What is a Healthy Eating Plan?
January 31, 2007
Healthy eating is important for everyone, from babies to the elderly. Learning to eat well is more than just eating a variety of foods so that your body gets the proper nutrients. It is also about enjoyment of foods and maintaining a healthy weight. Anyone can eat for good health. It involves 2 simple steps. First is to eat foods from all the different food groups. The second step is to eat a variety of foods from each group every day. Sounds simple. However so many people are not following a healthy eating plan. Busy lifestyles, availability of fast food, advertising and a lack of understanding of what healthy food is, all work against people trying for healthier eating. Unhealthy eating causes illness and weight problems. Type 2 diabetes is increasing dramatically and is directly linked to the increase in obesity. Heart disease and some cancers are also linked to obesity.
A study by the Medical Journal of Australia found that 56% of Australian adults are considered overweight or obese. This is a 61% increase in obesity since 1991 Un-treated obesity poses significant, even life-threatening health risks.
Low Back Pain - Ayurvedic Management
January 31, 2007
Low back pain is one of the most common pain disorders today .It is a chronic condition characterized by a persistent dull or sharp pain per the lower back. It may be also associated with burning, stiffness, numbness or tingling with the pain shooting down the buttocks and the legs.
When we stand, the lower back functions to hold most of the weight of the body. When we bend, extend or rotate at the waist, the lower back is involved in the movement. Low back ache is often precipitated by moving, lifting objects or twisting of the waist. Severe pain in the low back can be quite debilitating to patients. Pain in the lower back restricts activity and reduces work capacity and quality of enjoyment of everyday living and turns daily life into a misery.
Survey indicates that 70 per cent of the people suffer from low back pain at some time in their lives. The highest rate of back pain occurs among the 45 to 64 year age group. The incidence of low back pain is greater among women. In 90 per cent of the patients, low back pain resolves within six weeks, i.e. self limited. In another 5 per cent the pain resolves by 12 weeks. Less than 5 per cent of back paid account for true nerve root pain.
How to Burn Fat: Doctors Proven Weight Loss Secret #1
January 31, 2007
Let me ask you a personal question. As you read these words, right now– are you burning fat?
If you don’t know the answer, you need to know about a simple, inexpensive way to make sure. Every time. Every day. And I’ll show you why and how this simple, doctor-proven technique can be your most powerful weapon in your fight against fat.
No matter what weight loss program you are currently on, wouldn’t you like to know whether your plan is producing results? Most of us step on the scale, or wait until our clothes fit more loosely, before we really know whether our latest miracle diet pill or plan is working. And as a veteran dieter, you know that can take many days or weeks.
But there is a way to know for certain — within hours– whether or not you’re burning fat. To see if the food, or the pills, or the exercise is really returning benefits. Immediate benefits.
Are you starving?
There are really only two ways your body loses weight (by non-surgical means). You are either burning fat, or “burning” muscle. If you are burning muscle, watch out! You have actually begun to starve. For safe, healthy weight loss, you must preserve your muscle tissue (including heart muscle) and burn fat instead.
Alzheimer Disease and Antioxidants
January 31, 2007
At the present time, one out of ten adults have some form of Alzheimer disease. According to Dr. Greengard, Director of the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research at the Rockefeller University, that number is expected to strike up to three times as many in the coming decades. Alzheimer’s is considered a disease of the elderly and with the average lifespan of the US population rising to 74, a solution to the medical problem is being sought.
For Scientists the largest concern is what causes Alzheimer’s and how can it be eradicated. For possible victims and their families it is how do we prevent the dreaded affliction or stop it in its tracks once it is diagnosed.
Scientists are in agreement and have narrowed down the contributing factor causing Alzheimer’s disease. Most researchers agree that Beta-amyloid is one of the agents thought to cause damage to the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. The research is attempting to find a deterrent and is recognizing antioxidants to be significant in protecting at risk patients.
According to the Harvard Medical Center, continuing research and studies are being conducted with some positive results. Even though some studies by the French point to wine as a protectant, the results are considerably controversial. The component in the wine that was indicated to be responsible for the protectant agent is still somewhat ambiguous.
High Carb & Low Carb Diets: How To Avoid The Dangers
January 30, 2007
There’s a two hundred year history of people prescribing both high and low carb diets for weight loss. So how does one choose? One factor you should consider is the dangers associated with each diet.
What is a carbohydrate, anyways?
There are three types of nutrients that every body uses: *Proteins in our diet usually come from Meat and soy products like tofu. Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, are used to make muscles and enzymes (the proteins that do most of the work our bodies need to survive)
* Carbohydrates are sometimes described as "sugars," but they’re not just white stuff in you find in the baking aisle. Simple sugars include the sugar you put in coffee; pasta, bread, and potatoes are among the source of starches, or complex carbohydrates. Most of your body uses carbs for energy, and it’s the preferred energy source for the brain.
* Fats are long, chainlike molecules that are don’t mix with water (oils are fats). They are an efficient way for the body to store energy.
You can see that all three nutrients are crucial for functioning. What happens if you take in more or less of a given nutrient than you need?
Fighting Burn-out: Natural Help For Stress, Fatigue and Adrenal Insufficiency
January 30, 2007
The adrenal or "stress glands" are small, triangular shaped glands located on the top of the kidneys. Their function is to prepare the body’s resources to run or fight through the releasing of specific hormones. When this primitive, instinctive response is activated, blood is diverted from digestive system while our blood pressure, pulse, blood sugar levels increase. At the same time, our pupils dilate and the speed of reflexes increases. All of this happens as a way to ensure our survival.
In modern times, we don’t’ have to worry about becoming dinner for a hungry tiger or being trampled by a herd of buffalo. Our bodies, however, automatically respond the same way when we are under physical, emotional or mental stress. Many of us live in a state of constant stress that strains our bodies to the point of exhaustion. Over time, and through repetition, this can impact the way the adrenal glands function, causing us to experience adrenal insufficiency or "burn-out".
10 Essential Food Safety Tips For AIDS Sufferers
January 30, 2007
Persons with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are especially susceptible to illness from food-borne pathogens. Because they’re at higher risk for severe illness or death, affected persons must be vigilant when handling and cooking foods. Here are some recommendations to help prevent bacterial food-borne illness.
1. When shopping for raw and cooked perishable foods, be sure the food is being stored at a safe temperature in the store. Don’t select perishable food from a non-refrigerated aisle display. Never choose packages which are torn or leaking.
2. When ordering food from the deli department, be sure the clerk washes his hands between handling raw and cooked items or puts on new plastic gloves. Don’t buy cooked ready-to-eat items which are touching raw items or are displayed in the same case.
3. Don’t buy cans that are dented, leaking, or bulging; food in cracked glass jars; or food in torn packaging. Tamper- resistant safety seals should be intact. Safety buttons on metal lids should be down and should not move or make a clicking noise when pushed. Do not use any product beyond its expiration date!
Weight Loss & Health Tips Revealed: Can I Be Fit And Fat?
January 30, 2007
We all have an image of "fit" - lean, even thin, with a healthy glow. Many researchers are now beginning to question that picture of fitness - there may be more to being "fit" and less to being "fat" than conventional wisdom suggests.
What Are The Dangers Of Extra Weight
Carrying extra weight can put stress on your body. People who are overweight - that is, who weigh more for their height than is considered healthy - may be at increased risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and strokes, and may put additional pressure on their joints.
So Thin People Are In Danger Too?
However, as recent debates among scientists show, the "fit = thin" equation may hide a more complex situation. Often, when an overweight person begins to exercise and eat healthier foods, measures of their health improve. It might be that blood pressure and cholesterol improve because of weight loss that comes with exercise. But, researchers like Steven Blair argue, it may be that the exercise itself makes us healthier. As we exercise and eat better, our metabolism - the use of food to build and repair the body and make energy - changes, and that’s what makes us healthy. The weight loss is a sort of "side effect" of the changes we’ve made in lifestyle.
Get Out and Play: Top 7 Outdoor Exercises
January 29, 2007
Do you remember when our parents used to yell at us to go outside and play? They would get so tired of us running around the house munching junk food and fighting with our siblings that they would practically kick us out of the house!
Well, we may not have the same child-like activities lined up to get outside for anymore, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t still get out and enjoy the world! Exercising outdoors has many benefits, and they include the following:
- Little or no equipment needed to get a good workout
- No crowded gyms or obnoxious people to put up with
- No driving time to the local fitness facility
- No need to put on makeup or special clothing to workout at the gym
- Vitamin D enhancing sunshine for our skin
- The ability to workout anytime, anywhere - even on vacation
- Two words: Fresh Air
There are probably other reasons that you can think of why an outdoor workout would fit into your particular lifestyle, so now all you have to do is learn what kind of activities can be done outside.
Slimming Solutions
January 29, 2007
Here are 5 solutions to slimming:
1. Set Mini-Goals: Try setting short-term or “mini” goals to help you achieve your goal of shedding the excess weight. Keep in mind that your mini goals should be specific and realistic, and they should have a measurable outcome. Setting your target in specific, measurable terms will increase your chances of accomplishing your long term goal of losing those unwanted pounds. In addition, remember to be realistic. If you’ve been consuming over 2000 calories, dont try cutting back to 1400 overnight. And if you haven’t exercised all year, dont aim to run three miles each day.
2. Budget your foods: If you can budget your money, you can budget your foods. Aim to have a specific amount of fruits, vegetables, starches, proteins and fats throughout the day, or for each meal. By limiting the amounts of each type of food, you will be able to stay within a calorie level that will enable you to loose weight.
3. Keep a food journal: Keeping a food journal helps you to avoid what is called “unconscious eating” - eating that leads to consumption of excess calories, beyond what you may have ever intended to consume. In fact, research actually shows that keeping a food journal will help you to loose weight!
