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Health Food
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Live Better with a Healthy Mediterranean
Diet!
By Valery
Fortie
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Hundreds of thousands of people take vitamins everyday to improve
theiroverall health but taking high doses of vitamins and minerals may
actually be doing more harm than good. Experts claim that high doses of
certain nutrients can be harmful to your health. Studies show, for
example, that taking beta carotene can increase the risk of lung cancer
in people who
smoke.
Professor Martin Wiseman, medical and scientific adviser for the World
Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), said it is very difficult to predict what
high doses of supplements can do to a person's body. Some studies have
found that high doses of vitamins increase the risk of certain cancers
in people while other studies have found that there is no correlation
between the two.
Ultimately, the results are inconclusive but the risk is still
apparent. So far, it has been impossible to predict whether or not the
benefits of taking vitamins and supplements outweigh the risks.
Wiseman states, "Just because a dietary pattern that provides a
relatively high level of a particular nutrient might protect against
cancer, it does not mean that taking it in tablet form will have the
same effect."
Many people take vitamins to supplement their diet with nutrients that
they are not getting through regular food. Americans in particular are
guilty of hitting the fast food joint and picking up a hamburger as
opposed to stopping by a salad bar.
To appease their guilt, they may take vitamins to replace the nutrients
that the hamburger lacks.
If these people believe that popping a couple of vitamins take place of
a healthy, well-balanced meal than they are sorely mistaken. The simple
truth of the matter is that eating foods that already contain the
nutrients that your body needs is much more beneficial than a couple of
supplements.
A diet rich in fruits and vegetables is a sure way to keep your body
healthy and fight off diseases like cancer.
The Mediterranean diet has been particularly proven to contribute to
good health and long life. A Mediterranean diet consists of plenty of
fresh fruit and vegetables.
The more reds, oranges, greens, and yellows your plate has on it, the
healthier it is. Think of meat and fish as more of a side dish than the
main course. Eating a well-balanced, Mediterranean diet is more
important than swallowing a daily vitamin.
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Report
Author:
Valery
Fortie is the National Awareness Coordinator of
Mediterraneanbook.com. She is also the editor of its news section
focused
on healthy diet to prevent
high blood pressure and live longer and better.
Mediterraneanbook.com is a non profit blog founded in 2004 in Italy. It
feels very strongly about having informed consumers on duty in all
healthy
eating fields.
Websites: http://www.mediterraneanbook.com
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Organic Food Health Benefits - Top 2 Issues
By Amelia Lathyrus
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It is not uncommon to hear claims concerning organic
food health benefits. Are these claims valid? Is there any scientific
ground for making such claims?
There are two main ways to look at this:
1. The presence of toxic chemicals in the food.
2. The nutritional value of the food.
It is a well known fact that all our food these days contains a
cocktail of chemicals. These chemicals come from pest control in the
crops, from residues in the mineral fertilizers and from additives in
the food used during industrial food preparation. There exists some
knowledge of the effects of these chemicals on the human biology, but
only for one chemical at a time. There have been no studies made on the
synergetic effects; as a matter of fact this kind of study is somewhat
hard to perform since there are such a vast number of chemicals around.
Accordingly, no one really knows what happens to our bodies when they
are exposed to this cocktail of chemicals. Cancer? Neuropsychiatric
functional limitation? Low capacity immune system?
When you grow organic food you do not use chemicals for pest control,
nor do you use mineral fertilizers. There are some additives allowed
when processing organic foods, but most of these are natural substances
such as citric acid. Studies have shown lower levels of chemicals in
the urine of people eating organic food than in the urine of people
eating conventionally grown and handled food. To me this is the most
important of the organic food health benefits.
As for nutrition, there are several studies showing a higher
nutritional value of organically grown food. This means that if you eat
the same amount of vegetables and fruit but switch to organic ones, you
will get more of the nutrients your body needs to function properly.
There is indeed more to be said concerning organic food health
benefits. However, I believe the facts above are enough to make at
least me convinced of the importance of eating organically. A great way
to do this is to have your own organic food garden.
Curious on how to start one? Find out all the best ways to get your own
fresh organic vegetables at Amelia Lathyrus own site
OrganicGardenTips.org! |
Report
Author
Amelia is an enthusiastic and experienced amateur
gardener. She is also a trained biologist and absolutely convinced of
the benefits of organic gardening and a green lifestyle. Her reasons
are both ethical and environmental.
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Health Benefits of a Whole Foods
Diet No Processed Food!
By Frances
Somerset
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In this day and age it's a bit sad
how many people are subsisting on a diet of processed food. They are
tired and they look bad. Even at the peak of their day, they lack the
energy really necessary to engage life to its fullest. And the only
thing that they know to do to get more energy is eat more sugar and
drink more caffeine. It's an endless loop of energy highs and lows.
This is why I recommend a whole foods diet to anyone who is looking to
reinvigorate their life. It will put lightness and energy back into
your everyday routine.
Just in case you don't know, the term "whole foods" refers to eating
food that is closer to its original form than much of the food we see
being advertised and on the shelves nowadays. It is in fact sort of a
return to the way things used to be. Whole foods are foods that know
where they came from. For example, if a vegetable still look exactly
like it did when it was picked, then it's a whole food. If it comes in
a can with an ingredient label, it's not quite so whole anymore.
Another example is mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is a processed food. The
whole foods that make up mayonnaise are eggs, lemon juice, and oil. And
the oil isn't really a whole food itself since it originally came from
corn, rapeseed, or olives.
I know it's not always easy to quickly turn your back on a lifetime of
eating processed foods. You will probably have to learn how to cook, if
you don't already know. However, you can eat really great-tasting meals
on a whole foods diet and you'll feel better after you eat.
Whole foods generally have more fiber than processed foods, so you may
even find that you lose weight as the fiber causes you to fill up
faster.
The
modern diet has been thoroughly tested and continues to fail. When
you turn to a whole foods diet, you will receive many health benefits.
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Words don't even really do it justice. But I will try: experts believe
you will be less likely to get certain diseases and you will feel a
much more vibrant life flowing through your veins. It's almost like
being a kid again.
Frances Somerset teaches and blogs about health living and the cooking
skills you need to eat healthfully. To read about her juicing
experiments with the Jack
LaLanne's Power Juicer visit http://www.powerjuicertrial.com
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