Archive for the ‘Nutrition’ Category

26
Dec

Balanced Diet – Is Your Diet The Leaning Tower of Pizza?

   Posted by: Lita Tags: , ,

Take a look at Canada’s Food Guide then ask yourself the following questions in relation to a balanced diet:

– The milk you drank: How long was it in the refrigerator? 24 hours? 48? Longer? Milk is a highly perishable product that will deteriorate even while stored in the fridge.  What does this mean as a loss in nutritional value to you?  Was the milk certified organic?  Check out Fernanda’s thoughts on Milk.

– Did your meat contain any synthetic hormones which were supplied to the animal for the purpose of promoting accelerated weight gain?  Were the eggs you ate fertilized or unfertilized?  Were they laid by free running hens or were they laid by caged hens that were artificially stimulated by light for 24 hours a day while being forced to consume and digest special additives included in their feed?  How fresh was the fish you consumed? Do you know if it contained any traces of mercury or other pollutants?

– Did you eat your fruits and vegetables from a can, prepare them from a frozen state or were they fresh?  If fresh, was your produce exposed to pesticides?  Oil-based insecticides will not be washed off with just plain water (farmers would lose expensive insecticides in the fields from the first rain shower).  Some of these poisons can penetrate the skins of apples and oranges which will, in turn, permeate the fiber of the food.  Did you eat your vegetables in a restaurant?  The chances are greater that artificial colorings were originally added at the packaging plant to provide you with a brighter eye-appeal appearance to your vegetables.

– Was the bread you ate white or whole wheat?  Was it stone ground or steel ground?  Many whole wheat breads are referred to as whole wheat but they don’t contain the germ of the whole wheat seed.  Studies showed that these, like white breads, don’t contain enough nutritional value to sustain the life of rats.  If the bread you ate was soft and spongy, it probably contained calcium propionate, which, among other things, destroys your enzyme that assimilates the limited amount of calcium left in the flour. And the cereal you enjoyed this morning?  Did it contain the necessary life force of the wheat or rice grain, or did it come to you as highly refined and typically, a dead food?

– Did the protein you chose for breakfast contain all the essential amino acids?  Or did you have to grab a coffee, donut or candy at 11:00 am?  If you were exhausted at 6:00 pm the chances are very real that you didn’t get enough of the right protein, that your body needs, for breakfast.

The intricate weaving of the above variables has become the norm in our civilized North American urban lives.  Just as we breathe in polluted air, so we eat altered foods.   Most North Americans don’t know what a balanced diet means.  Salad, vegetables and meat will not insure that you receive a balanced diet.  We eat more candy than eggs.  We drink more pop than milk.  We consume more sugar than our total intake of fruits, vegetables and eggs.  More than 50% of the calories we eat come from sugar, fat and white flour.  We also over indulge in coffee, cigarettes and alcohol.  We eat non-nutritional snacks and then take drugstore remedies to counteract their effects.  T.V. commercials tell us what to buy and we run out and buy it.

We have become the product of Westernized, modern man, for we can read.  However, we don’t know how our glands or nerves function.  We don’t understand how our cells select nutrients or why they choose the ones that they do.  How can we know if we are eating a balanced diet?  Primitive groups of people with natural food sources don’t suffer from the aches, pains and degenerative diseases that plague us.  Is there something to learn?

We don’t have to suffer with sickness.  To achieve health and maintain it we must do everything to cooperate with the harmony of the life chain.  The concept is simple; whole nutrition begins with whole foods that are as natural as possible.  In our convenience-minded, fast-food society this is a very difficult task.  You must strive to fuel your body with unrefined carbohydrates, unaltered sources of fatty acids, complete protein and sources that include the necessary vitamin and mineral complexes. 

Supplementing your diet with food concentrates is needed for nutrition insurance today.  Those who say “Yes, I took a once-a-day vitamin, vitamin E and I get B12 shots regularly”, or “I’ve taken vitamin C for years” are supplementing incompletely.  A selected few vitamins will not make the difference.  Deficiencies of the unsupplied nutrients may produce abnormalities which can do more harm than the isolated vitamins can do good!

Science and nature have shown us what the body needs:  A biologically complete Protein with all the essential amino acids, companion Vitamins and Minerals, Carbohydrates and Fats.

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9
Dec

Healthy Eating Habits – Are Pesticides Yummy?

   Posted by: Lita Tags: , , ,

 

In the early 1980s you could find me teaching myself Yoga and shopping in health food stores (although there weren’t many of them back then).  My friends and family thought I was nuts.  I was also buying environmentally friendly cleaning products.  I once invited my Mom to a meeting so she could learn more about the products.  At the time, this type of thinking was non-conventional.  She actually thought I was involved in a cult!! 

Back then I was also practicing healthy eating habits by washing my fruits and vegetables in a cleaning solution.There is mounting evidence in the scientific journals regarding the invasive ways in which small doses of pesticides affect humans.  This is particularly so while in the critical stages of fetal development and childhood where the results of exposure in the long term  may be unknown  Also, consider those that have compromised immune systems and the elderly who may not eat properly to begin with.  Why take chances?  Why not practice healthy eating habits and lessen the risk as much as possible for yourself and your family?

 These days we now have organic produce to choose from.  The Organic industry embraces an ecological means to farming.  This means farmers are unable to rely on, or permit the usage of, toxic substances, synthetic pesticides, irradiation, genetically modified organisms, sewage sludge, antibiotics or chemical fertilizers.  Although produce that is “certified organic” will cost you more it may be your best bet for serving your family pesticide-free food.  

Consider the following 3 steps to healthy eating habits:

  1. If you can buy organic then do so.  Buying organic is expensive and many people are unable to afford to shop this way but don’t despair – read on.
  2. Purchasing in-season, locally grown produce from your community retailers will help you reduce your risk of exposure to preservatives that are used in food transported over long distances.  These include waxes, irradiation, gases, synthetic chemicals like fungicides and sprout inhibitors that will lessen the nutritional quality of your foods while having a negative effect on your health.
  3. Whether you buy organic or not, do practice healthy eating habits by washing your fruits and vegetables.  Over 70% of conventional produce samples have traces of pesticides and chemical residue.  A major problem lies in the fact that most pesticides and chemicals will penetrate the skin of the fruit and contaminate the inside. In spite of this, it is still a wise choice to thoroughly wash produce to remove superficial dirt and reduce the risk of spreading bacterial illnesses such as salmonella.  You will still have the potential for exposure to harmful pesticides that have penetrated the interior of the vegetable or fruit but at least you are doing what you can to reduce your risk.   For washing your produce look for an environmentally friendly cleaning product that is biodegradable, contains no phosphates and comes with the green seal certification or try the following homemade solution recommended by Kendra of handprints on the wall:

Produce Spray – Makes about 2 cups

  •  1 cup water
  • 1 cup white vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon Baking Soda
  • 20 drops Grapefruit Seed Extract
  • Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir slowly and carefully as the combination of vinegar and baking soda causes quite a bit of foaming.  Once the bubbles have gone down, pour the solution into a spray bottle.  Spray on produce before eating.  Let sit 10 minutes before rinsing well.
  • *Note: Don’t ever soak mushrooms in this solution as they will only absorb it.

Arm yourself with the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce produced by The Environmental Working Group.  This will give you a ranking of contamination found in 44 popular fruits and vegetables.  For example, peaches have the highest pesticide score followed by apples and sweet bell peppers.  This is not meant to force us to eliminate our favorite foods from our selection.  This is meant to help us with healthy eating habits and wise choices.  Armed with this list when you are shopping you can use the guide to shop for organic alternatives to the conventionally grown fruits and vegetables that are likely to contain the most residues of pesticides.  As organic food can be very expensive this list will help you choose conventionally grown food with the lowest residue of pesticide.  You can choose from the best of both worlds while keeping your family healthy and keeping your costs down.

The Environmental Working Group has also listed the “Dirty Dozen” contaminated fruits and vegetables and they believe that by switching those with the least contaminated or organic versions then people can lower their pesticide exposure by almost 90 percent.

The key is to reduce the exposure that you and your family have to pesticides.  If you are able then buy organic.  In the alternative, try to substitute the most highly sprayed fruits and vegetables with organically grown and continue to buy conventional fruits and vegetables for the remainder of your needs.  Fruits and vegetables that you purchase in conventional form should be thoroughly washed and peeled in order to remove, as much as possible, the surface chemical residues.

By adding these suggested methods to your healthy eating habits and washing your fruits and vegetables you will do more to reduce your family’s risk of exposure to harmful substances than by doing nothing at all.

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28
Oct

Keeping Your Cholesterol Under Control

   Posted by: author1 Tags: , ,

You would have all heard about cholesterol and the recommendations of changes in diets and prescribe medication associated with it. But the truth is that many people don’t understand cholesterol and its purpose in our body. To control your cholesterol you first need to know how it works.

Cholesterol is a lipid (fatty acid) that resides in the cell membranes of the human body.  Most cholesterol is actually synthesized in the body, but a good proportion of it is ingested as a section of food.

You have good cholesterol and bad cholesterol and the two kinds need to be differentiated between: Bad cholesterol, or LDL, has been associated to cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke if consumed at unhealthy levels.Good cholesterol, HDL,on the other hand, is responsible for important bodily functions.  HDL cholesterol helps to construct and maintain cell walls and performs other cell maintenance.

Controlling Cholesterol Through Diet: What Can You Do About It?

There are quite a few ways you can control your blood cholesterol levels.Cholesterol is not soluble in blood, so it sometimes takes a helping hand.  Most of these are basic routine changes that can have an enormous and helpful result on your cholesterol levels. The first is to look at controlling cholesterol through diet.

The most apparent ways are to select your diet carefully.  Foods that are high in fat have an inclination to lift cholesterol.  Do not cut out fats totally from your diets.  Look at selecting specific foods that are low in saturated fat but have a good amount of unsaturated fat.  The body physically requires a small amount of fat for key body functions.

Lean red meat and fish are both good choices and should be incorporated liberally into your diet.  They are high in protein, which helps to build muscle, and relatively low in fat content.  It’s also simple to choose dairy products that are low in fat, and such an alteration will make controlling your cholesterol much easier.

If after changing your diet or your cholesterol levels are often too high then it is advisable to consult your doctor. There are many drugs that can know control cholesterol avaiable.  And remember that with any new drug, it’s important to notify your healthcare professional about any additional medications that you are taking at the time.

The side effects of controlling cholesterol through drugs tend to be relatively mild, and will generally cease after your body adjusts to the new medication.

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