Does Alcohol Have a Place In a Healthy Diet?
Ronnie Bussey

A number of recent news stories have reported that drinking alcoholic beverages has health benefits–some even imply that one or two drinks a day is a government-endorsed route to better health. Other stories say that alcohol abuse is related to many of the major causes of death in America.

The 1995 Dietary Guidelines advise: If You Drink Alcoholic Beverages, Do So In Moderation. This is virtually the same advice that has been given since 1980. The 1995 Dietary Guidelines added the comment that many individuals throughout the ages have drunk alcoholic beverages in moderation to enhance the enjoyment of meals. The Guidelines also note that there is some recent scientific evidence that for some individuals moderate alcohol consumption may reduce the risk of heart disease.

However, alcohol also has undisputed drug effects, which can be harmful under many circumstances. Some people, in particular, should not drink at all. Alcohol carries with it the risk of dependency and excess consumption, which can cause serious health problems. Therefore, the Dietary Guidelines recommend only that those who do drink alcoholic beverages do so in moderation. They do not recommend that those who do not consume alcohol begin drinking.

SoWhat’s the Bottom Line?

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans present information on the pros and cons of alcohol consumption. While there may be some health benefits with moderate alcohol consumption, the Dietary Guidelines clearly emphasize that dependency and excess can cause serious health problems. While moderate alcohol consumption may have some effects that reduce the risk of heart disease, there are other ways of achieving reduction in risk.

There are many factors that reduce the risk of heart disease, including a healthy diet, moderate exercise, avoidance of smoking, and maintenance of a healthy weight. These behavior changes carry less potential for negative consequences. As one person put it, ”people don’t get addicted to fruits and vegetables and don’t get into accidents after eating too many apples.” Thus, the correct interpretation of the Dietary Guideline on alcohol is, if you don’t drink, this guideline is not a reason to start; however, if you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation, with meals, and when consumption does not put you or others at risk.
About the Author

Ronnie is a content writer for http://www.1st In Weight Loss Tips.com
Your Free Source for Weight Loss, Dieting, Health and Fitness Tips!
Promoting Health Living In Today’s Fast Paced Society.

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5 Healthy Ways to Prevent and Heal Stretch Marks
Charles Kassotis

Stretch marks are a common dermatological problem in both sexes of all ages. Stretch Mark scars are formed when our skin needs to be stretched quickly. A sudden weight gain, pregnancy, puberty, height gaining, and sudden weight loss may cause cases like that. The inner layer of the skin tears as the normal production of the major protein that makes up the connective tissue in our skin, collagen, is disrupted. Trying to heal the wounds, the skin is increasing the amount of collagen in the overstretched tissue, resulting in those familiar pinkish lines.
If you are in one of these situations, watch out, you don’t want to see these lines on your skin later. Stretch Mark Treatments are often ineffective and in some cases very expensive. It is better prevent than to treat, so here are some prevention tips for you.
Follow a balanced diet. Keep your weight gain within the recommended range, as sudden weight gain or weight loss is the most common cause of stretch marks as well as other health problems. If you have weight problems or sudden weight changes consult your doctor or dietician.
Drink plenty of water. Hydration is important for your overall health and it is critical to healthy skin. Skin needs water for elasticity. Dehydration makes skin looking dry, lined and feeling delicate, being vulnerable enough for stretch marks and scars.
Vitamins are a certain way to ensure proper nutritional status and shiny strong skin in and out. All vitamins are essential for healthy skin but you can make sure that you take enough of the skin beneficial vitamins; Vitamin A is critical for normal life cycle of skin cells, vitamin C, iron and copper which are important for the synthesis of collagen, folate is important for rapidly dividing skin cells, Vitamins B1 and B2 are critical for energy production in the cells and vitamin B12 is essential for a variety of synthetic processes in the cells.
You can also use a body brush to massage the areas where you have or want to prevent stretch marks from appearing, such us the thighs, buttocks, breasts and arms. This massage will increase circulation to the area, adding points to your efforts.
Moisturize your skin externally. You can apply several moisturizing creams and oils. Daily massage the area with a substance of your choice. Olive oil, vaseline, vitamin E cream, different types of butter such us cocoa butter, coconut butter and shea butter will do fine. There are also special creams marketed especially for stretch mark prevention, formulas that are designed to help enhance collagen production and support the dermis. These moisturizers will help keep your skin supple and elastic plus serve as nutrition for your skin.
Finally, keep in mind that the appearance of stretch marks is not entirely in your hands. Heredity and skin complexion is also important. Stretch marks are the result of a healthy body trying to heal itself.
So, if despite your efforts you continue to see stretch marks on your skin, do not despair. You are a healthy individual and your marks tell a story. There are always new treatments waiting for you to try, and cosmetic science is always progressing rapidly in this direction.
About the Author

For free daily articles, ideas and tips to fight scars and stretch marks visit The Stretchmarktips.com at www.stretchmarktips.com

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What if you could turn back the clock to when you were healthy?
Jason Elkins

What if there was a solution to protecting and restoring your health. What if you could turn back the clock and return to when you were healthy. You wonder why we have such horrific health problems, yet its right in front of your eyes. You all know that nutrition is important, but do you know why. What if given the right nutrition your body could heal itself of anything, and I mean anything. What if this was true and all you needed to do was give your body the right nutrition.
Over half the United States population is undernourished and overweight; these two problems contribute to most of the disease and death in this country. The 1 trillion dollar food industry is directly tied to our health problems. Processed foods are a big problem for peoples health today. Especially because processed foods are so hard to avoid. Many of these foods that we put into our bodies contain no essential nutrients that our bodies need. With these nutrients almost gone, our immune systems are breaking down and disease is taking over. Our bodies were not designed to be taking in these kinds of foods. Also, our fruits and vegetables dont have the nutritional value they once had. The main reason for this is because of green harvesting and the depletion of minerals in our soil.
People are now supplementing vitamins and minerals, with the hope of improving their health. Yet this is not enough, a huge misconception is that by taking vitamins, you are giving your body what it needs to be healthy. Unfortunately not all supplements are equal. Most vitamins and minerals are synthetic, and not easily absorbed by the body. You can test to see if your vitamins are synthetic by taking them with a glass of water and not eating anything for a couple of hours. If you start feeling sick then you know that these are synthetic vitamins. If all you are essentially taking are nutrients which are supposed to be food, then why do you have to eat food with them?

Scientists have recently cracked the code to nutritional supplementation. Scientists have for some time tried to figure out how our cells communicate with each other. We all know that when you cut yourself that your body naturally heals itself. We just didnt really know how it worked; we just knew that they did. Now Scientists have discovered how it works. Its sort of like how a blind person uses brail bumps to read writing. Blind people know how to read brail and therefore they know what it says. What would happen if some of the brail were scratched off? They would go from a level of communication to miscommunication. Our cells work the same; each cell have thousands of protein molecules, and attached to these are glycoforms. The cell uses glycoforms to enable them to effectively communicate to each other. Of the some 200 monosaccharides that occur naturally in plants, eight are known to be components of these glycoforms, and are used in cell-to-cell communication. These eight sugars are glucose, fucose, mannose, galactose, xylose, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylneuraminic acid. Of these sugars only two are commonly found in our diet. By supplementing these glyconutrients, your body has the ability to be able to effectively fix anything that is wrong with it. A company by the name of Mannatech owns the patent on the combination of these essential sugars. This means that you cannot get a combination of these sugars from anywhere else in the World. Glyconutritional products will play a huge role in the 21st centurys emerging wellness industry. You can learn more about this technology by checking out my website at theoffer.myglycostore.com This will take you directly to my site. If you would like to see for yourself what glyconutrients could do for you then you can order directly on my site. I will personally make sure that you have an amazing product experience by keeping a health journal to keep track of the benefits that you will have had. Thank you for taking the time to educate yourself about this amazing technology.

About the Author

Jason Elkins is a college student in Washington state. He loves learning and educating people. He wants to become a glycobiologist styding the importance of sugars in cell to cell communication.

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Does your teen come home from school with tear streaked cheeks, because of their weight? Do they rush to their bedroom because they don’t want to talk about it? Are you crying with them because you know what they are going through? It doesn’t have to be that way for you or your teenager. Hey! Read on to learn about easy weight loss for teens.

Recent studies have shown that teenage obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Most of these studies show that not only do body structure, DNA, diets of fast foods and overeating contribute to the weight problem, but the lack of physical activity, by todays adolescents, is a primary cause. Another fact revealed in these studies is that most young people still in their teens get less than 30 minutes of exercise in a 24 hour period.

If you as a parent aren’t exercising, you are contributing to your childs bad exercise habits and obesity. A good way to help yourself and your offspring, to get healthy, is to find an exercise program you can both do. As a matter of fact it doesn’t have to be a boring repetitive type of exercise, but it can be one loaded with fun. However, there is one thing you should do before starting any exercise program.

If both you and your teenager are overweight, it would pay for you to check with your doctor and your childs pediatrician. This physical checkup will rule out any underlying health problems which could be the cause of the weight gain. It will also determine if youre both healthy enough to engage in an exercise program to lose weight.

Easy weight loss for teens and you doesnt have to be complicated. Believe it or not you and your, son or daughter, can start off with a walking program. To help make it bearable for the usual, adolescent attitude, allow them to take along their I-pod or other music player. However, it’s also a great time for you guys to have a good talk.

You can actually ease into this over a period of days by talking about things that they are interested in. Don’t use it as a time to preach at them, because if you do, not only will they block you out, you will kill whatever interest they have started to build in exercise.

Another fun exercise that the whole family can participate in is riding bicycles. If you will recall you had a ball riding a bicycle and so did your child. This one exercise will be one of the easiest to make a habit for both you and your offspring. It doesn’t take long before it becomes a great habit for both of you.

One of the real benefits from bike riding is the way it will help shed those extra pounds. But the way it will help rebuild the overall shape of your bodies will blow you away. Both you and your teenager will notice you have shapely legs and a firmer butt. In addition it will help keep your hear rates up, which will benefit your entire body with extra oxygen.

Another fun exercise you both can participate in is swimming. Obviously not everyone has a private pool, but many health clubs, gyms, and other public places do.

You need to face the fact, as a parent, it is your overall responsibility to ensure your childs welfare and over health. By encouraging an exercise program now, while they are stilly young, will benefit them for the rest of their life.

Easy weight loss for teens, doesnt have to be hard, nor does it have to be boring. It just has to be done.

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