Friday, December 28, 2007

When you are on a weight loss diet, you may be unknowingly, while cutting down on the calories be also cutting down on essential nutrients
What Are These Nutrients?
• Calcium
• Fibre
• Magnesium
• Vitamin E
• Vitamin D
Calcium
Calcium is essential for the proper functioning of Muscles, Bones, Teeth, Hair and Nails etc. It could be called the beauty mineral.
Some Other Needs for Calcium.
It also helps to keep the heart beating normally. Plays a major part in the clotting of blood and can lower Blood Pressure. Another plus, Calcium can help with your Weight Loss Diet.
The Institute of Medicine says that the older we get the more we need Calcium.
• 19 – 50 years old need to take 1000 mgs per day
• 51 – upwards need to take 1200 mgs per day
Three servings of dairy food each day will go a long way in ensuring you get enough Calcium to keep your body in good condition.
Fibre
Fibre is needed to keep your Intestines in good working order. It will keep your Bowels regular and also help you maintain overall good health.
Fibre rich foods lower the risk of heart disease, Cancer and Type 2 Diabetes.
A bonus if you are on a Weight Loss Diet, Fibre is very filling and is found in foods with less Calories so that it is important for weight loss.
Men and Women need different amounts of Fibre each day:
• Men 19 – 50 years = 38 grams, 51 and older 30 grams
• Women 19 – 50 years = 25 grams, 51 and older 21 grams.
Magnesium
Magnesium is essential for many of your body's day to day running. To name a few:
• Bone strength
• Boosts the Immune System
• Normalises Muscle, Nerve and Heart function.
Your needs on a daily basis are:
• Men 19 – 30 years = 400 milligrams, 31 and older 420 milligrams
• Women 19 – 30 years = 310 milligrams, 31 and older = 320 milligrams.
Some Magnesium rich foods are:
• Whole Grains
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Beans – Black or White
• Soy as a Protein instead of meat.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is found in fatty foods, such as nuts, seeds and oils.
If you are on a Weight Loss Diet you will be avoiding fatty foods mistakenly believing that you are helping yourself to lose weight. But Vitamin E is needed to fight pollutants that your body is being bombarded with every day. So Vitamin E is an Anti – Oxidant. Anti – Oxidants help the body fight the invading pollutants.
What Can You Eat To Ensure You Get Enough Vitamin E?
• Sunflower Seeds
• Almonds
Vitamin D
What Have These People Got In Common?
• People with dark skin
• People who avoid the sun
• Older adults
They all may have a deficiency of Vitamin D.
Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin.
It is manufactured in the skin by being exposed to sunlight.
As you get older, your need for Vitamin D increases because even with sufficient sunlight, your body may not be able to manufacture enough Vitamin D.
Unfortunately, Vitamin D cannot be found in food, unless the food manufacturers have fortified their foods with it.
So to make sure you are receiving enough Vitamin D, taking Nutritional Supplements is recommended.
By all means if you are on a Weight Loss Diet, eat foods with fewer calories but do take care not to miss out on the essential nutrients that your body needs.

------
Eva Moffat an Ex- Nurse has helped many people with their Weight Loss problems over the years. Now it is your turn to be helped. For more of Eva’s practical help, visit Eva’s Weight Loss Site
http://eva-moffats-free-weight-loss-info.blogspot.com


The Truth about PMS
Do any of these symptoms sound familiar? Headaches, depressions, anxiety, uncontrollable crying spells, fatigue, fluid retention, abdominal cramping, heart palpitations, weight gain, irritability, panic attacks, forgetfulness, migraines, backaches, decreased work or social performance, sleep problems, food cravings, breast tenderness, clumsiness, confusion . . . Sounds like a nightmare existence, doesn't it?
Are you one of the 40-80% of women for whom this scenario, or at least a portion of it, is everyday life for one to two weeks out of every month of their lives from puberty to menopause? What disorder could possibly result in these varied, and often dehabilitating, symptoms for so many women?
Premenstrual Syndrome! That's right! It's that old friend, PMS, the subject of so many jokes and putdowns. You know - that "catch-all" phrase that, according to "so-called comedians," covers all the "imaginary" problems that women "invent" as excuses to spend the day on the couch "watching TV and eating bonbons."
Let me assure you that, while it is true that doctors and researchers have not found a specific lab test that can identify PMS, this disorder is definitely neither "imaginary" nor is it "invented." Serious medical research has been going on for years to identify the definitions, diagnosis, causes, and cures for this disorder. Here are two of the resulting definitions:
1. Dr. Ellen Freeman of University of Pennsylvania Health System describes PMS as a "cluster of emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms that have a cyclic pattern related to the menstrual cycle, becoming severe in the week or two preceding menses and abating with menstruation."
2. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines PMS as "the cyclic occurrence of symptoms that are sufficiently sever to interfere with some aspects of life, and that appear with consistent and predictable relationship to the menses."
How do you know if you or a loved one has PMS, if there is no real test for it? Across the board, researchers and doctors agree that the identifying factor overall in this disorder is the fact that the symptoms stop once the menses begin or once a woman becomes pregnant.
You should know that doctors have identified two serious forms of PMS that have effects far beyond those of normal PMS symptoms:
1. "Postpartum Depression" is a severe depression that some women experience after giving birth. Women with this disorder suffer a severe let-down from the high pregnancy-levels of hormones, and, because of the disruption to their nervous systems, they may actually harm themselves or their babies.
2. "Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder" (PMDD) brings about serious and disabling depression, anxiety, tension, and angry irritability, intense mood changes in the week or two before the onset of menses, and women suffering from this disorder exhibit at least five of PMS's physical symptoms as well. Like regular PMS, PMDD symptoms disappear with menses.
You may have heard that doctors find it helpful for women to keep a daily diary of symptoms throughout the month when they are attempting to diagnose PMS. What should you look for when keeping a daily diary or considering the possibility that you or a loved one has PMS? Well, PMS carries over 150 possible symptoms that affect women in both the physical and the emotional realms in varying degrees.
Physically, symptoms can range from light, as in headache, fatigue, and slight abdominal swelling, to severe, as in migraines, severe cramping, and an inability to function normally. Emotionally, you may experience symptoms relating to anxiety (irritability, irrational crying, or emotional swings), depression (withdrawn, fearful, or altered libido), cravings (for sweets, dairy, or alcohol), and fluid retention (headache, breast tenderness, abdominal bloating, and weight gain).
I can tell you that although doctors still have not determined the exact cause of PMS, they agree that hormones and neuro-chemical changes within the brain are prime suspects. Estrogen hormones, for example, can contribute to increased brain activity, retention of salt, and drops in blood sugar, because it has a central neurological effect on the brain.
What do you do if you realize that you or a loved one suffers from some level of PMS? Obviously, if the symptoms are severe, you should seek your doctor's advice. Doctors today may prescribe either psychiatric (psychotropic drugs, tricyclics, tranquilizers, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), medical treatments (anti-estrogenic hormonal medications), or a combination of both for severe cases.
However, if you believe that your symptoms are manageable, or if they are intermittent, here are a few tips that might help you alleviate some symptoms.
- Eat six, small, high in complex carbohydrates, low in simple sugars meals at three-hour intervals to help keep energy levels and blood glucose levels steady. Complex carbohydrates are found in foods eaten in their natural states like oatmeal, cornmeal, barley, and wheat germ, or in foods like pastas, brown rice, root vegetables like potatoes, whole grain breads and cereals, etc.
- Reduce caffeine, alcohol, salt, fats, and simple sugars to help diminish fatigue, tension, depression and water retention bloating.
- Add calcium, controlled levels of B6, B complex, magnesium, and Vitamin E to help maintain normal moods and reduce fluid retention, cramps, and back pain.
- Exercise three times a week for at least 20-30 minutes to improve mood, blood circulation, sense of well-being, and alleviate the build-up of tension and stress.
- Learn to relax with deep breathing exercises, music, quiet time alone, or yoga, to decrease symptoms and help with coping. In addition, spend time with an understanding friend, get a solid 8 hours of sleep regularly, and keep track of the menstrual cycle on the calendar to prepare for the onslaught of symptoms to help yourself cope.
- Adjust your schedule around the menstrual cycle to avoid heavy decisions, stressful appointments or events, or even arguments during PMS to help both your PMS time and your relationships.
- Investigate the use of herbs. Much research is going on in the field of herbal remedies for PMS. Evening primrose oil, chaste tree berry, dong qui and other herbs may have an effect on PMS symptoms according to personal testimonies of women who have tried them.
For best results, I recommend a combination of all of these areas. A lifestyle including a balanced diet, proper amounts of necessary vitamins and minerals, plenty of healthy exercise, proper rest and relaxation, good mental attitudes, and appropriate herbs gives you the best defense against PMS symptoms. However, if all else fails, by all means, throw in a couple of bonbons. Women for centuries have insisted that chocolate is a miraculous cure-all!

------
Eileen Silva, Ph.D., N.D. is a metabolic health balancing expert, talk show guest, and lecturer. Dr. Silva is also an individual, group, and corporate weight management consultant. Contact Dr. Silva at http://www.dreileensilva.com


Eat, Drink and Be Healthy?
Copyright (c) 2006 The Brain Code LLC
Did you see the news this week? Red wine keeps you healthy even if you pig out – at least that's what the headlines read. It's true that there has been an established link between moderate red wine consumption and cardiovascular health for quite some time. A compound found in wine, called resveratrol, is prime suspect of the health-promoting benefits of red wine.
The new study published this week in Nature added fuel to that fire by showing that resveratrol was able to reverse many of the problems associated with eating a high calorie diet. The experiment worked this way: The scientists established three groups of mice. One group ate a standard diet and the other two groups ate high calorie diets; but one of the high calorie diet groups received resveratrol at the same time.
The mice stayed on those three diets until death (some are still alive) and the researchers looked at a lot of different things, including: how much weight the mice gained, how long they lived, insulin and glucose sensitivities (markers of diabetes), the conditions of their hearts and livers upon death, and a whole bunch of biochemical pathways related to disease.
It turned out that resveratrol treatment made the mice that ate a high calorie diet look a lot like the mice that ate a standard diet. So what does the media want you to believe is the bottom line . . . ? You guessed it – You can eat whatever you want as long as you drink red wine, you'll be fine. Do you believe it? Do you want to believe it? The study certainly supports that point of view.
Do you want to take preventative drugs?
In fact, the scientist in charge of the study is the co-founder of a pharmaceutical company that is now developing a high potency resveratrol pill as a drug to treat obesity and all kinds of diseases related to aging. Now I don't want to just leave that statement hanging there because that could obviously be construed as a conflict of interest – Big Time! However, most people have many conflicts of interest in their lives. The real question should relate to the ethics of the people involved – that's all that matters. I'm not going to suggest that the conflict is a problem in this case, but you should know about it nonetheless.
The bigger problem, in my view, relates to the notion that you can drug your way out of a problem that you behaved your way into. I have written posts in the past on this subject and in lieu of this new study feel that I have to bring it up again.
This is the 3rd study over the past couple of months that has been published in a very high profile scientific journal making this ‘magic bullet' type of claim. The other two studies promoted research that suggested you could inject a vaccine or a protein into rats and they would stay thin no matter what they ate. That is a little different from the new study, which says you can give mice drugs to keep them healthy, even though they get fat.
The first two studies focused on using drugs to stay thin and the last one focused on using drugs to stay healthy while you got fat. I know these conclusions are incredibly appealing but I ask again – do you believe it? I just have a hard time subscribing to the magic bullet theory of anything, especially when it comes to biology. Here's why. . .
Are we smarter than nature?
The human body has about 30,000 genes. We have a good understanding of what 1,000 – 2,000 of them do, and some idea about the role of another 5,000 – 10,000. This means that at least one half of our genes are complete mysteries to us. Why is this important?
Drugs work on the notion that when something is wrong with our biochemistry we can fix it with a drug that will interact with the problem-causing biochemical pathway, and set it straight. That's a simplistic view, but essentially that's how drugs work. And in many cases it works very well – for the specific biochemical pathway we are targeting. However, there are thousands of biochemical pathways that we don't understand and we cannot predict how they will respond to drugs – or in some cases we simply don't care as long as the desired effect is observed.
Here's an example. Most people know about statin drugs that are used to lower cholesterol. They are very effective at doing their job – lowering cholesterol. They work by actually inhibiting a part of the biochemical pathway leading to cholesterol synthesis and so reduce cholesterol. However, there are other important molecules that are also synthesized in that same pathway and by inhibiting it (which has the benefit of reducing cholesterol) you are also reducing the production of those. One such molecule is coenzyme Q, which is important for energy production, and very important for the heart and brain. Yes, statins also reduce coenzyme Q production. This is obviously not one of the ‘advertised benefits'.
The point is that while the drug is doing it's job, reducing cholesterol, it is also reducing conenzyme Q production. This is just one of hundreds of examples of ‘side effects' from targeted drug use. The real problem is that we probably don't even know about most of the side effects of most drugs because we know so little about the biochemistry. How can we predict the outcome of manipulating a system without understanding how the parts work?
Most drugs on the market enter clinical trials because they have some apparent benefit and then get tested for toxicity and side effects in larger studies. By the way, most fail at this point. Still, we can only measure toxicity and side effects for things that we know to look at. There are thousands of potential side effects that are not being looked at because we don't have a deep enough understanding of the system.
Your body knows best
So what does all of this mean? It means that in order to stay healthy – the best way is to live a healthy lifestyle. Don't buy into the media hype for ‘magic bullets'. Our bodies are designed to run optimally under healthy living conditions – eating nutritious foods, taking your vitamins, getting plenty of exercise and getting enough sleep. Our bodies have an innate wisdom, coded in our genes, that knows how to keep us healthy as long as we supply them with the right stuff. Trying to outsmart nature with drugs – like resveratrol – might sound appealing but I just can't believe that it will work in the long term. We're just not that smart!
Is this to say that all drugs are bad? Personally, I use things like ibuprofen or acetaminophen when I have a headache that I can't get rid of or a sports injury, but I try to minimize using them. I also believe that drugs can benefit people who are already very ill and just cant' seem to recover on their own. However, the studies I talked about above are geared toward developing drugs for relatively healthy people that don't want to live a healthy lifestyle. They are drugs developed to prevent the consequences of poor behavior. That is a recipe for disaster and I encourage you never to buy into that way of thinking. So feel good about having that glass of red wine with dinner, but please don't expect it to fix all your problems.

------
Are you Feeding your Kids Dreams or Disaster? Get the scoop on the latest advances in neuroscience to maximize your own child's brain power. Visit http://www.thebraincode.com to take action today.
Dr. Simon Evans is a neuroscientist at the University of Michigan and a nationally licensed youth sports coach.