Attaining healthy nutrition habits: How you can do it
John Gibb

Question: What nutrients does my body need to maintain healthy nutrition habits?

Answer: There are plenty of nutrients that can help your body become the picture of health. Vitamin A is a key nutrient that can be found in fruits and vegetables. Aiding cell reproduction, Vitamin A helps vision, promotes bone and tooth development, and helps to maintain healthy skin, hair, and mucous membranes. A lack of this vitamin can cause such woes as night blindness, poor bone growth, dry skin, and weak tooth enamel.

Doctors recommend 10,000 IU a day for an adult male, and 8,000 per day for adult females to maintain healthy nutrition habits.

Vitamin C is another one of the most important vitamins for maintaining your health. 60 milligrams per day are recommended for adults of both sexes. This vitamin works as an antioxidant, protecting your body’s tissues from the damage of oxidation. Vitamin C also has been found to be an effective antiviral agent, protecting your body from various sicknesses.

A key factor in attaining healthy nutrition habits is to keep your mineral consumption at its proper levels. The word “mineral” describes any non-carbon based compound that serves a function in the body. Some build bones and teeth, while others perform such tasks as regulating muscle contraction. Minerals are classified into two groups based on the human body’s need for them.

Major minerals are minerals that our bodies require in amounts greater than 100 milligrams per day. Major minerals include calcium, phosphorous and magnesium.

Minor minerals are minerals our body needs less then 100 milligrams per day of. Iron, zinc, and iodine all fall under the minor minerals category.

Proper usage of these minerals combined with a diet that fits your life style can lead you well on your way to attaining healthy nutrition habits.
About the Author

John Gibb manages http://www.nutritional-suplement-guides.com

The site dedicated to nutrition.

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Alcohol as a Key Ingredient to a Healthy Diet
Dr. John Rumberger

Evidence suggesting that alcohol is “cardio-protective” first appeared in the literature about 30 years ago. The Framingham Heart Study [the longest running population study of heart disease which began in 1948] provided the first solid evidence of this association. The relationship has now been confirmed by dozens of large population [“epidemiological”] studies. However, physicians have been reluctant to recommend alcohol consumption to patients because of the well-known health consequences of excessive drinking [hypertension, liver disease, increased rates of cancer, violent or accidental death] and the horrors that are associated with “drinking and driving”.
Moderation is the key. Many large studies have found that men and women who consume light to moderate amounts of alcohol per day live longer than those who abstain completely. The Physicians’ Health Study involved long term follow-up of 89,300 men. The study found that men who drank five or six alcoholic drinks per week had a 20% lower risk of all-cause mortality than those who drank no alcohol. On the other hand, the same study showed that men who had more than two alcoholic drinks per day had a higher risk of death than nondrinkers. That means that, when drinking moderately, it appears to be quite beneficial; however, higher alcohol intake increases the risks of cancer and motor vehicle accidents so much as to overwhelm any cardiovascular benefits.
How does alcohol protect the heart? A large portion of the benefit may be attributable to increased levels of HDL [“good] cholesterol. Alcohol also has “antiplatelet” effects [making these natural blood elements less sticky and then less likely to clog arteries during plaque rupture] in much the same way as aspirin.
Moderate alcohol consumption may also help improve insulin resistance, which is just about one step below true diabetes and recognized as another independent predictor for cardiac risk. The Physicians’ Health Study also showed that in subjects who consumed alcohol daily, the risk for heart disease was reduced by 60% in diabetic patients, compared to a 40% decrease in persons who did not have diabetes. Moderate alcohol intake also decreases blood values for CRP [C-reactive protein], a metabolic marker for inflammation (elevated when you are in an increased state of oxidative stress).
The jury is still out as to whether or not wine provides a better protective effect compared to other forms of alcohol. Red wine is rich in flavonoids, which slow down oxidation of LDL [“bad”] cholesterol [which is one of the last steps before it is deposited in your artery wall]. One recent study suggested that light drinkers who avoided wine reduce their risk of all-cause mortality by 10%, while light drinkers who preferred wine had more than a 30% decrease in this risk. However, other studies have found that all forms of alcohol [beer, whiskey, etc.] were equally protective.
It is important to emphasize that alcohol [of ANY kind!] should be limited to one drink daily for women and at most two drinks daily for men [this is based merely on general body size and nothing else]. One drink is defined as 1.5 oz of distilled spirits (such as whisky, gin, and vodka), 5 oz of wine, or 12 oz of beer. Patients who have liver disease, who have a personal or family history of alcohol abuse, or who cannot limit their intake in a responsible manner should NOT start! However, since “all things in moderation” is a good adage for much of life, others can enjoy a daily alcoholic drink as part of a generally healthy diet.
Disclaimer: If you are under 18, pregnant, nursing or have health problems, consult your physician before starting any weight loss plan. The information here is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Please consult your physician before beginning any course of treatment.

About the Author

Dr. John Rumberger is the Author of The WAY Diet, The complete lifestyle plan to live longer, reduce stress, and lose weight the healthy way. To purchase The Way Diet simply go to http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?path=
ASIN/0974993387&link_code=as2&camp=1789&tag=icobweb-20&creative=9325 or go to Empty Canoe Publishing http://www.emptycanoe.com and order your copy of The Way.

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Advice on choosing health food and healthy foods and reading nutrition labels
Chris Robertson

Health food doesn’t need a definition, does it? We all know what
health food is it’s yogurt and granola, whole-grain cereal and
organically grown vegetables and fruit. It’s 100% natural, no
preservatives or dyes, unadulterated, pure. When you put all
that together, you should have healthy food, yet all too often,
what’s marketed as health food these days barely classifies as
food, let alone health food.

Take a look at one of our favorite health food choices – yogurt.
It hit supermarket shelves in the early seventies, though it had
been available before that in health food stores and
restaurants. Real yogurt has two ingredients: milk (whole, skim
or low fat) and live yogurt cultures. That’s health food –
calcium, vitamin D, vitamin A, protein. Next time you’re at the
supermarket, take a look at the dairy case. You’ll find row
after row of hyper-sweetened brightly colored rainbow swirled
and candy-sprinkled yogurt packaged in ways that appeal to our
littlest consumers – children. Millions of parents buy the
enticing packages, secure that because it’s yogurt, they’re
buying food that’s healthy for their children.

One look at the label, though, and it’s clear that these kiddy
yogurts (as well as most of the yogurt that’s marketed to
adults) are a far cry from heath food. Some of the most popular
yogurts for children contain anywhere from 3 to 10 added
teaspoons of sugar. Considering how many teaspoons of yogurt are
in a single serving, you might as well hand your child the sugar
bowl. In addition, most yogurts include “natural” ingredients
that have little to do with health food. Ingredients like pectin
(to thicken yogurt), carrageenan (a seafood extract that gives
some yogurts their body, and annatto (for color) add little
nutritionally to yogurt. They’re in the mix to serve one main
purpose: to help yogurt survive its trip from the factory to
your table.

You’ll find the same situation with other foods that originally
made their debut as health foods in the seventies. Granola has
become granola bars with chocolate chips and gooey caramel.
Whole wheat flour is bleached and denuded of its flavorful
kernels. Sunflower seeds are roasted in oil and salted. Even
brown rice comes in the instant variety.

Healthy food not health food

The secret to feeding your family (and yourself) a healthful
diet of healthy food is to read the labels. The United States
Food & Drug Administration has laid out strict guidelines for
nutritional labeling of all food products. The nutrition label
will tell you all you need to know to choose real health foods.
Some things to keep in mind when reading nutrition labels for
health foods:

* In the ingredient’s portion of the nutrition label,
ingredients are listed in order by amount. The ingredient that’s
listed first is the main ingredient, followed by the next
largest amount, etc.

* The nutrition facts label must list each of the required
nutrients even if the food provides 0% of the recommended daily
value.

* The nutrition facts label must list what portion of the food’s
calories is derived from fat, from sugar, from protein and from
carbohydrates. It will also break down the fat into saturated
and unsaturated fat.

Reading labels on everything you feed your family is the best
way to tell whether a food is really a health food – or just
masquerading as one.

About the author:

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon
International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on
the web. Visit this Food Website
and Majon’s Food
directory.

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Advice for Healthy Living in 2006
Anna Fleet

With the New Year now upon us, it’s important to give pause and
consider making some positive changes regarding the state of
your health. As they say, there’s no time like the present.
People the world over often make resolutions to do something to
better themselves in the coming year. In 2006, consider doing
something that will benefit your overall health. The following
suggestions may just help to ensure that you’re able to make New
Year’s resolutions for many years to come.

Get a Check-up – An excellent place to start when
considering lifestyle changes is with an honest assessment of
your health. At this stage, it wouldn’t hurt to consult with
your physician. Why not make an appointment for your annual
physical exam? This way, you can begin the year with an accurate
assessment of your physical state. Your doctor will be able to
focus your attention on areas that are of immediate health
concern. This is especially important if you’re a smoker, if
you’re overweight, or if you have any significant health issues
that might prevent you from performing simple daily tasks.

Drink More Water – Make another profound difference to
your health by consuming more water. Many people make the
mistake of assuming that they’ve received enough water from the
various pop, coffee and other beverages they’ve consumed in a
day. This is not entirely accurate. Ideally, one should consume
upwards of eight, 8-ounce glasses of water per day. Water helps
the body metabolize stored fats. It can also help your body
cleanse itself of free radicals, which have been linked to
cancer and other such ailments.

Get Moving – Exercise is yet another effective way to
maintain optimal health. That’s not to say that one has to
become entirely committed to working out each and every day, but
it’s in every individual’s best interest to perform some form of
activity 3 times per week. Physical exercise can be performed in
a wide variety of ways to keep it fun and interesting. For
instance, the simple act of walking is a highly effective form
of exercise. It’s one that can be completed without supervision,
without props, and without any previous experience working out.
Joining a gym has a number of direct benefits as well. Not only
will you have access to some excellent equipment, but you will
also benefit greatly from the fitness knowledge that most
personal trainers possess.

Pay Attention to Nutrition – Diet also plays a
significant role is one’s overall health. Everyone should be
familiar with the dietary guidelines established by the leading
health agencies and authorities. The “food pyramid” is by far
the most popular set of published nutritional guidelines. The
food pyramid advises people to include all of the major food
groups – grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy and meat (or protein)
– in their diets. Keep in mind that the food pyramid is merely a
nutritional guideline. The dietary needs of each individual will
vary drastically, and what’s ideal for one person isn’t
necessarily ideal for the next.

By following these few simple suggestions, you can take control
of your health and your life in 2006. Good luck!

About the author:

Anna Fleet is a certified personal trainer. When she is not
working out or helping others achieve optimal health, she is the
face and voice behind www.fitnessgear101.com – an excellent
online resource for information about Fitness Gear
Information, Aerobics
Equipment, and Workout Routines.

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