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: 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

The Carbohydrates-Weight Loss Connection

Study Shows Carbohydrates Contribute to Heart Disease.

Carbohydrates supply the body with the nutrients it needs to
perform daily tasks that require effort (even the slightest
effort). They replenish the body’s glycogen stores and keep the

body energized.

Doctors advise avoiding carbohydrates entirely. They say that
all they do is add weight to the body, and that the easiest way
to lose weight is to cut back on carbs.

It is true that cutting back on carbohydrates will help
you lose weight. But cutting back entirely on carbohydrates is not
the answer.

In fact, it’s a recipe for gaining more weight down the road, as
the body is starved of carbs for so long that it will eat them voraciously

sooner or later.

The best way to lose weight – and keep it off – while remaining energized is to
consume the right kinds of carbohydrates. By not consuming carbohydrates,
you’re making other nutrients do the carbohydrates’ job.

For instance, protein is supposed to replenish and repair muscles that get
broken down, not serve as the body’s source for energy. But by not
consuming carbs, you’re stretching the role of protein too thin, making

it far less effective in replenishing broken down muscle.

At the same time, though, we shouldn’t be consuming carbohydrates
that ramp up our blood sugar levels too quickly. Simple carbohydrates
are an inefficient source of energy – where our energy levels peak, but

go down quickly soon thereafter.

An overconsumption of simple carbohydrates also increase our risk for
long term heart health problems, like heart disease, the leading cause
of death in the country.

Simple carbohydrates tend to increase our risk for heart problems.
The risk is not necessarily that carbohydrates make us fatter – though
they can when eaten in exorbitant amounts – but rather in how they
affect our arteries, making them far less elastic.

Maintaining a healthy heart is not accomplished by cutting out
carbohydrates from your diet but rather to eat carbohydrates low
on the glycemic index. These should be complex carbohydrates,
like oatmeal, 100 percent whole wheat bread (make sure it says

“100 percent,” as many breads that claim to be “wheat” are made
with refined flour), beans, nuts, and seeds.

You can’t go wrong with fruits and vegetables either, but just be
aware that they tend to vary on the glycemic index considerably

(e.g. cherries have a low GI of 22, while watermelon has a high GI 72;
potatoes have a high GI of 82, while broccoli has a low GI of 15).

So – stick to foods like oatmeal, fruits and vegetables, legumes and nuts,

which have a low glycemic index. Exercising every day for at least
30 minutes is an extra heart-smart action to take.

Think before you cough

One cough =  20 000 viruses

It can be pretty hard to think of others around you when you have the flu.

All you can think of is your cough, your headache, your fever, your post-nasal drip.

Think of those around you – stay at home if you are down with the flu.

If you go about life as usual, you will only end up infecting others.

DO – wash your hands regularly. Use a handkerchief to sneeze or cough into.

DO NOT – cough into the airconditioning system.

Misery hates company here – so – Out of the way!

How to support breast and prostate health, naturally

The bad news is, as we get older, maintaining a healthy hormone balance becomes a challenge. As we age, our body slows down its estrogen and testosterone production, which is critical to breast and prostate health. Estrogen also helps to maintain healthy bones and skin, while testosterone works to support healthy bones, muscles, energy, mood, and libido.

The good news is, it is possible to meet this challenge by eating cruciferous vegetables. Remember how mom kept telling you to eat your cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, kale and cauliflower? Well, these contain a substance called indole-3-carbinol (I3C), which promotes a healthy hormone balance.

We can keep our hormone levels normal naturally with
Diindolylmethane (DIM). For this, we need to eat cruciferous vegetables. These lower our risk of getting cancer. Cruciferous vegetables, helps our body turn I3C into DIM. DIM in turn, increases our ratio of “good” estrogen to “bad.” When estrogen is metabolized by the liver, it breaks down into two types of estrogen—one is “good” in that it helps promote healthy cell and tissue growth in the breasts, cervix, and prostate. The other is “bad” because it stresses these tissues.

According to research, when DIM is ingested it stimulates healthy estrogen metabolism. Of course, eating cruciferous vegetables is a good way to get DIM, but it can be hard to eat enough to make a difference. There are patented forms in the market. These products help to keep testosterone levels balanced for prostate health. Higher levels fo good estrogen means more free testosterone.

DIM is important for both men and women. So eat your veggies, but give yourself a little more insurance with a supplement that is safe and natural, helping balance your hormones and promoting healthy cell and tissue growth.