Healthy Living

A healthy diet involves including in the diet all the food groups that one sees in the food chart. It is eating in variety. It is enjoying life including titillating the palate. The main pitfall of obesity and being unhealthy is sticking to a particular food group day in and day out. The habit of eating only a particular food group nourishes the body, energizes it in fact but limited only to the nourishment that a particular food group offer. And so it is very important to diversify your menu although that done, it is just as important that the correct balance is achieved.

Throughout the country, it is very common to see large people that are undernourished. For example, while sodium helps the body to function normally, it is a fact that sodium consumption is often three times the required daily intake. Fats and calories are too, sometimes even more. This is attributed (fair or not) to fast food chains serving much soda, sugary foods and foods that contain saturated trans-fats. Since foods served here are almost similar in content, and are readily available, favoring a particular diet is common. Variety is lost and so are other essential nutrients.

It has often been said that when we buy food we should read the label or at least know the caloric content to arrive at a healthy diet. Wise advice that should be heeded. Label information is very important if we do not want to go over the required fat, calorie and sodium intake. But if you are like most people, the less bother you have the better. Besides who really enjoys counting calories inside a restaurant or read labels in a grocery all the time, every time. And so the list below is translated to the number of cups or servings if you will, so that the diet is easily monitored. For brevity though, ages are those that are in the adult range. The list is based on people of average weight. The heavier and the more active you are the more you will require depending on the difference of the weight against people in the normal weight range. The approximation is very close and effective for all activity ranges that do not have particular diet requirements aside from getting sufficient nutrients in the food and staying fit.

There are six main food groups that are to be included to the diet. The food groups in order of serving size priority are:
1. Grains ? Average daily serving for adults should be about six ounces, half of which are whole grains
2. Fruit ? Eat fruits daily equivalent to two cups. This is the minimum requirement eating more than that is advisable.
3. Vegetables ? About three cups is the minimum
4. Meat, Beans and Proteins ? Three quarters of a cup is ideal.
5. Milk Groups ? Three cups a day is sufficient.
6. Oils ? should be about six teaspoons
When these requirements are met, you can still eat as much as 260 calories of added sugars and fats at your discretion.

Eating a healthy diet then simply means eating various foods to get the entire nutrient that the body needs. It does not really have to be costly. It does not have to be anything special. It is simply enjoying the entire spectrum of food that nature offers and then regulating it.

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Once you lose weight, maintaining the ideal weight is not as hard. There are several choices that you could do and most are as easy as picking the correct products and choosing right.

Things to do
1. Cook at home. Cooking at home gives you a very good idea of the contents and the limits of the nutrition that you are serving. In short cooking at home makes you manage well what you serve. One of the main causes of improper dieting is the drive to the fast food. Hefty amount and sodas have already taken its toll. Limited variety of the food in the diet nailed the malnutrition issue. Being too busy and having less time is a good reason why eating fast food meals were preferred. Eating imbalanced diet negated it.
2. Have variety in your diet. There are six basic food groups, all of which have their own advantages. Ideally you must have portions of them in recommended amounts to maintain the ideal weight. Understandably, that will not be possible every time. If that is the case, just limit the eating of food that contains fat, sodium and much sugar. While these are needed too by the body, the cause of overweight and being undernourished is that the average person have more than three times the amount of these foods in their daily meals.
3. Exercise. No matter how busy the person is, exercise is a must. The main cause of being large whatever the age is eating and being sedentary. You do not need expensive exercise equipments for this. Jogging, brisk walking, climbing the stairs and hanging on a tree limb or a doorjamb, do the trick.

Things not to do

1. Do not take weight reducing pills, fat loss pills, and fat managing pills. If ever, take only that which is government approved. Fat weight loss providers make their products very appealing. It has to be. Testimonials abound and as if it were not convincing enough, fancy laboratory titles backs up the claims where there is also proof of testing, research and recommended dosages. Of course it would be that way. If the advert is only on the say so of the manufacturer, then take it as it is. It is only the say so of the manufacturer. There is only one fat blocker that is government approved. Even that had gone several revisions and the effect is only moderate. In oriental medicine, there is a saying that the medicine that you take will cure the targeted part that is ailing the body but will destroy another. The word then is caution.

2. Do not return to the same diet as before. That is very obvious but the temptation to backslide is so strong that resolves are sometimes thrown out the window just to indulge in a “harmless” little more, followed by a little bit more.

3. Do not under eat. Under nourishment is just as dangerous as over eating, sometimes more so. But if you must want to feel light, take power foods. There are several foods in the market that are very inexpensive. Oatmeal, avocado, cereals, fish, berries, walnuts etc, are the foods that are usually taken lightly but are in fact are very good choices when the idea is maintaining the ideal weight.

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There are gazillion ways in the internet and on television shows that tell of successful diet plans. True enough. The problem often is that what works for a group of people may not work for another, but more on that later.

The Human Factor
Most diet programs will tell you to stick to the diet program and given a few weeks you would have lost so much weight. Ideally that works. The truth is the temptation to exceed the required calories is sometimes too strong to resist that there are occasions when the person ends up indulging more than the prescribed caloric count. When that happens (and often it does) the person doing the weight loss program end up feeling guilty and thinks that the program is over for them. If ever, they would repeat the same procedure from the start. Wrong. We are people. Just like anybody else, we fall to temptation. When we do and if we do, all it takes is to jump to the saddle again with resolve. If we fall again, saddle up again. The weight gained previously by a little indulgence often does not add up much if the resolve is there.

The Quick Fixes
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is not. Yet it is everywhere. What makes it tempting is that work is out of the equation. The truth is that does not work that way. Juices, concoctions, pills, tablets, preparation, exotic fruits etc. that reduces several pounds of body weight in a few weeks or days are not just true. Hunger suppressant maybe, but when the body cries out for the nutrient that it needs, the weight kicks back with a vengeance.

Again there are drugs advertised to make the body slim, fast. These are often very expensive against the benefit that the person gets. The most proven drug that blocks calorie from getting into the system of the body is still Orlistat. However, you do it with exercise and diet to get the most benefit which is at best modest. Since Orlistat is the only drug that have proven definitely (in conjunction with other weight loss activity) to reduce calorie in the diet, any claim beyond that is still under study at best. To make the diet work for you, exercise must accompany the program. Besides, there is really nothing better than sweating it out.

Exercisers
The old-fashioned running and brisk walking are tired exercise methods that always work. The exercisers sold on TV may work and if you are convinced of the gadget remember only that the models selling them did not trim their body on those exercisers.

Different people have different metabolic rates. There are also other hidden causes that may hinder the affectivity of the weight loss program subscribed. The best way to do this (almost everybody know this although not always adhered to) is to check with your physician first. Get a confirmation whether the alternative diet, exercise programs, weight reducing methods, etc. will work well for you or at least will not conflict with your current health status and age. Because often, testimonies are good and true, but they always provide generic approaches and solutions. So take your health into your hands. Successful diet plans are those that you can realistically follow. No matter how agreeable the methods are, check it out with the doctor first. You may belong to a different class with a different set of dieting needs.

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Fad diets are those diets that claim fast weight loss in just a few days with minimum effort except to stick out with the diet plan. There are several of those being flooded into the market every month, always well advertised sometimes well endorsed and fatally frustrating. Simply put, fad diets are always starvation diets and therefore unrealistic. It fails this way.

Fad diets are foods that one has to endure. On top of that, a person on a fad diet is told to eat less and if the fad diet comes with an exercise program, to work more. The only saving value is that it is low on fat and generally low on sodium but so is water. These, therefore, need preparation. Every preparation however tastes unappealing bordering on unpalatability.

Fad diets may sometimes come together with an exercise program. But if one is to observe carefully, initial weight loss happens this way. A body that perspire losses water and water is heavy. When the dieter checks the weight after the exercise, there is truly a weight loss. But drink water and the body go back to the original weight. The water then that was lost during the exercise will only equal to the weight that was lost on perspiration. The impression however will be different.

The body then starts to slowly react to the starvation diet losing water in the cells which then translate to weight loss. As you continue the starvation diet, the body will start feeding at the muscle and therefore you lose weight. Because you are avoiding the eating of fat (which the body by the way also needs), the tendency of the body is to conserve all the fat that is in store. It will go on for a time say 15 days depending on your metabolism. Now, when the body has burnt most of the energy in the muscle, the person starts to get weak. The reason for this is that it is already starting to burn the fats that are stored in the body and which the body has tried much to conserve.

The irony is that, fats do not burn easy. Unlike other energy foods that the body is used burning to provide the energy to stay alive, burning the fat will in itself take more time to provide the energy needed and then the person on a fad diet starts being phlegmatic in movement. Performance will be poor, activity will slow, and even the exercises will take a lot more effort that, after a while, is dropped also.

Obviously, the point in going on a diet is to be healthier, let alone fit. A fad diet works to the contrary. The weight loss effects are immediate; it always is because it has to be, but the desired effect and the ideals in which the dieter started with is not.

True enough weight loss happens even emaciation (if the person will last that long), but lack of energy and other unhealthy symptoms does too. For most people, realization sets in fast. The body that has been crying out for the nutrients to keep it functioning will eventually be heeded and the fad diet forgotten. As that happens, the person will start to eat and regain all that which was lost during the time that the body is being starved. What is more is that it usually does not end there. The craving for food that has been suppressed are often overpowering that weight in fact starts gaining more.

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by  Livia Tiba

Copyright 2005 Livia Tiba

The benefits of salt therapy (also called Halotherapy) or speleotherapy are well known and documented in Europe. Halotherapy uses dry aerosol micro particles of salt and minerals to treat respiratory diseases and seeks to replicate the conditions of speleotherapy (from Greek speleos=cave), a treatment that has been practiced in old salt mines of Eastern Europe since the early 19th century.

In the mid 18th Century a Polish health official Felix Botchkowski, noticed that the workers of salt mines did not get ill with lung diseases. He wrote a book about the effects of salt dust in 1843. His successor M. Poljakowski founded a Salt Spa in Velicko near Krakow, which is still in operation. During the Second World War salt mines were often used as bombproof shelters. After spending time there many people who suffered from asthma felt that their health had gotten better! Today there are many salt sanatoriums in Europe (Austria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia …).

The Halotherapy belongs to the category of the physical therapies non-drug and non invasive treatments of diseases. In the former Soviet Union, medical researchers engaged in a concerted effort to develop physical therapies in order to avoid the costs and side effects of drug therapy as well as microbial and tumour resistance. Russia has become the world leader in developing and testing new and increasingly effective physical therapies. Many of the clinical trials have focused on Halotherapy as a treatment of asthma and chronic bronchitis and also very effective as a main or adjuvant therapy across the entire range of upper and lower respiratory tract diseases.

Respiratory diseases are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Most drug therapies of respiratory diseases have only palliative effects, and many have significant side effects, especially those with corticoids or steroids. So, a physical therapy like Halotherapy is greatly needed.

Speleotherapy also makes a great demand on patients’ time. The mines are not conveniently located for most people and the total cost is fairly significant.

The effectiveness of speleotherapy is not acknowledged in all countries of the world, but in countries like Romania (Praid, Tg.Ocna, Seiged, Sovata, Slanic, Ocna), Poland (Wieliczka), Germany (Teufelshöhle), Austria (Hallen, Solzbad-Salzeman), Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Nakhichevan mines in Azerbaijan, the salt aerosol plays an important role in the treatment of chronic respiratory diseases, working well with or without medical treatment and without any known side effects. Because of these, pregnant women with asthma or other respiratory diseases could use this therapy without any harm to the child. Very well known and appreciated in these middle-eastern European countries, this therapy is covered by the public health care system. In Romania there are also many salt lakes – Sovata with 7 salt lakes, Ocna Sibiului with 52 salt lakes in S-W of Transilvania, very well known in the treatment of infertility, metabolic diseases, skin diseases. These salt lakes were usually formed by collapsing of salt caves ceilings. All these salt lakes have different salinity, increasing with deepness – from 9g/l to 320g/l.

This salt therapy being very well known for its beneficial effects, a Romanian inventor put his mind at work and developed a device that is able to reproduce a speleotherapy micro environment in your home in an affordable and convenient way. Internationally recognized, with Gold and Silver medal at “Salon International des Inventions”, Geneva and “World Exhibition of Innovation, Research and New Technology”, Brussels, this Romanian invention brings new hopes in the natural treatment of chronic respiratory diseases.

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Fiber is good for us, right? Sure.But do we really know what it is? Why it is nutritious? How much is necessary? And where to find it? In general – the answer is ‘no’.

What

For starters, fiber refers to carbohydrates that cannot be digested. It is present in all edible plants including fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. Fiber is not found in meat, as believed by 62% of 1,000 respondents to a survey conducted by the National Fiber Council (NFC).

Why

Studies have confirmed that a diet high in fiber reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, diverticulitis and constipation.

However, it has no bearing on colon cancer, as we previously believed, according to recent research by the Harvard School of Medicine.

“The relationship between dietary fiber and colorectal cancer has received a great deal of attention, but the findings have been inconsistent and controversial,” said Marji McCollough, senior epidemiologist for the American Cancer Society.

Still, the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and National Institutes of Health all urge us to consume this plant byproduct. One Harvard test did show that men who ate the daily recommended amount had 40 percent less heart attacks than those who skimped on their vegetables. And the fiber found in grains seemed to be particularly beneficial.

How much

Current recommendations are 20-35 grams a day. Yet the average U.S. citizen eats only 14-15 grams a day. So how does one get in all their grams?

“Americans know fiber is important to maintain good health but they aren’t sure where to find it,” said Jim Anderson, M.D., chair of the NFC.

Where

To increase your fiber intake, replace white rice, bread and pasta with whole grain products. Opt for whole fruits over juices. Substitute legumes for meat in chili and soups. And start the morning with a bowl of healthy cereal.

Here are some high fiber options:

Fiber One cereal ½ cup 14 grams fiber
All Bran ½ cup 10 grams fiber
Lentils ½ cup 8 grams fiber
Brussel Sprouts 1 cup 6 grams fiber
Potato 1 large 5 grams fiber
Pear, Apple 1 med. 4 grams fiber

A major component of green tea could prove the perfect elixir for severe sepsis, an abnormal immune system response to a bacterial infection. In a new laboratory study, Haichao Wang, PhD, of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, and his colleagues have been studying the therapeutic powers of dozens of Chinese herbal compounds in reversing a fatal immune response that kills 225,000 Americans every year. They found that an ingredient in green tea rescued mice from lethal sepsis – and the findings could pave the way to clinical trials in patients.The study was published this week in the Public Library of Science, or PLoS-ONE. Dr. Wang had previously discovered a late mediator of sepsis called HMGB1, a substance expressed in the late stages of lethal sepsis. They wanted to figure out a way to block this substance, which they felt would prevent the lethal sepsis process from moving forward. And it worked.

Scientists worldwide have been stumped by sepsis. Even with the most advanced medical techniques available, half of those who develop sepsis die of the massive assault on the body. Several laboratories at the Feinstein Institute are working on sepsis – both on the basic biological level and in patients.

In the latest study, Dr. Wang’s group gave a substance in green tea called EGCG to mice in the throes of severe sepsis. The dose was equivalent to 10 cups in a human. Survival jumped from 53 percent in those who didn’t receive the green tea substance to 82 percent in those who did. “Clinically, even if we could save five percent of patients, that would be huge,” said Dr. Wang. “In this study, we saved 25 percent more animals with the green tea.” He said that the green tea component, EGCG, is readily available.

There is a new reason for the 76 million baby boomers to grab a glass of milk. Vitamin D, a key nutrient in milk, could have aging benefits linked to reduced inflammation, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

In a genetic study of more than 2,100 female twin pairs ages 19-79, British and American researchers found that higher vitamin D levels were linked to improved genetic measures of lifelong aging and chronic stress. Using a genetic marker called leukocyte telomere length (LTL), they found those with the highest vitamin D levels had longer LTL, indicating lower levels of inflammation and body stress. The telomere difference between those with the highest and lowest vitamin D levels was equivalent to 5 years of aging.

Previous research has found that shortened LTL is linked to risk for heart disease and could be an indication of chronic inflammation – a key determinant in the biology of aging. While there are several lifestyle factors that affect telomere length (obesity, smoking and lack of physical activity), the researchers noted that boosting vitamin D levels is a simple change to affect this important marker.

Studies continue to link vitamin D to an array of health benefits, securing vitamin D’s “super nutrient” status and providing even more reasons to get adequate amounts of this essential vitamin. Recent research suggests that beyond its well-established role in bone health, vitamin D also may help reduce the risk of certain cancers and autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

Milk is a primary source of calcium and vitamin D in the American diet. In fact, government reports indicate that more than 70 percent of the calcium in our nation’s food supply comes from milk and milk products. Additionally, milk is one of the few food sources of vitamin D, which is fast emerging as a “super nutrient.”

The recommended three servings of low fat or fat-free milk provides 900 mg of calcium, 300 IU of vitamin D and 80 mg of magnesium daily.

Endorphins and other morphine-like substances known as opioids, which are released during exercise, don’t just make you feel good – they may also protect you from heart attacks, according to University of Iowa researchers.It has long been known that the so-called “runner’s high” is caused by natural opioids that are released during exercise. However, a UI study, which is published in the online edition of the American Journal of Physiology’s Heart and Circulatory Physiology, suggests that these opioids may also be responsible for some of exercise’s cardiovascular benefits.

Working with rats, UI researchers showed that blocking the receptors that bind morphine, endorphins and other opioids eliminates the cardiovascular benefits of exercise. Moreover, the UI team showed that exercise was associated with increased expression of several genes involved in opioid pathways that appear to be critical in protecting the heart.

“This is the first evidence linking the natural opioids produced during exercise to the cardio-protective effects of exercise,” said Eric Dickson, M.D., UI associate professor and head of emergency medicine in the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and the study’s lead investigator. “We have known for a long time that exercise is great for the heart. This study helps us better understand why.”

Studies have shown that regular vigorous exercise reduces the risk of having a heart attack and improves survival rates following heart attack, even in people with cardiovascular disease. In addition, exercise also decreases the risk of atherosclerosis, stroke, osteoporosis and even depression. However, despite these proven health benefits, much less is understood about how exercise produces these benefits.

The UI study investigated the idea that the opioids produced by exercise might have a direct role in cardio-protection. The researchers compared rats that exercised with rats that did not. As expected, exercised rats sustained significantly less heart damage from a heart attack than non-exercised rats. The researchers then showed that blocking opioid receptors completely eliminated these cardio-protective effects in exercising rats, suggesting that opioids are responsible for some of the cardiac benefits of exercise.

The UI team also showed that exercise was associated with transient increases in expression of several opioid system genes in heart muscle, and changes in expression of other genes that are involved in inflammation and cell death. The researchers plan to investigate whether these altered gene expression patterns reveal specific cardio-protective pathways.

A better understanding of how exercise protects the heart may eventually allow scientists to harness these protective effects for patients with decreased mobility.

“Hopefully this study will move us closer to developing therapies that mimic the benefits of exercise,” Dickson said. “It also serves as a reminder of how important it is to get out and exercise every day.”

When we first launched this site, we knew it had the potential to grow rather large, rather quickly. But we soon realized it had grown really huge really quickly. So we’re going to try a new organizational approach, as the site has reached the dimensions where a simple blog organization seems sort of, well, overgrown.

Instead of adding topical articles as single blog posts arranged around a category, we’re going to try organizing topics into more or less self-contained sections. Our first experiment with this arrangement is an entire section on Elliptical Trainers, which you can access by following this link to Elliptical Workouts.

Use the “Sitemap” to get a full listing of the section’s articles. Clicking the “Home” link inside any of our new “departments” will bring you back here, to the front page of “Healthy Living.”

As we add a few more of these, we’ll add a “Departments” or “Sections” directory in the sidebar.