables as you can

• When dining out, choose healthy menu options

• Limit any alcohol consumption

• Get at least 30 minutes of exercise 3 or more times a week

• Don’t Smoke!

Think about what you’re currently eating and how much activity is present in your current lifestyle. Are you following a heart healthy diet? Are you exercising daily, weekly or at all? Base your decisions on the results of those answers and take smaller steps at first if that’s what you’re comfortable with. Walking is one of the best and easiest ways to help you get fit and maintain a healthy heart. Choosing the stairs over the elevator is a perfect example of one simple choice you can make. Parking further away from the office or the store is another. Whatever strategies you do end up choosing, they are all based on your own personal preference. But committing to a plan and working toward making significant, permanent changes is one of the most important steps you’ll ever take.

Now, if you’ve got to make some changes, whether small or substantial, no one’s expecting you to work wonders overnight. But you’ve got to make the effort, and you’ve got to do it on a consistent basis. A plan for a heart healthy diet and lifestyle is something that you will become accustomed to and will benefit greatly from during your long(er) lifetime.

By: Ramone Stevenson -

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Get all the latest information about Healthy Diets from the only true source at www.1healthydietinformation.com Be sure to check out our Healthy Diets pages.

 

Why A Plant-based Diet?

Contrary to what we have been taught about nutrition in any culture, the majority of us are still kept in the dark about what the optimum diet for us consists of. This is not surprising when you realize that most governments that provide us with our nutritional guidelines are connected with very powerful organizations such as the meat, dairy, and egg industries who not only expect, but demand that their products are promoted in the dietary guidelines. Culture and tradition also keep us tightly glued to addictions and unhealthy habits.

Advanced Lipoprotein Fingerprinting is a more precise cholesterol test that allows doctors to identify health risks that traditional screens miss. The process separates lipids in the blood to create a detailed cholesterol profile that helps doctors identify patients at risk for heart disease. The detailed graph allows a doctor to precisely analyze a patient's overall risk profile and monitor the effectiveness of a diet or treatment regimen.

This advanced analytical techniques that can help doctors diagnose early warning signs for coronary heart disease, which kills more than 2,600 Americans a day, according to the American Heart Association. High LDL cholesterol is a major cause of coronary heart disease, according to the National Cholesterol Education Program.

LipidLabs refined the Advanced Lipoprotein Fingerprinting Process and the results translate to more accurate and specific data on which to make clinical judgments and guide patient therapy and prevention at reasonable costs.
Heart disease is the number one killer of men and women in the U.S. This all makes sense when you understand some basic principles about nutrition.

• All cholesterol in the human diet comes from animal-foods.
• The human body produces all the cholesterol it needs.
• The majority of saturated fat in the human diet comes from animal foods.
• Everything the human body requires for excellent health can be found in plant-based foods.
• The main fuel that the human body utilizes for energy: carbohydrates and simple sugars.
• Too much protein is linked to kidney problems.
• Eating a diet rich in animal foods has been linked with heart disease, many cancers including breast cancer, and prostate cancer, stroke, diabetes, and an other life taking diseases.

By: Dr. D.S. Merchant

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Dr. D.S. Merchant Resident Medicine
Gold Medalist (Anatomy & Histology)
www.lipidholdings.com

 

Water Plays A Pivotal Role In Optimum Nutrition

Any time you contemplate trying a new diet, joining Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or just researching health and nutrition online; water will always be mentioned. Nearly every website and book will agree on how each and every one of us needs to drink at least six to eight glasses of water every day in order to aim for an optimally nutritious diet.

The sad truth is that a vast majority of us do not even consume half the required amount. Water is an integral part of optimum nutrition; it is great for our digestive system as it doesn't let us get constipated. Water is great for our kidneys as it flushes out toxins. Water is great for our skin as it keeps it looking and feeling hydrated. Water is great for weight loss as it fills you up on zero calories. Here are some easy ways to sneak in the recommended amount of water for optimum nutrition.

Fill 'Er Up

Fill up a large 64 ounce bottle with water in the morning and make it your gaol to finish it by the time you retire to bed. This saves you from counting the number of glasses you drank in a day and wondering if you made the eight glass mark or not.

Before Meals

Make it a point that before any meal or snack, you have to gulp down a tall glass of water whether you are thirsty or not. This is a double edged weapon for optimum nutrition because not only does it help you achieve your water target, it also makes you eat less.

Flavor

If having so much water is hard for you, add a little flavor to zip things up. However, remember a little flavor like low calorie Crystal Light or Sugar Free Lemonade crystals should do it. It should not become a sugary drink, just a few crystals to add some life to the water so that you have no excuse not to drink it up.

H20 on the Go

Carry a water bottle with you when you are out as often while waiting at a red light or in a doctor's office waiting room, just having a bottle of water will remind you to have a few big sips if nothing more. Whenever you pass a water fountain at the mall or at the park, stop for a few seconds – remember every sip counts.

Don't cheat with your water count with the number of cups of coffee, tea or cola you drink. Yes, they do include water but they do not count towards your optimum nutrition goal of eight glasses of pure (or closest to it) water.

By: Boofar Jones

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Boofar Jones is an expert on health topics and one of the editors of infos247.com. He has put up a site about nutrition at www.infos247.com/nutrition/