Archive for October, 2008

Important Nutritional Information

Friday, October 31st, 2008

nutritional information

When most people eat, they may not consider the food they put into their bodies is not only fuel for energy, its nutritional value helps ward off chronic systemic diseases like cardiovascular disease and diabetes, prevents deficiencies and curbs issues like obesity and weight gain and metabolic syndrome. There are seven major classes of nutrients we must consume or face serious illness and even death. They are vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, water and fiber. Let’s break down the nutritional information available.

Today’s food labels list the nutritional information of the product inside to help you better evaluate the nutrient content in a single serving of a food item. It is provided by law and uses established daily values to compare foods from product to product on a consistent basis, as well as providing the nutrient and energy information of the food.

Fats

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Do You Need a Flouride Filter for Your Drinking Water?

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Obviously, dental hygiene is a priority to conscientious parents. Yet, in spite of the improvements in dental care in recent years, a quarter of two to five year olds and half of children 12-15 have had one or more cavities. Many feel that adding fluoride to public water is one way to curb the problem of tooth decay. But this opinion is in no way unanimous.

Fluoride is the 13th most common element in the Earth’s crust and exists naturally in water. Some water has sufficient natural fluoride. But what if it is not naturally present? Should fluoride be added to water systems? The debate about fluoride won’t be settled here. Rather, the purpose of this article is to consider a few of these points, and to give you some options. Do you need fluoride treatment for your drinking water?

One side says, “Today, water fluoridation is estimated to reduce tooth decay by 20-40%.” “It is well known that fluoride helps prevent and even reverse the early stages of tooth decay.” These statements have the authority of a trained doctor. This one also: “For over 60 years, water fluoridation has proved to be a safe and cost-effective way to reduce dental caries.”

Those favoring the addition of fluoride in water claim that its presence combats tooth decay in two ways. First, it strengthens the developing teeth. Second, it also aids the surface of the teeth by preventing the acid produced by the bacteria in plaque from dissolving, or demineralizing, tooth enamel. Fluoride also allows teeth damaged by acid to remineralize, or repair themselves. It won’t repair cavities, but it can reverse minor tooth decay and prevent new cavities from forming.

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How to Eat More Vegetables

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

You probably know that eating more vegetable helps you lose weight. What you may not know is how to get more vegetables into your diet. Here are some tips to sneaking in your veggie servings without a lot of effort.

· Add a can or two of mixed vegetables to casseroles and soups. Usually you won’t have to adjust the recipe to accommodate the extra veggies, and you boost the nutrition of the dish.

· Buy precut vegetables. Most of us are too lazy to cut up veggies. If we don’t want to cut them up, we probably won’t eat them. So, avoid the extra work and buy them precut.

· Keep a fresh vegetable tray, complete with low fat ranch dipping sauce, handy for snacks. Most stores carry veg trays that are personal sized as well as party sized.

· When picking up sandwiches at a deli, make sure to ask for extra lettuce, tomatoes, and any other vegetable you can think of. Fast food places such as Subway offer a wide range of good-for-you choices.

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Beef Up Your Burger’s Nutrition

Sunday, October 26th, 2008

Diets tend to be pretty strict about cutting out red meat. If a good burger is your weakness, then you may be tempted to cheat. No need! There are delicious hamburgers you can create at home that are healthy and taste good.

Beef Up the Fiber

Adding fiber to your burgers can make them healthier and block seven calories for every gram of fiber.

Try adding fine-grind bulgur to your hamburger before cooking it. Bulgur adds three grams of fiber to the meat and subtracts two grams of fat and one gram of saturated fat. To make it taste good, soak half a cup of fine-grind bulgur in water for 10 minutes. Drain the water out and add the bulgur to a pound of lean ground chuck. Mix them together, form patties, and cook them like any other burger.

You can also try this with rolled oats for a meatloaf-type burger. Add a cup of rolled oats and half a cup of tomato paste to the meat and mix well. These burgers will take a little longer to cook, so cook them on a lower heat.

Beef Up the Vegetables

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What Is Lipoic Acid Used For?

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

Lipoic acid

Lipoic acid or alpha lipoic acid (ALA) is a fatty acid found naturally inside every cell of the body. It is a powerful antioxidant; a substance that neutralizes potentially harmful chemicals called free radicals in the body. Our bodies produce it in very small amounts and it is also found in foods such as spinach, Brewer’s yeast, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, peas, organ meats and rice bran. It converts glucose (or blood sugar) into energy. Let’s take at look at this widely touted supplement.

What makes ALA unique and gives it nutritional value is that it is both water and fat soluble, unlike the more common antioxidants vitamins C and E, and it appears to be able to recycle and extend the metabolic lifespan of antioxidants such as of vitamin C, glutathione, and coenzyme Q10, and it indirectly renews vitamin E. Vitamin C lessens oxidative stress while glutathione helps detoxify the liver. Coenzyme Q10 helps convert food energy into energy inside every cell while vitamin E helps with nerve conduction.

Lipoic acid is used to treat a common complication of diabetes called peripheral neuropathy. It speeds the removal of glucose from the bloodstream, at least partly by enhancing insulin function, and it reduces insulin resistance, the basis of many cases of coronary heart disease and obesity. It significantly and rapidly reduces the frequency and severity of diabetic neuropathy symptoms like burning and sharply cutting pain, prickling sensations and numbness.

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A Guide To Enlighten Your Knowledge On Antioxidant Nutrition

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

nutritionist

The word antioxidant is used to describe a group of vitamins, minerals, polyphenols and carotenoids whose job it is to protect the body from destructive free radicals. Vitamins A, C, E and the mineral selenium are the most well known of the antioxidants. Carotenoids like lutein, beta-carotene and lycopene have high antioxidant nutrition and give a myriad of fruits and vegetables their bright colors. The reason carrots and pumpkins are orange is due to their high beta-carotene content. Green leafy vegetables contain a high concentration of lutein, which is essential for eyesight. You can find lycopene in most red fruits and vegetables, like tomatoes. Color in your diet not only adds variety, it has high nutritional value as well.

So why are they called antioxidants? The name represents the mechanism by which they help prevent disease. In humans, a small but significant percentage of oxygen molecules in the body will become electrically charged due to natural cellular activity and/or exposure to environmental factors like tobacco smoke and radiation. The oxygen molecule becomes a “free radical” as it undergoes this process of oxidation. Free radicals are highly reactive as they try to steal electrons from other molecules, including DNA and cellular membranes. This chain reaction of free radicals can damage cells, which may play a role in the development of certain conditions like heart disease and cancer. Antioxidants, however, stop the chain-reaction by giving up electrons and neutralizing free radicals so that they cannot induce any more oxidative damage.

Many studies have shown the link between free radicals and several degenerative diseases associated with aging. Thus, it is possible that antioxidant nutrition can be beneficial in reducing the incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, immune dysfunction, cataracts, stroke, and macular degeneration.

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Aruba Snorkel destination

Monday, October 13th, 2008

If you love to travel then Aruba is a destination that you must visit because it is among the most endearing places on this planet being located in the southern regions of the Caribbean and boasting of some excellent snorkeling opportunities. The excellent white beaches beckon you to try your hand at various water sports and the quite secluded beaches that are protected from the strong ocean currents will allow you to enjoy Aruba snorkling among other activities.

The beautiful Aruba island is situated just fifteen miles from the Venezuelan coast and it is a paradise where you can enjoy a vacation all year round. Besides Aruba snorkeling opportunities, there is also plenty of exciting shopping to be done here and the interesting reefs and wrecks makes both snorkeling and scuba diving a major attraction.

Safety Tips for Snorkeling

One of the best attractions as far as Aruba snorkeling goes is the four hundred feet German ship called Antilla that sank off the coast of Aruba during the course of the Second World War and which makes a superb place for indulging in snorkelling. Even though anyone with good swimming skills can snorkel it is still crucial to remember a few safety rules and one of the most important of these rules is to never touch the corals.

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How Is Alpha Lipoic Acid Unique?

Friday, October 10th, 2008

antioxidant nutrition

What has been described as a “universal,” “ideal,” and “metabolic″ antioxidant? Alpha lipoic acid or ALA. It neutralizes free radicals in both the fatty and watery regions of cells. It helps produce the energy for our body’s normal function by converting glucose (blood sugar) into energy. Our bodies produce this fatty acid in small amounts. It occurs naturally in foods like spinach, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, peas, Brewer’s yeast, rice bran and organ meats. ALA is used to treat many serious illnesses.

What makes ALA unique and gives it nutritional value is that it is both water and fat soluble, unlike the more common antioxidants vitamins C and E, and it appears to be able to recycle and extend the metabolic lifespan of antioxidants such as of vitamin C, glutathione, and coenzyme Q10, and it indirectly renews vitamin E. Vitamin C lessens oxidative stress while glutathione helps detoxify the liver. Coenzyme Q10 helps convert food energy into energy inside every cell while vitamin E helps with nerve conduction.

Alpha lipoic acid helps treat the symptoms of a common complication of diabetes called peripheral neuropathy. By speeding the removal of glucose from the bloodstream, ALA enhances insulin function and reduces insulin resistance. A large number of cases of coronary heart disease and obesity are a direct or indirect result of those two factors. Symptoms such as prickling sensations, numbness, burning and sharply cutting pain are relieved by this very useful nutritional supplement.

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Free Radical Fighter - Alpha Lipoic Acid

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

nutritional value

What neutralizes free radicals in both watery and fatty regions of cells? What produces energy by converting glucose for our body’s normal function? Alpha lipoic acid or ALA. ALA is used to treat diabetic neuropathy, hepatitis and more. Our bodies produce this antioxidant nutrition in small amounts and it occurs naturally in organ meats, peas, rice bran, Brewer’s yeast, Brussels sprouts and broccoli. Supplementation is a good way to get an added boost. What other ailments is it used to treat and how much should you take? Why don’t we take a look?

What makes ALA unique and gives it nutritional value is that it is both water and fat soluble, unlike the more common antioxidants vitamins C and E, and it appears to be able to recycle and extend the metabolic lifespan of antioxidants such as of vitamin C, glutathione, and coenzyme Q10, and it indirectly renews vitamin E. Vitamin C lessens oxidative stress while glutathione helps detoxify the liver. Coenzyme Q10 helps convert food energy into energy inside every cell while vitamin E helps with nerve conduction.

Alpha lipoic acid helps treat the symptoms of a common complication of diabetes called peripheral neuropathy. By speeding the removal of glucose from the bloodstream, ALA enhances insulin function and reduces insulin resistance. A large number of cases of coronary heart disease and obesity are a direct or indirect result of those two factors. Symptoms such as prickling sensations, numbness, burning and sharply cutting pain are relieved by this very useful nutritional supplement.

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Boost Your Health With Nutrient Rich Chlorella

Monday, October 6th, 2008

A lot of us eat without really thinking about the food that we are putting into our bodies.  This is extremely unfortunate because diet is crucial to human health.  A good diet depends on choosing what to eat and how much to eat, because otherwise food can actually harm someone.  People’s food choices in Japan have significantly changed in recent years, with the Japanese diet becoming more and more like the American and European diet, leading to an increase in various diseases that are associated with the Western diet increasing in Japan.  This new Japanese diet is high in protein and fat and low in fiber, just the way the Western diet is. 

These dietary changes have caused an increase in body fat, sticky blood, damaged blood vessel walls, and rise in dietary-related diseases like hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipemia, cancer, heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease.  These diseases are abundant in Western countries, with the number one cause of death in the United States being heart disease.  It has been found that the main cause of death in many advanced countries is related to diet.

Chlorella has the ability to prevent diseases that are caused by diet.  Chlorella is a type of algae, the very origin of the food chain, and is a highly regarded health-food supplement for use in maintaining the human body.  Introduced to the health-food marketplace about 40 years ago, chlorella was first established in Japan and today is produced by Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Indonesia. 

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