Category Archives: health & nutrition

Flavonoids

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Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants, and sturdy defenders against heart disease and cancer. See also my article titled: Antioxidants in green leafy vegetables
Like carotenoids, flavonoids add color – specifically red, yellow, blue and shades of brown
to the foods we eat and drink.
Present mostly in apples, celery, cocoa, (dark chocolate), cranberries, grapes, broccoli, endive, onions, green and black teas, and red wines.

But experts are beginning to discover that these compounds are doing more.
Some flavonoids make the linings of blood vessels more supple, lowering blood pressure and protecting against a buildup of heart- threatening plague. In one study, grape juice and
chocolate had this effect. Flavovoids also act like Teflon coating for the millions of tiny disks in your blood called platelets. They keep the platelets from clumbing together in the bloodstream and forming clots, which helps prevent heart attacks and stroke.

A recent study at the Harvard Medical School lab has found that one magical flavonoid found in wine and grapes: resveratrol, also lowers blood sugar levels and boosts liver function. In fact, in a group of lucky mice, it increased longevity by 31%.
In one study at the university of Virginia, resveratrol – found in grape skins, raspberries,
mulberries, and peanuts – literally starved cancer cells by interfering with a protein called
nuclear factor-kappa B, that helps food them.

In one Dutch study that examined the eating habits of 800 men, aged between 65 and 84,
researchers found that those who got the least flavonoids in their diets, were 32% more
likely to die from heart attacks than those who ate the most. It didn’t take many flavonoids
to get the benefits. The high-flavonoid group had the equivalent of 4 cops of black tea,
a half cup of apple, and 1//8 cup of onions per day.

When it comes to cancer prevention, flavonoids may help out by influencing cel-signaling
pathways – the way cells turn genes on and off in order to perform thousands of everyday
maintenance activities. Flavonoids may help turn on genes that stop cancer cells from
dividing or invading healthy tissues, or even help activate genes that make cancer cells
commit suicide, say experts from the Linus Pauling Research Institute at Oregon State
University in Corvallis.

In a recent study at the University of California, Los Angeles, those prostate-cancer
survivors who drank 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily, increased by nearly 4 times
the period during which their PSA levels (prostate specific antigens) a cancer biomaker,
stayed constant. The study even surprised the researchers, who say that the combination
of flavonoids, anti-inflammatory compounds, and antioxidants in pomegranate juice
may be responsible.

Antioxidants in Green Leafy Vegetables

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Antioxidants you find in the red of tomatoes and the yellow plant pigments in carrots  are called carotenoids. You also find them in green leafy vegetables They belong to the family of phytonutrients. See also my article: Phytonutrients, compounds from the garden.
These carotenoids are powerful antioxidants to fight against heart disease and certain forms of cancer.

Research has shown promising results from a number of carotenoids, particularly lycopene
(also found in tomatoes), lutein (found in vegetables such as spinach and kale), and
zeaxanthin ( found in dark green leafy vegetables). All three play a powerful role as antioxidants  in cancer prevention.

Researchers in the Tufts University Carotenoids Health Laboratory say: “Skipping fruits &
vegetables is part of the classic “profile” of people who develop cancers of the head and
neck, but that increasing your intake of these antioxidants rich products may cut your risk for recurrence of these cancers.

In one study, researchers found that people in northern Italy who ate seven or more
servings  of raw tomatoes every week  had a 60% lower change of developing colon, rectal,
and stomach cancer than those who only ate two servings or less.

German researchers have found that cooked tomato products containing some oil –
such as spaghetti sauce – boost lycopene absorption dramatically. They believe that
heating  and crushing releases more lycopene, and that the body  needs substances in
oil to  help better absorption.

Harvard researchers, looking at green leafy vegetables, especially spinach, had quite
an eye-opener. They found that people eating the most lutein and zeaxanthin – which
are two carotenoids , powerful antioxidants found in these vegetables – had a 43% lower risk of macular degeneration  than those eating the least.
Macular degeneration is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in people  over 50.
Lutein and zeaxanthin concentrate in your retinas and protect them by absorbing
harmful blue-wavelength light found in sunshine.

Other members of the Phytonutrients are: flavonoids, indoles,  lignans, monoterpenes, saponins, organosulfur – and phenolic compounds, which are all powerful antioxidants,
I will discuss in future articles.  If you like to know more about plant-based nutrition,
I refer to : Nutrition studies.org

Phytonutrients: compounds from the Garden for good Health

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Within plant foods are thousands of compounds that are taking the diet-disease connection to an exciting new level.Science call these compounds phytochemicals or phytonutrients, that means chemicals or nutrients found in plants.

They are there to help our garden survive and strive.
Potent sulfur compounds in garlic and unions, for instance, act as bug repellents to keep
the vegetables healthy. Other compounds protect plants from bacteria, viruses, and other
natural enemies. When we eat plant foods, these compounds protect us, too – not from
bugs but from the forces that wreak havoc in our bodies.

We have known for many years that we need vitamins and minerals from our food
to maintain good health, and to prevent malnutrition and diseases such as rickets and scurvy. But research revealed that the essential nutrients we all know, such as vitamin A and E, are just the beginning. See also my page: health-and-fitness

Most likely some of these previously unknown compounds will fight not only deficiency-type diseases such as anemia, but also age-related illnesses such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke.

And the research has only begun. Scientists are discovering more phytochemicals all
the time and also ways in which theses compounds fight disease.

Neutralizing Free Radicals

Each member of the large family of phytonutrients work indifferent ways.
However, their most common weapons against disease appear to be their antioxidant
abilities.

Every day your body is under attack by harmful substances known as free radicals.
These are oxygen molecules who have lost an electron, due to pollution, sunlight,
stress, smoking, physical activity, and sunlight. As they attempt to regain there
missing electrons, they travel through your body and stealing electrons from your
body cells and sometimes from your DNA wherever they can.

Unless this chain reaction is stopped, the result is huge numbers of damaged
molecules and, over time, damage and disease.

For example, cholesterol is a useful and helpful substance. But when cholesterol
molecules are damaged by free radicals, they start to stick to the lining of
artery walls, causing hardened arteries and heart disease.

Another example: When free radicals attack molecules in the DNA of your body cells,
the genetic blueprint that tells your cells how to function, is damaged.
This can spark dangerous cell changes that lead to cancer and other diseases.
Even the aging process itself, scientists believe,is caused by free-radical damage.
The powerful antioxidants of phytonutrients in plants can literally save your life.

Essentially, they step between the free radicals and your body’s cells, offering up
their own electrons. When free radicals grab these “free” electrons, they become
stable again and do no further damage. Most phytonutrients are potent antioxidants.

Eliminating Toxic Wastes

Another way phytonutrients keep us healthy is by neutrolizing and flushing
toxic chemicals from our bodies before they make us sick. They do this by
manipulating enzymes known as phase-1 and phase-2 enzymes, explains Gary Stoner, PhD, professor and cancer researcher at Ohio State University in Columbus.
Phase-1 enzymes are like double agents. They are created by your body and are

important for normal cell function. But they also have the ability to work
against you. When cancer-causing toxins enter your system, phase-1 enzymes
help make them active. Phase-2 enzymes, on the other hand, are real good guys.
They seek out carcinogens and detoxify them before they can do damage.

When you eat broccoli or other vegetables, some of the phytoneutrients begin
stomping out the enemy phase-1 enzymes while increasing the production of
helper phase-2 enzymes. This process helps neutralize various cancer-causing
toxins that naturally accumulate in your body.

Regulating Hormones

A third way in which phytoneutrients fend off disease is by keeping certain
hormones – most notably the female sex hormone estrogen – at healthy levels.
Estrogen is “good news” and “bad news” kind of hormone. When it’s produced at
normal levels, it helps control everything, from menstruation to childbirth.
At the same time, it helps keep artery-clogging cholesterol in check, thus
preventing heart disease. When estrogen levels rise, however, they can fuel
hormone-stimulated cancers like breast cancer and cancer of the ovaries,
according to researchers.

There are several ways in which phytoneutrients keep estrogen at proper levels.
For example, a class of phytonutrients called isoflavones is extremely similar

to natural estrogen. When we eat foods containing isoflavones, these faux
hormones bind to the body’s estrogen receptors, leaving the real hormone with
nowhere to go but out.

Although estrogen is often referred to as if it were one hormone, in fact
there are different forms. One kind of estrogen, called 16-alpha-hydroxyestrone,
has been linked to breast cancer. Another form, 2-hydroxyestrone, appears to
be harmless. Certain phytonutrients are able to increase levels of the harmless form of estrogen, while decreasing levels of the dangerous kind.

Eating Your Medicine

From the previously mentioned facts it shows that phytonutrients bring in a diversity of
powerful defences. As a matter of fact, their potential is staggering.
Scientists forecast that in the near future these compounds will be used for treating disease in the hospital and for prevention at home, as was the case with vitamins and minerals.


Till then, scientists emphases that the only way to get the phytonutrients your body needs
is to eat them as Mother Nature brings them. That means eating fruits and vegetables at least nine servings per day for good health.
Scientists learn new things every day about this huge class of compounds that the glass
of orange juice contains that you have for breakfast in the morning and in the site salad
at lunchtime.

If you like to know more about plant-based nutrition, visit: http://nutritionstudies.org/

circuit-training

Circuit Training as an Exercise Program

Health & Nutrition, , , , ,

While exercise programs often vary from person to person based on fitness levels and goals, each one should include aerobic exercise, and resistance and flexibility training,
as in Circuit Training.
Those components will help you improve your fitness level and help you overcome obstacles that challenge your agility, balance, coordination, endurance and strength in everyday life. I refer to my article: Activity: Essential prevention against all Diseases

Circuit Training Basics
Looking for a way to infuse your fitness routine with some new energy and excitement? Whether you’re a seasoned athlete or just getting started with physical activity, circuit training is a great way to challenge your body in a variety of ways while boosting the fun factor.

What Is Circuit Training?
A typical circuit training workout includes about 8-10 exercise stations. After completing a station, instead of resting, you move quickly to the next station. A muscular strength and endurance circuit alternates muscle groups, such as upper body, lower body and core, so little or no rest is needed in between stations. This article focuses on another form of circuit training: aerobic + strength. This type of circuit alternates 1-2 sets of resistance exercise (body weight, free weights, dumbbells, kettle bells, bands, etc.), with brief bouts of cardiovascular exercise (jogging in place, stationary cycling, rowing, etc.) lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. Depending on your goals and the number of circuit stations, you can complete 1 or more circuits in a 30-60 minute session.

Advantages of Circuit Training
Boredom and time constraints are frequently cited reasons for giving up on a fitness routine. Sound familiar? Circuit training offers a practical solution for both. It’s a creative and flexible way to keep exercise interesting and saves time while boosting cardiovascular and muscular fitness. You’ll burn a decent amount of calories too—in a 1-hour circuit training session, a 150-pound person burns about 308 calories at a moderate intensity; and 573 calories at a vigorous intensity. Because the exercises can be performed in any sequence, you can create an endless number of combinations and design every workout to match your mood or specific training goal. Participating in a group circuit-training class is a great way to discover new exercises you might not have tried on your own.

At Home
Set up strength and cardio stations indoors or outdoors. Cardio could include going up and down stairs, marching or jogging in place, running up and down the driveway, using home exercise equipment and jumping rope. For strength stations, do push-ups, planks and lunges, using your own body weight. You can also use dumbbells, bands and Kettle bells. For more ideas, look for a fitness DVD featuring circuit-training workouts.

At the Gym
Check to see, if your gym offers circuit training classes. You’ll need to move quickly from station to station, so it’s tough to do on your own during regular gym hours when others are using equipment. If you’re working with a certified personal trainer, ask for help in building a custom circuit training workout using a variety of equipment.

At the Park
The fitness trail, or parcourse are popular features at many parks across the United States and around the world. This can be considered a form of aerobic + strength circuit training. The parcourse consists of walking trails with exercise stations located along the way. But even if your local park doesn’t have a circuit set-up, you can create your own aerobic + strength circuit by alternating brisk walking, bicycling or running on a trail with push-ups, dips, and squats, incorporating things found in nature, such as a tree, a boulder, or even a park bench.

Turn Up the Heat
If you’ve been doing circuit training for a while and are ready to push harder, try these ideas:
• Shorten your time intervals. If you’re currently doing 2-minute cardio intervals, shorten them by 30 seconds. This will keep you moving faster through the circuit, allowing you to complete more stations in the same amount of time.
• Boost your intensity. If your strength sets are feeling too easy, increase the resistance or choose a different exercise that works the same muscle group. Take your cardio intervals up a notch by accelerating or adding another cardio exercise.
• Do a backward circuit. If you always complete your circuit in the same direction, start at the opposite end to challenge your body and your brain in a new way.

I have developed an exercise plan that covers the basics of exercise, aerobics,
weight bearing exercises and nutrition for athletes.

circuit-training

Activity: essential prevention against all diseases

Health & Nutrition, , , , , , , ,

Activity is important to maintain a healthy body.
I refer to my article: “Benefits of Exercise”
When you are not sleeping your body was designed to be almost
continually active.
If you immobilize a limb for just three hours, it starts to degenerate.
That’s why even during sleep you automatically flex and stretch and
turn more than a hundred times in one night. Inactivity is deadly!

You can read this in a report by Dr. Walter Bortz in the Journal of
the American Medical Association in 1982.
He reviewed over a hundred studies showing that the sedentary lifestyle
developed in the last 50 years in America causes widespread bodily
damage. This damage occurs independently of other health risk factors,
like smoking, alcohol, fat, age and family history of disease.

Here follows some of his findings:
By itself, simple inactivity causes a chain reaction of cardiovascular
decay. First, it reduces vital capacity. That means, sitting like a slug
reduces your ability to take up and use oxygen.
As a result, muscles, organs, and brain become partially oxygen deprived.
In addition, inactivity reduces cardiac output, that is, the ability of your
heart to pump blood around the body.

So the tissues of couch potatoes become double deprived.
They get less oxygen and less blood and the essential nutrients the blood contains.
In an effort to make up these deficits, your body constricts arteries,
thereby raising blood pressure. This arterial constriction on top of
a weakened heart not only increases the risk of clots and stroke, but also
makes your cardiovascular system less able to respond to sudden movement
or changes of position.

Consequently, sedentary folk often suffer dizziness on standing, because
the impaired system cannot instantly increase blood flow to the brain.
With any sudden movements they are prone to falls and accidents,
because the restricted system of blood flow cannot respond efficiently.

One of the most interesting studies shows that more sedentary people
than active people are hit and killed in traffic accidents.
Because their weakened cardiovascular systems make them incapable of
performing the nimble moves required to avoid oncoming traffic, with out
becoming dizzy and staggering or falling in the process.

Inactivity also increase levels of cholesterol and triglycerides.
Triglycerides are the fats you store, and we know that inactivity makes you fat.
Inactive muscles shrink, compromising your ability to burn fat, to perform
even simple tasks, like running up stairs,and even to hold up your skeleton.

Bones also thin and weaken, because your skeleton requires continuous
resistance exercise in order to grow new bone matrix.
A combination of inactivity and poor bone nutrition is the major cause of
the epidemic of osteoporosis now burdening America – another man made
– entirely preventable disease.

Inactivity also disrupts bowel function and disorders glucose metabolism,
independently of whatever food you eat. The near epidemics of intestinal
disorders and adult-onset diabetes in America bear mute testimony to our
slug lifestyle.

Sex hormone levels also decline with inactivity, now linked to the huge
increase in impotence in America. The evidence is overwhelming that the
incidence of male impotence in America has doubled since the 1940’s.

Activity Can Save Your Life
One of the best studies was conducted by renowned exercise guru
Dr. Kenneth Cooper at his Aerobics Center in Dallas.
They followed 13,344 men and women for 15 years.
This meticulous research, controlled for all major interfering variables, like age,
family history, personal health history, smoking, blood pressure, cardiovascular
condition, and insulin metabolism.

At the fifteen-year follow-up, reduced risk of death was closely correlated
with physical fitness. This included death from cardiovascular diseases,
a variety of cancers, and even accidents.

There is no longer any doubt: exercise can save your life, while couch
potatoism creates an existence that is nasty, sick, and short.

For Science based Nutrition, Training & Health resources , visit: www.muscle-health-fitness.com 

Activity Strengthens Heart and Lungs

Numerous studies show that exercise protects your body by maintaining
vital capacity, and therefore maintaining adequate oxygenation of tissues.

The average sendentary American male aged 45 has lost half his ability
to take up and use oxygen. With one year of the right exercise he can
restore it to the level of a 25 year old.

Dr. Bortz rightly stated that the health benefits of restoring vital capacity
are superior to any drug or medical treatment in existence.

In contrast to the weak cardiac function of sedentary folk, the athlete’s
strong, slow pulse is telling evidence of a healthy heart.
Many have rates in the 40s, and the Colgan Institute one recorded champion
cyclist Howard Doerfling at an incredible 29 beats per minute.

Sedentary folk, however, are likely to show heart rates in the 80s or 90s.
When heart rate rises above 84, risk of coronary heart disease more than doubles.

Activity protects blood pressure
The majority of average people show blood pressure of 120/80, which is regard
as normal but this is not normal at all. We know know that these people are already
on their way to disease. Risk of cardiovascular disease starts to rise as systolic blood pressure goes above 103 mmHg.
By 120 mmHg, previously thought to be normal, risk has risen from 51 to 77 per
10.000 people. That is an increase of 50%.
By 135 mmHg, a level that many physicians still regard as marginal, but acceptable,
risk has doubled. Beyond 135 mmHg you are a walking time bomb.

The same applies to diastolic blood pressure. Usual levels found in average people
are 80-89 mmHg. Recent research shows that these figures indicate a pre-disease state. Diastolic pressures below 80 mmHg shows an incidence of new cardiovascular disease of 10 cases per 1000 people, but by 90-89 mmHg it shows an incidence of 40 cases per 1000 people, a risk increase of 300%.

Don’t fret. It’s easy to reduce blood pressure with the right exercise.
Many studies show that exercise works for older people as well, in whom you might think the damage to blood pressure is permanent.

In a typical study sedentary hypertension patients, aged 55 to 78 years were followed.
All had elevated blood pressure.
After participating in an exercise program, systolic blood pressure felt by a whopping
20 mmHg. Regular exercise will lower blood pressure in almost anyone.

Activity Lowers Cholesterol
Despite media bleatings, cholesterol is not the bad guy.
Cholesterol is essential to every function of your body.
It forms part of all your organs, including your heart and your brain.

Your body makes all your steroid hormones, including adrenalin, estrogen and testosterone from cholesterol. You cannot live without it.

Most of your cholesterol is not from food at all. It is manufactured in your body mainly
by the liver. When a healthy person eats high cholesterol foods, the liver immediately reduces its own cholesterol production to keep blood cholesterol low and healthy.

Disordered cholesterol metabolism is the cause that blood cholesterol rises to dangerous levels and is a man-made disease, caused mainly by our degraded nutrition and
sedentary lifestyle.

As you probably know, we have “good” high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and “bad” low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Total cholesterol is mostly LDL and this is still one of the best predictors of cardiovascular disease.
You can measure this total cholesterol with a simple device at home,
it is called the “Accumeter”.

What is a healthy cholesterol level? You may ask.
The American Heart Association and other US health authorities made in mid 1980
below 200 mg/dl their official recommendation.

Today we know that this is too high.
In a comprehensive study by Dr. Jeremiah Stamler, he followed 356,000 men
in 28 US cities. Following his research, death rates from cardiovascular disease
starts to rise when cholesterol gets above 168 mg/dl.
Total cholesterol in sedentary American men and women rise over 200 mg/dl
in their 30s and reach about 220 mg/dl by age 45.

It’s clear that sitting like a slug expose oneself to disease.
Recent research shows that average cholesterol levels in runners and bodybuilders
ranged between 158 mg/dl and 183 mg/dl.
It proves that exercise makes the healthy difference.

Chardiovascular diseases are far out our biggest health problem.
It kills more than twice as many Americans as all cancers, nine times as many as
all other lung and liver diseases together, and 28 times more than all forms of diabetes.

There are good reasons to warn everybody starting an exercise program
to have a thorough medical and physician’s approval before they start.
Sudden exertion in sedentary people “raises their changes of a heart attack by….100 fold!
A health letter from the Mayo Clinic stated:
“Most people who have heart attacks during activity are sedentary or have underlying heart disease and overdo it.”

Activity Prevents Cancer
Most cancers are slow-growing diseases, eating silently away at your body for years
before they show up.
Despite the overblown claims of successful treatment by the National Cancer Institute,
once a cancer emerges, medicine is usually  powerless.

Remember the swift deaths of Michael Landon of pancreatic cancer and Jaqueline
Onassis of Lymphoma. If there was an effective treatment, don’t you think those
immensely rich people would have bought it?

So if a little of the right exercise can prevent cancer, it’s worth than all the gold in
Ford Knox. And above all, like the other best things in life, it’s free!

From a study by Dr. Kenneth Cooper, it showed that incidence of all forms of cancer
was closely correlated with lack of physical exercise. Unfit men and women where
300% more likely  to develop cancer.
But the best finding from this study is that you have to move only a smidgen  out of
couch potatoland to prevent cancer big time.

Activity Against All Diseases

The right exercise is a major strategy for preventing and  treating All diseases.
Physicians who do not incorporate exercise into their treatment protocols are
guilty of malpractice.

The right exercise maintains your heart, lungs, your muscles, your bones, a healthy
level of bodyfat, even your intestinal function.
But what about more  subtle functions, such as insulin, and your body’s handling
of sugar?

We know that couch potatoism leads to glucose intolerance.
However, research has shown not long ago that getting off the couch not only
maintains insulin function to deal with the sugar, but also can reverse decades
of damage. In healthy people the right exercise completely protects glucose tolerance against the degenerative changes in insulin metabolism that lead to adult-onset diabetes.

Research has revealed the major way  in which activity protects you against all diseases.

It started with evidence that exercise increases overall white blood cells.
Then came more precise findings that moderate exercise increases bodily production of
lymphocytes, interleukin 2, neutrophills, and other disease fighting  components
of the immune system. There is no longer doubt that the right exercise strengthen
your immunity.

Hence it strengthens your resistance against all sorts of damage, decay, bacteria, viruses,
toxins, even radiation. Remember the wise words of Louis Pasteur, the father of
modern medicine: “Host resistance is the key”.

Healthy for Life with Natural Digestive Enzymes

Health & Nutrition, , , , , 
I refer to my articles:"Bacteria in our GI Tract & digestive health.

To be healthy for life it is important to consume 8 to 10 servings of fruit and vegetables daily and many of these should be raw that are considered to be “Life Food” because they contain those natural digestive enzymes.I also recommend that your diet is free from high-clycemic carbohydrates and sugar.

Because you will not be spiking your blood sugar, this will also keep your yeast in check and is the answer if you have problems with recurrent yeast infections.
It will keep your blood sugar lower, which is also critical to keep a balanced GI flora.
I also advice you to consume more good fat and good protein and reduce the amount of bad fat and bad protein that's in your diet now.

I also recommend that you take high-quality, complete and balanced nutritional supplements at the optimal levels that have been proven to provide a health benefit in medical literature.

However, even if you pratice a healthy lifestyle, there can be problems sometimes which are out of your control.

Science has shown that when we get older, the production of digestive enzymes becomes less.
When you combine this with a diet of highly processed foods without any natural digestive enzymes, for many of us this results in having less capacity to digest our micronutrients as we once did.

You could have irritable bowel, GI distress, reflux, and chronic fatigue.
I would advice you  to consider adding digestive enzymes to your diet and consume 1 – 3 high-quality digestive enzymes prior to or with your meal.

This will allow you to replenish your digestive enzymes and better digest and absorb the nutrients from your food and supplements. As a bonus you will usually notice an improvement in your GI tract and general health within 4 to 6 weeks of starting digestive enzymes. Of course you adjust the amount of enzymes you are consuming based on your response. If you respond well with one digestive tablet prior to or with your meal, then I suggest you stay at his level. you respond better with 2 to 3 tablets, then this may be the  level you need to take.

I also suggest that you take high-quality probiotics every other day,
This will bring your GI flora back into balance and suppress the bad bacteria and yeast. If you have to take a course of antibiotics for an infection, then take a packet of probiotics daily while you are on the antibiotics and for at least two weeks afterwards. This will help you better to avoid many of the terrible GI complications which antibiotics can cause and protect your health by bringing this “Garden Within” back into balance as soon as possible.
If you are eating a healthy diet and didn't have to take antibiotics, then you may find that after a few months of taking probiotics, you don't need to continue taking them. However, many people have such good health benefits or are concerned with the antibiotics that are in our food supply, which cannot be avoided by most of us, continue to take probiotics every other day or at least a few times per week is a good idea. Keeping your “Garden Within” into balance with natural digestive enzymes is a key aspect of general health and an optimal immune system.

Bacteria in our GI Tract: The Garden Within

Health & Nutrition, , , , , , , , ,

As promised in my last article about “Digestive Health”, I will explain what we mean by
“The Garden Within”.According to an estimation , there are between 300 and 1000 different species living inside our GI tract. The majority of micro organisms are bacteria which are present in our gut, and most of them come from 30 to 40 different species.

We also find fungi and protozoa, but its function is less well understood.
We think that these micro-organisms are symbiotic with their host, rather then just existing
together with no affect on each other. Symbiotic means that there are benefits for the host as well as for the bacteria. However, our gut also contains some harmful bacteria.
Because if they increase or become out of balance, they can cause serious problems and
even death to the host.
That’s why the key is balance when it concerns “The Garden Within”.

The gut of a new-born child is sterile or contains no flora. However, within one month
after the child that was born vaginally, their gut micro flora is well established.
At the age of two, the micro flora of the gut looks similar of that of an adult.
This balance appears to stay relatively normal and healthy, as long as our diet is healthy and no antibiotics are used. However, with the use of modern medicine of to-day it is rare to find someone who hasn’t taken some form of antibiotics in the last few months to a year or who is not eating a healthy diet.

When you add the All-American high-glycemic, and high sugar diet to the mix, you begin
feeding your fungi-like yeast much more than you do your bacteria.
Both the use of antibiotics and our poor diet has been shown to change our “Garden Within”, so that it is out of balance. This may have the effect that the yeast will overwhelm the GI flora,  causing a rise in vaginal yeast infections, and even in some cases, systemic yeast.

Antibiotics will destroy the bad bacteria that are the cause of illness, but unfortunately, they also destroy the good bacteria in your bowel. For example, clostridium is a species that is common in the GI tract and normally causes no problems.
However, as antibiotics can kill off the good bacteria, they allow clostridium difficile
(or G.difficile) to grow out of control, causing a heavy diarrhea for the person.
Even the antibiotics we find in our meat, milk and other foods can destroy enough good
bacteria to create an antibiotic induced diarrhea, as more of the good bacteria are destroyed, which allows the pathogenic bacteria to flourish.

We know of several healthy benefits from having a balanced micro flora in your GI tract.
Medical research have shown that the good bacteria in the gut have the following  benefits:

  • Help in the digestion of carbohydrates
  • Stimulates the immune system
  • Helps to absorb vitamin k, calcium and iron
  • Stimulates the lymphoid tissue of the gut,
    which also helps the immune system
  • Normally suppresses the grows of the
    bad or    pathogenic bacteria and fungi
  • Decreases the risk of allergic reactions
  • Has been associated with weight gain
    if it becomes out of balance

There are many other benefits of having a healthy, well-balanced GI flora;
however, there are also some negatives that occur from our GI flora.
They are able to break down certain protein fragments that can potentially be toxic to the GI tract and to the host.

These toxins have been associated with a greater risk of colon cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, leaky gut syndrome, auto immune disease , and irritable bowel disease.
This is why consuming adequate fiber in your diet is key in removing any of the toxins produced in the GI tract during digestion.
Fiber causes our bowels to eliminate those toxins much more quickly and much more effectively.

2 Simple steps to REMOVE visceral belly fat (the DEADLIEST type)

Health & Nutrition, , , , ,

Excess Abdominal Fat looks Ugly, and is a very Serious Health Issue!

The difference between subcutaneous fat and the more deadly “visceral fat”… with easy steps to get rid of this excess abdominal fat FOR EVER!

big stomach, visceral fatThis article applies to two dangerous types of stomach fat for both men and women… and this talk also applies if you only have a small amount of excess abdominal fat.

Are you aware of the fact that most people to-day have excess abdominal fat?  It’s true –at least 70% of the population in some “westernized” countries such as the US and Australia are now regard as either overweight or obese.  Most people think that their excess abdominal fat is simply ugly.
They cover up their abs from being visible, and makes them self conscious about showing off their body.

However, most people don’t realize that excess abdominal fat in particular, is not only ugly, but is also a dangerous health risk factor. Scientific research has clearly proved that although it is generally unhealthy to have excess body fat throughout your body, it is also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.

There are two types of fat that you have in your abdominal area.
The first type that hides your abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat.
It  lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.

The second type of fat that you have in your abdominal area is called visceral fat.
That lies deeper in the abdomen beneath your muscle and surrounding your organs. Visceral fat also gives certain men that “beer belly” appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively. But at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.

Both subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors. But science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat.  Both types of fat seriously increase your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases.

Research has shown that visceral fat is particularly dangerous, because it releases more inflammatory molecules into your system on a consistent basis.

The most important reason that some people accumulate more visceral fat than others can be caused by a high carbohydrate diet that leads to insulin resistance over time (years of bombarding your system with too much sugars and starches for your pancreas to properly handle the constant excess blood sugar).  Studies show that high fructose intake especially from high-fructose corn syrup can be an important contributor to excess visceral fat.

So what gets rid of extra abdominal fat, including visceral fat?

Your nutrition and training program are important if you want to get this right.
The good news is that I’ve spent over a decade researching this topic, analyzing the science, and applying it “in the trenches” with myself as well as thousands of my clients from all over the world.  To see what works to really stimulate abdominal fat loss.

I know of one particular study that divided thousands of participants into two groups:
a diet only and an exercise & diet combined group. While both groups in this study made good progress, the diet-only group lost significantly LESS abdominal fat than the diet & exercise combined group.

From my research, two of the most important aspects to getting rid of visceral fat are:

1. Apply high intensity forms of exercise and full-body resistance training.  Low intensity cardio exercise has no effect for removing visceral fat in particular.  High intensity exercise such as interval training, sprints (bike sprints or running sprints), AND full-body weight training are very effective at helping to improve your body’s ability to manage glucose and increases insulin sensitivity.  A crucial step in removing visceral fat.

These types of high intensity exercise routines are also very effective at increasing your fat-burning hormones. Creating a hormonal environment conducive to burning off abdominal fat, including visceral fat.

2.  Also, it’s vitally important to get blood sugar under control to help restore insulin sensitivity through the right nutrition.  By means of strongly reducing sugars and refined starches in your diet (including fully eliminating any use of harmful high fructose corn syrup!).
Focus more of your diet on healthy fats (such as avocados, nuts, seeds, coconut fat, olive oil, grass-fed butter, free-range eggs, fatty fish and fish oils, etc), also increasing protein and fiber intake.  The standard diet recommended by the government, which contains an unnaturally high grain intake does NOT help to control blood sugar and reducing visceral fat!

Having less grain-based foods in your diet and getting more of your carbs from veggies and high fiber fruits such as berries can significantly help to solve your excess abdominal fat problem.

Find out more about how to lose body fat by clicking here!

How to maintain and optimize our Digestive Health

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The purpose of this article is to give you some practical guidelines regarding whether or not you should take digestive enzymes and probiotics in order to maintain and optimize our digestive health.
In order to be able to make a decision whether or not digestive
enzymes and/or probiotics are suitable for you, I like to introduce
you to some basic health concepts about digestion and what I refer
to as “The Garden “Within”.
Digestive Enzymes
Enzymes are protein molecules that are produced in our bodies and are catalysts for all kind of chemical reactions. In other words, they allow these necessary chemical reactions to occur more easily and more quickly.
The main task of enzymes is to break down our food. Many of our whole,raw foods contain digestive enzymes and are sometimes referred to as “live food”, but because most of our food is now processed, many of the
enzymes found in whole foods are destroyed.

Most of our enzymes are made by the body in the pancreas, liver, stomach,
and salivary glands. They are designed to promote the breakdown of
carbohydrates, proteins and fats into usable fuel.

Normal Digestive Process

Digestion begins in the mouth as soon as you begin to smell food or even
think about food. This stimulate the release of saliva within your mouth
in the anticipation of eating. Saliva primarily contains amylase (ptyalin),
which hydrolyzes our carbohydrates into simple sugars.
The act of chewing actually breaks up your food into particles and the
saliva works to moisten your food and begin to breakdown the sugars
so that your food is more easily digested.

Therefore, when your mother told you to chew your food well, she was
correct in assuming that this is good for your digestive health.
Since you can only taste food when it is in your mouth, I would encourage
you to enjoy the experience and at the same time begin to digest your food
more effectively. What good does it do when you quickly chew and swallow
your food so that it will be dumped into your stomach prematurely?
You can’t enjoy the pleasure of eating as long as the entire process of
digestion is hindered.

Your food enters a very acidic environment in your stomach, due to the
hydrochloric acid your stomach produces. The Ph of the stomach is normally
around 2.5. This acidic environment is critic in beginning the breakdown
of your food, destroying micro-organisms, and converting pepsinogen,
the stomach also makes to pepsin. Pepsin is the key active enzyme in the
stomach and its role is to breakdown proteins into peptides or smaller
protein fragments. The stomach is continually chewing up your food,
which also allows your food to literally starts to dissolve.

Many things can increase your stomach acid or irritate the lining of your
stomach. For example: aspirin, NSAIDS, alcohol, stress, and spicy foods.
You may a have a tendency to just take additional antacids or acid
suppressing drugs to give ourselves symptomatic relief.
However, I would suggest to avoid those medications, foods and stress
as best as we can to eliminate the cause of your problem.
Neutralizing or decreasing the amount of acid you make will significantly
decrease your ability to digest food. This in itself can lead to indigestion,
irritable bowel syndrome, and even reflux.
If you are not effectively digesting your food, it becomes stuck in your
stomach and can slow down the entire digestive process.

After your food passes out of your stomach, it enters into the first portion
of the small bowel called the duodenum. When people develop ulcers,
It is here where they primarily occur . In your duodenum begins most
of the digestion and absorption of your food. Here the digestive enzymes
from the liver and the pancreas pour into the small bowel and begin the
final phases of digestion.

The pancreas is the primary digestive organ in the body. It secretes
several different enzymes that are needed to digest your food.
Pancreatic juice contains sodium bicarbonate, which neutralizes the
the acidic material from the stomach. Pancreatic juice also contains
amylase, trypsin, chymotrypsin, and lipase.
Pancreatic amylase then further breaks down the carbohydrates into
simple sugar, completing the digestive process of the carbohydrates
that began in your mouth.
Trypsin and chymoprysin  digest proteins that are now mainly peptides
because of the action of pepsin in the stomach.
This allows the proteins to be better absorbed and in a form (amino acids)
that the body can use and utilize. Pancreatic lipase breaks down fat
into fatty acids and glycerol.

Your liver is also an important organ for digestive health. The liver produces bile,
which is stored in the gallbladder   and transported to the duodenum
via your bile ducts.
Fat within any meal or snack stimulates the contraction of the gallbladder
to secrete and increased amount of bile into the duodenum during the
digesting process. Bile emulsifies fats (separates it into small droplets)
so they can mix with water and be acted upon by enzymes.

The liver is also your primary detoxifying organ.
The liver detoxifies the blood from the intestines via the hepatic portal
vein. For example, the ammonia produced by the digestion of proteins
in the small bowel is converted to a less toxic compound (urea) by the liver.
It is also a storage area for or those quick glucose stores when your
body needs some additional glucose quickly.

Your food now begins to traverse the long small intestine, where the digestive
enzymes are able to continue breaking down or digesting, as well as absorbing,
your food. Almost all absorption of your food occurs in the small intestine.

The colon or large bowel is primary responsible for reabsorbing water from
your food  and creating a more solid waste or stool.
However, the large intestine is also the area where most of the bacteria, fungi,
and other micro-organisms live and is what is also called:”The Garden Within.”
You can read about “The Garden Within” in my next article.
 

 

Benefits of Exercise

Health & Nutrition, , ,
Physical benefits of exercise has been recognized even in sickness.
Physicians are not permitting patients with organic ailments to stay in bed as long as before. According to “The American Practitioner”,’The levels of bed rest include the development of negative nitrogen balance and calcium loss through the kidneys, with the possibility of developing kidney stones.’
The article also says:’nervous tension can be released at times by exercise, either in the form of specific muscular exercise or through some form of athletics.’
Exercise is important to maintain our health.
Even a moderate walk as exercise starts a chain-reaction,
and as a start it causes the skeleton muscles to become more active.

As the muscles warms up, more heat is given off.
Body temperature remains almost the same, because the body’s automatic
air conditioning system starts to disperse the extra heat through the skin.

As more blood sugar is turned into energy, more carbon dioxide gas will
be expelled in the air we breath out, and blood will flow more rapidly
through the muscles. The breathing will become deeper, and the heart beat
and blood pressure will be changed.

In more strenuous exercises, these processes will be stepped up.
More heat will be generated, the heart beat will be faster, blood-pressure
higher, breather deeper and faster, and the circulation more rapid.

The limiting factor in strenuous exercises is the oxygen supply,
and when this limit is reached, oxygen fatigue is experienced and
the exercise has to stop.

Physio and occupational therapy are now standard procedures in medicine, to restore the use of muscles and nerves that have been injured by disease or by accident.

Those who’s occupation involves standing a long time, like dentists, teachers,
shop assistants, etc., are likely to develop phlebitis, i.e. the formation
of a blood clot – usually in the calf of the leg.
These people are advised to walk more and in addition. to take vitamin E
and lecethin capsules to improve the circulation, dissolve the clot and
prevent the formation of further clots.

Sufferers from rheumatism and arthritis, also those who are overweight,
are prone to take too little exercise. When people are troubled with
rheumatic twinges it is usually a sign that more exercise is needed and
that their diet contains too many acid-forming foods.

It is well known to vets that pampered pet dogs, which receive little
exercise, are troubled by ailments of degeneration which never affect
hard working sheep and cattle dogs.

Forms of exercise
Forms of exercise is a matter of personal preference.
Skipping is an effective form of exercise, and one of the best exercises
for keeping fit and is very suitable for wet days, as it can be done indores.
The skipping rope should be just long enough to clear the head, when standing
erect. Five minutes skipping every day is adequate for the first week,
increasing gradually to ten, fifteen and finally twenty minutes.
During bad weather it is best to skip at an open window, or better still,
under a veranda.

Generally speaking, when we grow older we should take less strenuous exercise
than when we were younger. Walking and gardening are safe exercises for almost all ages.Tennis could perhaps better be left to younger people, although
here and there one finds elderly people playing tennis with all the vim and
gusto of youth. These people have usually ‘grown up’ with the game and
accustomed themselves to what is normally a strenuous form of sport.

Swimming, like walking, is very suitable for older people, although they are
advised to keep to the and slower back and breast strokes, rather than the
more tiring modern strokes. Swimming has the advantage that the body’s weight
is partly supported by the water, which makes it possible to exercise without
risking any bodily harm.
We do not recommend exercise as a method of reducing weight, for this is
most disappointing. Exercise will reduce weight temporarily, but the appetite
thus acquired will rapidly put weight back again.

To lose 2 lb the average person would have to walk 15 miles per day for 7 days,
or play golf for 4 hours a day for the same period, without increasing his
food intake. By an athlete running for one hour per day at a speed of 7 miles
per hour, it could be accomplished in one week, again, if food consumption
is not increased.’

There are far more effective ways to reduce belly fat and weight.
You can find some excellent examples by visiting: www.thebestweightlossdiets.com