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Nutrition Information
Alkalize Your Way to Better Health
Today we're shifting our focus from wealth to health. First of all, I am not an expert. If you have a health condition, you should go see your doctor. What I'm going to discuss in this post is something I was first exposed to at a Tony Robbins seminar.
Understanding Nutrition
With the release of the new dietary guidelines, in the form of the new food pyramid, I still find that many people don't actually understand what nutrition actually means. Because of this, dietary choices can seem overwhelming. Even greater confusion can be generated by prime time news specials which only strive to educate through clever sound-bites and diet fads which lead some to believe that all of their answers are found in one single "magic food." So what is nutrition and how can you understand it in a way that helps you apply it to your life and to the benefit of those you know and love? Here's an analogy I have found helpful in teaching those who attend my free Sunday Night Wellness Call.
Benefits of a Variety of Fruits and Vegetables
We know we need to eat a minimum of 5 servings of fruit and vegetables everyday. Actually now, to prevent cancer, 8 to 13 servings per day are recommended. A serving is one cup of raw fruits or vegetables, or ½ cup cooked. At a recent lecture I asked a lunch audience to raise their hand if they had at least one fruit or vegetable already that day. No one in that group raised their hand. This is not uncommon. Our processed and convenience foods contain very few fruits and vegetables.
Can Chronic Pain Come From Food Additives?
It is always amazing to me when I find a food substance that when taken in excess can cause pain the body. And sometimes these foods, and food additives that are regulated by the government, are supposed to be safe. When I test clients and their supplements, or ask about their dietary habits, or chemicals in their work environments, we often discover chemicals or foods that are causing their chronic pain symptoms. When these chemicals are removed, much of their pain subsides.
Good Fats Prevent Chronic Disease
Essential fatty acids are the number one recommendation for anyone who has, or wants to prevent common chronic diseases today, such diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. And they are very helpful in improving immune system function to increase energy and reverse some of the damage seen in diseases such as lupus, fibromyalgia, and MS. What types of fat are in your diet?
Is Vitamin E Beneficial Or Harmful? Cutting Through The Clutter Of Different Scientific Opinions
Numerous reports have recently appeared in both the lay and medical press questioning the value of vitamin E supplementation and suggesting that there are risks associated with its use even at doses previously thought to have been ?safe?. What do we do with the hundreds of studies and extensive clinical research that has been published in the medical literature suggesting benefit in cardiovascular disease, alzheimers, diabetes and other degenerative diseases? A search of the National Library of Medicine yields over 25,000 citations, many funded or sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other prestigious medical and scientific organizations.
This month, the authors of an article in Health News (Health News. 2005 Apr;11(4):12-3) headlined this statement: ?High doses of vitamin E may increase risk of death. Talk to your doctor before taking supplements containing more than 200 IUs.? Discussing these questions with your doctor is very important. The purpose of this article is to provide you with a tool, a resource that you can print out and discuss with your physician.
Negative Clinical Studies:
Increased cancer recurrence in patients with head and neck cancer:
Bairati and co-workers (J Natl Cancer Inst. 2005 Apr 6;97(7):481-8.) found in a multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized chemoprevention trial among 540 patients with head and neck cancer treated by radiation therapy that supplementation with alpha-tocopherol (400 IU/day) produced unexpected adverse effects on the occurrence of second primary cancers and on cancer-free survival.
No increase in cancer risk, but increased risk of Heart Failure in patients with established vascular disease or diabetes:
The HOPE Trial Investigators (JAMA. 2005 Mar 16;293(11):1338-47) evaluated whether long-term supplementation with vitamin E (Daily dose of natural source of 400 IU of vitamin E or matching placebo) decreases the risk of cancer, cancer death, and major cardiovascular events. The Hope vitamin E trial was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled international trial of patients at least 55 years old with vascular disease or diabetes mellitus (9541 patients, in 174 centers) with a median duration of follow-up of 7.0 years.
The investigators examined cancer incidence, cancer deaths, and major cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, stroke, and cardiovascular death), heart failure, unstable angina, and need for cardiac revascularization.
Among all HOPE patients, there were no significant differences in the primary analysis: for cancer incidence, 11.6% in the vitamin E group vs 12.3% in the placebo group developed cancer (a non-significant reduction for vitamin E); for cancer deaths, 3.3% in the vitamin E group vs 3.7% in placebo (also not significant) and for major cardiovascular events, 21.5% vs 20.6%, respectively (not significant). Of concern, was that patients in the vitamin E group had a significantly higher risk of heart failure and hospitalization for heart failure. The authors concluded that in patients with vascular disease or diabetes mellitus, long-term vitamin E supplementation does not prevent cancer or major cardiovascular events and may increase the risk for heart failure.
Increased all-cause mortality:
A meta-analysis of randomized, 19 controlled clinical trials (135,967 participants) evaluating the dose-response relationship between vitamin E supplementation and total mortality (Ann Intern Med. 2005 Jan 4;142(1):37-46. Epub 2004 Nov 10.)
Published by Miller and associates at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, found High-dosage (greater than or equal to 400 IU/d) vitamin E supplements may increase all-cause mortality by 5% and should be avoided.
Neutral Clinical Studies:
Risk of Coronary heart disease (CHD) in Smokers not effected:
The effect of vitamin E on coronary heart disease (CHD) was evaluated in the alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene cancer prevention (ATBC) study (Eur Heart J. 2004 Jul;25(13):1171-8.). 29,133 male smokers, aged 50-69 years were randomized to receive alpha-tocopherol 50 mg, or beta-carotene 20 mg, or both, or placebo daily for 5-8 years. The risk for a first-ever major coronary event was insignificantly reduced by 5% among alpha-tocopherol recipients compared with non-recipients, and the risk for non-fatal MI was insignificantly reduced by 4%. The authors did not advocate the use of vitamin E supplements due to the weak findings.
Cardiovascular mortality and all cause Mortality not effected:
In a meta analysis of eighty-four trials (J Gen Intern Med. 2004 Apr;19(4):380-9.) examining outcomes of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction vitamin E was not found to have neither positive nor adverse effects. Shekelle and colleagues found that the use of vitamin E supplements insignificantly reduced the risk of all cause mortality by 4%, insignificantly reduced cardiovascular mortality by 3% and trended toward but did not achieve a significant reduction in nonfatal myocardial infarction, reducing the latter by 28%.
Positive Clinical Studies:
Reduced Risk of Congestive Heart Failure and Myocardial Infarction
In two large clinical studies conducted by Stampfer et al470 and Rimm et al,471 vitamin E supplements were associated with a reduced risk of congestive heart failure. In an analysis of almost 45,000 men in the Health Professional Follow-up Study database by Ascherio and associates,823 the use of vitamin E, or multi-vitamin supplements, was associated with a significantly decreased risk of myocardial infarction. These results suggest that higher supplemental doses of vitamin E may be beneficial in patients with CAD, especially those on diets high in polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Reduction in Risk for Cardiovascular Disease and Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack):
The Nurses' Health Study, a study of 121,700 women between the ages of 34 and 59 which was conducted by Manson and co-workers,69,805 used food frequency questionnaires to demonstrate a relationship between dietary intakes of foods rich in vitamin E and beta carotene, and the reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Understanding Glyconutrients
You say you don?t know what glyconutrients are? You are not alone. Perhaps you have heard a bit about glyconutrients but you don?t really know what they are or how they could benefit you. Understanding the role the glyconutrients play in the overall scheme of nutrition is very important if you are interested in supporting your own health and the health of those you know and love.
Small Changes Yield Big Benefits
You can start today - right now, even - on a road to feeling better, looking better, living longer and enjoying a far better quality of life.
You Are What You Eat
You?ve no doubt heard the saying, ?You are what you eat?, as it typically pertains to encouraging people to be more health conscious- and really consider each food before it enters the mouth! In America in fact, a commercial for a popular brand of cereal bars actually depicted people walking out of donut shops and bakeries in costumes of the food that they ordered for breakfast, and of course, everyone stared at the donut shaped person walking into the office. The idea behind the phrase, ?you are what you eat?, is if you don?t want to look like you eat donuts every morning for breakfast and fast food every night for dinner, you need to eat healthier.
Around the world, countries each have their own special recipes and cooking habits that contribute to the overall health of the countries residents.
Organic Food ? The Benefits of Natural and Organic Produce
Having spent most of my life living off of junk food, I was pretty shocked when I started learning about what goes into the produce we consume every day from the grocery store.
Gift of Health
People want to get the very best they can when purchasing anything.
10 Flaxseed Facts to Improve Your Nutrition
Flaxseeds may be the smallest seeds you will find in any health food store, but there is nothing little about their enormous contribution to our overall health. Discovered in 5,000 BC, these little brown seeds were worshiped for their magical properties, such as healing the intestines, skin conditions, improving energy, and overall health.
Whats That In My Food!
If you drop a bomb, you kill not only your enemies but your friends as well. This is the effect food additives have on humans.
What A 6-Month Old Can Teach Us About Our Eating Habits
Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing my 6-month old niece Rianna in Las Vegas. She has just started eating "real" baby food beyond the formula in her bottle, and I got a kick out of feeding her one of her meals of squash. Okay, so not all of it got in her mouth, but she was pretty cooperative overall.
What You Eat Can Protect Your Skin from the Sun
(ARA) - By now you probably think you've heard all of the health reasons there are for eating your vegetables. But recently, researchers from Harvard University have announced that lutein -- a potent antioxidant found in such dark green, leafy vegetables as spinach and kale -- may protect the skin from sun damage.
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