Functional Foods: What They Are And How They Work
August 31, 2008
In the brain, a typical protein can live for approximately ten days. The thoughts, feelings and memories of a human being are made up of what was in the stomach only a few days before. As you can see, in choosing one’s diet, you actually can determine who and what you are going to become.
About 2500 years ago, Hippocrates said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."
Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals are designer foods and supplements that are combined with nutritional value that are disease-preventative and have medicinal benefits. These are usually natural products which may reduce or prevent chronic and acute disease or promote good health.
Many chronic and acute diseases are caused or irritated by nutritional imbalances or deficiency. The link between diet, disease and the ability to process thought are sometimes subtle and complex. Many studies suggest that some 40% of cancers are linked to dietary choices. Unhealthy eating habits are sometimes caused by farming practices, lack of money, and a manufacturing industry that promotes the ignorance of true, beneficial nutrition.
Low Carb Diets — How Much Protein Do You Need
August 30, 2008
Low Carb Diets — How Much Protein Do You Need
by: Rita Preece
What is protein?
Millions of different proteins occur in nature. Protein is made of chains of amino acids held together by peptide bonds. There are about 20 amino acids that can be bound together in various combinations to make the millions of different proteins. There are two groups of amino acids: non-essential amino acids, which are made by your body and essential amino acids, which have to come from your food.
Why does my body need protein?
Protein is an important part of muscle fibre, cell walls, skin, nails and hair. You are losing protein all the time as you shed dead skin cells, nails and hair and it has to be replaced. At times your body needs more protein, like when you’re growing, when you’re pregnant or breast-feeding, or when wounds are healing. Protein is a source of energy for your body and the amino acids are used to make things like adrenaline and antibodies to fight disease.
How does my body digest the protein I eat?
FDA Approves Lasik Eye Surgery
August 29, 2008
FDA Approves Lasik Eye Surgery
by: Ron King
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new custom lasik procedure in September of 2005. This new procedure can now treat many patients who were previously ineligible for the surgery.
Nearsightedness
Nearsightedness occurs when the eye is too long and light rays focus in front of the retina, instead of focusing on the retina. Some of the symptoms of nearsightedness are blurred distant vision, eyestrain, and squinting, along with having a difficult time seeing at night.
Although nearsightedness can be easily fixed with glasses or contact lenses (when not too severe), many people don’t like to hassle with either one. With this new lasik procedure, folks will now be able to have pure vision.
Astigmatism
Astigmatism is the effect of the eye being shaped like a football, instead of round like a baseball. This deformity — where the light rays focus on two points on the retina instead of one — results in blurred vision, double vision, and shadows on letters when reading. Until recently, this deformity has prevented some people from even getting contact lenses. Breakthroughs in contact lenses have only helped those with slight astigmatism.
Ways To Deal With Hair Loss
August 28, 2008
Ways To Deal With Hair Loss
by: Charles Mohaney
A great many people suffer from hair loss problems during their lives, and suffering from thinning hair - particularly at an earlier age - can prove very stressful and traumatic. We often associate hair loss with old age, but the truth is that there are many causes of this problem and it can affect anyone and at any age. From small bald spots to high level loss of hair, different people can be affected in different ways, often depending on the cause of the problem. Thankfully, there are a number of solutions available these days that can help with promoting regrowth of the hair. Often the solution that is most effective will depend on a number of factors, such as the cause of the problem, the level of loss, and even your budget. However, different treatments suit different people, and you may find that a solution that has worked on a friend may do nothing for your problem.
Benefiting from hair loss solutions
Does The Place You Live Affects Your Wellness?
August 27, 2008
Does The Place You Live Affects Your Wellness?
by: Christos Varsamis
During the course of your growing up years, you lived wherever your parents chose to live. You didn’t give any thought to the health implications of the location your parents chose, or if they had chosen a place that was conducive to your overall wellness. Chances are your parents didn’t give it much thought either. Not until recently, has there ever been given any thought to the fact that where you live affects your health and wellness. But it does, and it’s a piece of information that is sure to influence many generations to come.
So how is this information compiled, and what can we learn from it? The information is compiled based on statistical information from areas such as smog levels, pollution levels, water quality, government based fitness incentives, and recreational and fitness facilities available. Generally, one of the major magazines published in the United States, will compile all this statistical data, and publish an article as a recreational guide to healthy cities.
What do we learn from all this published information? That where we live really does affect our health and well-being, and sometimes, there’s very little we can do about changing that fact. Unless, of course, you want to move.
Glutamates
August 27, 2008
Approximately 30 years ago, food manufacturers were competing against the American Homemaker for consumable dollars. Women, traditionally prepared food fed to the family and the food prepared came fresh and cheap!
Food scientists knew then that we have glutamate receptors on our tongues. Humans are driven to eat foods containing glutamates, even when we can’t taste them. Glutamates can enhance taste or the sensation of taste, but it also causes a chemical reaction soon after the glutamate receptors are activated.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and other glutamates (called free glutamates) can appear naturally in foods or may be included as additives by manufacturers in order, among other reasons, to increase the popularity of their products.
When glutamates are added to foods, they can release high levels of insulin, which cause changes in the metabolism. In a report written by Drs. N.A. Togiyama and A. Adachi and published in the medical journal Physiological Behavior, applying monosodium glutamate to the tongues of animals will release high levels of insulin within three minutes.
The hunger that follows such an insulin response could increase cravings, cause weight gain, and if repeated over tine, increase the likelihood of adult-onset diabetes.
How To Benefit From Best Exercise Program
August 26, 2008
How To Benefit From Best Exercise Program
by: Chris Chew
So you have decided that you want to be fit and healthy but at a loss as to which exercise program will benefit you best. Before you decide to select or design a beneficial exercise program, there are a few things which you must do.
• Why do you want to exercise?
Define your exercise goals and objectives. Write them down so that this will serve as your constant reminder why you want to embark on an exercise program. It also serves to narrow down your search for the best program because you will know what to look out for. For example, you may want to lose weight steadily or you may to build some muscle tone or you just simply want to get fit. Be definite in what you want to achieve so that you will have a clear direction and will choose the right exercise program to achieve your goals more effectively.
• What do you need to do to get the best exercise benefit
The Causes And Reasons Why People Stutter
August 25, 2008
The Causes And Reasons Why People Stutter
by: Steve Hill
I have been asked many times, why certain people develop a stutter. I personally believe there are many reasons and this article describes some of them and gives examples of why certain people of whom I have met via my occupation, started to stutter.
I myself had the speech impediment, known as a stutter for eighteen years, it started to ruin my life from the age of four. After successfully overcoming the stutter at the age of twenty-two, I now as a career help other people to achieve fluency. As you can imagine, I have therefore met and helped many people who stutter, and always ask them, how and why in their opinion their stutter started.
Quite a few people are not sure, however other people state the following reasons:
It was triggered after a traumatic event
It runs in the family
They copied a friend at school who had a stutter and then it stuck with them
An over aggressive relative
Because they were left handed!
Diabetes Awareness: Will They Recognize You?
August 24, 2008
Imagine how it feels to look younger, feel younger, and act younger! Now, think about how others see you. Are you ready to make a lasting impression on your friends and family? Great!
Taking charge of your diabetes through exercise can give you a younger look and feel not to mention ?? a younger attitude!
As you read this message, remember this: You don’t pay the price to improve your health, you reap the benefits of being healthy!
Treatment of diabetes has gone through dramatic changes in the past two decades. Previously, exercise was often overlooked as a "cornerstone" in its treatment as it was difficult to maintain blood sugar levels with the additional variability introduced by physical activity, especially for individuals with type 1 diabetes.
However, with blood glucose meters now being readily available and affordable, exercise can be done safely and without fear of severely upsetting an often delicate glucose balance.
The usual health benefits of exercise apply to individuals with diabetes as well, perhaps even more than normal.
Much of what we attribute to the aging process really results from disuse (for example, muscle atrophy, or loss of flexibility in joints). Diabetes, especially when blood sugars are poorly controlled, accelerates the normal aging process, as well as certain disease processes such as heart disease.
Work/Life Balance: Forming Healthy Habits
August 23, 2008
Work/Life Balance: Forming Healthy Habits
by: Wendy Betterini
A habit is an action or series of actions that we perform in a subconscious manner. We don’t have to consciously think about doing these things, they seem to happen on their own. Habits can be good or bad, depending on how they enhance our quality of life, or detract from it.
Have you ever driven home or to work and then had no recollection of the ride? Or have you taken the wrong exit off a freeway because it’s the one you usually take, when in fact you had intended to keep on to another exit? Our minds become conditioned to doing things in a certain way, simply because we have done them over and over again in that exact way. This can be a good thing, as it makes much of our daily routine somewhat effortless. Imagine having to focus intently on every little thing you did, like washing dishes or taking out the garbage. Sounds exhausting, doesn’t it?
