Add Nutrients - Add a Slice of Watermelon in Your Diet

Filed Under (Diet, Nutrition) by admin on 05-07-2008

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The new adage of this 21st century has been “A slice of watermelon a day keeps a body fit”. We all know that a healthy diet is one which is full of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. A healthy diet with regular exercise is a great combination and has always been of incredible health benefit. It also reduces the risk of certain fatal diseases like asthma, diabetes, cancer and arthritis.

A juicy slice of watermelon is full of nutrients and contains the important phytochemical lycopene which helps in preventing cancer and other cardio vascular diseases. This fruit has its natural sweetness which makes this more delicious and it also serves as a refreshing dessert. The nutritional benefits of watermelons cannot be calculated, it surpasses everything. You will be stunned to know that this juicy fruit is absolutely fat free and cholesterol free. It is rich in Vitamin B6, B1, magnesium, potassium and Vitamin A as well as C.

The red color of the fruit is due to its lycopene content. This high concentration of lycopene, an anti-oxidant helps to reduce the risk of many diseases. These antioxidants neutralize the harmful free radicals in the human body. Free radicals in the human body cause great deal of damage by oxidizing cholesterol and making it stick to the blood vessel walls, eventually leading to heart attack or stroke. One or two slices of watermelon calorie content are only 45. Yes you will be surprised but this is true. So, if you are very conscious about your diet and body then just gulp watermelons, be it in slice or juice or by making various recipes of this fruit. If you are calorie conscious about your diet then you can add a glass of watermelon juice right now to make it complete and healthy.

In this age we are flooded with many confusing health beverages which proclaim them to most healthy drink. But fresh fruit has no alternative or no should ever dare to compare a slice of watermelon with other juices. The nutrient density of this fruit per calorie is more than other commonly consumed 100 percent fruit juices. Most of us calorie intake is more than what we need for our body. But by increasing your intake of one slice of watermelon to three four will not affect you since it is fat free and so calorie per slice is not very high.

You should eat three ounces of whole grain bread, rice, pasta or cereals. On the next step of food green leafy vegetables should be present along with beans and peas. And the final step should be full of fruits and nuts. Calculate your calorie intake by using a calorie calculator according to your food habits and then and then only you will be conscious of the total calories you are in taking daily.

Jennifer is an expert Internet marketing professional with years of experience in various industries such as: Business, Real Estate, Health Diary, Web-Design, Health & Medicine and many more.

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Nutrition Facts of Coffee

Filed Under (Nutrition) by admin on 05-07-2008

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Do you love coffee as much as I do? Are you like me and must have that first cup of coffee in the morning? I have always wondered whether or not coffee is truly good for me. So I did some research and here is what I found.

Coffee is full of caffeine, a powerful and addictive stimulant. The majority of people who drink coffee on a regular basis feel as if they can not function without it. This is because they are actually addicted to the caffeine in coffee! Caffeine is a strong diuretic, therefore the more coffee you drink, the more your body increases production of waste (urine and feces).

Caffeine and other ingredients found in coffee (decaf included!), have been shown to increase stress. This can cause people to become nervous and fidgety and can even cause an increase in hunger and cravings.

Some great news is black coffee has no calories, no fat, no carbohydrates, and plenty of antioxidants. Studies have also found that caffeine stimulates you body’s insulin production which could cause you to gain weight. But on the other side of that same coin, caffeine speeds up your metabolism, which burns off excess fat. No one really knows if caffeine actually helps or hinders weight loss.

I also learned that consuming a large amount of coffee or caffeine can have a negative affect on blood sugar levels causing fat burning processes to change into fat storing processes. Caffeine can also trigger a condition called hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, accompanied with dizziness and light-headedness. Excess caffeine also causes headaches, nausea, accelerated heartbeat, anxiety, and it can even irritate the lining of the stomach. That is why some people get heartburn after drinking coffee.

There have also been a lot of studies that show a small amount of caffeine everyday will help boost your metabolism. Contrary to popular belief, caffeine is not associated with long-term weight loss. In most weight loss pills, caffeine is one of the main ingredients. Limiting caffeine can help control food cravings throughout the day. The more caffeine you drink, the more you may feel that urge to eat. By limiting your caffeine intake, you can help take better control of your appetite.

After learning all of this, I think I will only have one cup of coffee in the morning.

Want to know more? Come to check out more articles at Women’s Health Answer and learn more about eating to lose weight.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Samantha_Matheny

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The Critical Role of Sodium and Chloride (Salt) in the Diet!

Filed Under (Diet) by admin on 05-07-2008

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If you look on the Periodic Table of the elements, you will see that sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium are alkaline earth metals. You can tell by their positioning how interrelated they are.

For example, sodium is number 11 on the Periodic Table indicating the number of protons in its nucleus. Whereas magnesium is number 12 on the Periodic table just 1 more proton or hydrogen ion more then sodium. Potassium is number 19 and calcium is number 20. These four elements are all right next to each other on the Periodic Table of Minerals for good reason!

Over the years I have thought about the relationships between sodium, magnesium, potassium and calcium and have come up with a hypothesis that magnesium, potassium and calcium are all nuclear transformations of the sodium (11) ion. This is important to understand when we consider why our blood is salted with sodium not magnesium, potassium or calcium. Even the ocean is salted with sodium for very good reasons.

The word formula for my hypothesis of nuclear transformation is as follows:

sodium (11) + hydrogen (1) < => magnesium (12) or,
sodium (11) + oxygen (8) < => potassium (19) or,
sodium (11) + hydrogen (1)+ oxygen (8) < => calcium or,
sodium (11) + oxygen (8) + hydrogen (1) < => calcium

As you can see there are many variations on how the body can transform sodium to the other alkaline elements it needs to maintain its alkaline design. Keep in mind that this transformation of elements is not a chemical reaction but a reaction, I call vibrational intelligence.

The movement of a hydrogen ion into the nucleus of a sodium ion is what gives rise to the alkaline element magnesium to help regulate body or even ocean temperature.

The movement of an oxygen ion into the nucleus of a sodium ion is what gives rise to the alkaline element potassium to help regulate the delicate alkaline pH of the extra and intracellular fluids of the body.

The movement of a hydrogen ion into the nucleus of a potassium ion is what gives rise to the alkaline element calcium. It is through the sodium ion of the blood that creates calcium to help keep our skeletal structure healthy and strong. In the ocean, it is the salt or sodium ion that gives rise to the calcium that makes the coral calcium, which helps in maintaining the alkaline design of the ocean at a pH of 8.3.

You see, nuclear transformation of sodium takes place every second of the day with any vibration or motion, such as the athlete in movement, as the body uses sodium and hydrogen to regulate the body temperature keeping it cool.

As one is exercising and as the body is heating up the body will naturally cool itself by transforming sodium into magnesium. These transformations will result in a blood serum loss of sodium and an increase in urine magnesium. Why? Because the body is converting the salt or sodium of the blood to magnesium to regulate body temperature! Without salt you CANNOT regulate your body temperature!

This same elemental transformation will takes place when the body is trying to maintain its alkaline design at a pH of 7.365. When the body is physically or emotionally stressed, metabolic acidic waste products will increase. As metabolic acids are increased from body movement, such as when exercising, or when you are stressed, such as worried about your finances, the body needs additional alkalinity to buffer the increase of endogenous acidity and it will start converting the salt or sodium of the blood to potassium.

That is why we see, in sick, tired, depressed or unfit clients a decrease in blood serum sodium and an increase in blood serum potassium.

Balancing the alkaline pH of the body fluids and bringing the body back to a state of health, energy, happiness and fitness cannot be accomplished without the mineral salts and especially the foundational ion of sodium.

Without salt running through our blood vessels and our oceans there would be NO LIFE ON EARTH!

Just one more thing to think about. As you know, most sodium comes to us as sodium chloride. This is by no coincidence. When you eat salt or sodium chloride the body splits these two ions apart. This is a matter of chemistry. The sodium ion is used as I have described above but the chloride ion is used to build our blood. I give you the following word formula of nuclear transformation of the chloride ion to iron:

chloride (17) + oxygen (8) + hydrogen from water (1) < => iron (26)

What I am suggesting is that salt or sodium chloride not only keeps our blood and body fluids alkaline but it also creates the iron that is necessary in making hemoglobin or blood. So, when you someone is iron deficient the are really sodium chloride deficient!

To limit or eliminate salt out of ones diet is setting the stage for ALL sickness and disease.

It is not salt that causes high blood pressure. It is dietary and metabolic acid.

Salt is the life of the body! And, without liberal amounts of whole unprocessed salt the body cannot keep up with the daily onslaught of dietary and metabolic acidity.

This is why I suggest eating lots of alkalizing mineral salt and getting off acidic foods and drinks. When you do this, your health, energy, happiness and fitness will naturally improve - without medications!

Dr. Robert O. Young - Research Scientist - Author - Avocado and Grapefruit Farmer

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Acidic Foods - 5 Acidic Foods To Avoid

Filed Under (Diet, Nutrition) by admin on 05-07-2008

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Eating healthy in this day and age can indeed be quite difficult with all of the temptation that is out there today, but it is having the determination and the will-power to stick to it that will see you through. As mentioned in the title of this article, there are five types of acidic foods to stay away from, each of which will be discussed as followed.

We will be covering each of these types: dairy, meat and poultry, processed and frozen foods, refined sugar and products made with refined sugars and beverages. This article provides the latest information on 5 highly acidifying foods:

Acidic Food # 1: Dairy Products

The different types of acidic dairy foods include butter, cheese, cream, custards, eggs and yogurt.

Dairy foods are filled with hormones, pesticide residues, microforms, mycotoxins, and saturated fats. Layer on top of all those goodies milk sugar (lactose) that breaks down like any sugar and feeds harmful microforms.

Cheese and yogurt are made by fermentation. And dairy is the leader of all foods in forming sticky mucus. It is highly acid-forming. Furthermore, pasteurization destroys the beneficial enzymes milk starts out with.

Acidic Food # 2: Meat and Poultry Products

Of this category, there is meat, chicken, beef, shellfish, goat, lamb, pork, rabbit meat and turkey.

Meat and poultry and their by-products are highly acidic foods. The animals feed on stored grain and pass along all the associated problems in their meat.

There is a strong correlation between animal protein and several kinds of cancer, particularly breast, thyroid, prostate, pancreatic, endometrial, ovarian, stomach, and colon cancers. Studies show that people who get 70 percent of their protein from animal products have major health difficulties compared to those who get just 5 perfect of their protein that way. Besides, animal foods are simply dead.

Acidic Foods # 3: Refined, Processed and Frozen Food Products

Which is pretty much anything that is frozen, like frozen peas, carrots, broccoli and also the frozen mixed vegetables, not to mention take out meals or frozen meals. But it also includes many foods you may not have considered, such as canned soup, chips, cookies, doughnuts and just about anything you can get at fat food restaurants. Refined, processed and frozen foods are loaded with sugar, salt, artificial coloring and flavoring, additives, preservatives, and butter, margarine, or hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated (hardened) vegetable oil - and deficient in fiber. All these types of foods are acidifying.

Acidic Food # 4: Refined Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners

Majority of people in the US is getting more than the 149 pounds of sugar a year. Did you know that you body needs only two teaspoons of blood sugar at any tie in order to function properly? This amount can be easily obtained through the digestion of unrefined carbohydrates, protein and fats.

Refined sugar, as tempting as it may be in all those cakes, candies, and cups of coffee, is, in fact, more of a pharmaceutical drug than it is a nurturing food. The minerals needed to digest sugar - chromium, manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc, and magnesium - have been striped from the sugar during the refining process. This, in turn, forces that body to deplete its own mineral reserves to process the sugar.

Acidic Food # 5: Beverages

Alcohol, coffee, black tea, sodas and concentrated juices all have a negative effect on your body’s pH level.

All these products produce a lot of acid and a lot of mucus.

All of these acidic foods can affect the pH balance in your body in a very negative way. A healthy human body is slightly alkaline measuring 7.4 approximately. This ideal blood measurement means that it is slightly more alkaline than acid.

If a person’s blood pH moves to even slightly below 6.8 or slightly above 7.8, the body’s cells stop functioning and the patient will die. The ideal pH for blood is 7.4. This information is not meant to scare anyone, it is merely meant to inform those of you readers out there who wish to better themselves and their lives.

Many people wonder why they lack energy and feel so sluggish all the time. We wonder why we can not seem to lose the weight that we want to and why some of us have poor digestion. When our pH level is out of whack our bodies reflect it like this.

The human body has to have a balanced pH like any other living thing or it does not function properly. The alkaline level is important because as research has already proven, diseases can’t survive in an alkaline state. But they will live in an acidic environment.

An acidic environment will decrease your body’s ability to absorb minerals and other nutrients. It decreases your body’s energy production and limit it’s ability to repair damaged cells. It’s ability to detoxify heavy metals will be limited also. It will also make the body more susceptible to fatigue and illness.

Discover amazing health benefits of the pH balanced body. Get free step-by-step guide that shows you in details how to avoid acidic foods and experience better health, more energy and endless vitality.

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