Good Healthy Living

Posts Tagged ‘Fruits And Vegetables’

Instead of setting new year resolutions that are soon broken, consider making some simple changes to your diet and lifestyle which you can adopt throughout this year and beyond.

1. Aim to eat a minimum of 5, but preferably 8 to 10 fruits and vegetables a day.

2. Choose “negative calorie” vegetables which use up more calories to digest than the number of calories they contain. Examples are broccoli, carrots, celery, lettuce, asparagus, cauliflower, chilli peppers, cucumbers, garlic, onions, spinach, turnip. Read the rest of this entry »

Just like in the air surrounding us and the environment engulfing us, we have toxins inside our body also. Toxins are present inside and outside our body. We probably cannot do much about toxins in the environment around us but we can definitely do something about the toxins in our own body! There are some toxins which are present in very small quantities and will not really harm us, but been aware of the same is equally important. Here is a list of toxins in our body and we need to control them: Read the rest of this entry »

Epidemiological studies have shown that eating foods rich in antioxidants results in a reduced risk of heart attacks,strokes and cancer. Antioxidants reduce damaging oxidative stress caused by highly active free radicals in the blood. These detrimental effects have been implicated as a pathogenic factor in most diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Antioxidant rich foods include fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains. Phytochemicals are strong antioxidants and are naturally present in these foods. For example, soybeans contain genisten, tomatoes and grapefruit contain lycopene, cabbage and brussel sprouts cotain indoles, garlic and onion contain allylic sulfides, tea contains tannins and most fruits and vegetables are rich in flavonoids.

A diet rich in these foods is highly protective. This observation has led to the widespread use of synthetic multivitamins and anti-oxidants to prevent cancer and cardiovascular diseases, and increase life span. However taking these supplements have not shown protective benefits, and have actually been harmful in most people.

Dr. Jaakko Mursu and collegues recently presented disturbing data regarding life expentancy with the use of multivitamins and mineral supplements in healthy older women. They found that most supplements in older women were associated with a higher risk of total mortality. These supplements included multivitamins, vitamin B6, folic acid, and minerals such as iron, magnesium, zinc and copper. There was a 3% to 6% increased risk of death with taking vitamin B6, folic acid, iron, magnesium, and zinc supplements and an 18.0% increased risk for total mortality with copper supplementation. The increased rates appear when compared to individuals not taking these supplements. This large study involved a total of 38,772 older women, between the ages of 55 to 69 years. Their results were published in the October 10, 2011 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

In an earlier review of 47 studies involving nearly 181,000 participants, Bjelakovic and colleagues reported that taking vitamin A supplements increased the risk of death by 16%, beta-carotene by 7%, and vitamin E by 4%. These findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2007.

Meta-analysis of several studies have also documented that antioxidants do not prevent cancer. On the contrary, studies have implicated their intake with a higher incidence of some cancers. In a study by Lawson and associates and published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in 2007, the risk of fatal prostate cancer doubled in men who took multivitamins seven days a week, when compared with men who did not take any multivitamin supplements. Their study involed 295,344 men enrolled in the National Institutes of Health Diet and Health Study. Other studies have shown that mortality also appears to be increased in persons with gastrointestinal and lung cancers while ingesting anti-oxidant supplements.

The exact mechanism behind this harmful effect of multivitamin/anti-oxidant supplementation is not clear. It has been suggested that supplemental antioxidants may decrease free radicals and upset defensive mechanisms necessary to destroy precancerous and cancerous cells. Synthetic antioxidants may also possess pro-oxidant properties.

The American diet provides almost 120% the recommended daily allowances for ß-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin C. Except for calcium and prescribed supplementation for documented deficiency (for example Vitamin D), scientific data suggests that most multivitamins and mineral supplements should not be used in otherwise well nourished individuals.

The phenolic acids are a group of phytonutrients (plant based chemical compounds with various health benefits) that can be sourced from a number of fruits and vegetables. Their health benefits include minimising allergic reactions, removing toxins from the body, protecting against disease and much more. In this article I will be providing a full overview of 2 phenolic acids and their main health benefits.

1) GALLIC ACID:

Gallic acid can be found in a number of fruits, nuts and teas. Walnuts are the top source and contain an impressive 1,625 milligrams (mg) per 100 grams (g). Oranges are also a good gallic acid food with a 100g serving giving you 84mg of this phenolic acid. Gallnuts, grapes and tea also contain some gallic acid but the exact amounts they contain are not known. Read the rest of this entry »

The phenolic acids are a group of non-essential, plant based nutrients that can be found in many different fruits and vegetables. Although they are not believed to be essential for human survival, studies have shown that they can prevent acne, fight free radicals and much more. In this article I will be providing a full breakdown of 2 phenolic acids, listing the best food sources and discussing their main health benefits.

1) CURCUMIN:

Curcumin can only be found in the spice turmeric with 100 grams (g) containing around 5g of this phenolic acid. It is a potent antioxidant that can keep your body’s cells safe from nasty free radicals. Free radicals are dangerous by-products that are released into your body’s cells during oxygen based reactions and have been linked with cancer (a health disorder where your body’s cells start to grow in a rapid, uncontrollable way), diabetes (a health disorder which leads to extremely high blood glucose levels), premature ageing and a weak immune system. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s unfortunate that the only time most people go a doctor is when they’re already sick or hurt. Older persons are particularly prone to putting off visits and checkups. Wellness doctors are the team leaders in a proactive program for getting and staying healthy and fit. Wellness is a concept of maintaining a healthy lifestyle through exercise, good eating habits, weight control and positive attitude improvements.

Not every physician is certified to practice wellness medicine. There is a system and theory to the whole concept that differs from curative medicine, it’s preventive medicine. Wellness specialists work with their clients and educate them in how to live a healthy lifestyle, maintaining a proper sleeping pattern, consuming the right quantities of water, taking reasonable supplements where there is a real deficiency and establishing a way of life that keeps aging in check. Good lifestyle habits, reducing intake of caffeine, eliminating tobacco products and engaging in social activities. Healthy people are social, enjoy exercise and sports and generally live longer and depression free lives. Read the rest of this entry »

A low carb diet is a good way to those extra pounds shed and again in the form. The body produces energy from carbohydrate feed quickly and easily. By reducing the ratio of carbohydrate in your diet, so you’re called upon your body fat using stored body as an energy source. Limit your daily carbohydrate intake to about 20 grams initiated the burning of fat in your body process. While low carb, is a quick way to reduce weight, make sure that you not denied proper nutrition are. Change eating habits, but ensure you graph a healthy diet and indulge yourself with the food your body for healthy functioning needs.

Low carb diet advises you reduce wheat products such as bread, pasta, rice or noodles and just go with the proteins and fats like milk, cheese, fish or egg. Some fruits and vegetables contain high amount of carbohydrate such as bananas, mangoes, Kiwis, grapes, potatoes, pears, pineapple, carrots, and sugar beet. Read the rest of this entry »

Turning to what the paleo diet and what exactly is all around?

Thanks to the obscene obesity and widely used for heart disease and diabetes a greater focus on society as a whole has never been to be too fit leaner and more healthy. Diet and nutrition lifestyle become endless and it would be fair to say that diets in some form or another is now a way of life for most of people. And there are so many diets and programs available to us these days. They include eating each topic on the people on the right food and to avoid and in combination, but really, after deeper known in search, we will find that the answers we are looking for our Caveman ancestors go back.

This endless election and all the different options and rules each particular nutritional involved, it’s worth, really to understand what brings each diet, before you choose one and get started. It must be right for you and give you everything you need or search without any side effects or additional problems. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many diets available for people to expend during attempts at weight loss and control of disease risk factors. It can be confusing when analyzing all the different aspects of diets as you are trying to decide a diet you can follow.

The most popular diets work on the premise of reducing insulin levels, which enables the body to employ energy from digested food instead of storing energy as elephantine. Most of the long term diets that are effective in achieving weight loss work on establishing a healthy diet over many weeks. They may originate as restricting carbohydrates with exception of vegetables, however as you bag closer to your weight goal, you can begin adding in whole grains and complex carbohydrates.

Other favorite diets are very restrictive and meant to be adhered to for 1-2 weeks, no more. The weight loss achieved is often due to severe calorie restriction and loss of water weight. These diets are often devoid of famous vitamins and nutrients and require taking supplements daily. They are effective in causing weight loss, however they do not pronounce or instill healthy eating habits. Because of this, most of the weight lost is like a flash regained. Read the rest of this entry »

Most people have heard about how antioxidants can fight cancer, but not everyone knows that antioxidants and the brain go together as well. The power of these nutrients to fight the effects of aging may be as vital as their ability to fighting cancer.

The power of antioxidants is their ability to neutralize “free radicals”. Free radicals are unstable particles in the body that can hurt healthy cells. Antioxidants bind with these particles and render them inert. When talking about antioxidants and the brain we are talking about how they prevent free radicals from causing damage to the brain.

Researchers believe that free radical hurt is a contributing factor in various diseases and some of the decline in bodily functions that Read the rest of this entry »