Online Health Information|Health Information, Health Terms and Definitions

For the first time ever, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) dietary guidelines has identified sugar as a part of our diet we should limit, prompted by an overwhelmingly amount of evidence that proves high-sugar foods, such as cookies and soft drinks, not only lead to weight gain, but they often replace the foods that really need to be eaten each day to survive and thrive.

If you eat a healthy diet and meet your nutritional needs on most days, you can still enjoy guilty pleasures like a sweet dessert or an occasional sugary soda. But, keep in mind, that no matter what form of sugar you eat - from Gummi Bears to Wheaties - carbohydrates (sugars) contain 4 calories per gram, they break down to simple sugars during digestion (except for fiber which is indigestible) and are either used for immediate energy, or stored as fat!

While you need sugars in your body to keep it running, you should pick sugars that come in the form of nutrient-rich starches like whole grains. You should also eat plenty of vegetables - which do contain sugars, but do contain an abundance of valuable vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting chemicals. 

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There are many advantages to eating fruit and vegetables raw. Water-soluble vitamins (such as vitamin C) are destroyed by heating, so there will be less vitamin C in a cooked carrot than in a similar raw carrot.

But for some nutrients, cooking (and juicing) is more nutritious, because it makes the nutrients more easily assimilated. Cooking and juicing breaks down tough fibres and allows the digestive juices to work more effectively on the vegetable. This is particularly important for someone who is elderly, ill or who has impaired digestion.

For example, research has shown that we absorb approximately 3-4% of carotenoids from raw carrots and 15-20% from cooked carrots. Carotenoids are plant pigments that give yellow, orange and red fruit and vegetables their colour. Carotenoids are powerful antioxidants, so have a role in helping us fight old age and cancer.

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To prevent problems when selling or using herbs:

1. Be certain you have the correct plant.
2. Use simples.
3. Understand that different preparations of the same herb can work differently.
4. Use nourishing, tonifying, stimulating, and potentially poisonous herbs wisely.

BE CERTAIN YOU HAVE THE CORRECT PLANT

One of the easiest ways to get into trouble with an herb is to use the “wrong” one. How could that happen? Common names for herbs overlap, causing confusion as to the proper identity. Herbs that are labeled correctly may contain extraneous material from another, more dangerous, herb. Herbs may be picked at the wrong stage of growth or handled incorrectly after harvesting, causing them to develop detrimental qualities.

Protect yourself and your customers with these simple steps:

• Buy herbs only from reputable suppliers.
• Only buy herbs that are labeled with their botanical name. Botanical names are specific, but the same common names can refer to several different plants. “Marigold” can be Calendula officinalis, a medicinal herb, or Tagetes, an annual used as a bedding plant.
• If you grow the herbs you sell, be meticulous about keeping different plants separate when you harvest and dry them, and obsessive about labeling.

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That fasting has health benefits is not widely known. No, not only can it help in weight loss; it can help in the improvement of the total function of the entire body system. It may sound unbelievable but fasting could even cure diseases such as colds, fever, cough and other stomach disorders. Some religious sects regard fasting as holy, a sacrifice, voluntary abstinence for religious reasons. But there is more to fasting than the religious aspect. It was discovered years ago that it could help improve a person’s health.

For colds, people normally resort to medicine. “Take something for it”, is the usual attitude at the first sign of such ailments (as with fever and coughs). However, there is an alternate to cure those illnesses and that is through fasting at the advisable duration of three days.

As treatment for colds and coughs, try not eating anything for three days. But take all the water you can take until your pulse and body temperature returns to normal. Take a good long rest in bed and after three days, you will feel like you’ve never been sick.

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With all of the recent negative press given to body supplements, it makes good sense to be cautions about using different nutritional supplements as a part of your body building efforts.

Whey protein has been lauded as a safe, natural and simple supplement. It’s use has become popular for those genuinely interested in good health through physical fitness and body building.

The importance of adequate protein levels in the body cannot be ignored. Since protein is used up when exercising, body builders must prevent muscle deterioration by maintaining protein levels. Naturally, building additional muscle mass will also require adequate levels.

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Fruits are made by nature and are a perfect food. They contain the right balance of nutrients with distilled water. You gain enormous benefits from eating fruits especially if you eat the outer skin and eat them without cooking. They are easy to digest and absorb and do not stress your colon. In addition, they will help you relieve or eliminate your constipation.

Fruits contain fiber, which help to cleanse your colon and prevent constipation. Most fruits help provide the body with minerals that help the body reduce acid as it is created. And most important of all, fruits help cleanse the body of mucus slime that accumulates throughout the body.

Fruits do not leave any slime residue in the body when eaten except when they have pesticides and preservatives in their outer skin. They do not ferment or putrefy in your colon, as do processed foods, dairy products and meats.

Choose your fruits carefully. They should be eaten when they are fully ripe. Do not eat them if they are under ripe or overripe. In the under ripe condition they may be acidic and in the overripe condition the many contain more natural sugar.

Fruits, vegetables, and grains contain fructooligosaccharides, FOS. It is this compound that helps to feed the good bacteria in your colon. Without an adequate supply of FOS, good bacteria will dwindle and bad bacteria will flourish.

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We all know that adding fish to our diets can help increase our body’s ability to repair itself, as well as its ability to burn body fat and keep our energy up, but it’s important to choose fish that’s also going to improve your health as opposed to silently poisoning you.

Being exposed to too much mercury can cause memory loss, tremors, neurological difficulties, advanced aging, decreased immune functions, and death.

But how is all this mercury getting into our body?

Well here’s the top 4 places that contribute to the levels of mercury in our body (not in any specific order):

• Vaccines (past and present)
• Dental fillings
• The environment
• And Fish

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Instead of Butter: Use top quality, cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil, from the first pressing, or flaxseed oil. The taste of virgin olive oil is appealing to millions of people around the world, so why not adopt it to your taste?

Flaxseed oil is prized for health reasons and not for its taste. You can always compensate for that by adding spices to the appropriate dish. Let’s say you want to add a little flaxseed oil to mashed potatoes, instead of butter. You could add basil, oregano, rosemary, curry, garlic, or any other spice that agrees with your palate.

You can use a little virgin olive oil on mashed potatoes with basil and roasted garlic, but it’s up to the individual’s own taste. At home, we use a little olive oil on toast, instead of butter. Again, you could spice it, but try to avoid salting.

Depending on whose study you read, flaxseed oil contains Omega-3, Omega-6, and Omega-9 Oils.

Olive oil has some Omega-6 value, but it tastes great.

If you want to learn a lot more about beneficial oils, visit:

http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~ebender/Health%20&%20Nutrition/Nutrition/oil_good.html

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