Many people are in search for a healthy lifestyle, but what are really
the essentials for “good health”?
How do you achieve overall wellbeig and a healthy life?
When you have a closer look at the concept, it all boils down to the
following three components,which are crucial for healthy living.

They are:
*1  Good Nutrition
*2  Regular Exercise
*3  High Quality Nutritional Supplementation

I will describe in more detail the above three components for
healthy living.

First of all: Good Nutrition.
You probably heard it before: “You are what you eat.”
Although I like a more accurate definition.it is better to say:
“You are what you can get out of your food.”

Good nutrition is fundamental for good health.
The human body is a complex system that requires a full spectrum
of nutrients for optimal health.

What do we mean by “good nutrition”?
Good nutrition means: eating the right food that contains all the right
carbohydrates,protein, fat, fatty acids,vitamins,minerals and trace elements,based on your body type.

When your metabolism is slow, you belong to the “Endomorphs” group of
people. You are naturally overweight, you gain fat and retain water easily.
If you belong to this group, you need:
45%  Carbohydrates
35%  Protein
20%  Fat

Wen your metabolism is higher, you belong to the “Mesomorphs” group of
people. You are naturally muscular and have little or no body fat.
If you belong to this group, you need:
50%  Carbohydrates
30%  Protein
20%  Fat

The group with the highest metabolism are called the “Ectomorphs”.
You are generally skinny, could eat anything without gaining any weight.
If you belong to this group, you need:
55% Carbohydrates
25%  Protein
20%  Fat

A second factor that determines good nutrition is our body’s ability to
absorb the nutrients from the food that we eat.
The nutrients have to be in a form that the cells can accept them, and the
cells have to be in optimum condition to be able to absorb the nutrients.

That is one of the reasons most nutritional supplements miss the mark,
they don’t address the cellular condition of the body.

We also need a sufficient amount of antioxidants, to counteract the
formation of free radicals, caused by our stressful lifestyle,
pollution in air and water and malnutrition.
Oxidative stress has shown to be the root cause of over 70 chronic
degenerative diseases.

It is not all about nutrition, neither is it all about exercise.
A balanced lifestyle is the key.
Exercise at least three times per week.
Aerobics, jogging, swimming, cycling and also include weight
lifting in your exercise routine, which is important for maintaining
a healthy bone-structure.

Another important factor is proper pace. Don’t overdo it.
You can’t force things to happen at once.
The secret to good health is consistency and steadiness.
The right amount of food and exercise regularly.

The third component is: a high quality nutritional supplement.
As I mentioned earlier, most supplements do not address the
cellular condition of your body.
Even worse, many are in a form that is unacceptable for the cells
themselves and don’t contain biological available substances
that are useful for the cells in your body.

High quality supplements  are bio-available,well balanced,
preferable manufactured according to pharmaceutical standards
and potency guaranteed.

Hopefully people who are overweight, don’t exercise or suffer from
any degenerative diseases will take note of these three components,
which are essential for healthy living.

You can assure your health with USANA’s Nutritionals. You can find them here.

Although Fluoride is a normal component of calcified tissue (bones and teeth),
it is not considered an essential mineral for humans.(Paul Bergner,The Healing Power
of Minerals,page 118). It appears to stimulate bone growth and deposit calcium in
the bones. However the issues of dental Fluoride and water fluoridation have not
been satisfactorily settled and are still being hotly debated.

There are two types of Fluoride: Calcium fluoride and sodium fluoride.
Calcium fluoride could be good for the teeth, but for sodium fluoride, hexafluorosilicic
acid is used and is a waste product of the fertilizer manufacturing industry and the
aluminum industry. (See Dr. Paul Connett’s book:The Case against Fluoride.
Dr. Connett is the world’s leading expert on the dangers of fluoridation and the founder
of the Fluoride Action Network.

There is mounting peer reviewed evidence that swallowing fluoride causes harmful effects
on the body, including bone strength, thyroid issues and brain development in children.
Tooth decay rates in continental western Europe where 98% of the population rejects
fluoridated water are as low as tooth decay rates in countries such as Australia and
United States, where majority of the population is mass medicated with fluoridated water.

Most western industrialized countries never have, have already rejected or lowered
substantially the recommended amount of fluoride in drinking water but nevertheless
have still experienced the same decline in childhood dental decay as fluoridated countries.

The skin consists of layers of different cells, binded together to form
tissues and other structures.

Our skin is divided into three layers.The outer layer is called the epidermis.
The thickness of this layer varies with age, sex and the area of the body.
It varies between 5 cells under the forearm to as much as thirty cells
on the sole of the foot.
It provides a keratin – filled cellular coating for our body and has the cells
that:  1) determine our skin and hair color (melanocytes)
2) provide immunities (Langerhaus cells )
3) enhance our sense of touch (Merkel cells).

Immediately below the epidermis is a second skin layer: the dermis.
The dermis holds a fiber mesh of collagen and elastin that acts as a
home to our oil-producing sebaccous glands and veins.
Within this layer lie the water-binding GAGs that provide fullness to
the skin by maintaining moisture within its layers.This is a filling of
long-chained sugar molecules. These molecules bind together with
proteins to form glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) GAGs are the skin’s
moisture-storage structures. They act like sponges and bind with
water molecules.

Moisturizing is generally the process of attracting and retaining water
in the  the layer of skin above the dermis – the epidermis.
We can, however, stimulate the production of GAGs through proper
nourishment.

Finally, the third layer, called the hypodermis, is primarily a layer of fat
within which our sweat glands reside. These sweat glands help regulate
the body’s temperature and produce the acidic component of the skin’s
protective acid mantle.

The impact of aging
Visible changes of our skin start at the age of twenty-five, as our natural
regenerative processes begin to slow. Damaged protein as a result of
scarring, sun damage and oxidative stress. The proteins that comprise
the collagen and elastin fibers lose their uniformity and protein chains
start cross-linking with adjacent protein chains.
This negatively impacts the uniformity of the skin.

You can protect your skin against environmental toxins and damage
and improve look and texture by applying USANA’s  SENSE skin care
products. You can find them here.

Osteoporosis is a weakening and painful disease, caused by
a nutritional deficiency. It can cause fractures of the spine and
extreme pain for a long period of time.

Bones are a living tissue and are constantly changing through bone
forming and bone resorbing activity.

As it is a living tissue, our bones are engaged in biochemical reactions
that depend on many different micronutrients and enzyme systems.
Like any living tissue, bones have specific nutritional needs.

A diet consisting of white bread, white flour, refind sugars and fat is
very much deficient in the essential nutrients for our bones.

To reduce the risk of hip, spine & wrist fractures, we must preserve
adequate bone mass, prevent the loss of the  protein matrix part of
the bone and take care of providing sufficient nutrients for repair
and replacement of damaged areas of our bones.

Nutritional supplementation plays a vital role in all  these areas
of preserving and building our bones.

Calcium deficiency can lead to osteoporosis. It is an essential
nutrient in the fight against osteoporosis, but as studies has shown,
calcium and vitamin D supplementation slowed down the
osteoporosis process and helped to reduce fractures, but didn’t
prevent it.

Depending on the calcium intake from our diet, supplementation
of 800 – 1500 mg daily is essential for both sexes, taken with food
and vitamin D for optimal absorption.

Children, who take 800 – 1200 mg of calcium daily before puberty,
will increase bone density by 5 – 7%. This level of bone density
will carry over throughout their entire lifetime.

Another important nutrient is magnesium. It plays a role in several
biochemical reactions,which are taking place in our bones.
It activates alkaline phosphatase, which is a required enzyme
in the process of new bone crystal formation.

Vitamin D needs magnesium in order to transform it to its most
active form and vitamin D is necessary for the absorption of calcium.
Because vitamin D is formed in the skin that is exposed to sunlight,
elderly people can get vitamin D deficiency, as they usually get
less sunlight than younger people.

We can get vitamin D from our food and milk, but because our body
has to convert vitamin D in its biologically active form, vitamin D3,
it is better to take vitamin D supplements by using the active form D3.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a study, in which
researchers looked at the level of vitamin D in 290 patients from
the Massachusetts General Hospital, who had a normal active life.
Hospital staff found that 93% were deficient in vitamin D levels.

The study came to the conclusion, that it was necessary to take
500 – 800 IU’s( IU stands for International Unit) of vitamin D
supplements daily, which is much higher than the RDA level
(recommended daily allowance ), if it is going to have any effect
on the epidemic of osteoporosis.

We need Vitamin K  to produce osteocalcin, which is a protein
found in large amounts in our bones.
It also helps to absorb and retain calcium.

We also need Manganese for the formation of connective
tissue in cartilage and bones.
Manganese and magnesium are lost in processing whole grain
into refined flour. This nutrient also need to be present at optimal
levels if preventing osteoporosis is important for you.

Folic acid, vitamin B6 and B12 were necessary to reduce the
homocystene levels in our blood to prevent cornary artery
disease & stroke, as you could have read in my article:
Cholesterol versus homocysteine.

But homocycteine is also bad for your bones. People with high
levels of homocysteine also had significant osteoporosis.

Premenopausal women are more efficient in breaking down
methionine and consequently have less building up of
homocysteine. However, this changes dramatically after
menopause.

Post menopausal women have a much higher level of
homocysteine. This could explain the increased risk of
heart disease and osteoporosis in those women. As a
matter of fact, they need more folic acid, vitamin B6 and B12.

Boron increases magnesium levels and decreases phosphorus
levels. Supplementation with 3 mg daily is more than sufficient.
People with osteoporosis also need higher amounts of silicon
for the formation of new bones.
Zinc is important for the normal functioning of vitamin D.

Osteoporosis is a disease not only caused by calcium
and estrogen deficiency, it is also important to control our
oxidative stress.

You not only have to supplement your diet with the important
nutrients for bone production, you also have to take all the
antioxidants and supporting nutrients  to build-up your
antioxidant defense system.

In addition to taking high quality multi mineral and antioxidant
tablets, people under the age of forty should apart from a
healthy diet, also take calcium,magnesium, boron, silicon
tablets and weight-bearing exercises to stimulate the formation
of new bones, if they want to protect themselves from this
devastating disease.

The heart is a simple organ, who’s main function is to pump blood
throughout the entire body.

Congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy are diseases of
the heart muscle and can have several causes, like:
hypertension, repeated or severe heart attacks, viral infections
and infiltrative heart diseases like lupus or scleroderma.

In each case the disease weakens the heart muscle and disable it
to handle the amount of blood it receives from the body.
The heart tries to compensate for its weakened state by dilating
and beating faster. Ultimately, blood backs up into the lungs,
filling them with fluid.

This is called congestive heart failure. The patient starts to drawn
on his or her own fluid.
Weakening of the heart is called cardiomyopathy and is a very
severe case of congestive heart failure, characterized by a large
dilated heart.

When the heart muscle is weakened, it places an increased
demand on the nutrients the heart cell need, in order to create
energy. Because of excessive use of these nutrients, the heart
muscle becomes depleted of CoQ10, which is the most important
nutrient for energy creation.

Patients who take this supplement are be able to replenish their
weakened heart muscle’s stores of CoQ10, generating more
energy and compensate for it’s weakened state.
Patients should continue to supplement their traditional medical
treatment over a long period of time.

Clinical studies on CoQ10, which involved 2,660 patients with
heart failure, resulted in nearly 80% improvement in three major
symptom categories. CoQ10 can be a significant helpful
supplement for the treatment of the heart muscle.

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a fat – soluble vitamin and a strong
antioxidant. Coenzymes are cofactors, essential for a large
number of enzymatic reactions within the body.
CoQ10 is the cofactor for at least three very important enzymes,
used within the mitochondria, which is the furnace of the cell,
where its energy is produced.

Mitochondria enzymes are needed for the production of the
high – energy phosphate and adenosine triphosphate, upon
which all cellular functions depends.
It is in the mitochondria where the energy starts, but where also
dangerous by-products, free radicals, are created.

CoQ10 is very important to help neutralize free radicals and
most importantly, to create energy.
CoQ10 is produced by the body, but this is a complicated
process. It is also found in a variety of foods, like organic
meats, beef, sardines, mackerel and peanuts.

Doctors need to learn and understand how natural products
can help their patients. By supporting the natural function of
the body and trying to enhance its ability to perform at
optimal level ; only then everything possible is done to benefit
the healing process of the body.

How to Make You Look 10 Years Younger!

Would you like to live a long and healthy life?
If it’s going to be, it’s all up to you!
That sounds simple, but it’s a fact!

Health is a matter of CHOICE.

If we choose to make good nutrition – including supplementation –
and an active lifestyle a daily habit, we could add 5 to 15 healthy
years to our lives.

Without science and technology, our lifespan would not have been
increased as much as we experience it today.
However, they were not be able to secure for us our long-term health.
As Dr. Myron Wentz, founder of USANA Health Sciences likes to phrase it:
“We are living too short and dying too long.”

Healthy living means: keeping a balanced, healthy diet, avoiding smoking,
excessive use of alcohol and toxic chemicals,taking regular exercise and
supplementing our diet with high quality nutritional supplements.

However, the nutrients have to be in a form that the cells of our body can
except them and the cells have to be in optimum condition to be able to
absorb the nutrients, this is called bio-availability.
These are the keys to successful nutrition and two often overlooked facts.

Maintaining your health is much easier than trying to regain it.
When you are struggling with your health, you can empower your body
to fight and even reverse chronic diseases.

By providing the necessary nutrients at optimal levels, your LDL cholesterol
is more resistant to oxidation, your eyes have greater antioxidant protection
from sunlight and you provide optimal protection for your lungs.

You increase your immune system and antioxidant defense system.
You decrease the risk of developing heart disease, stroke, cancer, arthritis,
diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson disease and more.

People who are suffering from a chronic degenerative disease are under
greater oxidative stress than normal.In this case, optimizers are important
to use in order to support any existing nutritional program.

It’s been scientifically proven that there are substantial health benefits in
taking nutritional supplements. The benefits of nutritional supplements
are scientifically verified over the past two years.

Hundreds of scientific studies have proved that nutritional supplements
can significantly reduce the risk of degenerative diseases.

The American Medical Association (AMA) now encourages all adults
to supplement daily with a multiple vitamin. Based on a landmark review
of 38 years of scientific evidence by Harvard researchers, Dr Robert Fletcher
and Dr Kathleen Fairfield, the conservative Journal of the American Medical
Association (JAMA) has rewritten its policy guidelines regarding the use of
vitamin supplements. In a striking departure from its previous anti-vitamin
rhetoric, JAMA (June19,2002) now recommends that, given our nutrient-poor
modern diet, supplementation each day with a multiple vitamin is a prudent
preventive measure against chronic disease.

The researchers point out that more than 80% of the American population
does not consume anywhere near the five to eight servings of fruits and
vegetables required each day for optimal health.

Dr Robert Fletcher, co-author of the groundbreaking JAMA studies, states:
All of us grew up believing that if we ate a reasonable diet, that would take
care of our vitamin needs. But the new evidence, much of it in the last couple
of years, is that vitamins also prevent the usual diseases we deal with every
day – heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and birth defects.

Most people simply accept the onset of arthritis, heart disease and
diabetes as inevitable results of the aging process — the truth is, these
conditions are largely preventable.

Apart from the future benefits, eating well and exercising regularly
also enable us to enjoy life so much more right now!

It is still a proven fact that USANA Health Sciences can provide
you with high quality Nutritional Supplements.

I have been using them for many years with great results!
I highly recommend them for your long term OPTIMAL HEALTH!

Adrian Joele became interested in nutrition and weight management
while he was an associate with a nutritional supplement company.
Since 2008 he wrote several articles about nutrition and weight loss.
He has been involved in nutrition and weight management for over 8 years
and he likes to share his knowledge with anyone who could benefit from it.
He enjoys helping other people solve their problems.

For information about the USANA products, click here!

Many studies in the past has proven that antioxidants can cure and
prevent hundred of diseases, apart from cancer, heart disease and
diabetes, diverse disorders like long diseases, cataracts, anemia,
burns and other wounds, multiple different infections and degenerative
diseases of the brain.

Antioxidants not only neutralize free radicals, but also increase your
resistance to all kinds of toxins, bacteria, viruses, traumas and
degenerative diseases.
They accomplish this amazing feat by strengthen your immunity.

Dr. Tengerdy, at Colorado State University discovered only in the 1970’s
that supplementing animal diets with vitamin E protected them against
all kind of diseases, introduced into their bodies.

The basis of their protection was a big increase in immune strength,
especially in strength of the lymphocyte responses.
Animals, whose diets contained the equivalent amount of vitamin E for
humans were not protected and succumbed to disease after disease.

Dr. Tengerdy concluded from his research that to strengthen immunity
requires at least six times the vitamin E that is generally accepted
adequate for “normal” health.

Other scientists found the same effect by using selenium, which is the
antioxidant co-factor of vitamin E. Immune strength increased to four
times the usual response.

Other studies proved that antioxidants, when given over a long period
of time, prevent the decline of immunity by animals with aging.
Even when immunity by animals has declined with age, supplementation
with antioxidants can restore it, including a restoration of T-lymphocyte
function.

The same effect can be found with humans.
Dr. Meydani at Tufts Human Nutrition Research Center gave healthy
men and women over age 60 supplements of 800 IU of vitamin E
each day in a double blind clinical trial.
Most subjects showed a 10% – 50% increase in immune strength,
including increases in the production of lymphocytes.

New studies show that whey protein can enhance your immunity
up tp 500%. Other protein has little effect.
The main reason is that whey contains a much higher level of cysteine
than most other proteins.
Cysteine is the precurser of gluthathione, one of the strongest
antioxidants in your body.

The studies show that gluthathione levels increase rapidly in animals
who are fed whey protein concentrate and it is this increase that
enhances immunity.
So if you are using a protein drink for meal replacement or muscle
building, make sure it’s protein ingredient is whey protein concentrate.

The above is only a small sample of the evidence that supplementation
with antioxidants can provide amazing protection against multiple forms
of disease and disorders.

This protection is much stronger than any physician, hospital, medicine,
or any other health strategy known to man.
If you read the medical references given and choose wisely,
my purpose in writing this article will be fulfilled.

I like to introduce a new product from USANA Health Sciences: Proglucamune
for your everyday immune defence. It consists of four immune boosting ingredients:
Shiitake mushroom,  Reishi mushroom, Baker’s yeast and Zinc.
For more information and to order: click here!

   Edition 20

Eight Things Your Eyes Reveal about Your Health

Twelve Ways your Pet can Improve Your Mental Health
Somehow, my fur-baby can always gets me to smile, no matter how miserable or stressed I feel. I am not alone. It turns out that all pets, not just therapy pets, can help your mind, body, and spirit. Here are a dozen reasons why. read it all…..

 FBA Issues Trans  Fat Ban

Amazing Body Facts.

Recipe of the Day
Smoked salmon & avocado salad

More Health & Nutrition from Nutrobalance
Facts about Fat Storage
Problems concerning the eyes
Strengthen your immune system

Cataract surgery is most common for people over the age
of sixty In the US, eye surgeons perform 1.3 million cataract
operations every year for a total cost of  US $3.5 billion.

The lens of the eye collects and focus light on the retina.
It is important for the lens to stay clear throughout our lifetime,
In order to function properly. As we age, various components
of the lens may get damaged, leading to cataracts.

Medical research has proven that supply of sufficient
antioxidants at an early age can prevent cataract formation.
Antioxidants are needed  to combat against  free radicals,
due to ultraviolet sunlight.

In particular the fluid around the lens of the eye has to be
protected by antioxidants against oxidative damage.
The most important antioxidant is vitamin C, which is found
in high concentration around the lens, as well as vitamin E,
alpha-lipoic acid and beta-carotine.

A study showed that consuming vitamins in supplementation
protects the eye and decrease the risk of developing
cataracts by 50%. There is sufficient evidence that taking
antioxidants is an inexpensive way to decrease cataract
formation.

Another problem concerning the eye is macular degeneration.
It is the leading cause of blindness in people over the age of sixty.

This is the decay of an important part of the retina called  macula.
This is the area, which deals with central vision,
where the greatest concentration of photo receptors are located.

We recognize  wet and dry forms. Ninety percent of the cases
represent the dry form, in which central vision gradually
reduces and may proceed to the wet form for the remaining
ten percent.

There is currently no treatment available for the dry form.
The wet form can be treated via laser photo coagulation,
by which new vessel formation can be slowed down, which
causes swelling and bleeding into the retina.
Blindness usually follows rather quickly.

Theories suggest that light entering the eye and focused on
the macula of the retina causes significant  free-radical
production in the outer aspect of the photo receptors.

If there are no sufficient antioxidants available to the
photo receptors, lipofuscin formation, a toxic substance,
within the retinal pigment epithelium, causes more oxidation
damage to the retina and research believe it is actually
the cause of damage and destruction of these sensitive
photo receptors.

Lipofuscin accumulate in the pigment epithelium cells and
are eventually excreted in the form of drusen, which is one
of the first indications of  macular degeneration development.

The development of drusen separates the photo receptors
of the eye from its blood supply and causes an area of
blindness.

High-energy ultraviolet light and visible blue light are in
particular responsible for the production of  free radicals
in the retina of the eye.

Our natural antioxidant defense system that protects us from
this free radical damage, declines when we get older.
Macular degeneration is characterized by low levels of zinc,
selenium, vitamin C, vitamin E and carotenoid.

High levels of carotenoids, called lutein and zeaxanthine,
absorb the blue light portion of visible light, that can damage
the lens and he retina of the eye. They  are strong antioxidants
and are found in corn and leafy green vegetables.

CoQ10 can also play a part in reducing the oxidative damage
caused by free radicals.

Glutathione, which is a very potent antioxidant found within
every cell of our body, is in particular critical within the lens of
our eye and the pigment and the photoreceptor cells of the
retina. The level of glutathione declines when we get older.

Glutathione peroxidase is one of the natural antioxidant
defense systems that our body creates. The nutrients needed
for the body to make its own defense are selenium, vitamin B6,
N-acetyl-L-cysteine and niacin.

Vitamin C and alpha-lipoic acid have the ability to regenerate
glutathione. Zinc is important for the function of our catalase
antioxidant defense system and selenium is necessary for the
glutathione peroidase system and both are important to
combat free radicals produced in the eye.

As we get older, the lens of our eyes allows more ultraviolet
light through and no longer protects the retina from damage
of ultraviolet light. A good quality pair of sunglasses that
block all UV light are important.

Without any doubt, the underlying cause of cataracts and
macular degeneration is oxidative stress.
Consequently, we can’t be too aggressive in our
supplementation plan.

Visionex  protect you against macular degeneration and cataracts.
Click here to get more information.