Nutrition During Pregnancy

Pregnant women are occasionally worried about gaining surplus weight. However it should be borne in mind that one's diet is the foremost source of energy for the baby. That signifies one has to consume more while pregnant. When an individual is pregnant, she requires approximately 300 calories additionally everyday day than she generally consumes. The amount of weight a woman puts on during pregnancy is dependent on her weight prior to pregnancy. A beneficial gain for the majority of women is between 25 and 35 pounds. If a woman is obese, she should put on less, but certain weight gain is usual. If a woman is underweight, she should put on additional weight.

* Pregnant women may require additional nutrients and these may consist of iron, folic acid and calcium.
* They can be made available as single pills or as an amalgamated pill.
* Occasionally a prenatal vitamin has all that one requires.
* In order to avert neural tube flaws, a woman ought to receive 0.4 milligrams of folic acid every day ahead of and all through pregnancy.
* It should be taken for one month ahead of pregnancy and throughout the initial three months of pregnancy.

Milk and additional dairy products are the most excellent sources of calcium in one's diet. However, several women have indications for example bloating, diarrhea, gas and indigestion subsequent to drinking milk or consuming dairy products. This is referred to as lactose intolerance.

Cherry rich diet lowered cholesterol

The study led by researchers by the University of Michigan showed eating tart cherry rich diet lowered cholesterol and other biomarkers of inflammation linked to increased risk for heart disease. For the study, the researchers fed obese rats tart cherry rich diet for 12 weeks and found the rats had 14 percent less body fat compared to controls while lean muscle is left unchanged compared to the rats eating the same diet but without cherry powder. They also found that the rats that ate cherries lost body weight significantly, particularly belly fat that has been linked to increased risk of heart disease. The tart cherry rich diet also reduced total cholesterol in the rats by 11 percent and two known biomarkers of inflammation associated with increased risk for heart disease by 31 to 40 percent.

Since no single food group can nourish the body with all the vital ingredients it requires, it is important that we consume a variety of healthy foods to derive the nutrition our body needs. There are five main food groups, they are:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Cereals and Pulses
• Dairy
• Poultry, Fish and Meat products

A healthy balanced diet of these five food groups ensures essential vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. The food group serving size will depend upon various factors like age, activity level, body size and gender. It is also important that one eat a variety of foods from within and across the food groups. As some foods from within a food group provide more nutrients than others.

Eye vitatmin

They prevent many eye diseases too. Although vitamins should go in naturally in an organic way, but our food habits have gone so distorted that their supply has gone considerably down. Hence the need for eye vitamins as far as eye health is concerned! High levels of antioxidants, vitamins and zinc (a mineral) reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

But very high levels may prove dangerous too!

Vitamins for eyes along with antioxidants and minerals should contain:
* Lutein: is an antioxidant and has gained much popularity recently.

Its concentrations are more there in the retina, the macula, and in the crystalline lens.
Hence it is very effective as far as the health of these eye parts is considered.

* Zinc: is a mineral that the eye needs in order to keep AMD at bay.
* Selenium: is a mineral again acting as a general eye health booster.
* Vitamin A: also called beta carotene, it must be avoided by the smokers as the two together are vulnerable to certain eye diseases.
* Vitamin C: acts as a shield against AMD.
* Vitamin E: is also a very effective shield against AMD.
* Vitamin B2: is a general eye care vitamin

Breakfast with cereal

our out of ten teenagers are regularly skipping breakfast and missing out on vital daily nutrients, a new report reveals today . Research released by the Breakfast Cereal Information Service shows that, although the majority of UK adults understand the importance of breakfast for improving physical and mental performance (65%) and believe it to be the most important meal of the day (60%), 40% of teenagers are still ignoring the benefits.

When they do eat breakfast, four out of five (81%) teenagers opt for a bowl of breakfast cereal, which is also the way the majority of teenagers consume milk (75%). However parents report that a number of factors are consistently preventing their teenage children from eating breakfast in the morning, with:

* Just over half of teenagers claiming not to be hungry (51%)
* Almost half getting out of bed too late (49%)
* More than two in five complaining that they can't be bothered to eat breakfast (44%)

As a result, experts warn that teenagers are missing out on important nutrients. Dietary fibre helps maintain a healthy digestive tract and may help protect against cancer of the colon, reduce the risk of becoming overweight and developing type 2 diabetes. Cereal fibre has important water retaining properties that help prevent constipation and keep the large intestines healthy. It also helps to promote the feeling of fullness after a meal and may therefore help reduce cravings for snack foods and aid weight control. The fibre from cereals containing oats also helps lower blood cholesterol levels. Breakfast cereals play an important role in providing dietary fibre and the richest sources are bran, wholegrain and oat-based cereals.

Balanced Diet and Health

Diet food refers to any food or drink whose recipe has been altered in some way to make it part of a body modification diet. Although the usual intention is weight loss and change in body type, sometimes the intention is to aid in gaining weight or muscle as in bodybuilding supplements. The process of making a diet version of a food usually requires finding an acceptable low calorie substitute for some high calorie ingredient. This can be as simple as replacing some or all of the food's sugar with a sugar substitute as is common with diet soft drinks such as Coca-Cola. In some snacks, the food may be baked instead of fried thus reducing the calories. In other cases, low fat ingredients may be used as replacements.

Eat plenty of bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and other starchy foods – choose wholegrain varieties whenever you can. some milk and dairy foods. However, a lack of consumption of these nutrients or feeding upon the wrong kinds of food leads to an accumulation of toxins within the body, resulting in chronic diseases in the long run. A nutritious diet while ensuring overall well being, helps to maintain a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI), reduces the risk of several debilitating diseases like cancer, cardiovascular ailments, diabetes, osteoporosis and stroke.

In conclusion, it must be noted that allopathic medicine treats the symptoms rather than the root cause of the disease, which is usually caused by wrong eating habits leading to an accumulation of toxins within the system. Whereas a nutritious diet can rectify underlying causes of diseases and restore one to wholeness of mind and body. Once we realize the connection between a wholesome balanced diet and good health, our food will be our medicine and maintaining good health will be a matter of making the right food choices and leading a healthy lifestyle.

The top five cancer-causing foods are ...

The top five cancer-causing foods are:

1. Hot dogs
Because they are high in nitrates, the Cancer Prevention Coalition advises that children eat no more than 12 hot dogs a month. If you can't live without hot dogs, buy those made without sodium nitrate.

2. Processed meats and bacon
Also high in the same sodium nitrates found in hot dogs, bacon, and other processed meats raise the risk of heart disease. The saturated fat in bacon also contributes to cancer.

3. Doughnuts
Doughnuts are cancer-causing double trouble. First, they are made with white flour, sugar, and hydrogenated oils, then fried at high temperatures. Doughnuts, says Adams , may be the worst food you can possibly eat to raise your risk of cancer.

4. French fries
Like doughnuts, French fries are made with hydrogenated oils and then fried at high temperatures. They also contain cancer- causing acryl amides which occur during the frying process. They should be called cancer fries, not French fries, said Adams .

5. Chips, crackers, and cookies
All are usually made with white flour and sugar. Even the ones whose labels claim to be free of trans-fats generally contain small amounts of trans-fats.

The main causes of liver damage

1. Sleeping too late and waking up too late are main cause.

2. Not urinating in the morning.

3. Too much eating.

4. Skipping breakfast.

5. Consuming too much medication.

6. Consuming too much preservatives, additives, food coloring , and artificial sweetener.

7. Consuming unhealthy cooking oil.. As much as possible reduce cooking oil use when frying, which includes even the best cooking oils like olive oil. Do not consume fried foods when you are tired, except if the body is very fit.

8. Consuming raw (overly done) Foods also add to the burden of liver. Veggies should be eaten raw or cooked 3-5 parts. Fried veggies should be finished in one sitting, do not store.

10 brain damaging habits

1. No Breakfast. People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level. This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.

2. Overeating. It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.

3. Smoking. It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer disease.

4. High Sugar consumption. Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.

5. Air Pollution. The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency.

6. Sleep Deprivation. Sleep allows our brain to rest.. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells.

7. Head covered while sleeping. Sleeping with the head covered, increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging effects.

8. Working your brain during illness. Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease in effectiveness of the brain as well as damage the brain.

9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts. Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain stimulation thoughts may cause brain shrinkage.

10. Talking Rarely. Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain.

Scientists warn US Congress of cancer risk for cell phone use

According to AFP, the potential link between mobile telephones and brain cancer could be similar to the link between lung cancer and smoking -- something tobacco companies took 50 years to recognize, according to US scientists' warning. Scientists are currently split on the level of danger the biological effects of the magnetic field emitted by cellular telephones poses to humans. Scientists warn US Congress of cancer risk for cell phone usehttp://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080926/tts-us-health-cancer-telephone-972e412.html

He added that, like the messages that warn of health risks on cigarette packs, cell phones "need a precautionary message." Carpenter described the situation as "a critical public health issue," and called on the US government to support further research and for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in charge of monitoring the use of the radio spectrum, "to review their standards." Also testifying was Julius Knapp, who heads the FCC office of engineering and technology -- responsible for setting limits for human exposure to radio frequency (RF) energy from electronic devices like telephones that they approve, to prevent it from heating up live tissue. "It is important to understand that we rely on guidance from US health, safety and environmental agencies in setting those limits," Knapp said. He added: "The FCC staff is not sufficiently qualified to speak with authority to the science of health effects of RF absorption in the body."

Healing & Cleansing with Barley

High in fibre, barley is also a kidney cleanser..
Better yet, with regular intake it helps to prevent heart disease.

BARLEY water was always a regular drink when we were still living at home.
Whenever we had to go for a medical exam that included a urine test, my mum would make us drink barley water a day before it to make sure we got a positive result !

My mother was a wise woman. I later found out from an Australian naturopath that barley is known to be a kidney cleanser, and he happily downed glasses of it at a meal we had in a coffeeshop here.

Barley is good for your intestinal health too. Try to eat the barley grains you find in your drink or sweet broth with fu chook (beancurd skin) and ginkgo nuts.

It's high in fibre which feeds the friendly bacteria in the colon and helps! speed up the transit of fecal matter in it. In this way it helps prevent
haemorrhoids and colon cancer.

The propionic acid and beta glucan from barley's insoluble fibre also help lower cholesterol and prevent the formation of gallstones.

Eating barley regularly is a preventive step against heart disease as, besides the fibre content, it is also high in niacin, a B vitamin good for lowering cholesterol.

Diabetics should eat more barley as the fibre will prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high. It also provides relief from constipation or diarrhoea for those suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Barley is rich in selenium which prevents cancer and relieves symptoms of asthma and arthritis. It is a good source of manganese, copper and phosphorous.

Malt sugar comes from sprouted barley which, when fermented, is an ingredient in beer and other alcoholic beverages.

Barley, whose Latin name is Hordeum vulgare, has been cultivated for more than 10,000 years.

Since ancient times, barley has been used for healing purposes and has been known to the Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Athletes in Greece and Rome in those days were known to eat barley bread to give them strength.

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