You probably heard it before: we are what we eat. But I like a more accurate definition: We are what we can get out of our food. Because it is the bio-availability of the nutrients we take in and more importantly: the cell’s ability to absorb those nutrients,that are the determinant factors defining a person’s health and well being. The nutrients have to be in a form that the cells can except them and the cells have to be in optimum condition to be able to absorb the nutrients, are the keys to successful nutrition. These are two often overlooked facts. That’s why most supplements miss the mark. They don’t address the cellular condition of the body. Worse, many are in a form that is unacceptable for the cells themselves. They don’t contain biological available substances that are useful to the cells in the body. They contain inorganic versions of those nutrients, which the body can’t use. There is however, one remarkable exception on this depressive trend and that are the nutritional supplements,designed and manufactured by USANA Health Sciences.

To help you understand,I like to take you back to the basics. Have you ever thought about where our body is made of? The human body is built up of 100 trillion cells, each cell with his own DNA, which contains a blue print of the entire body. Today, life begins at conception. When the sperm of the male and the egg of the female join together and a cell is formed. The single cell contains DNA,the blue print of what the entire body will be like. Including the sex of the individual, right down to the color of the eyes. It’s amazing when you realize what happens after the sperm and egg unite. The original cell divides into two cells,each with there own DNA. The two cells become four, the four eight, the eight 16, the 16 become 32 and on and on these cells continue to multiply with an unbelievable speed for the next eleven months. After 11 months, two months after birth, the body has his full complement of cells.

Why are cells significant? Because they are the simplest living biological unit in our body.
They convert the nutrients we ingest into the energy we need and determine the health of the body. To slow down aging, limit sickness and prevent disease we must protect and properly feed our cells. There are 210 different types of cells. Red blood cells, white blood cells, braincells, heart cells etc. The body’s organs and tissues are composed of cells. Everything from our eyes to our hair is made up of an collection of cells. One billion cells have to be replaced every hour, that is 24 billion every day. Our skin is replaced every 27 days. Every two months, every heart cell is replaced.

So, the question is: Will our new body be stronger or weaker than the old one. This depends entirely upon the building materials we provide; that is: the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breath in. The human body is a truly remarkable creature.

Our body’s health is dependent on the health of our cells. The health of the cells
depends on the fluid in which they exist, also known as the biological terrain.
The biological terrain, the internal environment of the body that surround every cell, is regulated by homeostatic processes,which are dependent on the supply of a wide variety of substances, such as nutrients and the removal of waste.

Our cells can only benefit from the nutrients we take in, if they can get rid of
what they don’t need. The process of absorption, digestion and transportation are crucial to the biological terrain of the cell. If the biological terrain is wrong,toxins build up and the cells are unable to absorb the nutrients. Toxification depends on the amount of water we drink, the’PH’ of the body and the body fluid,specially the environment that surrounds the cells.

Good nutrition is fundamental for good health. The human body is a complex system that requires a full spectrum of nutrients for optimal health.
We require the right amount of macro-nutrients, such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats in the right ratios. We also need the right amount of 59 different vitamins, minerals and antioxidants daily.

Optimum, broad spectrum nutrition is very important on the short term, but is
particular important on the long term, if we come to understand the fundamental roll that nutrition plays in maintaining optimum health.
It has been said that we are overfed and under-nourished.

In the USA,over 25% of young people are in a state of degenerative disease and don’t even know it. 95% of the population of 65 and over are suffering from any of the degenerative diseases,like stroke,cancer,diabetes,osteoporosis,Arthritis.

Most nutritional manufacturers don’t understand what nutritional science is
all about. Good nutrition is not only the study of food, but of all the processes
of maintenance & repair of the living body, dependent on the digestion of that food. It’s about the interaction of our food with our body and the interaction of the body with our food.
Many nutritional supplements on the market today don’t contain bio-nutritional
substances useful to the cells & the body.

By applying an excellent foundation of broad-spectrum and bio-available nutrients,one can be assured that the optimum levels are being met.

Without a doubt, USANA offers the highest quality nutritionals available to-day.
By taking the advanced products, such as healthpak-100, optimizers,OptOmega (mineral fatty acids),which helps to provide the cells with essential needs.

   Edition #32

Relieve Stress: It Might Just Help You Manage Your Weight

When you feel stressed it’s a common experience to want to raid the candy machine, or down a pint of ice cream. Of course you feel immediate gratification because of the “feel good” endorphins that are released when you eat something you love but now new research confirms these food urges are caused by more…
read it all…

A key component for optimal health is to drink water every day. Unfortunately, many people make the mistake of replacing water with other types of fluids, most of which have added ingredients that will not do your health any favors.

Kids are in particular prone to drinking sweet drinks, like soda and fruit juice instead of plain water and many teens tend to reach for sports and energy drinks instead.
About one-quarter of children in the US don’t drink water on a daily basis.

Overall, boys were more than 75% more likely to be inadequately hydrated than girls.
This dovetails with previous studies shows that boys drink more sugary beverages than girls. According to one 2011 analysis, about 70% of boys aged 2 to 19 drink sugary beverages daily.

Your body needs water for proper functioning.
Your body is comprised of about 65% water, which is needed for a number of physiological processes and biochemical reactions, including but not limited to:
Blood circulation
Metabolism
Regulation of body temperature
Waste removal and detoxification

Once your body has lost between one to two percent of its total water content, it will signal its needs by making you feel thirsty. Using thirst as a guide to how much water you need to drink is one obvious way to ensure your individual needs are met, day-by-day.

However, by the time your thirst mechanism actually kicks in, you’re already in the early stages of dehydration, so you don’t want to ignore the initial sensations of thirst.

Moreover, the thirst mechanism tends to be underdeveloped in children and specially so in the elderly, making them more vulnerable to dehydration.
Hunger – sugar graving in particular – can also be a sign that your body is crying for water, so when you feel hungry, drink a glass of water first.

So, in addition to thirst, which is an obvious signal, other signals indicating that you need to drink more water include:
Fatigue and/or dizziness
Double vision
Foggy thinking and poor concentration
Muscle cramps
dark, concentrated urine
bad breath
headache

Severe dehydration can be life threatening, but even mild dehydration can cause problems ranging from headaches and irritability to impaired cognition.

To ensure uninterrupted and restful sleep you may have to make some minor  adjustments.

These findings are significant because they highlight a potential health issue that has not been given a lot of attention in the past.

Avoid watching TV or using your computer at least an hour or so before going to bed.
These devices emit blue light, which tricks your brain into thinking it’s still daytime.
Normally, your brain starts secreting melatonin between 9 pm and 10 pm, and theses devices emit light that may stifle that process.

Make sure you get BRIGHT sun exposure regularly.
Your pineal gland produces melatonin roughly in approximation to the contrast of bright sun exposure in the day and complete darkness at night. If you are in darkness all day long, it can’t appreciate the difference and will not optimize your melatonin production.

Sleep in as dark a room as possible. Even the tiniest glow from your clock radio could be interfering with your sleep, so cover your radio up at night or get rid of it altogether.
Move all electrical devices at least three feet away from your bed. You may want to cover your windows with drapes or blackout shades. If this isn’t possible, wear an eye mask.
Install a low-wattage yellow, orange, or red light bulb if you need a source of light for navigation at night.
Ensure the temperature in your bedroom is no higher than 20 degrees C. Many people keep their homes too warm (particularly their upstairs bedrooms). Studies show that optimal room temperature for sleep is between 15 and 20 degrees C.

Take a hot bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime. This increases your core body temperature, and when you get out of the bath it abruptly drops, signaling your body that you are ready to sleep.

Avoid using loud alarm clocks. Being jolted awake each morning can be very stressful.
Use soft music.

Get some sun in the morning, if possible. Your circadian system needs bright light to reset itself. Ten to 15 minutes of morning sunlight will send a strong message to your internal clock that day has arrived, making it less likely to be confused by weaker light signals during the night. Even more sunlight exposure is required as you age.

Before  starting  any exercise program it is necessary to get an
approval from your doctor.Start easy,don’t take strenuous
weight programs in health clubs,which takes time out of your
working day. It takes too much of your time and becomes a burden.

Exercise should be part of your  daily routine to be successful.
It is better to exercise in the morning for twenty minutes than three
hours at a gym on the weekend.  Use your own body weight and
gravity,instead of machines, which provide ample resistance.

It’s best to progress gradual, there is no need  to work to your limit.
Don’t strain.  Your body  doesn’t need to be heated in order to
improve. The rhythms of nature are your limits.

Your exercise program has three goals. First and most important:
to maintain and increase your muscle mass.
Secondly: To maintain your cardiovascular system.
Thirdly: To maintain your flexibility.

The average person stiffens as he ages, increasing the risks of
strains and tendon, ligament and skeletal disorders.

When you have your doctor’s approval, you can do a little
aerobics to warm up the system and get your blood pumping.
Twenty minutes at even mild intensity will have cardiovascular
benefits. I recommends aerobics to begin with for everyone,
before you pick up weights.

Then 5-10 minutes stretching after your muscles are warm
is all you need to maintain flexibility lifelong.

Now you are prepared to exercise your muscles. Your program
should include resistance exercise for shoulders, arms, chest,
back, legs and abdominal. If you exercise three days per week,
which is the starting level for consistent benefit, then do:
Day 1  –  Shoulders and arms
Day 2  –  Chest and back
Day 3  –  Legs and abdominal
For  5 days per week, do one body part per day.

1) Never do more per exercise than one warm-up set of 12 – 15
easy repetitions, followed by one medium heavy set of 6 – 10
repetitions to exhaustion.

2) Work a body part only once per week. It takes about 48 hours
for exercised muscles to breakdown worn cells, then 48 – 72 hours
to build new, stronger replacements. The muscle remains at
maximum strength for 5 – 8 days and then slowly declines.
Exercising a muscle every 5 – 8 days is the optimum program
for progress.

3) Don’t train with weights for more than one hour per workout.
Your  ability  to gain lean mass,is limited by your hormone levels.
After 45 minutes to one hour,hormone levels decline.You can
force yourself to continue,but it doesn’t do your body any good.

4) Use a wide variety of exercises. Restricted resistance exercises,
especially on machines, stress only certain fibers of a muscle
in certain positions. You need to get all the fibers in all positions.

5) In one hour at two sets per exercise you can do 12 exercises
easily. Don’t force yourself to do more. For weight exercises,
see Bill Pearl’s book: The Encyclopedia on Weight Training and
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.

6) Accentuate the return phase of the repetition, when the muscle
in question is lengthening under load. In a barbell bicep curl for
example, the eccentric contraction occurs when you are lowering
the bar to the start position.

Restrain yourself all the way down, because it is the stress of
lengthening under load that causes most of the strength and
lean mass gains that you are seeking.

7)Take a protein drink daily within one hour after workout.
Research shows that weight training puts subjects into protein
deficit, despite the high protein level of the American diet.

8) Take daily antioxidant supplements. All exercise increases
oxidation in the body.

9) Eat an alkaline diet. All exercise increases body  acidity.
See www.nutrobalance2.com/ the alkaline/acid food theory.

10) Sip a cold light carbohydrate drink (7-10%) throughout
workouts. Drinks containing a little glucose, a little zylitol plus
mostly glucose polymers are best. It will trickle carbohydrate
continuously into your blood and spare your muscle glycogen,
thereby maintaining your energy level.

It will also prevent dehydration. Even 3% dehydration can reduce
strength by 10%. And it will help to keep your body temperature
down, at the same time reducing the amount of blood diverted to
the skin for cooling, thus leaving more to supply your muscles
with oxygen and nutrients.

A final note about weight-bearing exercise: without the stimulus
to your body to grow, nutritional supplements can’t work properly.
Important new research published in the New England Journal
of Medicine shows, that multi-vitamin and mineral supplementation
had little effect in improving the health of old people, unless a
resistance exercise was added, the health benefits were astonishing,
ranging from over 100% improvement in strength and muscle size
to big improvements in mobility and recreational activity.

It takes a bit of puff and stick ability to grow a high-performance body.
But once you’ve done it, a little bit of exercise necessary to maintain
it is one of life’s greatest bargains.

   Edition #31  

How to use resistance Bands for strength training.

Would you like to increase your metabolism so that your body will burn more calories throughout the day? Or maybe you are more interested in increasing the lean tissue on your body so that you can work harder, play longer, and have a decreased chance of a life-related injury. Strength training offers just that. But… read more……

Using This Raises Your Heart Attack and Stroke Risk By 30%

For many men in their 50s and 60s, that all too familiar dip in energy and sexual vigor is often a fact of life–and a clear sign of diminishing testosterone levels. For many healthcare professionals, though, the solution is clear: Have them take a testosterone supplement.   Read More »

VENUS FACTOR: For Permanent Female Fat loss!

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I couldn’t be any simpler with my nutrition recommendations for fat burning. You will get have the most energy and the best body and fitness level possible if you eat whole, natural foods. I always ask Dr. Chris Mohr, author of the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss Nutrition Guidelines if I ever need help with nutrition information.

You must avoid processed foods, which is pretty much anything in a bag or a box. So cut out muffins, donuts, pre-packaged cereals, white bread, pasta, chips, crackers, cookies, etc.

We need to return to a time of simpler eating, focusing on fruits, vegetables, nuts, lean proteins, and healthy fats. It will take some “bad habit breaking” to rid yourself of your addiction to processed foods, but in your journey you will learn to appreciate the taste of REAL food again.

You don’t have to eat meat to lose fat and build muscle, but it’s not unhealthy to eat beef, chicken, and fish. In fact, fish contains essential fatty acids we can’t do without.

You might have heard about the importance of healthy fats, which is a big turn-around from the low-fat mentality of the 80’s and 90’s. We now know eating fish and nuts won’t make us fat, but will in fact make us healthy and help control our appetite.

So just focus on foods that haven’t been processed, and you’ll start to see changes in your body and energy levels in a matter of days. Get rid of the processed foods and you won’t be tired anymore!

I strongly believe nutrition is the MOST important factor in fat loss and in health. If you’re eating processed foods, trans-fats, and too many calories, you won’t get maximum benefits from your exercise program, no matter what you are doing. Nutrition can either heal you or kill you, so choose wisely. Fortunately, the right choices are the simple choices.

I’ve had clients that switched to whole, natural foods and almost overnight they’ve reported changes in their bodies and huge increases in mental energy. So stick with the simple nutrition approach for fat burning.

About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training for Fat Loss

Cholesterol is a fatty substance which occur naturally in our blood.
Our body makes cholesterol and we can also get it from food.
The level of cholesterol in our blood varies from person to person.

There is “good” and “bad” cholesterol. Too high level of “bad”
cholesterol is one of the riskfactors that can lead to heart disease.
Cholesterol can build up on the inside of our arteries,narrowing them
and making it harder for our blood to run through.

Narrow arteries can become blocked, stopping the flow of blood.
If an arterie feeding your heart becomes completely blocked,
you will have a heart attack.

Other risk factors are: high blood pressure , having diabetes and smoking.
Also men over 45 and women over 55 may be at increased risk of heart disease.

You may also have inhereted a gene from your parents that causes
high blood cholesterol.

The usual goal for cholesterol content is 5.0 MMOL/L. For some
it could be lower. Check with your doctor.

How to lower your blood cholesterol.

Step 1. Change your eating habits.

To keep your cholesterol level down you need new healthy eating habits.
Avoid foods containing saturated fat.
Eat plenty of rice, pasta, breakfast cereal, fruit, vegetables & legumes.
Eat a moderate amount of fish, lean meat, chicken, low-fat dairy products,
eggs ( no more then 2 to 3 per week) and nuts.
Small amounts of “bad” oils, margarines and alcohol.

Step 2. Medication.
For some people , changing their diet may not be enough and
it may be necessary to add a medicine to lower cholesterol.
Have your cholesterol level checked regularly by your doctor.

by  Gabrielle Maston

The popularity of gluten-free diets is exploding and we have seen many diet books published about the effects of gluten on the heart, digestive health and cancers. While there isn’t yet enough scientific evidence to support these claims, it is still worth looking into whether gluten-free is a passing fad or whether more people should be cutting gluten out as part of a healthy diet.

The low-down on gluten

Gluten is a protein found in certain grains such as wheat, rye and barley. Flours made from these grains form the basis of many common carbohydrates including pasta and bread. Gluten isn’t a nutrient, it’s the stickiness of the grain that binds it together.

There are a small percentage of people who need to cut out gluten for medical reasons. These include people with a food intolerances or coeliac disease, but this is by no means a blanket recommendation for everyone. For most people, avoiding gluten provides no real benefits.

At the same time, it is true that more people are being diagnosed with food intolerances and coeliac disease. However, this is mainly due to more awareness rather than increased intolerance among the population.

If you suspect you have a food intolerance or coeliac disease, you should contact your local dietitian or doctor for professional help on treating the issue.

Gluten-free doesn’t make it calorie-free

A common mistake that is made when cutting out gluten is to give all other food free rein. Often when cutting out gluten, dieters will substitute old comfort foods with more pre-packaged, highly processed cakes, biscuits and pastries – albeit gluten-free!

Gluten-free products can often have more calories, preservatives, sugar and fat than their gluten-laden counterparts. Different ingredients are used to replicate the binding action that occurs naturally in gluten to make gluten-free products stick together. These products are usually lower in fibre because they are made from high fat alternatives like almond meal, coconut flour and rice flour.

Cutting out gluten is by no means a magic pill.

The verdict on going gluten-free

The problem is that when you cut out gluten you are excluding a large majority of healthy grains available to you. Whole grains that include gluten contain a fantastic array of vitamins and minerals such as B-vitamins, fiber and iron. Wholewheat, oats, rye, and barley are all high fiber grains that are slow releasing.

Gluten-free carbohydrates like potato, rice and corn are all fast releasing, and lower fibre options. If you need to go gluten-free for medical reasons, try to include low GI whole food alternatives where possible like amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa, sweet potato or wild rice. Tap into legumes like lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans and broad beans for sources of high fibre low GI carbs.

More importantly, following a gluten-free diet pushes an unnecessary preoccupation on the food you are eating. Food is meant to be a source of enjoyment and fuel for the body. A normal healthy diet consisting of mainly plants, whole grains, lean meat and fish proteins will give you all the health benefits you need. You could even say a balanced, wholesome diet is the best thing before sliced bread!

– See more at: http://www.asteronlife.com.au/balance/nutrition/truth-about-gluten#sthash.WAma155i.dpuf

If you want to obtain optimal health from nutrition, you have to understand first,
how much what you put in your body effects your health.
The human body was designed with lots of care in order to transform a mixture of certain compounds
that are found in nature into muscles, bones, organs, glands and our brain.
The interactions of these nutrient compounds are the hairy bags of chemical soup what we call human beings.
Every time we mass around with them, they will mass around with you.

People who consume fatty burgers with nutrient poor fries don’t realize how much they
are disturbing the excellent precision of nutrient use by their bodies.
Let’s look at some examples in order to make clear how that precision makes the engine of
a Masserati look like a child’s toy.

Let’s look at a good one: vitamin B12. You need only a few micrograms (millionths of a gram) of vitamin B12
each day: the RDA (Recommended daily Allowance ) is only 2 micrograms. Your blood contains
only about 5 nanograms (billionths of a gram) per liter,
less than a speck of dust. Even under a microscope you couldn’t see such amount.
It represents less than one part per trillion of your body weight.
But if you lack that tiny speck, your whole body declines into a serious disease, called
pernicious anemia, which gradually destroys the myelin sheaths, which protect your nerves, leading to blindness, insanity and death.

A second example is iodine. A daily intake of about 50 micrograms is considered to be sufficient for most people. This amount is still so tiny that you could hardly see it on the
head of a pin. Every day your body separates the few molecules of iodine that occur in
different foods with a precision that goes for beyond the most advanced computer and
transport them straight to the thyroid gland. There they convert an enert chemical
called thyronine into powerful thyroid hormones. These hormones then control your
energy supply, your mood and even how well you can think.

The same applies to other micro nutrients. It is still a mystery how such minute amounts
of these substances can hold the keys to health, to sanity and even to life itself.
But they do and if they are deficient in your food, you are asking for disease.
We need a daily dose of a precise mix of 59 nutrients for optimal bodily function.

Elements required in large amounts daily:
Oxygen, Carbon, Hydrogen, Sulphur, Nitrogen

Elements required in medium amounts daily:
Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Chloride

Elements required in small amounts daily:
Iron, Manganese, Chromium, Fluoride, Arsenic, Germanium, Zinc, Silicon,
Selenium, Molybdenum, Boron, Copper, Cobalt, Iodine, Nickel, Tin.

Vitamins (common form names):
A (retinol), B3 (niacin, niacinamide), B12 (cobalamin), C (ascorbic acid),
K (phylloquinone), B1 (thiamin), B5 (pantothenic acid), Folic Acid, D (calciferol),
B2 (riboflavin), B6 (pyrodoxine), Biotin, E (d-alpha tocopherol).

Co-factors (common form names):
Choline, Para-amino-benzoic acid (PABA), Pyroloquinoline quinone (PQQ),
Inositol, Bioflavonoides, Co-enzyme Q10

Essential amino acids:
Isoleucine, Methionine, Tryptophan, *istidine, Leucine, Phenylalanine,
Valine, Taurine, Lysine, Threonine, *Aginine,
* Conditionally essential

Essential fatty acids:
Linoleic acid, Linolenic acid
From some you need a lot, others you need only tiny amounts. But they all have to
be provided in the correct amounts. The first five, which you need in large quantities,
are plentiful present in foods and in the air we breath, so supply is not often a problem.

The remaining 54 nutrients we need in medium or small quantities and are less readily
available in the environment. More important, they may be deficient or entirely absent
in any of the degraded foods, which we now find in most of our food supply.

We know that 13 vitamins, 22 minerals, 6 co-factors, 8 amino acids ( plus 3 more in certain circumstances)
and 2 essential fatty acids are required for optimal bodily function.

All these essential substances interact with each other in precise synergy to produce,
maintain and renew your body. IF one is missing or in short supply,
the functions of all the others are impaired.

Although the essentiality of co-factors is still controversial, they are included, because
recent evidence all points in that direction. The meaning of the word ” essential”
in science means:
(a) The nutrients have to be present in adequate amounts or function is impaired.
(b) The body can’t make the nutrients or can’t make enough of them for normal tissue function.
(c) You have to get them from your diet.

If you can’t get them from your diet, you have to supplement them from a high quality source.
for example from USANA Health Sciences. These are the facts on nutrition.