Thursday 27 January 2011

Why You Need Vitmain D

When Johnny objects to a soap-and-water scrubbing, it is usually because he just doesn't like it. He would be on much sounder scientific, though dubious domestic, ground, if he simply told his mother: "Excessive bathing with soap removes from my skin the sterols which, if exposed to the ultra-violet irradiation of sunlight, would be converted into the Vitamin D I need for normal bone growth."

Not that Johnny would get very far, for bathing is a well-established social custom and quite indispensable for getting along with people. It is true, however, that oily substances in the skin are removed by soap scrubbings, and that these are the very materials which are changed into Vitamin D by the action of the sunlight. You can have a coat of tan that speaks of hours lying in the sun, yet the vitamin benefits of the sunshine may have been largely lost if you conscientiously bathed yourself before exposure. Too, the deeper your tan, the less sunshine vitamin you get, for the pigment shuts the vitamin-producing rays out from the skin.

For that matter, the benefit of sunbathing in city regions is probably overrated, from the vitamin point of view. Dust, smoke, and invisible urban effluvia may effectively curtain off the ultra-violet wavelengths of sunlight, which are the only ones that help your skin manufacture Vitamin D.

Practically, therefore, you will do well to get Vitamin D by other sources than suntan, although as an adult your needs for the vitamin are considerably less than the requirements of children. The particular virtue of Vitamin D is its masterly control over the distribution of calcium and phosphorus in the body—minerals which not only are the major building-blocks of bones and teeth, but which also play vital chemical roles in the body's functions.

Strangely enough, a relationship of Vitamin D to myopia (nearsightedness) has recently been demonstrated in animals. Lack of the vitamin and therefore of proper calcium and phosphorus metabolism has, in animals, weakened the outer coats of the eye and changed its refractive properties. The experimental animals were puppies, but a human application is not improbable.

It is babies, however, who are most seriously affected by Vitamin D shortages. They develop rickets, a disease in which deformed bones are exhibited as bowlegs, knock-knees, swollen joints, distorted pelvis, chest and spine. So important is this vitamin to infants that their diets always include cod liver oil or other concentrate, and the doctor's orders should be faithfully followed.

You can get a good deal of Vitamin D from ordinary foods, but the chances are you don't. Peanut butter, milk, graham crackers, cereals, and a vast number of other foods commonly used by children, are now available with Vitamin D artificially added. These are usually good investments. Oily fishes—tuna, salmon, herring, sardines—are the best sources among common unfortified foodstuffs. Eggs and butter also contribute small amounts.

The easiest way of securing Vitamin D is to use fortified milk, many varieties of which contribute a full day's vitamin quota per quart. Concentrates such as viosterol are potent and relatively inexpensive. Any surplus that you build up during exposure to summer sunshine is stored for doling out through the winter.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Get Better Sleep-Part 1

Sleep is often the most overlooked part of a healthy living lifestyle. Proper sleep can help prevent becoming sick, decrease stress and have a positive effect on your state of mind. With these benefits in mind I will be posting a weekly article on how to get better sleep and help you achieve your healthy lifestyle goals.


More often than not, how to get better sleep is among the common questions that working people think about. This is because they rarely experience it because of too much stress or being too busy in their work. If you are one of those who are having problems when it comes to sleeping, here are some of the ways that can help you get better easier:

1. Develop better sleeping habits. Like everything else, developing good habits helps a person accomplish a certain task at hand. For those who are prone to not sleeping well at night, it would be best to start developing good habits that would help him or her get better sleep. Good sleeping habits might include daytime routines such as eating the right foods, exercise, and enough napping in the afternoon. Experts say that eating the right foods would help a person be lulled into sleep without so much hustle. If one wants to get better sleep, he or she must avoid eating foods that contain ingredients that stimulate the nerves and the senses such as those with caffeine content. To help the body relax, enough physical activities such as exercise should also be done at day time so it will somehow exhaust the body and let it crave for rest at night time. Although napping is good to some people, it can be bad to those who are having sleeping problems because they have a tendency to "over nap" that which will eventually affect their sleeping at night.

2. Enough amount of daily exercise can help a person to get better sleep. Aside from health benefits, regular exercise also helps a person get better sleep especially at night. This is because it lets the body work just enough so it would want to rest at night. Strenuous activities such as workouts are not really necessary if one is not used to it. Simple exercises such as brisk walking or light yoga activities are enough to help to get better sleep at night.

3. Come up with you own personal sleeping plan. Above anybody else, you should be the one who knows your body. If you are having problems sleeping at night, you are the first person to identify what is the problem and try to address the issues properly. If you are having trouble sleeping, analyze what may be the problem. If it is something that you can handle, try to do the things that will help you overcome it. You can do this by coming up with a personal sleeping plan that will really work for you. You can plot the activities that you can do and try to implement them during nighttime. If the specific plan doesn’t work today, try another set of sleeping plans the next night and then another one for next, next night. By doing this, you can discover the techniques that would work for you.

4. Create a good sleeping environment for yourself. If one wants to get better sleep, the easiest way is to create a comfortable, nice, and cozy sleeping environment. If you are having trouble sleeping and you have tried all the techniques available but those did not work, why not try re-arranging your bedroom. Figure out is something inside your bedroom that hinders you from getting better sleep. Check if your bed still suits the needs of your body and if not, try replacing it. Check if there are some things that catch your attention and makes it hard for you to sleep, if there are, try removing them for a while until you are able to sleep better.

Tuesday 25 January 2011

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Natural Health – Balance, Variety, And Common Sense

Every day one or two health foods are flooded into the market claiming superior health benefits. Almost every month, bookstores will stock up on books that sell health and dieting programs. On the TV, exercise programs and exercise machines are advertised to keep healthy and fit. The fact is all of these works, the question is, is it really needed?

The Exotic Sounding Foods
You would have heard of the Acai berry, fig leaves, bitter melon, green tea, and so many other exotic sounding foods. Do they work? They do, but so does other foods. There is nothing wasted on Gods earth. The proof of that is when the excitement for these foods wanes, another food will crop up, the benefits overstated, and orders will start coming in increasing the demand, spiking prices for the products until a new one appears. Is it worth it? Well, that depends on how deep the wallet is. The truth is that every food that is natural has its own benefit that when examined closely will always reveal special properties that are waiting for an advertiser's attention. The properties then could be highlighted depending on current health and commercial climate. The carrot consumed like crazy some years back due to it beta-carotene property is now relegated to the background in place of "new food discoveries". In today's stiff commercial competition, the point to remember is that when it sounds too good to be true, then probably it is not.

The Fad Foods
Everybody loves to have a good figure and wants six-pack abs, everybody, and why not. When the figure is good, employment is easier to find, earning potential increases, the body feels light, looks so much healthier, younger, and energized.

What is wrong with fad foods is that it is not telling us the whole truth. If Halle Berry for example gave birth last week and appear today on TV with the same figure, everybody will be curious. The TV host knows that and so the question that would be asked is the diet that keeps her figure "bathing suit" perfect. Whatever answer Halle Berry gives will get the audience's attention and telephone will start ringing for orders. What will not be mentioned is that stars maintain a host of dieticians, physicians and exercise guru's working for the sole purpose of keeping the image of the star and maintaining it. The diet may be true but it is only a part of the whole regimen of things observed to make the star look good on camera. Rests also are monitored, exercises are supervised let alone food intake, to keep the star healthy.

Eat, exercise, rest, and work.
The natural things that we do provided it is kept on a good balance are always the best. It has kept people alive for thousands of years; it will keep the person healthy for many more. Eat a variety of food. All food is good provided the person eats variety and strives for a balanced diet. Exotic sounding and foreign delicacies and specialties are not required nor needed. Food grown in every region is sufficient and balanced for the needs of people living in that region. The key in maintaining natural health is balance, variety, and common sense.

Dietary Fiber for Natural Health

When people look at the nutritional content of foods, they tend to concentrate more on calories, protein, fats and vitamins. Most of the time, people forget to consider the dietary fiber content of foods. In recent studies, it was shown that in America alone, less than half of the population gets enough fiber in their diet.

Taking in enough fiber will greatly improve your natural health and well-being. Here are some facts that you have to know about dietary fiber

What is it?
Roughage or dietary fiber is the indigestible part of plants that travels through the digestive tract. In an overview, it helps the body absorb more water and improves elimination of wastes. It also helps in the absorption of nutrients and other chemicals.

There are 2 types of fiber. The soluble fiber is the one responsible for lowering blood cholesterol levels. Because of this, intake of enough soluble fiber will reduce your risk of developing heart diseases and stroke. Insoluble fiber increases bulk that your body needs to maintain the functions of your stomach and intestines. This type of fiber prevents you from experiencing constipation.

What are the benefits of getting enough fiber in your diet?

Bowel Movement and Integrity
Having enough fiber provides you with bulk. It helps you have well-formed and soft stool so wastes can pass easily. With this, you are sure not to have constipation. When you have diarrhea, adding fiber to your diet will help you absorb water and form bulky stools. It is also said that fiber can help relieve patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

Having a high fiber diet also reduces your risk of developing hemorrhoids, diverticulosis and diverticulitis. Since fiber helps you pass stool easily. There is no need for straining during defecation. This is one of the ways fiber helps prevent these health conditions.

Regulates Blood Cholesterol Levels
Soluble fiber helps maintain an ideal cholesterol level by reducing the amount of Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) in your body. LDL is also called as bad cholesterol. It has also been studied that fiber can also lower your blood pressure. Maintaining a good blood cholesterol level puts you at lesser risk of developing heart diseases.

Regulates Blood Sugar Levels
This is one of the reasons that most diabetic patients add fiber in their diet. Getting enough soluble fiber aids in the absorption of sugar in your body. It helps your body absorb sugar slowly so diabetics can avoid sudden peaks on their blood sugar level. Enough insoluble fiber in your body is also said to prevent development of type 2 diabetes.

Aids in Weight Loss
Eating foods with high-fiber content may require you to chew your food longer than you would any other type of food. Because of this, your body is given enough time to think that you are already full. This would lessen chances of over eating. A high- fiber meal will also lower down hunger cravings because fiber takes a longer time to be digested. You feel full longer when you eat food with high fiber content. Fibrous foods also have fewer amounts of calories in them. So no matter how much fiber you eat, you won't have to worry about the number of calories you are taking in.

Fiber is also said to fight off carcinogenic agents, thus lowering your risk of getting certain types of cancer. If you want to improve your health the natural way, adding more fiber to your meals is a healthy idea.

A Shot of Wheatgrass Juice Everyday Keeps the Doctor Away

People have taken interest on wheatgrass because of the many health benefits it gives. For the health-conscious individuals, wheatgrass juice is the way to go. If you are planning on taking the natural road to a healthy you, here are some things you have to know to get you started on wheatgrass juice.

What is wheatgrass?
Wheatgrass is the young grass of wheat plant that is dried or juiced. Because it has a high amount of Chlorophyll, it is rich in many vitamins and minerals. Studies have shown that wheatgrass has various curative and detoxifying functions.

Because wheatgrass has increased in popularity for some time now, you can easily buy wheatgrass prepared in various forms. Some bars and restaurants also included wheatgrass juice in their menu.

What are the benefits of taking wheatgrass?

Improves metabolism and cares for your heart
Wheatgrass is good for your heart as it  lowers down your blood pressure. It also makes your blood healthier by increasing the red blood cells in your blood. The properties of wheatgrass also reduce the acidity of your blood because wheatgrass is very rich in alkaline minerals. Taking wheatgrass will also help enhance your thyroid functions. It is also said that wheatgrass is effective in treating gastrointestinal diseases like constipation, diarrhea, peptic ulcers and ulcerative colitis.
detoxifying agent
Because of the presence of minerals and antioxidants, wheatgrass is a very effective detoxifying agent. It also fights off and gets rid of harmful chemicals and other substances that may develop into various types of cancers and other illnesses. Wheatgrass makes your blood healthy and cleanses the liver effectively. Using this to treat tumors and toxins helps patient recover from their illnesses without the harmful side effects of synthetic drugs.
Slows down the aging process
Aging is part of an individual's normal growth and development but it doesn't mean that your health should be affected by aging. Taking wheatgrass puts aging on a different level. It does not only slows down the process, but it makes you age healthily by cleansing your body off harmful toxins and keeping your cells healthy.
Aids individuals to lose weight
Wheatgrass has fat-burning properties. It also suppresses your appetite. Losing weight doesn't have to mean taking those weight-loss pills or undergoing surgery. A regular dose of wheatgrass will do wonders to your body.

Preparations
The popularity of wheatgrass resulted to it being available in various forms. Now, you can take wheatgrass in powdered juice, tablets or through juice shots.

Some people also decide to grow wheatgrass in their homes so they can always have it easily available to them. Whatever preparations you prefer, the important thing is to be able to have your regular intake of wheatgrass.

Wheatgrass juice is prepared like any other type of juice. Add water and enjoy. You can also add some ice. Juice shots are also available in the market. A 5ml shot is equal to a tablet of wheatgrass. Wheatgrass tablets are taken twice daily.

Wheatgrass has many healthy benefits for you. Take a dose of wheatgrass everyday and start your journey to a healthier you.