One of the biggest challenges in modern day health is the continued struggle from the toxic environment we have created around us. It effects the air we breathe the foods we eat and the products our body comes in contact with. Fortunately are bodies in the short term deal well with the continued bombardment of any number of contaminants and toxins we come into contact with everyday. Unfortunately over the long term our bodies start to either become over saturated or organs responsible for eliminating contaminates wear out form over use and just cannot keep up with the demand.
The good news is there are several things we can do to help our bodies cope with this dilemma. The simplest approach is to first minimize your exposure to harmful byproducts of our industrialized age. You can do this by eating as organically as possible avoiding artificial ingredients and hydrogenated oils. Avoid airborne contaminates such as second hand smoke, drink filtered water and use a high quality Air Purifier system for your home. This will not only help you stay healthier, with the body devoting less time detoxing it will have more time to keep you energized and feeling great.
In the most comprehensive study released to date on mercury contamination in the nation’s streams, underscored how widespread mercury pollution has become. The U.S. Geological study released on Wednesday found toxic substance in every fish tested at nearly 300 streams across the country. The alarming findings not only effect wildlife but the levels of mercury in the water and sediments can also show up in our drinking water system as well.
Although we reside in a country with one of the finest water treatment processes in the world it is still not perfect, and in some regions less than optimal. Even though are water is treated for contaminates with chlorine which is said to be safe in low exposure it is still a very toxic chemical. Also once the water leaves the plant it is destine to pickup a variety of contaminates before it arrives for use in drinking and bathing.
Fear not a simple remedy is to pick up a high quality water purifying filter for your home. Affordable and easy to install it is a safe bet to offset the increasing levels of contaminates being found in our water system. And if you are away from home you can now get a water bottle that will filter the water as you drink it from the bottle. I think that is pretty cool and convenient, not to mention minimizing the continuing impact on the environment from disposable plastic water bottles.
Over the past few weeks as I open the internet health news pages the redundant articles on the swine Flu is about all you see. Get a Flu shot is the solution to this alleged pandemic. The Alarmist’s out cries with predictions of unprecedented absences at schools this fall would give anyone the blues, and drive people to get a Flu shot. Has anyone noticed in the past years before this “Scary Pig Flu” arrived on the scene that people that get a Flu vaccination still get sick anyway? If not from a reaction to the shot, they contract a different strain of the Flu. There is no one size fits all Flu Shot and it does not guarantee that you will not get the Flu. And the statistics of illness and morbidity rate from the Flu are not accurate as they are bundled with other illnesses such as pneumonia and pre-existing conditions.
Now I am not saying that this vaccination does not have a place and a use for the elderly and immune compromised it may be appropriate. What has me all annoyed with all this hoop-la is the only option the media gives you is a profit driven vaccination.
No one is talking or writing about prevention through healthy lifestyle choices, especial during the Flu season. Wow what a novel Idea.
How about taking this opportunity to educate people on healthier food choices that boost the immune system. Fortifying the immune system with a good multivitamin for added nutritional insurance. Letting people know about the benefits of taking an extra serving of daily Super Green Food. Getting a little more rest and stay hydrated. All of these suggestions are backed by decades of scientific validation for their health benefits along with keeping you healthy. Even being isolated on an island can’t guarantee you won’t contract the Flu but proper prevention through dietary solutions will give you better odds. And if you do become ill it will help fight off the virus and speed recovery. Besides, good healthy foods taste better and is lot more enjoyable than vaccine shots.
With all the hoop-la about protein these days from the Atkins diet and the South Beach diet to the high protein hype for building muscle and losing weight Amino Acids ARE the real hero that seems to have been forgotten, lost in the fanfare of protein. Amino acids, are the forgotten hero because protein is not protein without them and without a complete protein profile it is just that, incomplete. It is like walking around with just one shoe on, one is good but not great it is incomplete and half functional.
Amino acids play central roles both as building blocks of proteins and as intermediates in metabolism. The 20 amino acids that are found within proteins convey a vast array of chemical versatility and combine to making a complete protein. The precise amino acid content, and the sequence of those amino acids, of a specific protein, is determined by the sequence of the bases in the gene that encodes that protein. The chemical properties of the amino acids of proteins determine the biological activity of the protein. Proteins not only catalyze all (or most) of the reactions in living cells, they control virtually all cellular process. In addition, proteins contain within their amino acid sequences the necessary information to determine how that protein will fold into a three dimensional structure, and the stability of the resulting structure.
In brief Amino Acids are the chemical units or “building blocks” of proteins that make up the components of the body . Amino Acids the real Hero of healthy tissue that combine to make protein and protein substances make up the muscles, tendons, organs, glands, nails, and hair. Growth, repair and maintenance of all cells are dependent upon them. Next to water, protein (amino acids) makes up the greatest portion of our body weight.
So the next time you have that chicken salad or your favorite protein shake give a little nod and smile for the 20 amino acids that have created such a tasty and healthy body moment.
Watch for more on the Amino Hero’s in the Future.
Let’s start off with a little reality check. The Recommended Daily Intake is 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables to satisfy our minimum vitamin and mineral needs. How many people can honestly say that they eat 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day? What is a serving?
Based on the national food pyramid guidelines a serving of:
Vegetables and fruits is
• 1 medium piece of fruit
• 1 cup raw leafy greens
• ¾ cup fruit or vegetable juice
• ½ cup raw or cooked non-starchy vegetables, such as asparagus or squash
Multiply this by 5 or 10
How many people can say they eat 3-5 cups of fresh raw leafy vegetables a day? How about 1-2 cups? The reality is that most Americans do not get nearly enough fruits and vegetables in their daily diet. That’s why taking a nutrient dense vitamin such as a whole food multi-vitamin is so important. Remember taking a multi vitamin is not a reason to stop striving to eat right and live a healthy life style it just helps keep you up with the daily nutritional demands for your body.
One of the 6 simple but basic steps to good health is getting plenty of clean water. Keeping hydrated is one of the most important elements of good heath. You can survive quite well with out food at an estimated 3-weeks and up to 25-weeks or more depending upon initial health and amount of fat. That is not to say you would be in very good health but you could survive death.
On the other hand at a pleasant 80 F / 26.7 C or so the average person would only make it about 9 days without water. HMMMM Food or water? I’ll have another glass of water please. Preferably clean water thank you.
In today’s world unless you live under a rock everyone knows about the importance of keeping Hydrated. Just look at all the hoop-la about “sports drinks”, don’t get me started on that, but that is for another blog. However I will say this DRINK WATER! Clean Fresh WATER! There I said it.
Now down to business. I honestly do not understand with all the Green consciousness in today’s media why people continue to buy bottle water. In a resent National Geographic study it was estimated that “In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the Pollution problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil”. “That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months”. HMmm am I missing something here? Or perhaps America is. Like a home water purifying system. First, it is much more cost effective Second, it its much better for the environment and third, it is cheaper and fourth it is not as expensive. But most of all it better for the earth. Have I got your attention yet? Get real, that $1.29 or even the .59 bottle of water is less than a penny if you have your own system. That’s right less than1 cent just add your favorite reusable water bottle. If you have a quality counter top or reverse osmosis in home system it is cheaper and it is most likely better quality water. So Keep hydrated, stay healthy and save money.
In an ever present world of rising health care costs people are realizing that a pound of prevention is worth a ton of cure. It use to be an ounce and a pound but inflation is rampant in the medical business forcing basic services out of the reach of many. Between the cost of medical services and medical insurance (if you can get it) more and more people just can’t afford to get sick, literally.
The bad news is there is no end in sight soon, but the great news is prevention awareness is on the rise. People are making healthier food choices and using alternative therapies such as massage and acupuncture to stay healthier.
Many people are going back to the basics and are taking there own health into there own hands by finding ways to “stay” healthy. Staying healthy is truly the best way to avoid rising health care costs. We are not of course suggesting you should not seek out medical help when necessary or you should self diagnose. However we do believe that you can do some simple things to be pro active in prevention and to avoid the high cost of medical services. Prevention is allot less expensive.
With just a few simple basic time tested steps you not only can help minimize having to go to the doctor you might just find that you fell better, are fully energized and getting more living out of life.
Here are our top six steps to a healthier you “Health Basics 101″.
- Eat Whole Foods – Organic Whenever Possible
- Drink Plenty of Pure Fresh Water
- Get Lots Fresh Clean Air
- Get Proper Rest
- Take Appropriate Nutritional Supplements for Nutrition Insurance
- Exercise,- Get Your Body in Motion.
Watch for future blogs as we take an in depth look at these six simple ways to staying healthy.
How much protein can be absorbed at each meal has been an ongoing topic of conversation among athletes especially body builders for sometime now. The most definitive answer so far has come from several resources in the scientific community one of which is D. M. Matthews Department of Chemical Pathology, Westminster Medical School, London.
Their research supports similar studies that the body absorbs 90 to 95% of the intake. In other words if you ate a serving of chicken containing 20g of protein, on average the body would uptake approximately 18g, 30g=27g, 40g=36g and so on. The source of the protein such as a lean cut of beef vs. say a protein shake does not make a significant difference in absorption.
An important note about this is that just because the body extracts it from the digestion process does not mean it uses all of it. Some of the protein may be excreted if not needed. Just how much your body needs per day or meal is another topic and deserves further discussion.
So regardless of your preference in food chocies you might say when it comes to protein you get what you pay for, well ok all but about 5 to 10% but that is still a bargin in todays economy.
I still find it amusing after all these years that here in the good old USA we are still saying we are on the “standard” system of measurement. As opposed to our friends in the rest of the world that are using the “metric” system. Although officially it is true I still ask the question, why does the food labeling system use grams as a unit of measurement instead of ounces? The preparation instructions if needed on the product is not in metric. I am sure that this is a very debatable subject for another time that would spawn everything from conspiracy theories to down right marketing deception.
The problem however is that most Americans grew up with there primary education in standard measurements so a gram for example has very little meaning as to actual volume. With this in mind a beverage label might read 20 grams of sugar but most people have no idea that what this means is that they are actually consuming approximately 5 teaspoons of sugar. So when was the last time you knowingly put 5 teaspoons of sugar in your coffee or tea?
The point here is that product labeling can be very miss leading because of the conversion factor, making it difficult for consumers that are truly looking for healthy food choices and healthy snacks to make the right decisions based on labeling. Our simple advice is to limit intake of commercially processed foods and go right for the fresh produce section as often as possible. After all I have not seen an apple with a nutritional label on it yet and the scale at the grocery store still reads in good old POUNDS and ONCES.
With all the choices in the vitamin isle these days it is not hard to understand why most people get overwhelmed and intimidated trying to figure out what is right for them. Add to that tying to decipher the ingredients and those cool Latin words becomes nearly impossible unless your are an herbalist or nutritionist.
So where do you start? It is not as complicated as you may think. Most people that have a fairly healthy lifestyle such as eating right, regular exercise and adequate rest can usually start with a high quality whole food vitamin supplement to give them that added nutritional boost. After that depending on additional lifestyle factors such as stress and health situations you may want to start a customized plan. For example you my consider adding additional vitamin B-12 for stress situations or vitamin C to boost your immune system . For a truly customized plan it is best to consult a health professional trained in nutritional evaluation for your specific needs. Once you have done that shopping for vitamins gets easy, just look for the recommended high quality product at the best price.