The Junk Food-Brain Connection

Junk food drains the brain

Difficulty concentrating? It may be your diet. If you’re living on junk food such as pizzas, chips and doughnuts, your waistline may be expanding, but your body could be starved of vitamins and minerals, causing concentration problems.

Take action:
Eat healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables (citrus, kiwi, broccoli, apples bananas, potatoes), fish and grains. Fish provides the body with omega-3-fatty-acids, which are believed to up concentration abilities. Grains provide carbohydrates, which provides energy for both the brain and the body.

Source: http://www.Health24.com

The Soap-Hygiene Connection

Just soap and water is all it takes.

With the holiday season coming up, it’s a good time to remind everyone in the family how important it is to wash your hands after using a public restroom.

A recent study conducted on several fleets of cruise ships showed that, on average, only 30% of frequently touched public restroom surfaces were disinfected daily. It was also noted that it’s safer to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water rather than using alcohol-based hand rubs.

So – go get your favorite soap – and wash! Health is Wealth!

The fruit – health connection

If you thought eating fruits is about buying them, cutting them up and popping the pieces into your mouth, think again! You need to know HOW and WHEN to eat that fruit.

So, how to eat fruits? Here are some tips:

NOT AFTER your meals. Fruits must be eaten only on an empty stomach.  By doing this, you can get the full benefit, as it will detoxify your system as well as supply you with energy for weight loss and other activities. Fruit is the most important food – suppose you have two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit.  Although the slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines,  it is prevented from doing so.  In the meantime, the entire meal rots, ferments and turns into acid in your stomach. As soon as the fruit comes in contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass starts to spoil. This is why you must eat fruits on an empty stomach or before your meal.

So next time you wonder why you burp after eating watermelon, or

why your stomach bloats after you eat something else – it is because you probably did not eat your fruit on an empty stomach. Fruits eaten later will putrefy with the food and produce gas, making you bloat.

Incidentally, research shows that there is no such thing as orange and lemon being more acidic, since all fruits turn alkaline in our body.

Eating fruits right = beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.

What about fruit juices?

Only fresh fruit juice is recommended. Not from the cans. Remember never to drink juice that is heated up. In cooked fruits  the nutrients are dead. When you drink fruit juice, take in a mouthful and let it mix with your saliva before you swallow it.

In fact, a three day ‘fast’ where you eat only fruits and drink fruit juice  can do a great job of cleansing your body.

Some fruit facts:

KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.
APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.

STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.

ORANGE : Sweetest medicine. Taking 2-4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.

WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher.. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene – the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium.

GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.

An important health tip:

Never drink cold water after a big meal. While it may seem yummy to sip that cold drink after your meal, you should know that when this cold water goes into your stomach, it solidifies all the oily stuff you ate and slow down your digestion. When this sludge reacts with the acid in the stomach, it breaks down and gets absorbed by the intestine quickly, lining it. This turns into fats and leads to cancer. Therefore, think of drinking hot soup or hot/warm water after your meal.

palliative health care | Specialized Docs Guide You through the Healthcare Maze | Rodale News

palliative health care | Specialized Docs Guide You through the Healthcare Maze | Rodale News.

Excellent article. Makes complete sense to me.

The Vitamin C – Aging Connection

Vitamin C is one of the ‘wonder vitamins’. Research shows that it can help:

• heal skin problems
• overcome the effects of premature aging
• speed up the healing of wounds

People who regularly take vitamin C supplements could also have healthier DNA, as the vitamin helps repair damaged cells.

Vitamins are antioxidants, a family that ‘mops up’ free radicals that can cause premature aging.

The vitamin can counteract the damaging effects that the sun can have on our skin and reverse premature aging.

Vitamin C supplements can help promote healthy DNA by repairing damaged cells.

The fiber – weight loss connection

A fiber rich diet means eating plenty of legumes, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
So what’s the big deal with fiber? A high-fiber diet can help:

• normalize your blood-sugar levels,
• improve your cholesterol,
• regulate your bowel function, and
• help keep you from feeling hungry,

- all of which help in weight loss.

So how much fiber do you need?

Fiber has a role in your long term health – so you need at least 25-30 grams per day.

What kind of fiber do you need?

There are two types of fiber – soluble and insoluble – and you need both for good health. Soluble fiber helps regulate blood-sugar levels by delaying the absorption of glucose into your bloodstream, and it improves cholesterol levels by reducing the absorption of cholesterol as well. Insoluble fiber adds bulk to your stool, which promotes regularity. Most foods contain both types of fiber, but oats, nuts, beans, and fruit contain predominately soluble fiber, while whole grains and vegetables contain more insoluble fiber.

So add up on that fiber… it is the easiest weight loss tip !!

The Sunshine-Memory connection

A lack of sunlight doesn’t only make us feel down in the dumps – it can also affect our memory, especially if we’re already depressed.

Scientists thought that a lack of sunshine, especially during the long winter months in the Northern hemisphere, only made us depressed and caused a condition known as SAD (seasonal affective disorder) – but new research suggests it does far more.

A study of 14,474 people with diagnosed depression found that those who lived in parts of the United States that had the least amount of sunshine suffered from short-term memory loss and other cognitive functions.

Source: http://www.healthy.net